Brody looked questioningly at Lulu once Tres was out the door. "What does he mean he'll be back for you later?"

Bruce just smirked, grabbed a drink and settled in for the fireworks he knew were about to begin.

Lulu sighed. "I've turned over the list."

Brody's peeper popped. "You what? Lulu that was your insurance policy! What will keep them from coming after you now?"

Annie moved to the edge of the couch, her whole body tense like she was sitting in the cinema taking in her favorite romantic flick. I shook my head, and wondered if I should interrupt, and decided to wait.

"I'm tired of running and hiding. I want this to be over."

"You put yourself at risk. Bruce and I tracked down those that may be an issue in the organization. They shouldn't be a problem any more. But Lulu the cops..."

"I'm not hearing this. I AM a cop, and your talking murder right in front of me."

"You took out the bastard that tried to kill Lulu when she was out with Buck. I'll always owe you for that but don't tell me you did so because you're a cop?" Brody said, his gaze penetrating to the very heart of the matter. I sat back, and Annie was now staring at me.

I shut my eyes. My head hurt and I rested it on the back of the chair. "Stop staring at me, Doll. I'd do no less for you if it were your life in danger."

"So that's how your date with my brother ended? With you almost getting nixed and him getting the bum's rush." Bruce let out a hardy laugh. "That's perfect."

I opened my eyes to see Bruce grinning. He sloshed back another whisky and Lulu frowned at him. "I do feel bad about Buck. I think I should offer him a job at the Velveteen playing piano," Lulu said thoughtfully.

Brody threw his hands up in the air. "No, No, No.... Absolutely not! I ain't gonna have some drugstore cowboy who carries a torch for my Dame, hanging around the Velveteen, hoping for his next chance to improvise."

Bruce's eyes locked on Lulu. "His Dame? Don't tell me you two...?"

So flabbergasted Bruce couldn't even complete his sentence. "Great, Lu. Buck gets a job, Brody gets you, what the hell do I get?"

Lulu grinned. "Careful Bruce, you're starting to sound like a jealous lover."

"Well, what if I was? There was a time, Lu..."

Annie looked positively beside herself with excitement. All these confessions. I knew this would all end up in her next book.

"And you know what I loved about that time and you?" Lulu said coming over to stand before Bruce. "It was a very uncomplicated time. We both knew what we were getting into and I'm pretty sure we both got what we wanted out of it."

Lulu grins, Bruce smirks in return and Brody looks about to lose his mind.

She did save you from the NoLuks I remind Bruce. You can take that as your consolation prize. Bruce shrugged and sat back. "Guess, it's something."

Lulu touches one of the marks on Bruce's face as she smiles at him but I can tell she hates seeing them there. She turns to Brody and walks up to him and puts her arms around him. "Don't get yourself into a lather. You've won. I'm yours, but I'm still going to take care of what's mine."

Brody sighed. "You've been in the Mob too long. You've got the mob mentality."

To my surprise she's completely disarmed him and he smiles, wraps his arms around her and kisses the top of her head. She snuggles in and that's my cue to leave because there's only so much a fella can take.

"Come on, Doll."

Annie looked startled by my voice so absorbed in the on goings. "What? Where?"

"Hospital. Need to see if I can't track down Agent Order and let him know what's going to happen. Hopefully he'll be there or at least I can leave a message for him with Ms. Darkly his fiancé. AJ works for her so, she's likely to be there."

"AJ?"

She suddenly looks alarmed.

"What's a matter, Doll?"

"Well...you won't need to see, AJ right?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Umm..." she bites her lip, "I may have...uhh...propositioned the federal agent outside his door so he'd let me in to get the interview."

She said the last part of her sentence so quickly; it took a second for the words to translate in my brain.

"What?! You seduced a Federal Agent?"

"Nothing happened."

She says this like it's supposed to console me somehow.

Lulu looks at me, grinning ear to ear. "Oh, I like her."

Annie smiles back.

Now that I remembered we had an audience I stood up, and grabbed Annie's hand. "Let's get a wiggle on." And I make a move to leave but Lulu stops me. I look down at the hand on my chest and back up at her. She's shaking her head no.

Confused I wait as she takes a pen and paper from my desk and begins to write. She hands me the note when she's finished. "I take care of what's mine."

I take the note from her. It's a list of all the cops on the take. I see Donavan's name, Smith, Moran, O'Shea and several others I recognize. There was even the D.A. and few Feds. "Is this what you gave, Tres?"

She nodded. "Tomorrow it will be in the paper I'm sure. I suggest you round them up before they have a chance to run. I want you to get credit for the arrests. They'll be a more thorough investigation once this comes to light and I want there to be no doubt. You're no Mulligan on the take."

I wanted to hug her right now but I could see the look of warning from Brody and could feel the tension coming off Annie in waves. So I settled for, "Thank you."

Annie and I leave. She's quiet, which is very unlike her, during our ride to the courthouse. I need to get warrants and fast. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"Lulu?"

"What about her?"

"She..." her brows furrow together, "She loves you. She loves all of you. And you all love her too." She looks up at me totally lost and confused. "How is that possible?"

I pull the car over and turn to look at her. "Lulu, she... she doesn't hold back. If she's made up her mind that she loves you, you have no doubt that's how she feels. She hasn't misled any of us. She was always clear on where she stood as far as a relationship was concerned."

