Kevlar to My Vest

by Lani Lynn Vale

  Snorts and grunts of agreement followed her statement. He was a sick fuck.

  “Can you tell me how he got in?” I asked again.

  “Through the kitchen window. I heard him open it, and then hit the spoon that was sitting on the ledge of the sink.” She said warily.

  It was too bad we could only cite him for breaking and entering. We would’ve been able to get him on destruction of property, too, if I’d let him finish.

  However, at the time I was only thinking about one thing. Hindsight was 20-20 and all that bullshit.

  “Do you want to press charges?” The captain asked, breaking the silence.

  “Yes!” She blurted. “I do.”

  Loki took the embarrassed Paul out of Viddy’s apartment. He’d be out by tomorrow morning. For tonight, though, he was going to be in jail. Tomorrow I’d worry about the rest.

  “All right, tell me what you need to wear for tomorrow and I’ll go grab it. You’ll be staying with me tonight.” I instructed her.

  “But-” she started it. “I don’t need to stay with you. My place is perfectly fine.”

  “Yeah, well maybe that’s so, but I’d feel better if you’d stay at my place until I could get you an alarm installed.” I said soothingly.

  She pursed her lips.

  “She’s staying with us.” Adeline said stubbornly. “I want her with me.”

  After another ten minutes of arguing between the two women, I had my way and took Viddy home with me, getting Loki to cover the rest of my shift, even though neither women were happy about it.

  Chapter 4

  No, you assume the position.

  -Things not to say to a police officer

  Trance

  “Unit 5-2. Medic 3 in need of a forced entry for a well-being check. 505 West Oak Street.” The dispatcher called over the radio.

  Reaching over for my mic I said, “10-4,” and pulled a U-turn.

  The drive was quick. I didn’t go lights and sirens, but I did go over the speed limit to get there within five minutes.

  When I pulled up, I found Sebastian and Kettle standing outside beside the engine with their arms crossed across their chests. They were in their normal blue uniforms, the shiny strip down their legs reflecting the glow of my headlights as I came to a stop directly beside them.

  Neither one of them smiled when I pulled up.

  “You couldn’t get in by yourselves?” I asked them both.

  Kettle and Sebastian were both members of The Dixie Wardens, and really good friends. Or, at least, they were before last night when I’d pissed Kettle off. Which meant if one was pissed at you, the other was pissed at you out of principle.

  It was as if they were a gaggle of teenage girls.

  “The Chief says we have to have PD for every forced entry now. So we called.” Kettle said in clipped sentences.

  Oh, yeah. He was still mad. Oh, well.

  Apparently, Adeline had given him shit about the fact that Viddy had gone home with me two days ago, after the break in. In fact, she was still at my place. Her alarm should be installed within the next two days, and then she’d be free to go home.

  Adeline was pregnant. Therefore rational thought flew out the window when it came to her. Which was why she called constantly to make sure that Viddy was all right, even though she’d been the one to push us together in the first place.

  Letting Kosher out of the car, I walked to the back of the car and lifted the trunk, lifting the ram out, as well as the halligan.

  I walked with them both, one in each hand, up to the door.

  Moving to the side out of habit to protect the majority of my body, I knocked loudly and called out, “BPD!”

  When no one answered, I tried again. “BPD! We’re here to do a welfare check.”

  When still no one answered, I pulled out the battering ram since the door was made of flimsy wood.

  As soon as the tool made contact with the wood, a loud BOOM sounded and I was thrown back ten feet.

  Something hit me in the chest so goddamn hard that I couldn’t breathe.

  My body hit the ground behind me with a hard thud. My head bounced off the unforgiving ground with a thump, and I stared up at the sky for long seconds, unable to take a breath.

  Starting to panic, I clawed at the hot heavy thing on my chest before strong hands pushed my feeble ones out of the way, deftly working to get the hot metal away from my chest.

  “Jesus Christ, get his hands!” Kettle yelled.

  My hands were restrained against the cold grass, and I started to buck.

  “Mother fucker,” Sebastian growled.

  I felt something straddle my legs, but I hadn’t taken a breath in nearly a minute and a half, and my vision started going black.

  Just when true and real panic started to set in, blessed relief on my chest had me taking in a deep gulp of air through oxygen-starved lungs.

  First one, and then two, followed by more. Deep pulls of air giving my oxygen starved brain it’s much needed nutrients had all my struggles ceasing.

  I lay on the grass with someone restraining my arms, and another body laying over my legs.

  It took a full minute of deep breathing for my vision to return to normal, and as I opened my eyes, I found Kettle’s eerie blue ones staring deep into my own. He was close enough that I was sharing his air, which wasn’t something I was used to.

  “Are you going to kiss me or something?” I rasped warily.

  “I was going to if I had to. I wouldn’t have enjoyed it or anything.” Kettle laughed, sitting back on his haunches, giving me a clear view of Sebastian straddling my body and holding me down.

  “Jesus, I feel like this is some sort of kinky dream.” I laughed, and then groaned when the pain in my chest finally started making itself known.

  Then I heard the snarling barks of Kosher, and the high-pitched squeals of someone else, most likely being pinned to the floor by him.

