by Starling,Amy
“Charlie just got out of prison, and now he's already back in it,” Jenna added. “I feel so bad for him. Life's dealt him one shitty hand after another.”
Everyone around me was celebrating about how they'd finally bagged Rico and the huge drug deal they had broken up. The energy in the room was electric, yet it felt as if a cloud of hopelessness hung over my head.
“Mad, we've got to do something.”
“What, Jenna?” I glared. “What can we do? It's over. Victor and Harvey have won.”
She gave me a challenging stare. “I can't believe you're saying that. When the fire happened and we lost it all, it felt like our world was over. Charlie ran away, and then dad couldn't take it anymore and abandoned us. It was just you, me, and mom. Remember?”
“I would rather not.”
“Mom and I were distraught. It was you, though, who tried to keep our spirits up. You encouraged me, told me things would get better.” She held my hand and sniffled. “You believed we'd make it through the nightmare together – then did whatever it took to make that happen.”
“That was different,” I muttered. “This is beyond you or me. We don't have the power to do anything. I used to believe a good cop could change the world. Not anymore.”
In Victor's office, the two men had begun arguing so loudly I could hear muffled shouts through the walls. I felt so defeated, though, that it barely mattered. What was the point in caring? All that had done was got me buried in this hole.
Jenna wasn't accepting my pitiable protests.
“Charlie's our brother; we can't just leave him in there. And do you have feelings for Brett, or don't you?”
When I thought of him locked in that cell like an animal, it made me sad and pissed off at the same time. Yeah, he'd gotten himself into the mess. He was packing a ton of coke in that backpack. As a cop, I should have left him to his fate.
But as a woman, I couldn't.
“We need to get them out of there.”
I laughed. “This isn't a movie.”
Jenna pointed to my computer. “They have them locked up in your holding cells, right? That means the security system is probably tied to the department's network somehow.”
“If it is, I wouldn't know. I've never seen anything like that. I don't have the kind of clearance that would allow access.”
“But Victor does.”
I glanced at his office. He was still in there yelling at Harvey. I had no idea how I'd get what I needed from him, but right now it was our only option.
Victor wouldn't just hand anything to me so easily, however. Good thing I took those acting classes in high school.
I told Jenna to stay at my desk and crept up to the office. Most of the other officers had shuffled out of the room in a cloud of self-congratulatory praise. That made it very easy to hear their conversation echoing through the air duct.
“I've protected your ass for years, Harvey. I always knew you were a rogue, doing things your own way. Didn't much matter to me because you got the job done.”
“That's right, isn't it? If not for me, where would you be today? I feel you don't appreciate all I do around here. The sacrifices I've made.”
“I warned you,” Victor snarled. “I told you to drop the matter and get back to work. We had our scapegoat; you got the revenge you so desperately wanted. Instead of obeying me, you were seconds away from blowing up that woman's apartment.”
“Melody is going to testify against you, damn it. We threw her boyfriend in jail for no reason. Planted evidence on him. Everything we've done, it'll all come to light in the trial. We'll both be –”
“Shut up for a second. All of that would have been taken care of, but you couldn't trust me, could you? Now I'll have to find a way to pin the bomb on Silver or that idiot brother of Madison's.”
Wonderful. If he did that, they'd both spend life behind bars with no way out. How could I argue against them? It would be my word against Victor's.
“I was so close to the FBI offering me that job,” he lamented. “They thought I was competent. Now it looks like I can't control my own city.”
“You said everything was gonna be fine. What are you so worried about?”
“I'm worried about you. You've caused me no end of trouble and stress, always making messes I'm then forced to clean up. You act without thinking, and now you've decided it's fine to disobey your superior's wishes.” He paused for a long moment. “I think you need to leave. Pack up your desk and get out.”
Harvey exploded. “You're firing me? You can't...”
“Yes, I can. I've been helping you out since the day I came to this force. You didn't want folks to know your kid was a druggie? I had the reports altered. Didn't want 'em to know your wife died after you beat her in a drunken rage? Done. If it weren't for my help, everyone in this city would know you for the piece of trash you are.”
Oh, God. Harvey's wife hadn't died in an accident. He killed her.
“Well, my help is done from this moment forth. Fend for your own self from now on.”
Harvey burst out of the office, so furious he didn't seem to notice me hiding behind the door. He kicked over a filing cabinet and uttered about a hundred different curse words as he grabbed his coat and strode out the door.
Jenna watched him in shock. I was just grateful he was gone, but our troubles weren't over yet.
Victor picked up the phone and was about to call someone when he saw me standing there. His expression softened and he set the phone down.
“You heard that, didn't you?” He patted his desk. “Come in, and let's talk about it.”
I stared him down from the doorway. “You knew Harvey was the arsonist all along. You let him set those fires. Why?”
“Normally, I'd say only a fool shows his hand. Luckily, I happen to like you, Madison.”
I hoped that I conveyed adequate disgust just by glaring at him.
