by Kathryn Pana
‘What time do we take over?’
‘As soon as you get there, Sergeant. They are currently in Central Park. They have been in a safe house for weeks. He found them and so we need to move them. It is understood he will not kill them in the open but be on your guard. He will take them if he sees a chance and then all we get are bodies back. We can’t find another witness who is willing to do this, so we need to keep her safe. Good luck.’
***
In the cars, Kathy travelled with Bennett and Will. Bennett drove, Will was in the front and Kathy in the back. The rest of the team rode in the second car behind.
‘So, what was the name of that blonde you were with last week?’ Bennett asked, looking over at Will. Bennett always considered himself a lady’s man but couldn’t get anyone in the same class as Will, so he was always looking for a way in to the circle that Will was a part of.
‘Jennifer, why?’ Will responded without looking back at him.
‘That’s it, Jennifer. Just wondered if you still had her number, if you are done with it, of course. Thought I might give her a call and ask her out.’
‘Yeah, I still have it. Remind me when we get back, but you know she will say no, right?’ Will replied with a smile.
‘What? No way. I can make a woman like that happy.’
‘Yeah, right. Of course you can, because you date women like her all the time, right? She is very high maintenance and I’m not so sure you can handle that. Now, can we focus, please? We have a job to do.’
For once, Kathy agreed with him. She tolerated the men’s talk when it was in the locker room, but she hated when it carried on past the door, never mind the fact it was about the women that Sergeant Falco was with last.
She needed to get off this team. It was bad enough that she had a school girl crush but now she was getting jealous of his conquests, it was too much for her. All she wanted to do was get on with her job and get her promotion so she could move forward and start leaving these feelings behind.
Will turned round and looked at Kathy in the back. She was looking out the window, deep in thought. Her mind was wandering back to Chicago and her road to now; today could be the start of a new chapter for her. She had moved to Chicago with her fiancée, who worked in the fire department, but she was only twenty-two and had no work or career prospects. Tony said she didn’t have to work, that he would take care of her. She couldn’t do nothing though, and she wanted to have purpose, a job that gave her more than just an income, but she wasn’t prepared for the reaction she got when she joined the police force.
Her family were completely against it, especially her mother; she was very vocal in her dislike for such a profession and Tony really hated the idea and many arguments followed her decision. She, however, was happy for the first time in her life. She got satisfaction from her job she never had before. She was twenty-seven when her Sergeant approached her about joining SWAT. He had seen her abilities on the job as well as the range. She was thrilled with the idea of being put forward for such a highly respected unit. Tony was not so welcoming to the idea. He became argumentative and dismissive. He tried everything to dissuade her from joining. Her family, of course, were on his side and as she looked back, joining SWAT was the beginning of the end of their relationship.
The next two years were torture. The put downs, the verbal abuse, eventually got too much. When her grandmother died and left Kathy her house in the will, to the surprise and horror of the rest of the family, she saw an opportunity and put in her transfer for New York.
When she got to New York and found she was put on the sniper team, she was amazed. She had impressed in so many ways in Chicago. When she transferred, the report that New York were given spoke praises to such an extent she was put with the best. Three years later, was all that hard work going to pay off? All the pushing by Sergeant Falco, would it finally be worth it? She really did hope so, she had worked so hard in training, on the range and out on calls, she had got better in all areas and just wanted more than anything for it to be enough.
She was so deep in her thoughts, she didn’t notice him looking at her.
‘What must she think of me?’ he thought. ‘All she hears are these constant stories of other women and most of it is just exaggerated men’s talk.’ He had never denied that he liked the company of women and that he often went out to dinners and parties when it was his weekend off, but sometimes that’s all it was.
He must focus on the job. It was too important to mess up, but he couldn’t help but think of her.
‘Why would she ever want a player like me? She could do so much better. A solid, nice guy would be far better for her, anyone but me,’ he thought, as he turned away and got his mind back on the job in hand.
***
When they arrived in Central Park, they were signalled where to go by a detective waiting for them at the entrance. They stopped near to where some children were playing soccer. As they stopped, a few people in the park looked to see what was happening, but they carried on with their days as though nothing was happening, though one or two lingered longer than normal. Will got out and spoke to two detectives, both in everyday clothes, then Will signalled for the team to get out and gave them instructions on where to go.
‘Hill, Bennett and Harvey, you will go and collect the family. We will stay here and watch the road and vehicles. Eyes open at all times, he will be watching us,’ Will told the team.
Kathy headed off with Bennett and Harvey to where the family were waiting, about thirty metres away from the cars, with two other detectives, again in normal clothes, they didn’t stand out at all. Which was the reason it was playing on Kathy’s mind: why send uniformed SWAT officers to move a witness to a secret location when the people with her were in plain clothes and no one would notice them at all? Something just felt wrong about this whole thing, and she didn’t like it.