"But you still love her," Annie said looking crestfallen.

"I do. I won't lie to you, Annie but Lu has made her choice and I respect that. I know she will be happy with Brody, just like I know I can be happy with you. That is of course if you're brave enough to give me a chance."

"ME? Give YOU a chance? Don't you mean..."

"I mean exactly what I said, Annie. You know how I feel, but the choice is all yours."

She looked at me mischieveously. "Even though I'm trouble?"

"With a capital T." I grin. "I know what I'm getting into, Annie. And now you do too."

"This love thing is complicated." She tells me.

"Always is," I say waiting for her reply, "but I'm the Real McCoy, Doll."

She smiled and slid over to me. Her kiss told me all I needed to know. The gal was stuck on me.

When she pulled away I grinned and said, "Now, let's go catch some bad guys."

I got to the courthouse. I dropped quite the bomb on the judge. When he asked my source I told him it was Louise McGinty. I gave him her number and he retired to his chambers. I paced the outer office waiting for his decision.

About 30 minutes later I had the warrants in hand. "You certain you can handle this, son," he asked.

"Pos-i-lutely! I'll have back up. It's time we cleaned up the place from the inside."

"Good luck, Officer McCarty."

I got to the hospital but discovered Agent Order wasn't there. I talked to the feds and they told me about the agents who weren't really agents. I asked to see them and I.D.'d them as cops on the take. I looked down Lulu's lists their names were on it. I handed the Feds, the warrants for their arrest."

"Thanks this will save us some time anything we can do for you?"

"Two things actually," I said. "One see that redhead waiting over there."

He nodded. "See that she doesn't leave here."

"Easy enough and the second thing?"

"I need backup to clean out the clubhouse of the riff raff."

"Done," he said and left to make the call. I waited outside of Madame Yu's room not wanting her to be left unguarded.

Agent Carlos approached. "You can get going. I'll take it from here."

"I thought you would be with Agent Order."

"He decided I was better off here. Now, scram, kid. You're not needed anymore."

I walked away, and then it dawned on me. Carlos?! I pull the list from my pocket and quickly scanned the contents. I was right, I turned and went running back. I ran right into the agent I was talking to earlier.

"Why aren't you..."

"No time to explain..." I say, "Follow me."

We reach Madame Yu's room and catch Agent Carlos in the act of trying to smother her with a pillow. I draw my gat and tell him to back away. The other Agent does the same.

Agent Carlos, let go of the pillow but makes the mistake of reaching for his gun. In the blink of an eye, he was laying on the floor. A gunshot well placed to his kneecap.

He falls forward and the Agent kicks the gun from Carlos' hand.

You're under arrest, Agent Carlos for you involvement with the mob and now the attempted murder of Madame Wai Yu. I hand the warrant to the Fed with me and he cuffs Carlos and takes him to where the other two cops were being held.

Madame Yu was thankfully okay. I had the Doc check her out just to be sure. "I owe you Officer McCarty, and I always pay on my debts."

"Just make sure your NoLuks steer clear of Annie O'Capella and Louise McGinty and we'll consider ourselves square."

"It will be done. You have my word."

Annie wasn't too excited about being left behind but understood the reason why. I promised to return once things were settled and asked her to pass on the information to Tres or Lorne what's going on.

Outside, were a few Feds and the officers I knew I could trust, I explained the situation and handed out the warrants. Since we had the element of surprise, it went down without a hitch. 

I entered Donavan's office.

"McCarty?!"

"Shocked to see me Commissioner? I'm not surprised. O'Shea and the other's are being rounded up as I speak, but I take great pleasure in giving you this."

I threw the warrant down on his desk.

"What's this?"

"A warrant for your arrest."

"My..."

"You're just a Mick, a mulligan on the take. To think I looked up to you."

"You've lost your mind, McCarty. There's no way..."

"McGinty has named names, Donavan. And yours was one of them."

"That doesn't mean..."

"Why would you do it? It was you who ratted me out wasn't it?"

Donavan stared at me, and then anger flashed across his features. "Day in and day out I've watch our boys give their lives for the purpose of prohibition. They died for nothing. There's already talk of repealing the law. You think the government cares about how many good men were gunned down during raids and whatnot?

I wanted the Mob to pay for what they've done and I wanted my men and their families set up for life. When prohibition ended WE would have been in control and cashed in on the results. You were just a little too good at your job and you were getting too close to the truth. It had to be done."

"You're no better then those that you sought to destroy and now you've lost everything."

"If you think I'm letting you take me out those doors alive," Donavan grabbed his gun but I was stunned I was not his target. He turned it on himself. I leapt into action and got to him seconds before he managed to pull the trigger.

"It's over." I told him.

Two officers came in and I turned him over to them.

I sat down in Donavan's chair. My arm ached like hell. "It's over," I said again, this time to an empty room. "It's finally over."

"Does that mean I can steal you for some grub?"

I look up stunned to see Annie leaning in the doorway staring back at me. "I thought I made it clear..."

She held up a camera. "And miss the chance to scoop the story of the century?"

I was about to ask how she got past the Feds at hospital but then decided perhaps I was better off not knowing. 

"Yeah, Doll. It's a date."