"Elusive" - Issue 5

“Elusive”

Issue #5

‘Haunted’

By Charley Biggs

Steamy water sprayed from the showerhead in the pale tan tiled shower, it’s quiet rain a steady static rhythm.  Dimly lit behind, the shower curtain, Jim ‘The Wildman’ Thornton stood under the flow of the water, letting it cascade over him, one hand against the wall, the other over his face as the water came on sheets over his shoulders and down his chest, flowing around the three entry wounds where soft pink flesh was still ever so tender.

            Beneath the hand that covered his face, Jim wasn’t looking at anything…at least not in the present. 

            The afternoon was very bright, but the sun was looming, ready to dip beneath the horizon as the deputies prepped to raid an abandoned apartment building.  Around the corner, the building was not visible, and all of the deputies, the small handful that they were and all seasoned, were standing and checking weapons and making sure they were prepared for what was to come next.

            “Alright bosslady…”, Jim began.

            “Thornton…just…behave”, this from Valentine, who was putting on her vest; of all the people there, only a small few were wearing vests, Thornton, as per his usual, declined.

            Making a hand motion of zipping his lips shut, Thornton let it go and checked the clip in his M9.  Next to him, Gomez was doing the same with her Glock 17.  There was nothing to say really, other than to grin at her partner’s typical antics, and he always seemed to know just how to settle the nerves before something intense went down.

            “Folks, listen up”, Valentine said quietly, “We all know the situation…they have lookouts, they may know we are coming.  Expect a rough ride.  We have two people we are trying to get…”, as she went on, Jim shared a look with Gomez, making a funny face at her before he unzipped his windbreaker.  He and Gomez were used to living in jeans and polo shirts or button downs, and Valentine must have had meetings all day, because she was wearing her office clothes still, a nice powdery white blouse and black suit, which looked oddly normal with the 12 gauge pistol grip shotgun she was holding.

            In minutes, everyone was in position, and the silent signal was given to move in, Gomez and Thornton were among the first to enter the building after another deputy kicked the door in, smoothly standing off to the side as Gomez stepped in, sweeping corner to corner as she took point.

            Inside, the building was dirty, and the first floor had been trashed, probably like this for years since being condemned.  Trash on the floor made for noisy steps that even sneakers couldn’t hide, and the walls were dingy with paint peeling, and many of the doors had long since been smashed in, or had been covered intentionally by the previous owners before being abandoned.  Eerily, besides their own movements, there was no sound, and it made the hair on Jim’s neck stand up, it was like nothing he’d ever seen outside of urban combat overseas…and even then.

            Gomez cleared the first floor, and Jim was right behind her, but they had suspected the kids might bolt beforehand, so they held their ground for the time being as other teams entered simultaneously.  Down the hall, Valentine entered with her team, and gave a signal to hit the steps and start searching upper floors to see what they found.  As Gomez took the lead, Jim strayed behind her by a few yards…something was off and he could feel it but couldn’t put a finger on it.

            His eyes kept getting drawn to the unnaturally textured wall on their right, and that’s when all hell broke loose.  Like something out of a bad movie, dust filled the air and lights flashed like strobes, and the sound of 9mm gunfire filled the air.  At first, Jim chided himself for not realizing what was happening, and then one thought went through his head immediately after as it hit him that they were being shot at, MARIA!  He went to pull his M9 up, but he didn’t see his firearm at all.  He heard another 9mm fill the air, and saw the flashes, but it didn’t look right, it was somehow in the wrong place.

            As dust began to clear, Jim began to realize that he was looking at ceiling tiles…he was on the floor.  Did he trip and fall?  Trying to lift his head, he could barely move, and pain began ripping through his chest like fire, his breathing felt like he was choking on an endless rush of water.  Coughing, his head hit the deck under him hard.  Yelling came more into focus, and he looked up to see Maria on her knees kneeling over him, as she pressed on his chest, and in his peripheral, he could see Valentine to his left side yelling into a radio, but everything was getting too hard to hear, too distant to follow.  He went to grab Valentine and push her back out there, tried to tell her he was fine and needed a minute, but his hand, now covered in blood just traced down her blouse until she caught it, giving it a squeeze, and yelling at him to hang in there.

            As his vision started to go out, and he could feel reality slipping away, the last thing he heard clearly was the frantic sound of Maria screaming at him.

            “JIM!  DON’T YOU LEAVE ME GODDAMNIT! JIM!”

            Gasping for air, and hanging onto the tile wall, Jim spit out a mouthful of water where he’d been breathing in shower spray…resting his head against the cool tiles once more, shaking, he closed his eyes, muttering as he caught his breath…

            “I’m fine…I’m fine…it’s okay, Maria….I’m fine…”, and as he stood there, the memory still fresh in his mind, the now cold water helped to wash away the nightmare.

