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FloWildKat — Ocean Riffs - Chapter 2
#emotions #police #novel
Published: 2025-08-29 10:53:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 1066; Favourites: 0; Downloads: 0
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OCEAN RIFFS
CHAPTER 2: Urban Guerilla (Hawkwind)
Tuesday April 14, 2026 at 13:59 AM, seat of Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department.
The elevator doors had barely opened when the lieutenant barked,
"Crystal! Free Kick! In the briefing room! Immediately!"
His tone left no room for argument. Christine Lawson and Alicia Sazaki hurried into the windowless room, heavy with the scent of cold coffee, sweat, and stale donuts. Inside, the "Leprechaun / Black Boogie" team was already seated with three civilians—two women and one man. Lieutenant Guttierez entered and closed the door behind him.
"I'm not wasting time. Agent Cole, here are the two teams that will assist you: Detective Blake and Officer O'Brien, and Sergeant Lawson with Officer Sazaki."
A sharp feminine voice cut in.
"You don't have anyone more experienced?" The youngest woman, barely over 25, with light brown hair and a stubborn jaw, stared daggers at the lieutenant. "This isn't about pickpockets on Venice Beach."
"Special Agent Fogg, is it?" Guttierez returned her stare. "You were probably dreaming about your prom dress when Blake and Lawson were already serving this county. If you don't like our teams, you can always request reassignment."
"No need for drama," said Agent Cole, a blonde cold woman around 35 in dark blue suit, in a voice tight with annoyance. "We appreciate your cooperation, don't we, Agent Fogg?"
Silence fell. The tension was thick enough to cut.
"Great start to a great cooperation," Alicia thought, watching Kelly Fogg with caution. She noticed the agent's tense jaw, the way her lips thinned with restrained emotion. There was anger, but also pain. She also noticed that Christine's cheeks had blushed slightly.
Agent Cole continued.
"Last night, 07:39 PM, a prison van returning from the Los Angeles courthouse was ambushed. Three CDRC officers were executed; another is in intensive care."
She tapped the projector remote. Two mugshots appeared showing two women, both looking around 35 years old, one Latina cold beauty and the second plain jane redhead. Christine narrowed her eyes when she saw the photos, searching through her memory. She knew the redhead, but with that name.
“Elisa Victoria Alvarez, aka "Toxic Ivy," and Dorothy Frederica Rothenberg, aka "D\_Root\@dir/wcd.." Alvarez, a chemist and key figure in the 18th Street Gang, had been orchestrating a cocaine lab. Rothenberg was a hacker involved in the Baker case—a series of frauds in Long Beach.
Blake interrupted,
"The Baker case? Ships workshops near the marina? I worked on this case."
"Correct. As I was saying," Cole continued, annoyed, "the van was blocked after the 91/71 junction. Armed men used a stolen earthmover and explosives. Officers were executed point-blank. An M60 machine gun was used—7.62 NATO rounds were recovered."
The room darkened.
“The two inmates were brought in a box semi-trailer from which came out via a ramp shortly afterwards 4 motorcycles each with a passenger in a black leather jacket on an orange suit which left in 4 different directions while 3 other light vehicles left by the highway: one drove to of Anaheim, one to Chino and the last in went to Riverside’s area. The Chino one was able to be chased but unfortunately its interception led to the death of the two men who were on board and no useful information has yet been found, apart from the fact that the two men were Latinos. We believe the target was 'Toxic Ivy.' Based on intel, she may be hiding within 18th Street territory or preparing for exfiltration via the port."
Lieutenant Guttierez took over.
"Boogie, activate your Crips contacts. Leprechaun, check the dockers, Special Agent Anderson will go with you. Crystal, Free Kick, check your dealers, any rumor could be useful and you’ll team with Agent Fogg"
"Request to switch with Anderson," Fogg snapped.
"Denied," the lieutenant said coldly. "Girls with girls, I don't want harassment reports."
"I can't work with... that," Kelly said, gesturing vaguely at Christine and Alicia.
"Not my problem, Agent Fogg," the lieutenant said, already leaving. "Agent Cole, your team, your problem"
Cole fixed Fogg with a cold stare.
"You’re working with them, Fogg."
"Yes, boss," Kelly muttered.
One minute later, as they exited, Fogg hissed to Anderson, loud enough for all to hear,
"I don't think they get the stakes."
