Double Play (Bishop's Run Series Book 2)

by B. D. Gates

  A minute passed. It felt like an hour. Another minute, then, "Hello, Tess, what's up?"

  Tess explained the situation and Kane agreed that it was worth investigating. He called Tess back on his cell as he made his way to his truck.

  The app was correct, Kane told Tess that his program was also showing Bishop's cell on the highway to Richmond. Hatch's phone didn't show up at all.

  "They're in trouble, aren't they?" It was a statement.

  "Yeah, I think they are," he agreed.

  "Kane, monitor the signal, let us know if they turn off or stop anywhere. You've got my number."

  "What are you going to do?"

  "I'm going after them." Tess tapped off, then, "Damn. Bishop drove."

  "I'll drive," Penny said, grabbing her keys and her leather bag from the kitchen cabinet.

  The two women were out the door, Penny stopping long enough to tell Jacks that she was in charge.

  Jacks heard Penny's tires squeal as they hit the asphalt on the road leading to the highway and knew that something was seriously wrong.

  106

  Tess found for herself just what Hatch meant when she said Penny was a maniac behind the wheel.

  There is a line of thought that drivers should "drive defensively," and "watch out for the other guy."

  Penny is that "other guy."

  She drove like she was a running back avoiding tackles on the way to the goal line, an offensive attack against every car she encountered.

  The truth of it, though, is that she looks ahead and anticipates moves and flow as well as or better than most anyone.

  Tess had been in more than a few high-speed pursuits and found herself appreciating Penny's skill at maneuvering around slower vehicles. She relaxed as they flew down the highway.

  At eighty miles-per-hour or faster, they were over halfway to Richmond after thirty minutes. Then she took a call from Kane.

  "They're on the outskirts of the city, looks like they're heading south. I'm thinking Nichols has them and he's taking them to the warehouse we had under surveillance."

  Tess agreed. She'd just received a call from Dispatch telling her the Jeep had been found in the restaurant parking lot by a traffic unit, the melting ice and drinks in the back seat. She had shared that information with Kane.

  "I'm watching traffic cameras at the intersections on the routes they're most likely to take and I've made a call to my team leader, they're scrambling a team but it'll take time to pull it together."

  "Thanks, Kane." Tess tapped off.

  She needed help now.

  She scrolled through her contacts and tapped the green icon.

  "Mir, it's Tess. Hatch has run out into traffic. I need you."

  107

  Maybe it was that we'd stopped moving, or perhaps it was the light coming through the roof of the truck that woke me. I blinked, struggled to focus, my mouth felt like it was full of cotton and I could taste the drugs. I thought about moving, but all I could do was think about it, everything felt too heavy to lift.

  I managed to turn my head and look at Hatch. She was out. Her coloring was horrible, I was hoping she was sedated, but I doubted that, it was more likely from the shock and the pain.

  I laid there, just breathing, trying to figure a way out of this, knowing that there really wasn't one.

  I closed my eyes and saw Tess, thinking that it wasn't fair that she should suffer so many losses in her life, that the people she loved should all be taken from her in such awful ways.

  I had held it against her, had been angry with her, that she hadn't let me say goodbye when she left, until I realized that she hadn't said it either.

  Goodbye is a final sort of word, a last word, and maybe she'd had enough of last words in her life. So, I'd let go of my anger, thinking that if we'd said no last words, no goodbyes, then there would always be the possibility, however small, of more words between us.

  And hello is such a better word, a first word, full of promise.

  I wanted one more hello with Tess.

  108

  Detective Miranda Miller had called her chief and scrambled the officers of the Fighting Fourteenth, giving a quick briefing on the situation during the short ride to the scene. They were going in to retrieve one of their own, dividing into assault teams to enter the warehouse in a precision strike.

  It had gone well, no shots fired, they'd surprised the men in the warehouse, and now they were standing at the back of the truck, Miranda looking at Darren Nichols, handcuffed and held off to the side.

  "For your sake, I sure hope there's no DEA agent in there."

  109

  There was a deep, nagging pressure in my lower back and hip, and as I rolled my shoulders and stretched my arms to get the blood circulating again, I discovered that my wrists were no longer restrained. Pulling them out from underneath me, I heard the gun before I saw it, the scrape of metal on wood unmistakable. I turned on to my side and looked at it.

