by K. S. Adkins
Kissing every inch of my face she whispers in my ear. “You don’t like when I call you Mad Max?”
“Not really,” I offer. “I like Maxwell.”
“What about Sir?” she asks, wiggling around. “You seem to respond to that.”
“I like Sir,” I tell her. “As long as I’m inside you when you say it.”
“Then you’re going to be of inside me,” she says, getting up and walking to the door. “A lot.” After she exits to head back out to watch Venessa set up, I can’t help but agree with her; there was nothing like being called sir while being buried inside of your wife.
“We were set up!” I yell at the officer who is doing his best to ignore us “Are you even listening to me?”
“He’s counting his doughnuts,” says Lina, stretching out. “He won’t hear you.”
“Come on, Venessa,” says Macy, rubbing her back. “We’ll get out of this, we always do.”
Wondering if this time it actually might stick, I look over at Lina, who just smiles like we weren’t just booked for assault. Winking at me, I roll my eyes, always wondering what that one is thinking. It’s never legal, I know that much.
When the captain comes down and gives us all that look, it’s Lina, like always, who steps up. “Let them go and I promise to have six of your toughest cases closed in two weeks.”
“Two weeks?” he asks, laughing. “The four of you assaulted an officer of the law.”
“He was roughing up the talent, Cap,” she says. “She wasn’t even on the clock. Between us, though, I’m fairly positive he wanted a freebie and she expected payment. That’s when the actual assault happened.”
“Halina…”
“Twelve cases, two weeks, and that’s my final offer.”
“Lina,” I whisper. “What are you doing?”
“Let them go,” he says. “You,” he says, looking at Lina, “I expect here first thing. Twelve cases in two weeks, or else.”
During Venessa’s break she came over and told me she and Lina had worked it out. In my head I can imagine how it played out, but bottom line is they butt heads like Macy and I tend to do. The four of us are more like sisters than friends, so the bitch fights happen. It will happen as long as we breathe, and that’s just life. We all accept it and love each other regardless. So when she returns to the platform and throws on a track she knows I love, I laugh, look over at Lina and Macy, and we head out to dance.
You can’t hear the beat to “Doo Doo Brown” and not shake your ass. It’s impossible. The three of us do exactly that, with so much enthusiasm it should be criminal. Especially Lina, who has that Polish ass working for her. Am I jealous? Totally. Polish girls have great asses. Rogan is up there with Venessa, but Tony, Rafe, and Max are in his office. Smiling, I wonder if he’s watching. Just in case he is, I decide touching myself is an excellent idea.
Lost in the moment, feeling sexy and free, it’s when I am thrown to the floor with my hands cuffed behind my back that my disposition and upright position go in the shitter. Being hauled up hard; I wince when the cuffs dig into my wrists. Macy runs for it, no doubt grabbing the guys when the music cuts off and the crowd gets seriously pissed. But when I look over at Lina, she just nods, which is her telling me to play it cool. It was then I realize she was trying to warn me and I refused to listen, wanting to do things my own way like always. She isn’t surprised by this turn of events, and that nod is her telling me to handle it.
Oh, I’m going to handle it.
Venessa and Rogan reach me first, and when Rogan starts doing the talking I realize I’m in serious trouble. The officers aren’t intimidated by him whatsoever, which only means one thing. The orders for my arrest came from the top. Fucking figures. Max barrels through the crowd and tries attacking the police, but Rafe and Tony hold him back while Rogan continues to argue while also speaking with someone on the phone.
Looks like someone wanted to prove a point.
It’s explained to me that I’m under arrest for murder. I have the right to remain silent, which I heed for Max’s benefit. I have the right to an attorney which I’ll never see, and believe me, Detroit can’t afford to appoint me one. I’m well aware anything I say can and would be used against me, so I kept quiet. When the officer asked me if understand these rights it was then I choose to answer.
