Chapter 3
“Surgical precision”, Tobin said to Abby. They were in the bank, watching security tapes of the robbery. “Look at the way they cover the room.”
“Liz and Mary know their jobs”, Abby said.
“Efficient, too”, Tobin said as she watched Daenerys and Cleopatra start emptying the cash drawers. “Two on the money, two posting cover.”
“Yup. The Queens are the best I’ve ever seen”, Abby said, then sighed. “Twenty seven banks in three years.”
“Wow”, Tobin said, still watching the security footage, paying attention to Cleopatra and Daenerys as they continued to empty the cash drawers. “They never go for the vault?” she asked, looking up at Abby.
“No. Never”, Abby said, shaking her head. “They stick strictly to the cash drawers.”
“I guess you’d burn time in the vault”, Tobin theorized.
“Correct”, Abby said. “And these girls are in and out in ninety seconds. No vault, and no one ever gets shot.”
“Wow”, Tobin said. How would criminals this good ever be caught, she wondered as she turned back to the screen. She continued to watch the footage as the robbers made their exit. She saw Mary flip the security camera the double bird and was about to ask Abby a question when an interruption from an unfamiliar voice came.
“Alright, if you two dumbasses are done mindlessly watching these tapes, we real investigators need to get a look.” Tobin looked up and saw that the words had come from a tallish brunette with wavy hair. The woman with her, who Tobin assumed was her partner, also had brown hair and was of similar appearance, just a bit older. Both were dressed in matching grey suits.
“Who’s this?” Tobin asked Abby.
“Uh, Shannon and Lauren, this is my new partner Tobin”, Abby said.
“Nice to meet you guys”, Tobin said, sticking out her hand. Neither Shannon nor Lauren made a move to shake it.
“Look at you, first week on the job. Oooohhh, isn’t this exciting?” Lauren said condescendingly to Tobin.
“What is your problem, dude?” Tobin asked, staring Lauren down.
“'Dude'?”, Lauren repeated after Tobin. “Grow up, junior. We use adult words around here.” Then she turned to Abby. “Speaking of ‘dude’, Hang ten, Abby, like totally raaaaaad, duuuude!” she said.
Shannon laughed and looked at Abby. “Have you told the kid your theory yet?” she asked with amusement and then looked at Tobin. “The department loves it.”
“Alright you guys”, Abby said, exasperated.
“What are they talking about, Abby?” Tobin asked. Abby just stared at her, and Tobin was about to ask again when Jill approached.
“We found the stolen drop car up on Mulholland”, Jill said to the group.
“We’ll go work it”, Tobin jumped in.
Abby looked at Tobin and then closed her eyes. Christ, the kid was volunteering us to work a fucking drop car. This eager-beaver is going to be a pain in my ass, she thought.
“Abby?” Jill asked and raised her eyebrow.
Abby looked at Jill who was waiting expectantly for an answer, then looked at Tobin who was bouncing with excitement, then at Shannon and Lauren who were smiling at her with smug expressions, and then back at Jill. “Fine”, she said with a resigned sigh. “We’ll go work it”, she said. Tobin smiled at her and slapped her on the shoulder, and the two of them went off.
“Have fun!” Shannon called after them sarcastically, and Abby turned around and flipped her the bird.
********
“Sweat secretion stains in the seats”, Tobin said, examining the car. “Today was a scorcher.” She continued to look around for other clues. “No trash, no debris. These guys are clean”, she said to herself.
“You figure this one out yet?” Abby asked sarcastically. Tobin kept examining the car, not bothering to reply to Abby’s jab. “At the rate you’re going, you’ll be able to solve this one and be home in time for dinner”, Abby growled out, then walked away from the car grumbling, “Drop car my ass, what the fuck…”
“Hey”, Tobin said, walking up to Abby. Abby turned around and stared at her. “So, you’ve been working bank robbery what – ten years?” Tobin asked.
“Twelve”, Abby responded.
“Right, twelve”, Tobin said. “So, I’m guessing that someone with your experience has a theory on these guys.”
Abby stared at Tobin for a moment and then said. “Forget it, kid.”
“What?” Tobin asked, putting some force in her voice.
“I said forget it, kid. These people are ghosts.”
“Right”, Tobin said. “Of course. You can’t figure it out, with all of your years of experience, so there’s no possible way that someone like me would have anything to offer, right?”
“Kid…” Abby said through gritted teeth, warning in her voice.
“Well, maybe you’re right. Or maybe you’ve just given up. Maybe you’re too burned out, washed up, and over the hill.”
