Putting Everything on the Line

by Kathryn Pana

  He looked at her in amazement. She looked so beautiful at that moment, so strong but vulnerable at the same time. He thought about the last few months and it was true, he had pushed her out but not because he didn’t care but because he could feel himself caring too much, and with the job they did, the close proximity they worked in, the life and death situations they faced each day, he had pushed those feelings way down inside, hoping no one would see what he really felt. He didn’t want this though, not this anger; he hadn’t realised how it had affected her and he was ashamed to admit it too. He just had to figure out now what he could say that could make this all OK.

  ‘I would never try and get you off my team, but you can leave if that’s what you really want, but it’s not what I want you to do,’ he finally said.

  Kathy stepped forward and went to speak.

  ‘Let me finish, here, sit down.’ He took a chair that was by the door and sat her on it. ‘You are one of the best people I have ever had on my team and as for today, we all make mistakes.’

  ‘What, even you?’ she asked, looking up at him.

  ‘Especially me. Ask the Captain. How many times have you seen me pulled into the office over the last few years? I have just got better at cleaning up my mess, and making less mistakes but we have to make mistakes or how could we ever learn from them? And as for being perfect, I am far from it. I push my team hard so that they try and be the best, to show them what they are capable of achieving if they work hard and improve their skills.’

  He crouched down in front of her, took a handkerchief out of his pocket and started gently wiping the blood from her face.

  ‘Don’t worry, its clean. I always have one with me. There is nothing worse than having a cold and not having one with you in this job.’

  He looked her straight in the eyes and smiled, a smile she had never seen before, so soft and caring, a side of him very few people ever got to see.

  ‘And as far as not caring about you, of course I do. How could I not?’ He paused, not knowing if he should continue. ‘But I had no choice but to distance myself from you. We work together, we have to rely on each other in pressure situations, and it is the only way I could stop myself from…’ he paused and looked at her, searching to see if he should continue.

  ‘From what?’

  ‘From this.’

  At that moment, he kissed her, as soft and gentle as the smile he had before it.

  He stood up quickly and took a step back.

  ‘Shit, I should not have done that. Sorry, I just can’t do this.’ He shook his head. ‘You are a clever, beautiful woman, but this can’t happen.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’ She looked at him, confused, searching for an explanation.

  ‘I wouldn’t want my feelings to affect your future in the team or the unit. It’s selfish and I couldn’t do that, not to you.’

  ‘And if I want this too?’

  ‘I can’t be selfish again. I’m sorry.’

  Kathy suddenly jumped up from the chair and reached for the gun at her side.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ said the voice she recognised from the park. He stepped out of the darkness of the stairway. ‘Very touching, Sergeant. Now turn around with your hands on your head.’

  Will turned round to see him pointing a gun at them both.

  ‘Now I had come for my friend in there, but a new idea just hit me. Now come here,’ he ordered in Kathy’s direction.

  She hesitated then she slowly walked over, looking at Will as she went.

  ‘Now turn around slowly.’

  There were two other men with him, armed and pointing their guns right at Kathy. So all Will could do was watch as he disarmed her. He looked her up and down.

  ‘I can see we are going to have some fun.’

  ‘It would be just one more reason for me to kill you,’ Will snapped back.

  ‘Promises, promises, Sergeant. Now I recall you said that to me repeatedly over the last six years, and I am still here. You just don’t seem to be capable of catching me now, do you?’ he smirked. ‘Now I will call you in two hours on this.’ He threw a cell phone at Will. ‘I will give you instructions, which if you follow, you MAY just see your girlfriend here again.’

  He forced Kathy to the top of the stairs, his two men behind aiming at Will. Then they were gone.

  Will ran into the apartment shouting ‘He’s got Hill, let’s go.’

  Chapter Six

  Will went down the stairs followed by Tom and Bennett, checking for any sign of them as they went, checking every corridor on each floor. Palmer and Harvey stayed with the witness, in case it was a decoy to get to her. When they got down to the front door, they met the officers who had come to take over.

  ‘Did anyone leave the building as you were arriving?’ Will questioned.

  ‘No,’ he paused. ‘Wait, there was a cleaning crew but that’s all.’

  ‘Which way did they go? WHICH WAY?’ Will shouted at them.

  ‘They went round to the alley just left to the building.’ The team ran out the door. ‘What the hell is going on?’ the officer called after them but they had gone.

  The alley ran down the left side of the building and connected to main roads at both ends. It was full of garbage ready for collection, but was still quite wide; when they arrived, there was no sign of anyone at all.

  ‘Damn it!’ shouted Will in frustration, punching a nearby garbage can. He started walking up and down thinking, but furious with himself and with him. Will couldn’t believe this was happening. He couldn’t help but feel responsible yet again and those voices of self-doubt started to whisper again.

  ‘What the hell happened up there?’ Tom asked. ‘How the hell did he know where we were? Why didn’t you see them coming up the stairs? You never take your eyes off the job for a second. What happened?’

  ‘ME, that’s what happened,’ Will screamed back at Tom. He was obviously not in the mood for questions. He walked off back towards the main street, to go back upstairs, leaving Tom and Bennett looking at each other in complete confusion.

  ***

  The SWAT office was on the first floor of the police department building, on the far end. It had the indoor range, gun cage and gym underneath them as well as a garage for the vehicles. The office was simple in décor, it had eight groups of five desks, one for each team, and then one spare set. The team leaders all had an office around the edge. Will’s team had their desks closest to the door, they got more calls than any other team and so had to be in the most accessible place, but Will’s office was on the back wall, next to the Captain. Many said it was so the Captain could keep a closer eye on him, but if you asked him, it was because he was Alpha Team leader so needed to be there. There was a coffee machine close to the door and a television above it, which was used for a variety of reasons but its purpose was for work.