“Fuck you.” Seems appropriate, until he jerks me with so much force both Max and Rogan have to be held back by Tony and Rafe. Wishing my team was here, I look over at my friends and lastly my husband, wishing I could reassure them. Problem is, I can’t. But I need to keep it together for Max.
“Blue!” he yells, grabbing me, then yells he’s taking a minute with his wife, and they agree. “Tell me what to fucking do.”
Looking him dead in the eyes hoping to calm him. “Call my team, okay? Then you do whatever they tell you to do. Promise me.”
“I can’t let them take you from me,” he says, kissing me. “I won’t.”
“I love you, Maxwell,” I tell him, kissing him back. “I’ll be okay, I promise. In the meantime, listen to Lina. Whatever you do Max, listen to her.”
When they start to pull me away, Max hits his berserker rage and watching our friends hold him down while I am being taken away is taking everything I had to not let my own berserker rage show. I could kill these two in seconds and be back in his arms, but that won’t solve anything. Someone wants me in prison, and if that’s true then I’m going to get answers while I’m there.
Whispering a silent I love you to my husband and nodding to my friends and then winking at Lina, I’m led out the front door and thrown into the back of a very run-down cruiser. Wasting no time I’m manhandled, processed, and placed in a private cell, no blankets, no pillow, no comfort. I’m allowed no call, nothing. Again, not surprised. The DPD really rolled out the red carpet for me. I know Max will call the team, I know they’ll go to bat for me, and the payoff will be my getting released, but that’s not a guarantee right now. The only person capable of making it happen was also the same person who was forced to fire me. This could work to my benefit or go horribly wrong. But if I know anything it’s that my guys never leave a man, or in my case a woman, behind.
Sitting back I wait for my first visitor. I know who it is; I also know it’s a matter of time until he gets here. No one likes to be outdone. He’ll show, his nature demands it. When he does, the games begin.
He has no idea who he’s fucking with.
“Listen to Lina,” she said to me, and I tried listening. However when I called her she just kept saying, “It’s not time yet, go take a walk or something.”
“Lina,” I pushed, needing help. “I need to do something!”
“Then go for a swim, paint your kitchen, or I don’t know, man the fuck up and let me do my job?”
“Lina,” I groan holding it together. “She asked me to listen to you and I’m trying, but all you’re doing is pissing me off.”
“This should bother me because? Look, I’m working on it alright? Let me get my shit straight and while I’m doing that your wife will be getting her shit straight. See where this is going?”
“Not really...”
“Pay attention, she was set up. I knew it, now she knows it. It had to play out this way now go get a mani/pedi and let me do my fucking job.”
“You knew,” I accuse. “Duh,” she says and I gather she’s rolling her eyes.
“You hung her out to dry!”
Then it got quiet on her end of the line and I had a feeling I said the wrong thing. Heavy breathing is the only indication she’s still there until she speaks. “You can accuse me of a lot of shit but don’t you ever fucking accuse me of doing anything that would hurt her. That is my sister and I would kill for her. This shit show is your doing Max, yours. Go look in a mirror in case you forgot that it’s you we’re talking about. I’ve had to watch her live half a life because you were such a pussy that you’d rather hide then deal with the mess you caused. Now you have her back and
you want to accuse me of hurting her? Fuck you to the moon and back.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumble “You’re right.”
“I’m always right asshole,” she says calming down. “I’m on the case. She won’t be in there any longer than necessary now go and do something productive, I’m bored.”
Click.
Four god damn days without my wife. Four fucking days without a word. I did what she said, I called the guys and they told me to wait, so I’m waiting, but I’m not very good at it. They call, keep it short, sort of talk around me, but won’t answer my questions. My only link to sanity is Lina and after a rocky start I’m lucky she talks to me at all. Without Lina… Whatever she’s doing I’m counting on her to do it quickly. Jules trusts her therefore I trust her too. Rogan and Rafe said they can’t see her and that she is refusing visitors, which I don’t believe. They also said they can’t get answers either, as in any.