As they approached the family, the two young children hid behind their mother, they were only young, aged four and five. The mother was also young, only twenty-four; she was small and thin with dark hair, she looked like the weight of the world was on her and like she hadn’t slept for weeks.
‘They must be terrified,’ claimed Harvey, gesturing to the kids looking at them from behind their mother’s legs. ‘I know I would be if I were a kid and three strangers were walking towards me with guns, even if we are cops.’
It was at that moment when Kathy did something that her training said not to, but as a woman her instincts insisted on. She took her rifle and put it out of their sight and took her helmet off. She knelt down in front of them and spoke softly, so that only they could hear. Smiles appeared on their faces and they ran off towards the cars. She stood and signalled to the team at the cars. They were moving, then she put her helmet on but failed to fasten it. The mother smiled at Kathy in thanks then followed, walking between Harvey and Bennett with the two detectives in front and Kathy behind. They were heading back across the grass when suddenly something knocked her helmet to the ground. She instinctively went to pick it up and BANG, something hit her hard in the face.
She lay on the grass, a bit dazed, but it didn’t take her long to realise there was a gun pointing right at her head.
‘Get them in the car,’ she heard Will shout, as he, Tom and Palmer came running over, guns pointing at the man who was pointing his gun at her.
‘Well, Sergeant Falco, we meet again, though it seems your illustrious team are slipping. I thought getting this close would have been a lot harder than it was, but some of your team just weren’t paying attention, were they?’ he said, smiling, referring to Kathy lying helpless on the ground.
‘What do you want?’ Will asked him.
‘Why do you ask me questions when you already know the answers?’
‘I won’t let you take them, you know that,’ Will insisted.
‘Yes, this time perhaps, but let this be a warning. I can get to them as and when I choose. I will not be locked away by you or anyone, and you of all
people should know what happens to people when they get in my way. Bye for now, Sergeant. I will be seeing you real soon.’
He smiled and walked away, his gun on Kathy till he disappeared between the crowds that had gathered around them.
Chapter Four
People started moving on, watching as they went. Many shocked by what they had just witnessed. Will was pacing and looking around.
‘You OK?’ Tom asked as he pulled her to her feet.
‘Yeah, I am fine,’ she replied, wiping the blood from her face. She bent down to get her rifle and helmet before letting Tom look at the cut on her face.
‘What the hell happened?’ Will shouted at her. ‘And this had better be good. This could have ruined the whole operation and the case.’
‘It was my fault, Sergeant, I let my guard down and he was watching. Ouch! Tom not so hard.’
‘Sorry, just trying to stop the bleeding,’ Tom said while pressing a handkerchief on the cut.
‘Well, you can sort that out at the safe house. Let’s go before something else goes wrong,’ Will said, his voice full of anger. He walked off ahead to the cars, looking around, but the man he was searching for was gone.
‘He sounds really pissed,’ exclaimed Palmer. ‘Even more than normal.’
‘Really?’ commented Tom. ‘You don’t say. This was meant to be an easy day and a quick and smooth hand over.’
‘Sorry guys, this was my fault, I should not have taken my helmet off and I wasn’t paying attention.’
‘Kathy, it’s all right, we all make mistakes,’ Tom responded. ‘It’s just that with this guy, it is very personal, and every time we seem to get close to getting him, or we answer a call where he is involved, he always seems to escape or something goes wrong. Sergeant Falco won’t rest till we finally get him and he is either dead or locked away for good.’
They started walking towards the cars.
‘So, let’s get in the cars, get to the safe house, fix your face and finish up. I can’t wait for this one to be over.’
‘I won’t argue with that,’ Kathy replied.
***
The safe house was a third-floor apartment in a renovated warehouse just over the river. It was a secure building, with CCTV and electronic locks on the doors. It was also a new location. It had to be, there had been so much witness tampering on this case already and they had also lost witnesses to date, they couldn’t afford to lose any more. This witness had to testify before a grand jury and then they had to catch him, which was proving impossible. He never seemed to appear anywhere that he could get caught, like today; he wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot Kathy had Will gone to shoot him or arrest him.
The operation was not over for the team until they were safely inside and witness protection team had arrived to take over.
‘This is only temporary until we can move you out of state, but you will be safe here. There will be someone here with you around the clock, and it will only take a few days before you can make a permanent move,’ Will explained to the witness as Kathy and Tom entered.
They were the last up and all was secure.
‘Thank you so much,’ she replied, relieved and thankful that they would finally be safe, and she could relax for the first time in weeks.
‘You are welcome, but we are just doing our job,’ Will replied. It was times like this that made all the harder parts of the job completely worth it. He just hoped that they and the witness protection team could keep her safe
Kathy headed straight to the bathroom to look at her face.
‘Damn.’ She shook her head as she looked in the mirror. It wasn’t a big cut but it was a big mistake and she knew it.
