The Lincoln jetted down the Gardiner at speeds well over one hundred kilometres an hour. Hause was behind the wheel.
“Slow down,” Ms. Zee ordered from behind. This was no time to be pulled over.
Ms. Zee had asked Martin to accompany them. He had been acting different these days. She didn’t need her business advisor getting any ideas. She was going to pay close attention to him. That was why she had sent Kong to pay him a visit at the BUBBLE T SHOP. The close encounter with the black officer had made Martin even more…difficult. He was constantly asking about Nex, suggesting, not in exact words, that they pull out of the operation.
They drove to an address near Bathurst and Dupont Streets and parked in front of a semi-detached house.
“Your friend lives here?” Martin asked.
Burrows didn’t answer. He was too busy trying to get out of the car.
“Hause, stay here,” Ms. Zee ordered. “Keep your eyes open.”
Burrows led the way from the side of the house to the back. They passed through a gate and went to the basement.
Burrows knocked. “Frank, open up. It’s Ed,” Burrows demanded.
The door opened and a short man wearing a Limp Bizkit t-shirt stood facing them. “Come in,” he said.
The basement didn’t smell too welcoming. Martin took out a handkerchief and covered his mouth. Pigs lived better than this man, Martin thought.
“Did you bring the money?” Frank said to Ed.
“First show us what we want,” Ms. Zee said.
Frank looked in the direction of Ms. Zee but didn’t make eye contact. He went to a room and came back holding a plastic bottle. There was a small table with Styrofoam boxes scattered on it. With the back of his hand he cleared it; the boxes fell to the floor.
He dropped a couple of white tablets on top of the table and stood back. “That’s what you want,” he said, still refusing to make eye contact with anyone.
They didn’t understand.
“What is it?” Ms. Zee said.
“Rapidly disintegrating tablets,” he responded, looking at the ground. “They will dissolve in the mouth within two to three seconds.”
“Three seconds?” Ms. Zee said. “Is that possible?”
“Yeah. Two to three seconds.”
Burrows brow furrowed and he made no comment.
“Try it,” Frank said.
Ms. Zee looked at Burrows, who shook his head. She didn’t even bother turning to Martin, who was still holding the handkerchief over his mouth.
“All right,” Frank said. “I’ll try it.” He picked one tablet and placed it on the back of his tongue and closed his mouth. Hardly a second later, he opened and his tongue was empty of the tablet. “It’s safe. It’s just a placebo.”
Seeing this, Burrows had to satisfy his scientific curiosity. He gingerly picked one tablet and placed it in his mouth. The tablet disappeared on his tongue. He smiled at Ms. Zee. “Yes, it’s possible.”
She picked one tablet and tried it. It was true. She turned to Martin.
Martin wasn’t interested, but her stare pushed him. He didn’t like the tablets lying exposed to the filth on the table. He carefully picked one up and immediately shoved it into his mouth. His eyes widened. Nex could actually be produced.
“It dissolves with the saliva,” Frank said. “And goes straight into the blood stream-”
“-Having an immediate effect,” Burrows completed the sentence.
There was a brief silence.
“Satisfied?” Frank said, as if he was talking to someone else in the room.
“Yes, but how?” asked Ms. Zee.
“Do you have my money?” he said.
“First. How?”
“No, no, no. I showed you, now my money.”
Ms. Zee nodded to Martin, who removed a folded manila envelope and placed it on the table. Frank snatched it and disappeared into another room.
Burrows plucked another tablet off the table and crushed it between his two fingers. “It’s powder.”
“Yes, of course it’s powder,” Frank said coming back.
“Now will you tell us how?” Ms. Zee said. “That is why we paid you.”
“It’s freeze-dried. It’s a precise process-but once done will give you that result.”
“What does it contain?” Burrows said, looking at the powder on his fingertips.
“Gelatin, mannitol, glycine, sodium laurylsulphate, and sodium hydroxide, and some sweeteners for elegance.”
Ms. Zee didn’t understand, but she hoped Burrows did.
Burrows responded, “Those are polymers, permeation enhancers and flavour and sweeteners: the usual excipients you find in any tablets.”
“Yes, the key is the process.”