Then about an hour ago Tony and Lina showed up and that’s when I lost it. Tony has a way of finding things out, Lina knows if you’re lying, so between the two of them they brought me up to speed. Jules is being held on murder charges, she’s being kept in isolation, was refused counsel, any form of visitation, bail, and no hearing has been set. All of this was done on the Captain’s orders. Lina knew this because she hacked into the DPD’s database and has a network of cops who get answers for her.
Once they left I call Bishop to touch base, letting him know exactly what I knew and he handled it like I did, by breaking shit. Holding our tickets in my hands I look them over, wishing we were there together. Soon, I promise us both. I’ll get us there soon, and maybe we’ll stay on vacation forever.
The following day I sent Venessa to Lush for me. I was in no frame of mind to handle business right now. I needed to be here in case someone called, or she suddenly showed up at my door. They’ve held her five days now. Rogan and Rafe walk in looking all sorts of pissed. Yeah, well, if they were pissed before, they’re going to be really pissed now.
“You know something,” says Rogan, taking a seat. “Lemme hear it.”
“Wait,” says Rafe, putting his hands up. “I think we should be standing in case Max goes mad again.”
Telling them what I know, about three minutes in Rogan stands up looking more than ready to tear my house apart. “You know this as fact?” he asks me point blank.
“I do.”
“This changes things,” he says, and Rafe nods. “I gotta make a call, both of you stay quiet.” Walking over to him Rafe and I both stay silent and listen. “Cap,” he says putting it on speaker. “Mind telling me what the fuck you think you’re doing over there with our girl?”
Clear as day I can hear the captain respond to Rogan, and I don’t like it one fucking bit. “I don’t actually need to be telling you anything, Detective, but if it will stop the constant fucking calls, I will say that Ms. Allen is being held without bond until further notice. She’s being kept in isolation because she is violent and is a danger to others. She refuses an attorney or to speak to anyone, including me. I want answers; I told her weeks ago she wasn’t going to run around my city causing trouble. She killed one of my men, now she’ll stand trial.”
“Except you ain’t set a hearing. Kinda makes me wonder why that is.”
“County is backed up, she’ll be arraigned at the earliest opportunity. This isn’t your case or your problem, Rogan, so I would advise you as well as Rafe and Max to stand down.”
“Max ain’t on your payroll,” he says. “Can’t speak for him.”
“You’ll also want to keep Venessa and Macy away from here, I owe them nothing in way of explanation, so unless you want them brought in on obstruction, tell them to stay home. Their interference won’t help Ms. Allen’s cause.”
“You were singing a different tune when the team was cleaning the streets for you.”
“Your team is no longer needed; you cost me time and resources with very little success.”
“Don’t do this, Captain,” he warns. “Don’t make us choose.”
“You already chose, Detective, or you wouldn’t be up my ass right now.”
Grabbing the phone from his hands I give the captain my own warning “Any harm comes to my wife, you will answer to me. You know what, fuck that, you’re going to answer to me anyway. Prepare yourself.” Handing it back to Rogan I see him smirk, then promptly hang up on the captain. Before any of us can detonate I look over and see Lina leaning against my stairs with Tony close by.
“He’s lying,” she says looking directly at me. “Now what are we going to do about that?”
The second words come out of my mouth, there’s the sound of trucks. Not just one truck, but several. Watching her team exit their trucks with duffels and weapons, I take a deep breath. Finally, I think to myself, but shit, it took them long enough. Looking over at Lina smiling I realized once again she put this in motion and like my wife said, I needed to listen.
Duffy throws his bag on my floor and three others follow. Bishop strides over giving me a hard man hug, then steps back looking around the room. “You didn’t start without us, did you?”
“No,” I say, smiling for the first time in five days. “You have perfect timing.”
Ordering in was the least I could do, and everyone was comfortable and telling stories about Jules. Basically she’s a force to be reckoned with, always has been, always will be. They are imagining the chaos she causing in holding and laughing about it. Everyone seems at ease, but I know they aren’t. I know I’m fucking edgy. Grabbing a beer, I head outside to clear my head, because you’d think after years of missing her I’d be used to this, but I’m not used to it and I never will be.