“No, I knew nothing of it at first – which is why I assigned you to the case after the strip club incident,” he admitted. “Later, I caught Harvey using the police database to look up classified information. He was intent on finding anyone who had anything to do with his son's death and punishing them. It was some misguided way of trying to make himself feel better, I suppose.”
“So that's it? You just let him run wild, starting fires and potentially killing possibly innocent people?”
“I very nearly fired him, but his actions did benefit me in some ways. Why not let him have his fun, take out a few bad guys, and reap the rewards of saving our city from a vicious serial arsonist when he was done?”
“That's why James had to be the sacrificial lamb. You needed someone to peg it on.”
He sighed and rubbed his temples. He now had a bunch less hair than he did when we started dating, and what remained of it was steadily graying.
“It would have worked out perfectly, but I didn't account for that fact that Harvey is akin to a rabid mutt running off his leash. He would have killed Melody tonight if –”
“If Brett and Charlie hadn't been in the right spot at the right time,” I muttered, the realization of it suddenly hitting me hard. “They saved her life.”
It didn't forgive whatever dumb thing they did with the cocaine, not by a long shot. Still, I wanted to tell them, somehow, they accomplished something good in all of it.
“That is true that their intervention saved her.” He eyed me suspiciously. “Pray tell, though, what they were doing with all those drugs by Harvey's car?”
“I... I don't know.”
“Given that Rico was there as well, you realize what it looks like.” He clucked his tongue. “I care for you very much, Madison, no matter how many times you shun me. In other circumstances, I might be convinced to let the men go in exchange for a generous cut of the evidence.”
“I think your officers have already taken cuts of their own. You don't have as much control here as you think, Victor.”
He shrugged. “So long as they remain obedien
t and loyal, I don't mind turning a blind eye now and again. No one's perfect, are they? Surely you've plucked a treat for yourself now and then.”
“No.”
“Regardless, I'm afraid I can't set them free now. No thanks to Harvey's idiotic plan, I need yet another lamb for the slaughter.”
What should I do? Keep up the tough girl act, or get down on my knees, begging and crying? I knew of only one thing he'd really respond to, and the thought of it made my stomach turn.
“Please, sir. You like to make bargains. There must be something.”
“Well, I suppose I really only need one of them.” He grinned. “How about this: you agree to give us another chance, and I'll let you choose which one goes free.”
“Absolutely not!”
Even if I could fathom the idea of dating Victor again, no way could I leave either man behind. Charlie was family. Brett... He was a dope, but he was my dope.
Or he would be, if I ever found a way to get him out.
“Oh, well, that's too bad. Then I suppose this discussion is over.”
He shooed me to the door. I didn't continue arguing; it wouldn't have helped.
“One more thing, dear. I hope you have the sense to keep your pretty mouth shut about all this, unless you'd like to end up the way Harvey did.”
“Why don't you use him as your lamb? He turned on you, after all.”
He appeared to consider it, then shook his head. “I can't do that. Calling him out for his misdeeds would throw our entire department into the limelight of suspicion. There would be internal investigations, higher-ups sticking their noses where they don't belong.”
Just as he tried to push me out again, something came to mind that I'd totally forgotten up until now. It just might be the only other thing that could get us out of this mess.
“Wait. I have an item that might interest you,” I said quickly. “A certain safe I believe you were looking for.”
He hesitated, then his face reddened. “You have it. All this time, it was you.”
“Yes.”
“Tampering with official police evidence,” he murmured. “Such a shame.”
“If you let both Brett and Charlie go, I'll give it to you.” I decided to test him. “You do know what's in it.”
“A good lot of money that was owed me. Seeing as it's mine, I would like it back.”
He didn't mention the book with his name in it. That was good.
“Then we have an agreement? Those two in exchange for the safe?”
“Go get it. If the contents are as expected, I may be willing to work with you.”
It was the closest to victory I would get. Never thought I'd be making deals with drug money, though. Stooping this low made me sick.
“There's just one problem,” I said quietly. “The safe is in Brett's house and I can't get inside without him.”
“Certainly you can.” He patted my back. “You're a cop. Be resourceful.”
He pushed me out and shut the door. I stood there, dazed, and no better off than I'd been before I went in there.
Jenna hurried to my side. I shushed her, listening hard as Victor picked up the phone to finish that call.
“Send a few men to five zero one West Baker Avenue. I have a tip that there's a bomb inside the building, and I'll be needing it as evidence immediately. Look for a plain brown box. You may need to ask the girl where it is.”
“What are we gonna do?” Jenna squealed.
“We're going to get that bomb before the cops do,” I said, grabbing my keys. “Without that critical piece of evidence, it'll be a lot harder to convict Brett or Charlie of terrorism in court.”
“But all those drugs...”
“We'll have to worry about that later.” I raced for the car with her behind me. “Once we've done that, we go get the safe.”
“But if Victor promised to let them go, why worry about the stupid bomb?”
“Something tells me he'll find a way to use it against us. I've learned one thing: you can't trust Victor any further than you can spit.”
I sped off toward Melody's apartment, running red lights and going thirty miles over the limit.
“Who taught you to drive like such a maniac?” Jenna howled, her knuckles white from gripping the dashboard.