Christine grabbed Kelly by the wrist, firm way.
"Sazaki, get a patrol vehicle and a shotgun. We'll catch you up."
"But—"
"Now!"
Christine yanked Kelly into an interrogation room.
"Come here, 'Lil'K.' We need to talk."
Christine closed the door to the room behind her and looked at Kelly with a frown as if she were still talking to a teenage girl. Kelly, offended by Christine's manner, angrily shouted at her:
"Don't call me that!" Kelly snapped. Her voice faltered.
The memories hit her. Ten years old’s Kelly, with her favorite doll on her knees and applauding Melissa, Christine, Penelope and Ashley in her parents’ garage. "Dazzling Dolls" was more than a band. It was a family, her family. “Dazzling Dolls… the band’s name was from my doll’s sparkling mermaid dress”.
Christine's voice softened.
"We need to talk about this. Don't let the past screw up our mission."
Kelly leaned against the glass wall and crossed her arms and replied in a rogue tone to mask her confusion:
"We're not teens anymore," Kelly said, trying to sound strong. "I make my own decisions. I'm F.A.T Special Agent now."
"You're exceptional, Kelly, being F.A.T Special Agent before reaching 25 is exceptional. But we need each other. I'm not here to patronize."
"It's not that simple." Kelly's voice rose. "You blew everything up with your drama ! We could have made it ! We were great ! Instead, now I'm chasing fugitives, and you’re an uniformed cop !"
"I made mistakes," Christine said, hands raised. "But I’m here, and proud of my badge, Kelly, as you’re proud of yours. We can still do good."
Kelly stared, skeptical but moved.
“Ho, do you really think we can do that? Working together after everything that has happened?”
Christine looked at Kelly and gave her a small smile that pinched the heart of the youngest, it was the smile that Christine had always had to console her as far as Kelly could remember!
“We have a chance to do something good together again. Something more important than a rock 'n' roll hit or a sold-out concert, there are lives at stake! You wouldn't have this badge if you weren't able to trust teammates! We're both experienced cops, even though we're not in the same service, so we team up?”
"You always believed in me," she murmured. "Even when I doubted myself."
"I still do, Kelly. I’ll always do"
Kelly sighed. "Okay. Together. But stop calling me 'Lil'K.'"
Christine smiled. "I'll try, Special Agent Fogg. Here, they call me 'Crystal.'"
"Better than Crissy Lawless for a cop." Kelly muttered.
Christine didn't answer but a small smile lit up her face when she opened the door of the interrogation room again. In the garage, Alicia handed Christine a form.
“I need your signature, Sergeant, at the bottom of page 2 and then at the top of page 1”
Sergeant Lawson took the board and skimmed over the vehicle pick-up form, she looked at her watch, filled in the time and signed the form. Tucked behind it: the booklet from "Lost Angels Tour" CD. She frowned and looked at her teammate who didn't blink. Christine smirked and wrote, "For an angel who must not get lost. —Crissy Lawless." Then handed the board to Alicia. The latter then says:
"I need your signature too, Agent Fogg," Alicia told Kelly as she handed her the board with the forms.
"Is this a joke?" Asked Kelly as she saw the booklet.
"No Ma’am, A request."
With a huff, Kelly signed and added, "Still alive! L.A. 2026. —Lil'K." then handed her back.
"Satisfied?"
"It will be a beautiful day,"
Alicia beamed as she went back the form to the garage counter and took the booklet in her pocket. Kelly got into the back seats of the vehicle and asked Christine in an upset voice,
“Were you the one who organized this autograph session ?”
“No ! Alicia is a real fan of "Dazzling Dolls" and I didn't know I was going to meet you today”
Christine laughed
“No kidding? A real fan?”
“Only a true fan could sing "U-turn" without a teleprompter.”
"Singing “U-turn"? That's not possible!” Kelly laughed, a sincere, crystalline laugh. “How did you go about composing this piece? He is so... weird.”
“Penny and I had tried peyote that night, she was high when she wrote the lyrics, half in the normal sense and half in mirror. She had actually written the lyrics on the bathroom mirror with my Chanel lipstick”
“No? You didn't tell me at the time!”
“Penny was really ashamed of what happened, she didn't touch peyote again nor any other drug. And we don’t want you testing some narcotics because of us.”
“I know ! If I…”
The silent fall when Alicia got into the car and started the engine.