  “Give me the vest back,” I groaned as I sat up. “Get off my legs, dude, I need to check the scene.”

  Sebastian moved off reluctantly, staring at me like I’d just grown a second head.

  I stood with the help of Kettle, and then shrugged the vest back on that he’d taken off.

  My shirt was torn from where one of them had ripped it open, forgoing the buttons for expediency. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway when I looked down to see the large hole from the slug in my vest.

  When I walked to the door, gun in hand, I dropped and took note of the scene before me.

  One man lay on the ground in the entranceway, most likely dead. The gun lay at the man’s feet, dropped unceremoniously where it’d fallen from limp fingers.

  The door was open slightly, and I nudged it with my foot further, taking in the scene before me.

  No longer needing to announce my presence, I walked in, kicking the gun out the door just in case dead man decided to pull a zombie act and come back from the dead.

  Upon inspection of his pulse, I was assured that he was most definitely dead, and rounded the entranceway with caution, gun held out in front of me.

  The entranceway led into a sunken living room that I cleared quickly.

  Knowing that Kosher had whomever he was guarding, I cleared first the two back bedrooms, the laundry room, and the back yard before finally making my way into the kitchen.

  What I found was the shit out of a raunchy porno.

  Shaking my head in surprise, I called to Kosher.

  “Heel.”

  Kosher sat on his haunches with nervous anticipation.

  The man he’d been growling at was already detained...in a manner of speaking.

  “It’s clear!” I bellowed, making the guy at the table whimper.

  It didn’t take long for the rest of the fire department to come in, followed by nearly half the force that was on duty today.

  Sebastian and Kettle flanked me, both watching the scene that was playing out in front of us.

  “Do you think he realizes
what he looks like?” Sebastian finally asked.

  I surveyed the man.

  His large, chubby body was strapped down on his back to the kitchen table with tie straps that normal people used to secure loads to their trucks and trailers.

  He was completely naked and blindfolded.

  His cock was duck taped to one leg, and his balls were duck taped to the other.

  He had a broom handle shoved up his ass, and his mouth was filled with what looked a can of cooking spray.

  “Do you think this was consensual?” I finally asked, jolting the two men beside me into action.

  As they removed the can of cooking spray from the man’s mouth, and the blindfold from the man’s eyes, a wide shit eating grin graced the man’s face, “Oh, my God! Aren’t y’all just the cutest things I’ve ever seen! Where’s my master? Did he send you in here for my entertainment?”

  That was when I left.

  I didn’t need to see them pull the broom out of the man’s ass.

  I exited through the garage, and was assaulted by the man’s dungeon of doom, and overjoyed that I had decided to come this way to avoid contaminating the crime scene. I mean, how else would I have known what the man’s hobby was?

  Each and every wall was covered in fetish toys.

  I’m not one to complain about another human beings’ proclivities, but I sure as fuck didn’t want to think about two men, both very nearly obese, doing the things I saw today on the multiple pieces of furniture that graced the garage.

  Luckily the garage door worked, because I wasn’t sure if I could handle any more of my imagination.

  That and my chest was starting to hurt like a motherfucker.

  Thank God my shift was only ten minutes from being over. I needed a goddamn vacation after the past couple of days.

  Which I sure as fuck would be taking.

  ***

  “Trance?” Viddy’s voice called from the kitchen as I entered through the front door of my house.

  I followed the smell of spaghetti sauce until I found Viddy standing by the stove with a boiling pot of water on one burner, and a pot of sauce and meatballs on the other.

  My eyebrows creased as my palms started to sweat.

  How did she cook when she couldn’t see? How would she know if something bad happened?

  “Trance?” Viddy asked worriedly.

  “Right here.” I rumbled, walking over to the table and divesting myself of my gun belt and keys.

  The Kevlar vest had already been turned into evidence, and I had a new one to pick up before I went back on duty in two days’ time.

  Kosher, who’d followed his nose to the kitchen as well, walked over to Viddy and leaned into her, rubbing his furry head all along her left hand that was dangling at her side.

  Once all my things that poked and prodded (besides the ones that were attached) were off my body, I walked up to Viddy and placed a chaste kiss on her cheek.

  “How was your day?” I asked, leaning my hips against the counter.

  I watched as she stirred the pot of sauce as she spoke. “It went well. They found the boy that put those drugs in Falco’s locker. It was another boy that Falco had had a disagreement with earlier in the week. The kid got suspended and has to attend the alternative school for the rest of the year.”

  That made me happy. After hearing how much Viddy had liked him, I’d hoped that he wouldn’t turn out to be a little shit head like some teenagers.

  “That’s good. How do you cook when you can’t see?” I blurted as she started heading for the pot of boiling noodles with her pot holder covered hands.

  I pushed her to the side and emptied the pot into the sink for her, and then poured the strained noodles back into the pot before setting it on the wooden cutting board beside the sink.

  She glared in my direction, and then threw her hand out innocently.

  Except it hit my bruised chest right where I’d taken a shot gun slug to the chest only an hour earlier. I doubled over, struggling to keep the nausea that threatened to surge up my throat down.

