FAKE Fic: Unseen Observer
May. 1st, 2020 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Unseen Observer
Fandom: FAKE
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Ryo, Dee, OCs
Rating: PG
Setting: After the manga.
Summary: Dee is undercover making a deal for a large quantity of drugs, so naturally Ryo is watching his partner’s back.
Word Count: 1753
Written For: Challenge 277: Cross at
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fan_flashworks. Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.
Eye to the scope of his sniper rifle, Ryo took aim, making countless tiny automatic adjustments to keep the target in the crosshairs as the man stalked back and forth. He had to be ready to fire if things went sideways, but so far Dee hadn’t been made as a cop; the guy he was meeting with had accepted him as someone interested in buying a sizeable quantity of drugs.
His lover’s voice came through Ryo’s earpiece as Dee explained how his ‘business partner’ had double-crossed him and taken off for parts unknown with the last drug consignment, which was why he needed more at such short notice. In reality, the real dealer was in police custody and had spilled his guts; now Dee was working on finding out the name of the next link in the supply chain.
“Let me tell ya, when I catch up with Roddy Willis, and I will, I’ll make him wish he’d never met me,” Dee was seething. “Told me it we’d be partners in the deal so I ponied up more than half the money and then the slimy bastard screwed me over! I’ll teach him nobody crosses Tony Castile. His own mama ain’t gonna recognise what’s left of him when I’m done!”
“You have my sympathy, Mr Castile; people can be so untrustworthy these days, and if I should hear tell of Mr Willis’s whereabouts I’ll be sure to pass the information on as soon as possible. Such an underhanded cheat deserves everything he gets.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Dee agreed. “So, can ya deliver what I’m lookin’ to buy on schedule or not? And if ya can’t I expect ya to say so; don’t go messin’ me around or you’ll find yourself sharin’ Roddy’s fate. I don’t like people who mess me around any more’n I like people who break their promises and steal from me, you get where I’m comin’ from?”
On the rooftop, Ryo grinned to himself; Dee was making the mark downright nervous, although he was trying his best to hide it.
“I understand perfectly, Mr Castile, don’t worry about a thing; my boss can supply as much coke as you require, and it’s primo stuff, the best on the market, pure as the driven snow. My boss is a stickler for quality, he won’t handle substandard goods.”
“You’ll understand if I’m wary ‘bout takin’ the word of a middleman, sonny. What guarantee do I have you’re tellin’ me the truth? You’d better not be shinin’ me on; I’ll make you real sorry if I find out you’re lyin’.”
“I believe you, Mr Castile, but I speak for my boss and he’s well known for always keeping his word in his business dealings, you can take that to the bank.”
“Well isn’t that reassuring? Just how am I expected to trust the word of your mysterious boss, passed down to me second-hand? It’s all very fine he’s well known for his… honesty, but I’m not exactly in a position to judge since I don’t know who he is. You want to deal with me you’ll have to give me a better assurance than that. I ain’t wastin’ my money a second time.”
“Of course, Mr Castile, I’m sure I can set your mind at rest.” The man looked around himself nervously before stepping closer to Dee.
Ryo’s breathing grew shallow as he prepared to fire at the first hint of trouble; this was make or break.
“My boss is Rudy Belucci.” The man’s voice was low now, hardly more than a whisper, but Ryo still heard his words clearly thanks to the wire concealed in Dee’s flashy belt buckle.
“Alfredo’s youngest, huh?” Dee kept his voice low too, knowing his every word was being picked up clear as day and recorded as evidence. “That’s a pretty decent pedigree.”
“Exactly, and everyone knows the word of a Belucci, or even the word of one of their trusted agents, is solid gold. Like I said, you have nothing to worry about. We take our business dealings very seriously, satisfaction guaranteed.”
“I’ve heard that said. Well, in that case, I believe we have a deal. Tell your boss I’ll be here with the money tomorrow mornin’, six o’clock sharp, and you’d better be here waitin’ with the goods, sonny, ‘cause I have a busy day and I don’t like to be delayed, understand?”
“I’ll be here, Mr Castile, and it’s Frankie.”
“What’s Frankie? What’re ya talkin’ about?”
“My name, Mr Castile, Sir; it’s Frankie, not Sonny. Frankie Crosetti.”
“Is that so? You show up here, on time, and with the goods, maybe I’ll remember that.”
Dee turned away without offering to shake hands, strolled across the building site to his car, pausing before getting in to wipe the dust off his shiny Italian leather shoes, but Ryo didn’t see that; he was still focused on Frankie, who looked annoyed at Dee’s casual dismissal. He saw Frankie’s lips move, mouthing, ‘Arrogant sonofabitch! Up yours, Mr Castile, Sir!’ but then Frankie shrugged and straightened his jacket before making his way to his own car.
