by Jessie Cooke
Angel nodded and again she waited. The radio was so full of chatter that it was hard for her to follow what was going on and when her own phone rang, she almost jumped out of her skin. She looked at the screen and saw that it was Captain Banks. That was when her hopeful attitude began to fade.
“Captain, hello.”
“Brady, what’s your 10-20?”
“I’m in the surveillance van, sir, just outside of the limousine office.”
“Okay. Stay there. I need to see you.”
“Sir, is my father…?”
“I’ll be right there.” He ended the call and once again, Angel had to remind herself to breathe as the clock seemed to stop ticking. When the door to the van was pulled open she gasped aloud and nearly pulled her gun. It was David, so thank God she hadn’t.
“Hey, Kyle and Micah are okay. Matheson took a bullet to the shoulder and Zandt and his partner crashed their car into one of the Harleys so that’s still kind of a mess, but I heard they only had minor injuries. Three of the bikers were shot. One dead is what I hear…What’s wrong?” Angel’s face must have given her away.
“Captain Banks is on his way. He said for me to stay put. He needed to see me.”
“Oh, well, it’s probably about the case, right?”
“I asked him about Dad.”
“What did he say?”
“Nothing, David, he didn’t say anything.”
“Shit.” David sat down next to her on the bench seat in the back. While they waited together, he slipped his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder. Ten or fifteen minutes passed when the door was once again pulled open and Kyle stepped inside. He looked at the faces of his siblings and said:
“I’m guessing the captain called you?” They nodded. He mumbled a curse word under his breath and sat down on the other side of Angel. That was when she realized he had powder burns on his hands and blood on his jeans.
“Are you okay?”
Kyle looked down at his pants. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s Chris’s blood. They got him in the shoulder, but he’ll be alright. We took down four of them. The one that shot Chris went to the hospital. Dax Marshall and his road captain got away.” Angel wondered if she would go to hell for being relieved by that. She was about to ask who died when Captain Banks pulled open the door. One look at his face was enough to make her want to vomit. Her brain was already searching for ways to deny what he was about to tell them.
“I hate this shit,” he said as he pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. David still had his arm around Angel. Kyle took her hand in his and squeezed it. “Your father was shot. He didn’t make it. I’m so sorry.”
Angel had heard people talk about how the world suddenly stopped spinning, but she’d never experienced it before. When her mother died, she was eight and her father was there to hold her hand. She looked down at Kyle’s big hand wrapped around hers. It was sweet, but not the same. Nothing would ever be the same again.
Dax sat in the bar staring at the bottles on the wall. His mind was trying to make sense out of everything that had just happened, but it couldn’t. How the fuck did it all go so wrong? Handsome slid onto the stool next to him. “Any word from the ranch yet?”
Dax shook his head. They hadn’t gone back there for fear of leading the cops into a standoff that could get them all killed. Instead they had parked their bikes in the old barn down the road from Spirits and called Mikey, the bartender and a friend of the club, and told him they needed the place to themselves. By the time they got there everyone was gone except for a couple of old-timers who were too drunk to drive. Mikey had just poured them both into a cab and now Dax and nine of his brothers sat in the bar, numb and unsure of the future.
“Do we know anything about the other guys yet?”
“I got a text from Vaughn. He said he got a call from Bobby telling him that he needed to get down to County. They were taking Turbo in. He shot a cop. The cop died.”
“Fuck!” Dax picked up his glass and threw it. It hit one of the colorful bottles of liquor and knocked it off the shelf, where the sticky liquid slowly seeped across the floor. No one said a word, not even Mikey. Dax looked around at the men in the room. They all looked like death warmed over. “Where is Bobby?”
“He’s in the hospital. He shot a cop too. His didn’t die. The cop did some fancy driving shit and Bobby went down. The bike skidded underneath the car. Vaughn said he called from ER. I don’t know how because I’m sure they’ve got cops on him. Probably talked some nurse into using her phone or some shit. You know what a Casanova he is.”
