FAKE Fic: Special Order

Jun 17, 2024 18:04

Title: Special Order
Fandom: FAKE
Author: badly_knitted
Characters: Dee, Ryo, OMC.
Rating: PG
Setting: After Like Like Love.
Word Count: 1367
Summary: When Dee and Ryo’s takeaway delivery arrives, it’s not what they ordered.
Written For: Weekend Challenge Prompt: Mystery / Horror Prompts at 1_million_words.
Disclaimer: I don’t own FAKE, or the characters. They belong to the wonderful Sanami Matoh.

“Was that our dinner arrivin’?” Dee asked as he came out of the bedroom, rubbing at his wet hair with a towel. “’Cause I’m starvin’.” All he had on was another towel around his waist, having just stepped out of the shower.

“I thought it was.” Ryo was standing by the closed door, the paper sack from their favourite Chinese takeaway open in his hands. “But I don’t think this is what we ordered.”

“We’ve being buyin’ from there for years and they’ve never screwed up our order before.”

“I know,” Ryo replied, sounding bemused. “And it’s not just a case of them substituting someone else’s order for ours. To be honest, I’m not sure what this is.” Striding over to the coffee table, he upended the bag, dumbing out maybe a dozen bundles of money, all hundred-dollar bills from the look if it. As he did so, a loose piece of paper fluttered to the floor, and Dee, wandering over for a closer look, stooped to pick it up.

It was a handwritten note, just a few words, hastily scrawled in blue ink. ‘Keep half. I’ll pick up the rest in 72 hours.’

“Okay, not what we were expectin’, that’s for sure. Guess someone else has gotten my spicy beef with extra noodles. Whoever ordered this is in for a surprise.” He picked up one of the thick bundles of notes and ran his thumb across the ends. “Gotta be a good ten grand in each of these.”

“That’s a lot of money. Someone’s gonna be pissed when it doesn’t arrive.”

“Yeah. Shame it’s not ours, we could do a lot of good with this kinda money.”

“Whoever it belongs to, it’s gotta be dirty,” Ryo told his lover.

“I know, I wasn’t suggestin’ we keep it.” Dee tossed the bundle back on the coffee table with the rest. “Guess I’d better throw some clothes on while you shove that back in its bag. Looks like dinner will haveta wait until after we get the loot booked in as evidence.”

“Evidence of what though?”

“Somethin’ illegal, obviously. We can figure out what later; for now, the sooner we get it outta our hands, the happier I’ll be. That amount of money, it probably has to do with gangs, organised crime, or both, and you know how touchy those kinda guys can get when they think someone’s screwin’ them over. Don’t want a bunch of goons comin’ here and bustin’ down our door, not when we just got this place how we want it.”

Dee vanished back into the bedroom, and Ryo used the TV Guide to scoop the bundles of money back into the bag. No sense contaminating the evidence more than it already had been. He sighed regretfully. So much for their relaxing evening at home.

“Sucks to think something illegal’s going on behind the scenes at our favourite Chinese place,” Ryo grumbled as Dee reappeared, fastening his belt.

“Might not be,” Dee pointed out. “Best not to jump to any conclusions until we have all the facts. Maybe it’s the delivery guy’s sideline, and he’s just usin’ the takeaway’s bags to move cash around without anyone noticin’.”

“Could be,” Ryo agreed. “I hope it’s something like that. Mister Pang’s always been good to us. I’d hate to think he’s a criminal.”

“Yeah, me too. I’d rather not haveta take our custom someplace else.”

Ryo had fetched a grocery bag from the kitchen and slid the bag of money into that to hide it from view on their way out, but before they could put their shoes and jackets on, someone started hammering on their door.

Drawing their guns and taking the safeties off, they moved to stand one on either side.

“Just a minute!” Ryo called out. “Who is it?”

“Takeaway delivery. I accidentally gave you the wrong order, I need that bag back!” The voice sounded more than a little frantic. “They’re gonna kill me if they find out I screwed up!”

Ryo pulled the door open, and Dee snaked one hand out, grabbing the hapless delivery driver by the jacket and hauling him inside as Ryo slammed the door behind him. Catching sight of their guns, the kid, who looked to be in his late teens, went white as a sheet.

“Oh God! Please don’t kill me!”

“Relax, moron; we’re cops.”

From the look on the young man’s face, he didn’t find that bit of information particularly comforting.

“Are you alone?” Ryo asked.

The kid nodded, swallowing hard, staring at Ryo with terrified eyes. “Yeah. I was on my way to my next drop-off when I realised I gave you the wrong bag. I’ve gotta get it back!”

“You already know that’s not gonna happen,” Dee cut in. “Large sums of money, hidden in takeaway bags… Sounds like money launderin’ to me. Who’re ya deliverin’ for, someone at the takeaway?”

“What? NO! No way! My uncle would never agree to do anything illegal. He doesn’t know anything about this, but if I don’t do deliveries for these guys, they say they’ll torch his restaurant. He’d lose everything! I had no choice!”

“You could’a gone to the police.”

“He’s here now, Dee,” Ryo pointed out. “It might not have been intentional, but the result’s the same. The police are involved now, so here’s what’s gonna happen.” He turned to Mister Pang’s nephew. “What’s your name?”

“Vincent.”

“Okay, Vincent. You’re going to take this money and deliver it where you’re supposed to. If they ask why you’re late, tell them your previous customer couldn’t find their wallet, but don’t volunteer that information unless they ask. Just make the delivery as normal. You drive a van?”

“Yeah…”

“Good. I’ll be hidden in the back, just in case there’s any trouble, and Dee will follow in his car, circle around, and drive past in the opposite direction to get a look at the place. After that, you just go on with your deliveries and try to put everything else out of your mind. Think you can handle that?”

“Uh, I guess so.”

“Don’t say a word about any of this to your uncle; we’ll talk to him ourselves later. It’ll be better coming from us. He knows us, we’re regular customers.

“What if they want me to make another delivery?”

“Do you deliver for them often?”

“Not really. Every two or three weeks, maybe five or six times in the last three months.”

“Then it’s unlikely, but if they do, agree to it, and tell me once you’re back in the van. If we handle this right, you won’t have to go through with it anyway. Do they pay you?”

“No. They just make threats about what’ll happen to my uncle and his family if I don’t do as I’m told.”

“Okay, that’s good. You were scared and under duress, you felt like you had no choice; that should keep any charges against you to a minimum, You’re just a go-between. There will be consequences, but you’ll probably get away with community service.”

“Small price to pay for ensurin’ your uncle’s safety, wouldn’t ya say?” Dee grinned. “We’ll set up a stakeout, and in three days, when someone shows up to collect their share of the money, we’ll take ‘em down.”

“You’re sure my uncle and his restaurant will be safe?”

“We’ll do everything we can to protect him, his family, and the restaurant.”

“Thank you.”

“Okay, let’s get movin’!” Dee shoved his feet into sneakers as Ryo handed Vincent the bag of money.

OoOoOoO

Three days later, Dee, Ryo, and several other armed detectives staged a raid on the premises Vincent had delivered the money to. A second team moved on the place he made his pickups, and between them put an end to a sizeable money laundering operation.

“Another job well done!” Dee said, grinning as the last of the gang was shoved unceremoniously into the back of a police car and hauled away.

“And all because of a delivery mix-up.” Ryo smiled wryly. “How often do we get that lucky?”

“Almost never. Only one downside to the whole thing. I never did get my spicy beef and noodles.”

Ryo laughed. “Better luck next time.”

The End

fic, fake fic, 1_million_words, ryo maclean, fic: one-shot, dee laytner, other character/s, fake, fic: pg

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