‘I can’t believe I was that stupid. When this gets back to the Captain, I will never make team leader,’ she said to her own reflection.
She wiped the blood off her face, took a deep breath and headed back out to the living area. The team were stood talking at the breakfast bar that separated the kitchen and the lounge, Harvey was making some warm drinks. The witness was settling her children into one of the two bedrooms and Will was stood by the window in the lounge deep in thought and watching the street below.
Will was clearly angered and frustrated by what had happened earlier in the park. He heard her come out of the bathroom, he looked over and snapped at her.
‘Get Tom to look at that cut and then go and stand outside the door to keep watch. I don’t want anything else to go wrong today. Witness protection will be here very soon so let’s do the job right till then.’
‘My head is fine, I just had a look in the bathroom and…’
‘I said get Tom to look at it. It is still bleeding,’ he retorted before she could finish.
She was getting frustrated too and as she raised her voice, the team looked in shock at the developing situation.
‘And I said it was fine, so I will be outside the door if you need me.’
No one in his team had ever spoken to him like that before, or not followed an order he had given. They were his rules, and he was not in the mood for that to change today, he had got rid of team members for less. She headed out of the door and he followed her, slamming it behind him. The room fell silent till Bennett spoke.
‘Wow, never seen him so mad and that is saying something.’
‘Me neither,’ agreed Palmer. ‘What do you suppose will happen?’ he questioned, looking straight at Tom.
‘How the hell do I know?’ he answered.
‘Well, you know him better than any of us,’ Harvey commented, handing out the coffees he had made.
‘Maybe so but that doesn’t mean I know what he is going to say or do. I’m no mind reader and my advice would be stay the hell out of it, drink your coffees and don’t set foot outside that door till he comes back in.’
Chapter Five
Outside the front door of the apartment was quite dark and there were no lights on to avoid it being noticed from the outside as being occupied. No one else lived on that floor which had been deliberate on the part of the police so neighbours didn’t start asking questions, but there was noise coming from the stairs and floors below. The stairs were about ten metres away from the door. Kathy walked to the top and looked down to make sure there was no one around or coming up them; she saw some teenagers heading down chatting as they went. Suddenly, the door slammed. Kathy jumped and turned round to see Will looking at her furiously.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ he blasted at her.
Kathy said nothing, just looked back at him. She didn’t want to do this here or now, she knew she would get pulled later for the way she had just spoke to him but she hoped he would let that happen back at the office.
‘Well, do I get an answer?’ he said sternly.
She took a deep breath. ‘I came out to watch the door, just like you told me. Just following orders, Sergeant,’ she replied calmly, but with a hint of sarcasm.
‘I also told you to get your head checked but I don’t see you doing that,’ he replied with the same level of sarcasm.
‘That is because it is fine and let’s be fair here, I should know if it is.’ Frustration was beginning to build up inside her.
‘I still want it looked at and patched up. It is still bleeding,’ Will insisted.
‘It’s my head, and what the hell do you care anyway?’ she snapped.
‘It may be your head, but you are on my team and this op is too important to screw up, so go inside and get Tom to look at it like I said before. At least have a band-aid put on it. I will stay here till you get back.’
She was getting really annoyed now. Why the hell did he have to follow her out here? She just wanted some peace, and how dare he? Work was all he cared about and she had had enough of him not being bothered about her, in any way. He hadn’t even asked if she was OK. It was like she wasn’t even part of the team anymore. She felt it was about time she stood up for herself and tell him just how she felt. It may lose her the chance to lead a team but after today,
that boat had probably already sailed. She needed to say what was on her mind or she never would, then continuing to work with him every day would be a nightmare.
‘Yes, of course,’ she started. She could feel all her anger coming to the surface. ‘The operation, because God forbid, I should screw that up for YOU. It’s only my head, no one important. I mean, it’s YOUR team, YOUR op, and, let’s face it, that is all that matters to YOU. You have pushed me out of this team bit by bit over the last year, and well, it looks like you are free of me because after this major fuck up, I am sure you have all you need to get rid of me, don’t you?’ She turned away and moved towards the window.
Will just stood there looking at her for a moment, not really knowing what to say. He had no idea that is how he had made her feel, it was never his intention; he had been trying to protect them both, from being hurt.
‘Where the hell did all that come from? If you aren’t happy on the team, you should have come to me, had a conversation, not wait and let it all build up,’ he finally said, calmly.
She turned to face him. ‘That is how you have made me feel, especially this last year and I don’t care if you try and deny it. You have pushed me out of the team. I used to feel like one of the guys but now things have changed, and I feel like an outsider, so how could I possibly come and talk to you? I even considered changing teams a few months ago but the Captain told me not to and try and stick it out, because you are a good team leader, he said, but you demand the best,’ she replied, taking another deep breath to calm her frustration.
Should she have let it come out quite like that, she wondered. Maybe not, but it was too late now, so she waited for him to respond.