He disappeared into the same room and reappeared with a stack of paper bound at the corners. “Everything you want to know is in here. The steps must be meticulously followed to ensure a functional product.”
Ms. Zee picked the stack and, without looking, handed it to Burrows. He immediately began digesting the pages.
“I never gave that to you,” Frank said.
Ms. Zee understood. Patents and copyrights were not his problem.
“Everything is in here,” Burrows said with a glimmer of hope. “It is possible to have that result.”
Back in the car, Martin asked, “How did you know about Frank?”
“Frank works for Bantam. Once I realized what the drug needed I contacted him. He refused at first; he didn’t want to lose his job. But when I told him how Bantam had screwed me and so many others and that one day they’d likely screw him, too, he agreed to provide Bantam’s secret delivery process designs. For a large sum, of course.”
Ms. Zee didn’t care for the reason, just that she now had the manufacturing process in her hands.
We were in Scarborough and Beadsworth had just gotten off the phone with Aldrich. We were good to go. Tonight we were going to raid the building across.
Shortly before, Nemdharry had notified us that the white U-Haul had made a stop at a large warehouse in Niagara Falls.
We were waiting for the sunset. We were waiting for darkness. It was only a few hours away. I was getting anxious. This was my first raid.
“Have you ever used a gun?” I heard Beadsworth say.
“Yeah, of course,” I replied.
I had trained, of course, but had never used a gun in real life.
He leaned over and from the glove compartment pulled out a Glock. How do I know it was a Glock? I watch a lot of movies.
“This is more for intimidation than enforcement,” he said.
It was heavy and black. I felt powerful and scared-all at the same time.
“Would I have to shoot anyone?” I asked Beadsworth. He was sketching a diagram of the building. Earlier he had circled the building from a distance.
“If necessary, yes,” he answered.
“Have you shot anyone?”
He paused and thought about it. “Do you mean have I fired at anyone?”
“Same thing.”
“Not quite. I have fired my gun at someone but I have never hit anyone.”
I thought about it. “What if I have to shoot someone?” I asked.
“If you have to.”
“What if I can’t?”
“Then they will shoot you.”
What if I did shoot someone and they died? I didn’t know if I could live with that. Or worse, what if I got hit? I might die. This lingered in my mind.
A Toyota drove up and parked a few cars away. Garnett and Herrera emerged. Garnett had the usual I’m-gonna-rip-your-head-off look. Herrera looked different. He didn’t have the cheerful look any more. He had the Let’s-get-down-and-nail-these-guys look. I would look like that too if my partner had gotten hurt.
“Finally, we do something practical,” Garnett said.
Herrera nodded. He looked anxious, and fidgeted.
Garnett had given authority over this raid to Beadsworth. Like us, he was looking forward to ending this.
Another car approached. Two plainclothes officers emerged from inside. They were introduced as Officer Ross and Officer Moro. They were both in their early thirties and looked like they knew what they were doing.
“Now that we are all here,” Beadsworth said, spreading the paper with the design of the building on top of the car hood. We all circled around. “From my observations the building has one main entrance and several exits in the back. There is a main loading dock. There are two emergency exits on either side. Beside these exits there are two additional fire exits going through each level.”
Beadsworth paused, looking over the paper. “Around eight-thirty a white U-Haul truck will park behind the building. Management has confirmed that the loading dock is shut down after eight o’clock. Meaning if there is any movement of goods it occurs through the emergency exits.
“Detective Garnett and Detective Herrera will move in from the front. Officer Ross and Officer Moro will take the fire exits and Officer Rupret and I will go up the emergency exits. Do you all have protection?”
Protection? I looked around.
Both Ross and Moro tapped their chests.
“Officer Rupret will need one,” Beadsworth said.
Garnett went over to his vehicle and pulled a blue Kevlar vest from the trunk and handed it to me. It was heavy. “Do I get a helmet?” I asked.
“What?” he snorted.
“What if I got shot in the head?”
“That might not be such a loss,” he said, and walked away.
I put on the Kevlar and then my jacket. I tapped my jacket pocket for the Glock. I then returned to the group.
“How’s Barnes doing?” Moro asked Herrera. In the force only a handful knew what had happened to Barnes.