“Maybe Brett rubbed off on me more than I thought.”
Just a few more blocks now. Soon, I hoped, this would all be over.
Chapter 24 - Brett
Though I'd caused a lot of trouble in my lifetime, I'd never seen the inside of a jail cell. Not until tonight, anyway.
“Damn it,” Charlie hissed, kicking the bars. “We're stuck in here while my sisters are out there with a couple of crazy bastards – and there are probably more where Victor and Harvey came from.”
I lay on the hard cot and shut my eyes. “Told you that idea of yours wasn't gonna work. We should have just done what we went there to do.”
“Yeah, maybe, but then what? Showing myself to him wasn't so smart. Look how he reacted.” He shuddered. “Guy's nuttier than I thought. What the hell is he doing with a bomb?”
I thought of Madison, and it made me feel so helpless and angry. She was going through so much right now, anybody else would have broken down from the weight of it all.
Not her. She was strong and steady. That's why I respected her so much.
Didn't matter anyway, did it? Victor planned to pin the drugs and bomb on me. If it worked, I'd be looking at the next fifty years in this place.
Somehow, I doubted Maddie would be interested in having a relationship via conjugal visits.
Across the way in the other cell, Rico paced like a mad bull.
“Can't believe this,” he sputtered. “How dare they do this to me?”
“It was a long time coming,” I offered. “Maybe you ought to rethink your life of crime.”
“Shut up, white boy. Don't act like you're better than me.”
Charlie studied every inch of the cell, from the dirty cement floor to the cinder-block walls. Then he rattled the bars.
“This place is a lot more secure than the one in Mexico.”
“What, did you think we were going to escape?” I put the pillow over my head. “Much as I'd love to be Madison's hero, I don't see anymore options.”
At least Charlie's dumb idea had some merit: whatever that bomb was for, we probably stopped it from blowing up. Made me feel a tiny bit better about my sorry ass, at least.
“Hey,” he said, throwing himself against the wall in defeat. “You planning on marrying my sister?”
“We don't know each other that well yet. Just met a couple weeks ago, actually.”
“That's funny. Looks to me like you've been her boyfriend for years.”
I chuckled. “Y'know, it kind of feels that way too. Around her, I feel like I'm... home, I guess.”
“She has that effect on people. Always helping and nurturing folks. That's part of why she became a cop.” He paused. “That, and serving up justice to people who deserve it.”
“She certainly is good at that.”
“Well, anyway,” he said, eyeing me up and down. “If you do want to marry her, then I approve.”
Marriage, hmm. Did I really want that out of life? Jayce and the others seemed happy, but my personal experience wasn't so cheerful.
What my dad did to my mother was unforgivable. If I turned into him...
“Hey, Brett,” Charlie hissed. “Look.”
I lifted the pillow just in time to see the dark figure of a person turn the corner.
“I think that was Harvey.”
“Bullshit.”
“Looked just like him, down to the potbelly and that ridiculous mustache.” He pushed his face against the bars. “Where is he going? Sign above that door says maintenance.”
Minutes later, the power went out. Prisoners screamed and shrieked in the darkness, so black I couldn't see my hands in front of me. Then the back-up power came on, albeit with much dimmer lights.
/> “What the devil's going on with this thing?” A guard whacked the bars with his stick on his way past. “Y'all shut up in there! Behave yourselves or you'll be in there even longer.”
He made the walk down the hall, past our cell, to the maintenance room. Soon after he disappeared, there was a yelp of pain and the sound of something heavy hitting the floor. The guard didn't come back out.
“Uh, something's not right here,” Charlie muttered.
Harvey didn't reappear either. Then a loud noise rocked the building, an explosion almost, and the backup power went off too.
The inmates were freaking out now. I wasn't too pleased myself. Being trapped in a pitch-black room, in a cage, with a bunch of crazies on all sides wasn't my idea of a good time.
“You smell that?”
I did. It was smoke.
Orange flames from the maintenance room began to light the hallway in flickering orange and yellow. The sprinklers responded right away – and then, much to my amazement, all of the cell doors slid open at once.
“We're free!” yelled a scruffy man with a beard down to his chest. “God bless America, I'm innocent. You can't keep me down, brother!”
Charlie and I watched in disbelief as the prisoners fled for the exit. With the power totally failed, the regular security systems were out of commission. All the doors were electronically locked, including the main entrance.
Rico cackled as he bolted. “Told you ya couldn't keep me in a cage. Yo, Brett – next time we meet, I got a score to settle with you. It'll happen. Bet on it.”
He deserved to be locked up more than anyone in here, but I was too out of it to stop him.
“What are we standing here for?” Charlie pulled me toward freedom. “This is a damn miracle. Let's go!”
“But Harvey –”
“Who cares about him? If he burns to death, all the better for everyone.” He felt for his pocket. “Assholes took my phone. Now I'll have to steal another one.”
I felt a momentary stab of guilt for leaving, even though he and the guard were probably okay. This wasn't like the other time, was it? I didn't start the fire. I didn't stop the department from coming to put it out.