“Shit. A Casanova who’s going to do some hard time now. Fuck! What the hell happened? Where did they all come from? How the hell did they know about this?”
“I don’t know, man. I wish I did.”
“Fuck!” he said again. “I spent so much time worrying that fucking Hawk was going to show up. Dan said Hawk was pissed because Dan’s used the Sinners in the past, but he had problems with a few of them, so he was going with us this time. You don’t think one of those assholes, maybe Hawk himself, called the cops? I’ve known Dan since I was a kid. I know damned well it wasn’t him.”
Handsome shook his head slowly. “The Sinners feel the same as we do about the cops…if not more strongly. Dax…whoever tipped them off knew where we’d be, all of us. They were behind us at every turn. Someone knew the plan.”
Dax shook his head. “No one knew except us. Dan didn’t even know the exact plan, but like I said, there’s no way he would have told anyone. Surely you’re not suggesting that one of us called the cops?” Handsome took a drink of the whiskey in front of him. He wouldn’t meet Dax’s eyes. Dax waited for him to respond for as long as his patience would allow it before finally saying, “Tell me straight, Hand. What the fuck are you suggesting?”
“How much do you know about Angel?”
Dax felt a surge of anger. “Fuck you!”
“Man, don’t get pissed. I’m not accusing her of anything…”
“Bullshit! That’s fucking exactly what you’re doing.”
“Okay, maybe I am. I like Angel, I do. But don’t you think it’s strange how this shit happens not long after she shows up? I mean, you said it yourself that none of us would have talked to the cops…”
“Shut your fucking mouth. This wasn’t Angel.” Dax clenched his fist at his side. They’d been through enough shit for one day already; they didn’t need him beating the shit out of his road captain to top off the day.
Handsome put his hands up. “Okay, man. I’m sorry.”
“Fuck you,” Dax said again. He drained the new glass of whiskey that Mikey had set in front of him and took out his phone. He dialed Angel’s number. It went straight to voicemail. The phone ended up on the floor with the last glass and the blue liquor from the shelves. Then he just sat there, next to Handsome, and they both stared at the wall.
26
Angel sat motionless in the big armchair in the chief’s outer office. Kyle and David sat on the couch. Micah was standing by the window looking outside. He’d tried to hug her. He’d wanted to comfort her. But Angel just couldn’t let him do it. She didn’t want to be comforted. She had no desire to be held. She wanted her father. That was all she wanted. She wanted Sean Brady to walk through the door and say, “Hey, kid, I’m okay. They made a mistake.” She needed his smile to brighten up the dark room. She needed his warmth. She couldn’t stop shaking. She was so cold.
Sheriff Zandt, Detective Richards, Brian, and the other six men that had been on the job today were seated around the big conference table behind them. The chief was in his office with Captain Banks. The silence in the room was almost deadly until the door to the inner office clicked and the chief and captain came out. The chief cleared his throat and said, “I have to express my condolences once more to the Brady family. Sean Brady was not just one of the best damned cops this city has ever seen, he was my friend, and I know we will all feel his loss deeply. Unfortunately, w
e have a city that wants answers right now and I have another press conference in an hour, so I have to get my facts straight.” He and the mayor had shown up along with his PR person, before the scene was even cleaned up, to deal with the press. Internal Affairs was also on the scene that quickly. It never failed to amaze Angel how quickly word got around in the department. It was like its own little network.
Angel heard her father’s voice in her head as he said, “The job must go on.” The fucking job.
Everyone nodded glumly and the chief went on. “I’d like to start with you, Richards, since you were there when you and Detective Brady were first made.”