“He’s recovering,” said Herrera, not wanting to talk about it.
There was silence. I was getting anxious. My palms were sweating. My stomach was churning. My heart was beating. I had to calm myself. I looked around. I spotted the BUBBLE T SHOP. That would relax me-a cup of bubble tea. Strawberry. But I couldn’t just leave. Could I?
“We still got time,” I said as casually as possible. “You guys want something? Coffee? Bubble tea?”
Except for Beadsworth, they all gave me their orders.
I walked in the direction of the shop. I took deep breaths. I needed to relax. I entered the shop and found Susan behind the counter. She smiled, recognizing me.
“Welcome back,” she said.
“Hello,” I said.
“Let me guess,” she smiled. “Strawberry bubble tea. Right?”
“Yes, one please,” I responded.
“On the house,” said a voice from behind the girl. It was the owner.
“But I need other stuff too. For my colleagues.”
“Everything is complimentary,” he said. He looked very happy.
“Thank you. You know, I’ll come back here often.”
He went silent.
“Next time I would like to pay, though,” I said.
“Of course, of course.”
I leaned closer. “You know what?” He also leaned closer. “I’m in the police force.”
“Really?” he said, looking tense.
“And you know what?”
“What?” he said.
“I’m going tell everyone about you guys-“
He looked a little pale now.
“-Because you guys know how to treat your customers.”
“Thank you,” he said with a smile.
“After I’m through, this place will be packed. You know how cops are, always eating doughnuts and drinking coffee. You’ll have more business than ever.”
“Thank you,” he said again.
I really didn’t mind helping good, decent, hard-working people. All they ever want is to make an honest living.
Susan handed me my order and I left.
“This is good,” said Ross. He was drinking a kiwi bubble tea.
“Yep, the best,” I said sipping my strawberry. “You sure you don’t want any?” I said to Beadsworth, who shrugged me off.
“Not bad,” Garnett grunted.
“The truck has left Niagara Falls,” Beadsworth said, coming back.
Nemdharry and Terries and a team were waiting outside the warehouse for us. When we went in, they’d go right after us. The raid had to be at exactly the same time. No chance for RACE to warn anyone.
Half an hour later a white truck drove up and eased into the back of the building. We were sitting in our cars. Beadsworth speed-dialed and said something on his cell. He then signaled the two other vehicles.
The car with Ross and Moro sped out first, followed by the car with Garnett and Herrera. We were the last to leave the parking lot.
As we entered the front of the building we saw Garnett and Herrera swerve left and park at the main doors. We drove past them and straight through the side lane that led to the back parking lot. Up ahead we saw Ross and Moro’s vehicle park vertically so as to block the entrance and exit to the back.
We stopped behind them and got out. This all took less than thirty seconds.
I raced around the corner to the back, sweating profusely underneath the vest. My heart was thumping and my knees felt like they would give at any minute. The back lot was dark and empty, except for one vehicle-the white truck. It was parked in front of a wide-open emergency door and it was still running. Ross stood beside it. He shook his head; no one was in it.
Beadsworth signaled me to take the other emergency door. I nodded and headed in that direction. I heard metal clangs and looked up to see Moro racing up the fire escape. I reached the door and found it had no handle.
Of course it had no handle. It was an emergency door, only to be opened from inside.
What should I do now?
Go back?
I had seen Beadsworth go through the open emergency door. I should go help him.
I was about to turn back when the metal door swung open and hit me straight in the face. I fell back, my head spinning and my eyes watery. A man stood beside the door holding a carton. When he saw me, he immediately dropped the box and retreated up the stairs.
I felt something roll through my nostril and onto my upper lip, but I didn’t have time to check it out. I started after the man.
At the top of the stairs he turned right.
Skipping steps, I made it to the top. He turned again. I kept after him.
When I turned right for the third time, he was still climbing the stairs ahead of me.
“Stop!” I said, but he kept moving. I pulled out my gun. He passed another man who was holding a large box.
The man froze. I was halfway up the stairs when he threw the box at me. I tried avoiding it, but it hit me like a brick. I lost my balance and tumbled down the stairs. My head hit something hard and I went blank.