“I have a lot of questions for you. Wow! I'm teaming up with two members of "Dazzling Dolls"! Fantastic !”
“We are on service, Sazaki, not in the cafeteria!”
Christine tone was more amused than upset, she looked at Kelly who seemed doubtful. But Alicia, her eyes shining with excitement, turned to Kelly:
“So, Agent Fogg, did you really write songs with Christine? It must be incredible! I mean, you're legends!”
Kelly, feigning indifference, replied with a smirk:
“Legends? I don't think so, officer. We just tried to make music, that's a thing of the past now,"
She added with a little wry look, looking at "Crystal." The latter, amused, added:
“Yes, we've also had our share of drama and awkward moments, haven't we, Kelly?”
Kelly rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but laugh:
“Oh, you're talking about our famous concert in Sacramento where Penny decided to do the “Pink Poker” ’s guitar solo and give you the microphone while you're mostly singing out of tune ?”
“Wait, I hope there's a video of this somewhere ! I absolutely have to see it !”
Christine, with a deceptively serious look, replied:
“I think we should delete all the recordings, for the sake of humanity and for the reputation of our band”
Kelly nodded in amusement, saying:
“I don't agree, Sergeant. I'm sure there are fans who would pay a lot for this, right, Officer Sazaki?"
“Of course! Alicia said enthusiastically. I bet that if you released a new album with this video as a bonus track, it would be a hit! Imagine, "Dazzling Dolls – Back to Live!" sounds great, wouldn't it?”
Then the radio crackled. A lead near the USS Iowa museum, suspects may be armed and dangerous.
"OPS 0-2, wilco. Let’s roll." Said Christine
Alicia turned on the siren and flashing lights before accelerating. Tension returned. Kelly checked her seatbelt, remembering the screwdriver wound in her bladder the previous year.
“Relax, "Free Kick", we're not shooting a remake of Bullit!”
Sergeant Lawson blurted out, watching out of the corner of his eye Kelly's nervousness in the back seat.
“If we hurry, we might be able to run into them, sergeant, we're 3 minutes from the parking lot!”
“Add a minute and we'll limit the risk of hitting a bus or ending up in the port’s water, replied
"Crystal" with a smile, you're not an ace at the wheel yet and my stomach is starting to knot."
She didn't speak for herself, "Shadow" understood that and was grateful to her. She didn't understand why she felt this fear, right now and now. It wasn't her first operation since her return from the hospital, but she had a bad feeling, she was looking for why, and suddenly:
“I didn't take my bulletproof vest !”
“You'll take mine, it's in the trunk with Sazaki's, replied "Crystal" in a detached tone.
“But what about you?”
"My car, my rules."
"You’re always protecting me."
"I keep my promises, Lil'K."
"Don't call me that!"
“Sorry, I missed it, Agent Fogg replied the sergeant with a chuckle. “Sazaki, you take the second left!”
“But it's not…”
“It's an order, Sazaki!”
A moment later, with a screech of tires, the car turned 90° to the left, entering a narrow street, the siren still blaring
“Softly Alicia ! You're driving a car not a motorcycle! 4 Wheels on the ground !”
Christine had spoken a little harshly and as Alicia was about to answer, the Christine shouted :
“Stop the car! Suspects in sight at 2 o’clock !”
She opened her door before their vehicle had even stopped and jumped to the men on the sidewalk, shouting:
“LASD! Hands visible, immediately!”
The suspects were two Latinos between 25 and 30 years old, one quite thin and wearing a colorful bandana and the other more burly in a dark suit. The one in the bandana started to run towards an alley while the other rushed in the dark old Ford.
“I'll take the sprinter, sergeant!” Shouted "Free Kick" and started running towards the alley without giving "Crystal" time to answer him
"Shit! Damn! She's alone and none of us are wearing our bulletproof vests and we're in MS-13 gang territory !”
"Crystal" thought as she drew her gun as ran towards the car that was starting to drive away to the boulevard, the driver's door not yet closed.
BLAM! BLAM !
Two dry detonations followed by a more discreet one as tire exploded and a sound of metal rubbing. "Shadow" had just fired into the front right wheel of the Ford, the driver, unable to maneuver properly, rubbed several parked vehicles before stopped. Kelly "Shadow" Fogg arrived on the suspect just before Christine to extract him from his seat with one firm hand, the other already holding one of the bracelets of his handcuffs.