  A Sig Sauer had been tucked under me.

  I picked it up, checked the clip. It was full.

  The bearded dude.

  Who the fuck was this guy?

  I didn't care, now we had a fighting chance.

  Suddenly, I heard shouting and yelling outside the truck.

  I crawled past Hatch, got between her and the door, settled in a crouch with one knee down, the Sig at the ready.

  I waited.

  The door rolled up.

  I braced.

  110

  "GUN! GUN! GUN!"

  Every officer within sight of the box interior had their weapon up and trained on the woman pointing a gun at the opening.

  The young woman's eyes were wide open as she laid down the pistol and put up her hands. An officer jumped up onto the deck and kicked the gun aside, then pushed the woman down onto the boards.

  "Medic!" the woman was yelling. "We need a medic!"

  "Wait! Wait! Miranda!" Tess ran up, her badge raised for all to see, Penny behind her. She looked into the box.

  "That one's mine," she advised.

  111

  Penny didn't wait for permission, she scrambled up onto the truck bed, dropping to her knees next to Hatch.

  "Hatch, open your eyes, it's okay, we've got you." She tried not to look at what had been done to her, focusing only on Hatch's face.

  Hatch blinked, her eyes unfocused and cloudy as she looked up at Penny. "Penny..." she whispered. "I couldn't think our way out."

  "It's okay, you're safe now."

  "I want to tell you...I've wanted to tell you for a while, but I was afraid I'd scare you away." Hatch's eyes scanned Penny's face and a small smile broke through. "I love you, Penny Harris. I knew that I would the first time I ever saw you."

  Penny felt the truth of Hatch's words nestle deep into her bones and she gave in to those feelings, told her own truth. "I love you, Hatch."

  Hatch nodded and sighed at that. "Take me home."

  "Hatch, I'll take you home after you go to the hospital, okay? You've got to let the doctors help you first, then I'll take you home."

  Hatch nodded, seemed to settle down with Penny's words. The EMTs had arrived and pulled the stretcher up next to the two. Penny was escorted out of the box while Hatch was prepared for transport.

  112

  The aftermath was a freaking zoo.

  Hatch and I were taken to the hospital. I was seen and discharged from the Emergency Department and Hatch ended up going to the operating room for the orthopedic doctor to take care of her fractures.

  I gave my statement to Miranda while we waited for Hatch to get out of surgery.

  "So, the bearded guy tried to help us, he gave me the gun."

  Miranda took on a puzzled look. "None of the men we picked up in the warehouse had a beard."

  I looked at her, blinking. Okay, just who the fuck was this guy?

  Whoever he was, he was in the wind, and I honestly did not care. I silently thanked him and wished him a good, long, happy, healthy li
fe.

  Penny, and later, Miranda, stayed with Hatch, at her bedside or on the unit where she was admitted post-op.

  Miranda had Nichols booked into her precinct, holding him until the Feds could get there. The list of charges started with two counts of kidnapping and attempted murder of a federal officer and grew longer after what happened with Penny and the truck.

  Apparently, Penny was standing in such a way that she could see into the truck box as well as along the length of it. She kept rocking back and forth between the two views.

  Tess noticed. "What're you doing?"

  "Something's not right."

  Miranda looked at her. "What do you mean? Do you see something?"

  "Well, yeah, maybe. I'm not sure."

  "What do you want to do?"

  "I want to measure the length of the inside of the box and compare it with the outside."

  Miranda said, "We can do that. Jerry, do you still have that laser measuring tool?"

  He did. And the measurements didn't add up.

  The inside of the truck was over three feet shorter than the outside. When the CSIs took over, they found a false wall that made the truck appear empty if you were just looking in. Nichols' men had used the air wrenches on the bolts holding it in place to gain access to the compartment.

  When the wall was removed, it left quite a bit of floor-to-ceiling room for hauling illegal drugs. Though the area on this particular truck was empty, it tested positive for residual heroin and cocaine, and the DEA used those findings to raid other distributors running the same set-up, catching them chock full of illegal substances.

  It was Penny's observations that facilitated major damage to the Baltimore-based operation trafficking drugs up and down the east coast.