  “Trance?” She asked worriedly when she heard me groan in pain.

  I straightened half way, trying my best to shrug off the agonizing pain in my chest.

  “I’m okay.” I wheezed.

  I told her about what had happened over the past hour, and she looked at me in abject horror. “You were shot?” She cried.

  I nodded. “Yes. Took a slug to the chest. Knocked me ten feet backwards.”

  It wasn’t until I saw the tears rolling down her cheeks that I thought about what I’d just said, and how blasé it made me sound. Which couldn’t have been further from the truth.

  “I’m okay, sweetie.” I said as I pulled her into my chest and wrapped my arms around her.

  She buried her nose in my chest, and I winced when her chin met the tender spot, but I didn’t let her go.

  “You scare the hell out of me. Your job gives me the creeps.” She murmured.

  “It gives me the creeps, too. I’ve been in law enforcement for going on eleven years now. I’ve nearly lost my passion for it. I’m thirty three going on sixty in terms of police years.” I said before giving her a kiss on the forehead.

  “You got into law enforcement when you were that young?” She asked in surprise.

  “I was in the air force for five years. I was in the security force. That’s where I got the K-9 bug. I started training my first dog when I was nineteen. From there I became obsessed. When I got out of the Air Force, I hired on with Las Vegas PD and worked with four other K-9 handlers for five years before I came to Benton.” I explained.

  “Did you like Las Vegas? That seems like a place that would be tons of fun.” She said wistfully.

  I grimaced. In actuality, I’d hated it there. It was a constant struggle with belligerent drunks, tourists who were there for a ‘good time’ (And FYI, if you fuck up in Vegas, it sure as fuck doesn’t stay in Vegas, no matter how the saying goes.)

  Then there were the prostitutes, druggies, and constant crime around the strip.

  I’d worked one part of the strip for years, and I’d gotten burned out at the constant search for drugs. The chases. The shootings. The murders over the stupidest shit I’d ever heard of.

  It rankled, and I was tired of it.

  So I’d come to Benton. The smallest town I could find that was hiring at the time.

  It was the best decision of my life.

  “It was lots of fun for everyone but the police. It got old really fast. Trust me.” I said, releasing her and heading to the cabinet for plates.

  She must’ve heard the underlying tone of sadness and shame in my voice. Viddy was perceptive as hell, and her next question brought me back to the nightmare that ended my time in Las Vegas. Making it come to a screeching halt so fast my head spun.

  “Why’d you move here from Las Vegas? Seems like a drastic change.” Viddy said into the darkness.

  The plates that were in my hands were set gently on the counter, and I planted my hands on the counter, letting my head hang in defeat. My biggest regret. The one I didn’t save.

  “One case got to me, and I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I needed to escape somewhere that didn’t have so much heartache attached to it. Not quite so much drama.”

  “Will you tell me about it?” Viddy asked, laying her head against my chest.

  The story came out of me. Pouring like acid out of my throat.

  ***

  I was headed to lunch.

  I hated eating out, but at least Subway was one of the healthier choices.

  To get to Subway from where I was at, I had two options. One was to go the short way and cut through the heart of Las Vegas, and the other was to cross over a large bridge that looped around the city.

  Normally, I’d go through the city, but I wasn’t up to pulling anybody over. It was inevitable. Every single time. Instead, I pulled onto the street that looped around, and started driving. It’d been a long day, and I was tired.
I just wanted to get home.

  Of course, nothing ever works out the way it’s supposed to.

  Never.

  I looked up when I noticed a large SUV barreling down on me. Since I was going nearly ten under the speed limit, I didn’t give it a second thought when the woman passed me.

  Sure, it was unusual for anyone to pass a cop, but I liked it when people drove normally around me. It was very trying when all I had to do was pull up behind someone for them to start driving as perfect as they could. Like it’s not obvious to me that the only reason they’re going two under the speed limit is that they saw me.

  And yes, when you stare straight ahead and refuse to make eye contact with the cop, it only makes us more suspicious.

  I had to smile as the woman passed. It was a breath of fresh air; it took guts to pass a cop, no matter what the situation.

  It didn’t take long before the woman was around the bend, and I could no longer see her car.

  I drove for another five minutes before I came to the bridge...and the SUV that had passed me.

  At an odd angle at the side of the road, I pulled over with a sigh.

  Like I said, nothing was ever easy. Everything that happened in life had an opposite reaction. I liked to think that things happened for a reason, and by me taking this way, fate had tried to intercept what was about to happen.

  Getting out of the car, I opened the door for Radar, and we went to check the vehicle out.

  The SUV’s engine was off, the soft click-click of the let me know that it hadn’t been off for long, otherwise that wouldn’t be happening.

  Doing a quick peek in the windows and finding nothing, I started scanning the area.

  “Ma’am?” I called out.

  With no answer, I continued to move forward until I was within ten feet of the bridge.

  When I saw it, my eyes didn’t completely understand.

  It took a few swings of the body hanging from the rope for me to fully comprehend what had happened, and I started running.

  The woman on the other end of the noose wasn’t struggling.

  When I got to the rope, I started pulling the rope up hand over hand.