***

            “Jim…Jim!...JIM!”, suddenly he snapped out of it, and looked up, fingering the knot in his tie as he pulled it loose, to see Maria Gomez standing over him.  “Spaceman…you alright?  I wanted to know what you got on our runner in Kentucky…”

            Reaching for his coffee mug, to realize for the sixth time this morning that it was bone dry, he slammed it down sourly, “Well…I think he’s going to run home, to be honest…aren’t the state police in the area?”

            “So far as I can tell, without turning a thing up…”

            Jim shrugged, “I’ll get with Smith and see if we can find anything else, but I’m not having any luck…we’re going to need to take a ride and look”

            “I think then we’ll have to do that…let me see if I can pass the press off to Valentine for a few days”, she said, turning away, looking every bit as harassed as they all felt.

            Jim called to her back hopefully, “Good luck!”, before turning to Smith who was at a nearby table turned makeshift desk.  “Hey man, let’s take a look at our runner in Kentucky again”

            “What about the drug operation in Iowa?”, Smith asked, looking very run down like they all were.  This case load was absolutely insane, and there seemed to be no end to the work they were doing.

            “Screw it…it’s Iowa.  This guy we’re chasing in Kentucky was a mob enforcer, I don’t think we want him gone very long…”

            “That’s another thing, a mob enforcer in Kentucky?”, Smith asked.

            Jim grinned, “Modern world, my man…they have people everywhere these days…though the only reason he is there is because he was transferred in hopes he’d be safer there”, then he stood up, pointing to the coffee area, “Didn’t work…I’ll be right back”

            Smith just nodded, and set aside one mountain of paperwork for another as he went back to the Kentucky case.  It was shaping up to be another long week.

***

            “I need to take my people out on the road…it’s been two weeks, and we can’t make any headway between the press and the sheer workload from these cases.  If we can’t focus on one at a time, we’re going to lose everything”

            Valentine considered this as she looked at Gomez.  Maria was right, of course, but it didn’t change the fact that the cases were all high profile, and that they needed representation at home.  So she did the only thing she figured was best, “I’ll field the press, but try and remember, Elliot goes on trial in another month, so you’ll need to be quick.  All three of you are expected to be ready to go to court.  Take all of your case notes and files with you on the road”

            Gomez nodded, she was relieved, but it was short lived as she realized just what Valentine was doing to them.  They would now be trying to hold up five cases while on the road for one.  Leaning forward, she shook her head, “I don’t understand, why aren’t we spreading these around a little?  This is a lot for one small office, much less a team of three people”

            Waving a hand, Valentine had already turned her attention away and back to her computer, “You can handle it…just take care of business and keep me updated”

            Gomez paused, but Valentine continued to ignore her, and at the silent dismissal she pursed her lips in silent anger, turning on a heel to leave.  They were being played, and she wasn’t sure for what reason, but whatever it was, there was nothing they could do to get out from under it.

            When Gomez was standing out in the hall, she waited with her cup of coffee, leaning against the wall, head back, eyes closed, one heel pressed against the wall behind her.  She didn’t open her eyes when she was joined by another person, she just took a sip of coffee.

            “Alright…so we got sold out.  What now?”, Jim asked.

            Without opening her eyes, Maria shook her head slightly, “Nothing.  We get the job done.  This time, I need to know you can hack it…or I take Smith on the road and leave you here.  This goes south and we all get burned…”, Jim had the most to lose, and they knew it.

            “I could just volunteer to stay…”, he said, leaning against the bannister across from her in the late hours of the evening.  The next shift was already in the field or in their offices, leaving them blessedly alone.

            “I need your experience.  Smith is smart, but intuition and discretion are valuable…”

            “Not deal breakers…not this time.  You’ll need his athleticism…and I can do you more good here”

            Maria’s eyes opened as she looked at her partner now, eyes shadowed and wary, “I don’t like it…”

            Jim caught her eye and shrugged, “We don’t have a lot of options…unless you think you can stay?”

            “It’s a thought”

            “Not a good one, Maria…not a good one”, resting his coffee mug in his palm, he nodded to Smith, “Take him with you…I can cover your ass from here.  This time, it’s a safer bet.  After you nail the man in Kentucky, then we can discuss switching it up”, he pointed out.

            Maria saw the wisdom in what he was saying, and she caught his hesitation to go back into the field.  She knew…they both knew.  Shuddering in frustration and pent up anger, she pushed off the wall, “I’m still pissed that she dropped this on us…I can’t fathom the gain”

            “It must have been for a good reason…Theresa doesn’t just fuck people.  It’s not in her nature, hard ass though she might be…”

            “Boston?”