As the two cars departed, Ryo scanned the area one last time then packed up his rifle and slipped silently across the roof to the stairwell and down to the battered, seemingly empty panel van, parked unobtrusively in a nearby alley, where two detectives from Narcotics had been recording the entire exchange. The rear door opened as he approached and he climbed in.
“Did you get everything you needed?” he asked.
“And more. Never thought your partner would get that guy to give up his boss’s name so easy, and without even askin’ for it.”
“He’s good; he knows which buttons to push. Frankie wants to be seen as more important than he really is, so Dee just played on that.”
“Tomorrow morning, when Frankie boy shows up with the goods and the buy goes down, we’ll arrest them both and have a team standing by to take down Rudy Belucci at the same time. You want in on that one? We could use a good sniper for backup.”
Ryo shook his head. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be up on that rooftop again, backing up my partner while he makes the buy, just in case there’s trouble. It’s not a done deal, not quite yet.”
“You expectin’ some kind of double-cross?”
“No, but better to go in prepared than be caught flat-footed if something does go wrong.”
“Yeah,” the second detective, the older and more experienced of the two, spoke for the first time. “It’s when folks get ahead of themselves that the shit tends to hit the fan; none of us can afford to relax until we’ve made the arrests and got the evidence squared away. We’ve been workin’ on takin’ this bunch down for too long to screw it up at the last minute.”
The next morning, everything went like clockwork. Dee checked the goods, two kilos of uncut cocaine, handed over a briefcase of money, and was just about to get into his car when a dozen police cars tore into the building site from all directions, detectives and uniformed officers leaping out with guns drawn.
As Dee was cuffed and shoved into the back of a patrol car, up on his roof Ryo could hear his partner yelling about how this had to be that slimeball Willis’s doing.
“Bastard wants me outta the way so he can take over my business! Not enough that he screwed me over once, now the little weasel’s somehow done it again!”
“Don’t worry, Mr Castile,” Frankie tried to soothe him as the cuffs were slapped on him too. “Mr Belucci has connections, I’m sure he can recommend a good lawyer.”
“Yeah? I listened to you before, sonny, and look where that got me!” Dee yelled. “This is the last time I do business with you OR your boss! So much for his gold-plated fuckin’ reputation!” The rear door was slammed shut and Dee was driven away at speed, still loudly airing his grievances.
As the last car vanished out of sight, Ryo set down his rifle, shaking with barely suppressed laughter. Trust Dee to ham it up, he was enjoying his role way too much, and yet Ryo had to admit that his partner was convincing. Packing his rifle into its case, just like the day before he made his way down the stairs to the same beat up van and the same two detectives.
“Your partner is crazy, man!” the younger of the two said, grinning and wiping away tears of laughter.
“Should win an Oscar for that performance,” the older man chuckled.
“He gets a bit carried away sometimes,” Ryo grinned, flopping into a seat and rolling his shoulders to get the kinks out. After spending two hours or more with his eye glued to the scope of his rifle he was feeling a little stiff.
Dee’s voice came through Ryo’s earpiece and the other detectives’ headsets at the same time.
“Hey, Ryo, you there bud?”
Ryo borrowed a spare headset, putting it on. “Right here, Dee. That was some performance.”
“Best part of the whole gig! Did you see Frankie’s face? He was practically fallin’ over himself tryin’ to convince me our gettin’ arrested could be fixed!”
“I have a feeling Rudy Belucci won’t be amused about his name being broadcast to all and sundry!”
“Tell me about it! Wish I could be a fly on the wall when he finds out!” Dee chuckled. “Hey, don’t know about you, but I’m starvin’. How about breakfast at the diner? Pancakes are on me.”
“Sounds good, but you’d best get changed first; I don’t think you get to keep that suit.”
“Damn shame, that! Thought I looked pretty good in it; hard to keep clean though.” A disappointed sigh reached Ryo’s ears. “Fine. See ya back at the precinct; if I give the suit back, then can we go for breakfast?”
“Sure you can afford it now you’re not Tony Castile?”
“I think I can just about scrape together enough for pancakes and coffee.”
“Okay then, that’s an offer I’m not gonna refuse. Hey, Dee?”
“Yeah?”
“You did good out there. See you in a bit.” Ryo handed the headset back and relaxed in the back of the van as it started up and pulled away. One more assignment successfully completed and a drugs ring about to come crashing down; some days it really felt good to be a cop.
The End