“F.A.T! You are under arrest...”
She didn't have time to finish her sentence when in a quick and unexpected movement, the man sent Kelly to the ground with a fast martial art maneuver before giving a quick kick in the forearm of Christine which made her dropped her handgun before falling to her knees after receiving a violent punch in the solar plexus, breathless. She had the reflex to parry the kick aimed at her head with her left forearm, however the force of the blow made her hit the door of the Ford with her head and she felt that she was going to lose consciousness, sliding slowly to the ground, seeing red and green lights dancing in front of her eyes and thinking "at least I was able to preserve my nose".
Kelly got up and pulled out her pistol but the man was close to her before she could aim him. They struggled for a few seconds for possession of the Glock-17, Kelly wiped his smile off with a headbutt in the nose and his expensive sunglasses fell to the ground, shattered by the impact. The man was bleeding profusely but didn't seem to want to release his grip so easily and in turn headbutted Kelly once and then a second one that brought her to the verge of fainting and she dropped her weapon. He let Kelly slide to the ground, taking a tissue out of his pocket to wipe up the blood and try to stop the nasal bleeding in his left hand, while his hand slipped under his jacket to take out a stylus with a 10cm long blade. Kelly was dazed, vulnerable. "Please," she whispered.
“Anything personal, darling, you’ve just seen my face” He said quietly as he approached Kelly, “I'll do this quickly, you shouldn't suffer.”
Kelly stared at the tip of the knife and felt a pain tense in her lower abdomen, a reminder of her previous injury. He was about to grab Agent Fogg's hair when a voice shouted
“Drop your blade ! Now !”
He didn't turn around and Kelly felt his head rise by the man's grip when a shot rang out, the man cursed as he collapsed to the ground, his right leg having slipped under him, his knee shattered by the bullet fired by Sergeant Lawson who was struggling to her feet while keeping him in her line of sight.
"Lil'K, are you hurt?" Christine called.
"Don't call me that! I have... I am... Thank you, Crissy.”
As Christine recited Miranda rights to the suspect, Kelly steadied her breath. No leakage, thankfully. Her pad held. Shame swirled. Then Christine asked her :
“Could you hold him while I handcuff him?”
Kelly nodded and took her Glock from the floor. But the man put his hand to her mouth and began to convulse. Christine rushed to open her mouth, discovering the remains of a capsule and a bitter almond smell. She made a face as she said:
“Cyanide... Call the dispatcher and ask for help ! Call sign OPS 0-2 !”
Christine opened the suspect's shirt and removed his tie while trying to talk to him, telling him to stay calm and not to close his eyes. But in less than a minute, the man stopped convulsing and breathing. Christine tried for five long minutes to keep him alive with a cardiac massage but in vain. She continued until the ambulance medics took over and pronounced him dead.
---
Christine leaned back against the patrol car and it was when Kelly approached her to ask if she was okay that she became worried:
"Where’s Free Kick?"
"Here!" Alicia beamed, dragging the other suspect. “Sorry for the delay, friends, but this young man didn't seem to want to flirt with me, I’m a little bit disappointed”.
Christine turned to her and saw her shirt slightly stained with sweat and a partially torn sleeve revealing a few scratches and a growing bruise on her cheekbone. But she proudly held by the arm an handcuffed Latino.
“Ho-ho, I missed something serious it seems. "Free Kick" resumed. You're both hurt!”
“Nothing serious” Christine and Kelly replied together.
There was a short moment of silence and the 3 women began to laugh, a laugh of relief and nervousness.
“Okay, put this gentleman in the car and let's take a closer look at Mister suit’s Ford.” Christine Lawson ordered.
Alicia made the suspect sit in the back seat, hooking the handcuffs to the ring provided for this purpose and then closed the door, while her partners put on their latex gloves to participate in the search.
“This way, Sergeant!” Called “Leprechaun” O'Flynn, "look at what's in the trunk!"
The keys found in Mister suit’s pocket by Officer O'Flynn were tried on the crates’ padlocks in the trunk of the dark sedan. Christine Lawson whistled when she saw the contents: one M-60 machine gun with a well-weathered breech, two M-72 disposable rocket launchers, seven used M-16 rifles, 4 boxes of ammunition with US ARMY markings and an old army bag with a dozen of M26 grenades.