            “A fluke…I wouldn’t hold that against her”

            “You never seem to”, she said, narrowing her eyes at her partner.  “I just would rather have you at my side, rather than taking chances with Smith…”

            “We both know that if anything went wrong, we’d be screwed and I’d be blamed for incompetence…and you’d get early retirement”

            “Or worse”, she admitted.

            “So let’s not roll the dice in a political setting, shall we?  At least not out there…I can deal with the office politics here”

            “Calling in your favors?”

            “If they are still there to be called in…”, Jim said irritably.

            Maria just shook her head questioningly.

            Jim scratched the back of his head, “A lot of people bailed on me politically when I got shot…I’m a lame duck in their eyes.  There are whispers around the office that-“

            He never got another word in as Maria cut a hand through the air, “You’re not dragging me down with you!  You’re not down…one bad incident doesn’t kill a career”

            “Maybe not ten years ago…or twenty…but now?  We’re out of our prime, our arrest numbers are dropping, our performance isn’t what it used to be on paper”

            Sighing, Maria hung her head, “I was never a fan of politics…”

            “Yet you play them well when you want to…and if you take Theresa’s desk, you’ll have to”, Jim told her, and then he closed the gap between them, “I’ve got your back…give me a few days while you hunt this guy to press Theresa and figure out what’s going on…from there, we might be able to negotiate some leverage”

            “Jim, it sounds like a bad idea…if Valentine wants us on these cases, then we are stuck with them”

            “Right…and if she’s pushing it, there’s someone higher up the chain pressing it.  We need to know what the endgame is supposed to be or we’ll piss this away”

            “This isn’t the military, Jim…you can’t just ask your Commander what they want…”

            Grinning charmingly and running a hand over his short hair comically, Jim replied greasily, “Sure you can, toots, just gotta know how to ask!”

            Unable to keep a straight face at her partner’s antics, Maria shoved him in the shoulder gently and playfully, “Shush!  People can hear you!”

            “Fuck’em!”, he grunted as he straightened his tie and sniffed.

            Eyes widening again she poked him in the same shoulder, “Easy killer…save it for tomorrow”

            “Tomorrow?”

            “I secured the trip arrangements this afternoon.  We sign out a car and leave tomorrow morning.  Smith should be done boxing up our files any minute”

            As if summoned, Smith walked up, bottle of Gatorade in hand, “So…”, he began.

            “You’re packed”, Jim and Maria said in unison, causing Smith to stumble back a step in surprise.

            Jim pointed at him with a mug, then to Maria, “Watch her back out there…she get’s any new holes and I may have to use your balls for target practice!”

            “Wait”, Smith said, raising his hands, “I’m going on the road?”

            Maria grinned, stepping up to Smith to look him in the eye approvingly, “That’s right.  First thing in the morning, have your bag ready…I pull out at six in the a.m.  and you’re with me, or on the curb”, she told him.  Then she glanced at Jim, “See us off?”

            “Wouldn’t have it any other way…”, then checking his watch, he twirled a finger over his shoulder, “Let’s get the hell out of here for tonight…I’ll buy a round.  Might as well get it out of our system before the fun begins”

            Smith darted off to grab his stuff, and Maria glanced at Jim, “It won’t be the same, you know…”

            Jim just stared out of an open window looking very tired, “Did you think it ever would be?”, he asked her.

            “Not really…but one can hope.  This guy in Kentucky could already be out of state by now…”

            Jim shrugged, “Only one way to find out…”, then he looked back over his shoulder at Maria.

            “Yep…going to nail these guys one step at a time…”

            Jim, looking haunted, pulled his tie off slowly, “Just be careful…quick…but careful”, still not looking at her, he rolled the fabric up in a hand.

            Smith was still absent, so Maria laid a hand on his shoulder, “Hey…I’ll be alright, Jim”, she said softly, “Will you?”

            Glassy eyed, Jim forced a smile as he turned back to her, “Aren’t I always?”

            Forcing a smile of her own, Maria was sure he was hiding something, but she let it go, he had had a shadow over him since returning, “Yeah…”

            Smith rejoined them, and they all headed out to their cars to go hit a restaurant and talk one last time together before they would split up to tackle their work.  Maria drove tonight, and as she looked over at Jim on the ride, she could see that even though he was next to her, he was miles away.  In the back of her mind, she screamed questions, wondering what was going inside his mind, and why he couldn’t just tell her so she could help him.  But for Jim…

            His eyes kept getting drawn to the unnaturally textured wall on their right, and that’s when all hell broke loose…

            …he was miles away.