“Kiiiiid, I’m warning you”, Abby growled.
“Warning me about what?” Tobin challenged. She had worked and trained too hard to let some burned out partner drag her down before her career even got started. “What could you possibly threaten me with? You’re so burned out you can’t even kick a fucking soccer ball into a wide open net from twenty yards out. Why don’t you just take some early retirement right now, get a job as a rent-a-cop at a 7-11 or something, and tell stories about the "glory days”, if you ever even had any!”
“Fuck you, you eager-ass little punk!” Abby exploded in anger and grabbed Tobin’s shirt.
“What!? You mad?” Tobin taunted.
“Yeah!” Abby yelled.
“Good and mad!?” Tobin taunted again.
“Yeah!” Abby yelled again and raised a fist.
“Feels good, don’t it?” Tobin yelled. “Like you’re still alive, huh!” She stared at Abby, who stared back at her, fired up. Tobin saw a flicker in Abby’s eyes, a switch, and she pressed on. “Well, since you’re still alive and you’re not dead just yet, why don’t you tell me your theory, and we’ll go out and fucking get these assholes!” Tobin raged.
Abby stood there for a moment, staring at Tobin. The younger woman’s eyes were ablaze, and in that moment, Abby felt it. True, she was burned out. A dozen years of chasing scumbags wore you down. But this kid, this brash, gung-ho eager beaver punk, annoying as she was, had made her feel, once again, what it was like to have a purpose, a mission. To feel alive. A feeling she hadn’t felt in years, and looking at this fresh-faced recruit from UNC made her remember what she herself had felt when she had first joined the FBI, all those years ago. She exhaled, lowered her fist, and let go of Tobin’s shirt. The two of them stood there in standoff, staring at each other, and then Abby smiled slightly. “So, you want to nail the Queen Team and be a rock star, huh?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
Tobin stood there for a moment and then returned the slight smile. “Definitely. And I want us to do it. Together. As partners.”
Abby smiled again and then leaned in. “Well then, here it is”, she said. “The Queen Team…are surfers.”
Tobin pulled back, a look of shock on her face. This was not at all what she had expected Abby’s theory to be. “Surfers…?” she asked back for clarification.
“Yes, hot shot”, Abby said in confirmation. “Surfers.”
********
After their come-to-Jesus talk at the drop car site, Tobin and Abby headed back to Abby’s office and started re-watching the footage from the recent heist. They got to the part where Mary raised her arms and flipped the camera the bird with both hands, and Abby paused the footage.
“See that?” Abby said, pointing to Mary’s stomach. There was about two inches of bare skin showing right around Mary's waistline, just below the bulletproof vest and the shirts. In the middle of the exposed skin was a tan line. “Look at the tan line on this asshole.”
“Yeah, I see it”, Tobin said, absorbed. She was completely in the zone after her and Abby’s fight, focused and as fired up as she had ever been. They were going to get these girls. She could feel it.
“Now, check this out”, Abby said as she rummaged around her office. “Last year, Liz jumps off the counter at one of their jobs, and scuffs it with her shoe. So, we get a soil sample”, Abby said, and hands Tobin a sheet of paper with a lab printout. “The lab came back with several hundred compounds, but logistics narrowed it down to a dozen likely products. From that, given situation and circumstances, I narrowed it down to three possibilities. One of those is this”, she said and handed Tobin a plastic container.
“What’s this?” Tobin said, as she turned the container in her hands. It was red and about the size of a bar of soap. On it was written ‘Sex Wax’. Tobin continued to turn the container in her hand. “I didn’t know you were into kinky shit, Abby”, she said jokingly.
“Funny, kid”, Abby retorted. “It’s wax, for surfing. Surfers rub it on their boards for traction.”
“Okay…” Tobin said.
“Also, check this out”, Abby said and handed a sheet of paper with some dates. “Check out the dates. This is strictly a summer job for these assholes”, Abby said.
“I see”, Tobin said. “They start in early June and stop in August late.” She looked at Abby and then said, “They’re only here in the summer, when the waves are here, and then they leave. Maybe they travel around the world, following the surf.”
“That’s my theory, yes”, Abby confirmed.
Tobin sat for a moment, taking it all in, and then said, “So, we’ve got a gang of bank robbers who are possibly surfers”, she said. Then she looked at Abby and said, “So, what’s the next move?”
Abby looked at Tobin and then a small smile crept over her lips. “So, hot shot…what did they teach you about undercover work?”