“A full squad’s equipment ! We will have some questions for the one you grabbed, "Free Kick", good job !”
“I think we have found most of the weapons that were used in the attack on yesterday's prison van, Sergeant”, said Leprechaun, smelling one rifle “powder and lubricant, recent use”.
“They don't look recent,” Alicia remarked. “This M-16 is even patched up with duct tape !”
“ Yep !” Detective Blake replied. “I can even tell you that the M16s are A1 models, the same my grand-dad used in Vietnam... I don't think they have been producing it since the end of the 80s. These rifles are probably older than all of us.”
“It looks like Mister suit came to give or sold them to the guy in the bandana”
“He has symbols and tattoos of the 18th Street gang. Which confirms my boss's hypothesis about the exfiltration of "Poison Ivy" by her gang. Now we have to find her hiding place and what happen to the hacker, good job for a half day !”. Said Kelly.
“I have a doubt, Kelly... It seems so straightforward." Answered Christine.
“It's a decoy, Sergeant, Alicia blurted out. A nice smokescreen !”
“Do you think you're smarter than an experienced Special Agent, little one?” Kelly answered a little dismissively.
“No Agent Fogg. With all due respect to your superior, there are some things that don't add up: why would a mercenary at 18th Street gang’s orders wants to sell weapons supplied by this gang to another member of the same gang? And why proceeding at this transaction here, in a MS13 gang’s territory ?”
“Go ahead, Free Kick !” Replied Christine, hastening to interrupt Kelly, whose cheeks had turned red, indignant as she was at the audacity of her rookie teammate.
Christine smiled for two reasons: despite appearances, Alicia was not only an excellent athlete and a sharpshooter, but she also had a cop’s flair. And Kelly was still as lively as ever, and she was happy to see that the little girl who followed her everywhere for twenty years hadn't changed much, except physically: the skinny teen girl with the acne face become an assertive young woman today.
“The guy with the bandana had an envelope full of money in his pockets. He probably got rid of a gun in a dumpster a block away from here when I was chasing him, but he didn't want to give up his money, that's how I was able to stop him. But if we assume that these weapons were used in the ambush of our colleagues yesterday and that the casings and bullets were found were used by those weapons, we have direct proof against 18St gang. And even if we hadn't recovered them here and now, at least one of them would have been found by colleagues in the hands of a gang member somewhere in the future. And suddenly, bingo! Case solved !”
“And no further investigation would be necessary, barring something new” added Kelly thoughtfully. “You might be right, Free Kick, well done! Please accept my apologies.”
Alicia blushed a little and gave her a small but grateful smile.
“If I were Mister suit's boss, I would also have taken the trouble to sell the weapons I used to a rival gang in order to erase my trail and put us on a dead end.” Said Christine.
“The main trail is about “Toxic Ivy”, because she’s D. Chem and managed a narcotic labs with around 50 guys under her authority. Not a small fish in the gang and yesterday was the first day of her trial, so all mean she was the target of the ambush, however… However, this is all disturbing”.
“You mean that "Toxic Ivy" is not finally the right track, Agent Fogg ? That we must be interested in... the other woman?” asked “Black Boogie”
“I didn't say that, and that's why it could be a brilliant double trigger plan : blame the St18 if we didn't find the weapons quickly or clear "Poison Ivy" if we found them before the transaction was made. It could be vengeance of a rival gang who would like to use this woman for their interests while sending us to look elsewhere.”
“Or maybe a vengeance from the inner of 18th Street Gang. They lost more than $ 20 million when she was arrested : money, drug, labs.”
“It seems hard to set it up, even for seasoned gangers” Said “Black Boogie”
"But it's not impossible, replied Christine, smiling. What do you think, Kelly?”
Kelly looked at “Black Boogie”, Christine and then Alicia. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and then sighed:
“I must say that it would indeed be a brilliant idea. We’ll have to do a close and precise interrogation of the guy you arrested, "Free Kick", and hope to get some information about Mister suit. But it could be also a mystification to lure us elsewhere, and if we lost the trail, I will be transferred back to a warden assignment in women’s jail. But your theory holds up, Free Kick." Kelly agreed with a small but sincere smile.
The three women stood beside the trunk of outdated war tools and tangled loyalties. It wasn’t just a case. It was their past, their trust, and their choices being tested. And for once, they were facing it together.