  After surgery, Hatch was going to be transferred to a hospital in Baltimore, her home base, but Miranda and Penny both stood their ground with her supervisor and kept her there in Richmond, giving her the love and support she needed during her recovery. Later, she was transferred to a rehab facility for intensive physical therapy and neither of them could go with her.

  The internet really is a wonderful thing, and we all got into a routine of video phone calls, giving Hatch encouragement and love from a distance.

  113

  Once Hatch was out of surgery, Tess and I checked into the hotel across the street from the hospital. I couldn't sleep, I was still processing everything, but it was really nice to lie in bed with Tess in my arms.

  We talked.

  About things we'd never talked about before, things we needed to talk about.

  I told her about growing up in foster care, the odd kid nobody wanted, she told me about losing her mom and being raised by her dad, how he'd seemed so out of place at the dance lessons and shopping for clothes, at least in the beginning, how that had made her the 'odd kid' as well. She told me about her time in Richmond and what she'd learned about herself while she was there.

  We talked about what we wanted out of life, what we thought important, finding that we both wanted many of the same things, and that we were supportive of the differences between us.

  And when the sun came up, I was as certain as I could be when I said, "marry me."

  As certain as she was when she said "yes."

  114

  It was a beautiful day for a wedding.

  The sky was deep blue from a front that had moved through the night before, scrubbing the air and lowering the humidity.

  It was held at Penny's because, well, that's just a great place to hold a wedding and one helluva party.

  Jeannie has been made the group's official officiant and I think she enjoys that role. She loves weddings, first of all, she writes beautiful openings, and she really enjoys the parties after, so how could we not?

  The ceremony was underway. On the stage with us were Ginnie, as Tess's matron of honor, and Biggs, standing up for me. Both Penny and Jacks were taking pictures, the quiet clicks of their cameras unobtrusive as we listened to Jeannie's words.

  "Their love has been tested and it holds, it is the keystone that bridges and supports their lives. And now, if there is anyone who objects to the union of these two women, let them speak now or forever hold their peace."

  Tess and I smiled at each other at that. Behind us, I heard someone calling, "wait, please," and everyone chuckled.

  Then, I heard it again.

  Jeannie looked at the two of us, amused but puzzled. "Is this just something that y'all do?" she asked.

  I looked at her and she nodded her head towards the back of the seating area.

  As I turned, I saw Penny stop, frozen and staring. I looked to the back and watched as the woman, her limp obvious, joined the gathering.

  Penny had taken two, maybe three tentative steps, and then she was running. When she reached her, she took Hatch's hands in her own and clasped them to her, gazing up into Hatch's face, as Hatch smiled down at her, the love in her eyes unmistakable.

  I looked at Tess, saw her smile and her tears matching my own. "You knew?"

  She nodded.

  And Jacks caught their moment perfectly.

  EPILOGUE

  It's been about nine months since Tess and I married. We're not planning anything special for our first anniversary, just dinner and a movie on the couch in the carriage house.

  Tess is selling her parents' house to a recently-engaged couple. They want dogs. And kids.

  Because it's a perfect house for Kane and Christy to raise a family. Kane took a liking to Tenley, took an even bigger liking to Christy, and decided that Life is too short to miss out on all the wonderful things the Fates were offering him--which included a position in the Media and Tech department for the Tenley PD. He and Penny make quite a team.

  Hatch came to our wedding at Penny's and she never left.

  Since her ankle disqualified her for field work, she quit the DEA and now she's an instructor at Whitmore Community College, teaching Basic Law Enforcement Training classes. When Miranda heard that, and after she stopped laughing, she thought it was perfectly fitting for Hatch to be in charge of a classroom full of puppies.

  Jacks is the new assistant manager of her market.

  Biggs and Carole introduced her to a lovely woman who works at the local radio station and they've been dating for the past six months. Hatch still finds her in the kitchen on the occasional morning, eating cereal.

  It's the last game of the regular season, the Pride is heading into the playoffs, and I'm standing in right field. All my friends are playing or looking on from the bleachers, and I'm watching a solitary runner on the track ringing the soccer field across the way. I'm smiling as my wife takes the far turn and I am filled with so much warmth for those I love and those who love me.

  Everyone is where they should be.

  We're all safe at home.