The team comes out and circles me. Each of them taps my bottle with theirs, and I feel like something that trivial was actually momentous. Turns out it was.
“Sent the rest packin’,” says Bishop. “We need to talk to you, privately.”
“You can trust them,” I assure them. “All of them.”
“This is team business,” says Duffy. “We don’t trust nobody outside the team for that. Except maybe Lina, that woman knows shit.”
Looking confused, Saint steps up to fill me in. “You’re a part of this team now, Mad Max,” he says. “She trusts you, we trust you, simple as that.”
Acting unaffected is difficult, but I manage it pretty well until Jumbo weighs in “Your city is fucked up,” he says. “It’s all out of balance. She knew shit was off in the department, and Eric confirms it. That Captain, yeah, well he’s only part of the problem. My understanding was he was a father figure to her, so why the about face? You got a dirty cop drawing in public, on one of your kids no less, you don’t arrest ‘em. You pat ‘em on the back.”
“So he wants her intel?” I ask. “To tip the scales back in his favor?”
“Bingo,” says Duffy.
“Yeah,” says Bishop. “But who’s scales he tippin? Gotta wonder, he waits until she’s a civvie? Come on, ain’t no city cop taking on the DEA, but had she stayed active you see them threats going away? I don’t.”
“What does he gain if she spills?” I ask, confused. Weren’t we all fighting for the same thing here?
“She’ll give us her take when she gets out,” says Saint. “Until then, we wait.”
“I can’t wait anymore,” I growl while I continue to pace. “She’s been in that hole for five fucking days! I want her out! How do we make that happen?”
“We got all hands on deck here Mad Max,” says Duffy, and they all nod. “Boss has to do her thing while she’s inside them walls, and you know she will. We want them answers, too; Boss will get them. She don’t know how to fail and with Lina working her magic it’s as good as done.”
Scratching my head, something feels off. Why aren’t they raging? Blowing shit up? Threatening people? “You’re holding out on me,” I accuse. “I want to know all of it, now.”
“You sure about that, son?” I hear and turn around to see a new player.
Who the fuck is this guy?
“Who the fuck are you?” When whistles fly from the guys’ mouths I realize they know something I don’t.
“You must be Max,” he says stepping forward, and yeah, he’s a big guy “I’m Jules boss. You can call me Mack or Daddy, but never both.”
“Daddy?”
“Forget it,” he says, laughing. “Another time then, let’s talk about our girl.”
Several beers, numerous boxes of pizza, and two arm wrestles later, I’m in a zone. I’m pissed but focused. I want my wife home, but they’re right, she has a job to do and bringing her into custody was incredibly smart and incredibly stupid considering who they’re holding. The guys are right, she’ll do what needs doing, but it doesn’t mean I like it. But you have to be a supremely confident motherfucker or really fucking stupid to think you’d get away with it. Mack has pull and he’s here to use it, and he never leaves a man behind either.
Thank fuck.
“I’m proud of you, you know,” he says, hugging me. “I mean, I’m proud of all you girls, but, you’ve had it rough, Jules. You could have gone down the wrong path, and you didn’t. Give them one hundred percent and do yourself a favor and don’t come back here. Nothing good is waiting for you here.”
There was a time in my life that the Captain’s approval meant everything. When I found out how he was using Lina that changed. Hearing about Venessa and Macy solidified my feelings. He was one of many that didn’t want me to come back here, and all I ever wanted to know was why.
I’m so over this.
I’ve been a good sport. Watching and listening has proven useful, too. My current conclusion is that the department is run by idiots, and it’s not likely to change anytime soon. Each day the captain visits urging me to help him so he can help me. I’m no Lina, but even I can smell that bullshit a mile away.
He’s nervous with each visit, as he should be.
If his routine is anything to go on, he’ll be back within the hour. Yesterday’s threat was, give him something or go to prison. I told him after years in service, prison sounded divine.