Richards nodded. He looked weary and his eyes were rimmed in red, as if he might have been crying. “We were parked about two blocks back from the biker sitting at the corner of 10th Avenue. Things were fine until another biker came up on us from behind. He looked at us as he passed and when he reached the other Harley, they both looked at us and one of them took out his phone. That was when we decided that we needed to go in, or the whole thing could be in jeopardy. We both stepped out of the car at the same time, and Brady identified us and told them to drop any weapons they might have and get off the bikes. He wasn’t even finished talking when one of them pulled out his gun. I yelled at him to drop it, and the other guy dropped his phone and pulled out his own gun and just started shooting. Brady and I both opened fire and the one on the right took cover. The other one went ballistic and just started walking toward us, shooting almost wildly. I was shooting back and the situation was so intense until he was close enough for me to hit my target that I didn’t even notice when Brady went down.” His voice broke at that point. “Duncan was there immediately. He called for help and I went to see to Brady as soon as I realized what had happened but…” He looked over at Angel and her brothers. They already knew from the captain that Sean had been hit in the head and died instantly. But they didn’t blame him for not being able to say it. “I guess the guy with the phone got off a text before he started shooting, because everything fell apart then. They knew we were onto them.”
“The man you killed wasn’t the one that shot Detective Brady,” Captain Banks told him.
“I know. Duncan took the other one down. He saw him shoot Brady. The biker was yelling about shooting the cop in self-defense. He said that Brady got out of the car with his gun drawn and started shooting and he was only trying to protect his friend, who Brady shot in cold blood. But that’s not the way it happened at all. Duncan had on a body cam and he got there right as it was all going down…”
“I believe you, and Duncan is with IA now,” the chief said. “We just need to be prepared for the press.” Richards nodded. He looked exhausted enough to pass out. Angel felt bad for him. She’d known him for quite a few years. Her dad and he partnered up on a lot of special assignments and they were friends in their off time as well. Angel had known him since she was a kid and she knew shooting anyone, even a “bad guy,” was going to haunt him for a lifetime.
“Nobody was shooting up where we were. The two we took down didn’t even pull their guns. Miller tried to bail, but Kyle gave chase and had him down in half a block. Chris gave chase to the two that had met Miller at the cemetery. Another one came up on his rear and shot at the car. The bullet went through the back window and hit Chris in the right shoulder. He stopped the car and the Harley hit him and skidded underneath it. That guy was arrested and taken to the hospital with moderate injuries.”
“So three arrests total?” the chief asked.
“Four,” Richards said, “from what I heard. One went to the hospital, one died on scene, and three more were taken directly down to County. I’ve already turned over my gun to IA.”
“Who retrieved the coins?” The chief asked.
“I did,” Kyle said. “Miller was carrying the bag when he bailed. Inside the bag was a locked box. The bomb squad checked it out and CSI printed the outside of it before we opened it. There were a lot of coins inside. It was entered into evidence and the techs took it with them to process.”
“The FBI have been notified,” the captain said. “I’m guessing they’ll be descending on us first thing in the morning.”
“Great,” Kyle muttered. “I’m sorry, but can we go now? We have family we need to call…”
“Of course. Again, I’m so sorry,” the chief said. Angel, David, and Kyle got up and without looking back at anyone else in the room, they left. Once they were outside Angel remembered Mickey and Sam.
“Dad said Mickey and Sam will be home on Sunday. Do we have to call them? Wouldn’t it be better to tell them face to face?” She could feel tears running down her face. It was weird because she hadn’t even known that she was crying. David noticed and put his arm around her again. She still didn’t want to be comforted. A psychiatrist would probably say that it was because that made it too real. But she didn’t pull away, because David probably needed the comfort as much as she didn’t.
“Okay,” Kyle said, hoarsely. “We’ll wait until they’re home. We have to call Aunt Mary and Uncle Cyrus, though.” Mary and Cyrus were Sean’s sister and brother. They had eleven kids between them. Angel’s grandmother used to say that she was “rich with grandchildren.” Angel was glad that her grandmother hadn’t lived to see this day. The fact that Sean was a policeman had worried her nearly to death. If she were still alive, losing her youngest son would have probably killed her.
“Do you want me to call them?” Angel asked. Her words sounded shaky and foreign to her own ears. She rarely cried, but this time it was made even more bizarre by the fact that the only evidence of it were the tears and the shaky voice.
“I’ll call them,” Kyle told her. “Are you going home with Micah?”
She looked back toward the big building they’d just come out of. She wondered if Micah was watching them out the window as they stood underneath the streetlight looking like the lost orphans they suddenly were. “No. I need to be alone tonight.”
“Angel, are you sure? You can stay at my place,” David said.
“Or mine,” Kyle added. Her dad was right. They were assholes sometimes, but her big brothers all the time, and they loved her, and she them. But she did just need to be alone.
“Thank you, guys. But really, I just need to be alone tonight.”
“Okay.” David hugged her tightly. He lost his battle with the tears and she held onto him a little longer while he cried. He looked embarrassed when she let him go, and she lifted her hand and used her fingers to wipe a tear off his cheek.
“I love you, David.”
“I love you too, sis. Call me if you need me.”
She nodded. “You too.” David hugged Kyle then too, and then Angel and Kyle watched him walk to his truck. When Angel turned back toward her older brother she suddenly realized how much he looked like their father. Now that Sean Brady was gone, it was kind of eerie.
“You sure you’re going to be okay?” he asked her.
She nodded. “I’m sure.” He looked hesitant about it, but then he moved in and gave her a hug. Angel hugged him back and when she pulled out of it she told him that she loved him too. Kyle smiled softly and said:
“I love you too. I know I don’t always show it.”
She smiled too, and thinking about what her father had said earlier in the day she said, “Yes, you do. I just don’t always see it. Good night, Kyle. Call me if you need me.”
He walked her to her car, hugged her again, and then he stood there and watched her until she’d pulled out of the parking lot. Once she was on the freeway it really hit her—her father was gone. Her chest suddenly hurt so badly that she could barely breathe. Her arms and legs went numb and her head began to feel fuzzy and the tears came down in torrents now. She had to pull off onto the shoulder and turn on her flashers and turn off the car. She sat there for a long time and let the feelings come. They were all bad and as she sobbed, she wondered how anything would ever be okay again. She wondered how any of them would make i
t now, without him. She wondered if he was somewhere right now looking down on her and blaming her for his death. Was it her fault? Did she get him killed by not giving them that last paper? She took out her phone and looked at it. She enlarged it and studied it and then she saw it. In black and white ink, it listed Turbo as “Rover.” They hadn’t had any idea that one of the bikers would be coming up on them from behind…because she hadn’t given them all the information. Jesus. It was her fault that her father was dead. She wished that she were dead herself.
Forty-five minutes later she was in front of her apartment and she didn’t even know how she’d gotten there. As she stepped out of the car she saw the chrome of the Harley gleaming in the moonlight. She had the presence of mind to take out her phone and delete the photos that she’d just been looking at. There were three missed calls from Dax and other than that, there was one call in the call log. It was from Kyle. She left it so that it wouldn’t look like the phone had been wiped clean. If Dax ever called Kyle from her phone, she knew that her brother wouldn’t blow her cover. The rest of the pictures on her phone were like the ones in her new apartment…fake. With a sigh, she tucked the phone in her pocket, swiped at the tears on her face, and headed up the stairs. Dax wasn’t anywhere in sight, but the fact that he’d let himself into her apartment didn’t surprise her, even if he hadn’t had a key. It did make her wonder if she needed the gun that she’d left in the car underneath the seat. Sighing again, she told herself that it didn’t matter. She’d never use it on him anyways.
Dax was sitting in her living room in the dark. She could make out his silhouette on the couch. He didn’t even look up when she came in. She didn’t turn on the light; she just went over and sat down next to him. As soon as she did he said, “Where were you?”
Angel had a cover story before her father was killed just in case she hadn’t made it back before Dax did. As she started talking she altered it slightly to fit the tears she was barely containing. She was also thinking ahead to the time off she’d need to deal with her father’s death. “In Boston.”