  All the team, except for Will, headed straight up to the office when they got back. They were all shocked by what had just happened, but they had reports to write, though not quite sure what to say in them. They were also tired and ready to go home. Will headed for the gym to relieve some frustration and to avoid the Captain as long as he could.

  ‘Where is he?’ questioned the Captain as he approached Tom and the others from across the office.

  ‘Punching the life out of the bag in the gym, Sir,’ Harvey responded.

  ‘He hasn’t spoken all the way back, but I am sure he will be up soon, he just needs to vent some anger and frustration first,’ Tom continued.

  ‘Well I want him up here now and I want someone to tell me what happened and how.’

  ‘We don’t know, sir. We were in the apartment with the witness,’ explained Palmer. ‘Sergeant Falco was outside the door with Hill. We didn’t know anything till he came in saying he had taken her. We never even heard anything.’

  ‘Was it him, Hargreaves?’ the Captain asked quietly.

  ‘Yes, Sir, at the park and the apartment. He must have been tipped off
somehow, though we don’t know by who or why. He really has it in for the Sergeant, especially after the jewellery store incident, but why he took Hill I don’t know, it doesn’t make any sense, unless he just saw an opportunity with her being on our team. We don’t know why they weren’t seen coming either, what they were doing, only Sergeant Falco can answer that one.’

  ‘Then get him up here to my office so I can ask him myself,’ Captain Bridge ordered.

  ***

  Down in the gym Will had stopped for a moment and sat drinking some water when Tom walked in. The gym wasn’t big but had enough space and equipment for what it was used for. Will had been there quite often over the last few years, since his parents were killed. He had many issues with anger and emotions he had never had before. It was grief, he supposed, but maybe there was also some guilt thrown in. It was his oasis when things had gone bad or when he was frustrated by the red tape and politics.

  Will signalled to the other officers in there to leave, he didn’t want anyone hearing something that could be used against him, or worse, risk the life of Kathy, but he knew he had to give Tom some kind of explanation and he wanted to tell him everything, but he didn’t know where to start and he wanted to get it all straight in his head before telling him or the Captain.

  ‘Captain wants to see you,’ Tom said as he approached.

  ‘So, what’s new?’ Will responded. ‘I will be up when I’m ready.’

  ‘I don’t get it, man, what happened?’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it right now, so why don’t you go and write up and I will be up when I’m done?’ Will responded.

  ‘Will, you have to talk about it eventually. I have never seen you like this, even when an op has gone wrong before, not since… you know. Why did he take Kathy? He had no reason to, did he? I mean, this time it’s different from before, right?’ Tom looked questioningly at Will.

  ‘He took her because I screwed up.’ He stood up and continued, ‘I should have kept my feelings in check but…’ he shook his head. ‘He saw me kiss her. You happy, now you know why?’ He turned round and put his water down.

  ‘You did what?’ Tom was taken aback. He had only known Will to put his feelings before the job once before, and he was beginning to see why Will was so stressed out; he knew this was serious and not just some crush. ‘What was in your head? Why did you not talk to me? You always tell me stuff like this. So, what do we do now?’

  Will turned round, he stood defensively and looked at him.

  ‘I didn’t tell you because it would have affected the team, and I wasn’t really sure what you would think. I know you don’t like most of the women I date and they are never serious and I didn’t want you to think I would treat Kathy in a similar way. I should never have done what I did today and now he has her, which right now, I can’t change, and I hate myself for putting her in that position, but all we can do now is write up our reports, tell the Captain what happened and wait for this to ring,’ he said, as he took the cell phone out of his pocket. It was going to ring in just one hour.

  ***

  Will spent the next fifty minutes in the captain’s office going over the events of the day again and again. Voices raised and then they went very quiet again, but the team could only speculate as to what was being said inside.

  ‘Tom, my office,’ Will said as he came out.

  The Captain stood at his door and shouted to Will, ‘Sergeant, is this going to be a regular thing?’

  Will turned and smiled before he replied, ‘It won’t happen again, Sir, you have my word on that.’

  The team looked at each other, trying to work out exactly what was going on, but they had learned with Sergeant Falco not to ask those kinds of questions.

  Tom followed Will into his office and closed the door behind him. Will’s office was small with only enough room for his desk, two chairs, one either side and a filing cabinet. Will sat in his chair and started looking through some papers on his desk.

  ‘What’s up? What’s going on, Will?’

  Will looked up at Tom. ‘He’s going to call any minute.’

  ‘What? Did you tell the Captain?’ Tom asked, sitting opposite Will and leaning forward onto the desk.

  ‘No, I didn’t tell him, and I didn’t tell him about the cell phone. Now keep your voice down.’ He took it out of his pocket and put it on the desk. ‘I have to answer the phone or she is dead. I can’t risk that, not yet, and besides it was hard enough telling him how all this happened in the first place, but I will tell him when we know more, that’s if there is any way I can. Something tells me that it won’t be in his best interests so will probably stop us from doing so.’

  ‘He is going to find out. Then what?’

  Tom sat back in his chair, he was getting worried just how deep they were getting in this and what lengths they were going to have to go to get out.

  ‘Not sure yet, that’s why, till we need to include anyone else, it is just you and me on this. We have to try and control this the best we can. It’s the best thing, especially for Kathy. You have my back, right?’

  ‘I can’t believe you have to ask that.’ He shook his head and paused, looking at the cell. ‘This is way above our heads. Are you sure this is how you want to do it?’

  At that moment, the phone rang. They both looked at it, then at each other. Will took a deep breath and answered it.

  ‘Hello?’ He picked up a pen, so as to get every detail.

  ‘Hello, Sergeant, are you ready for what I need you to do tomorrow?’

  ‘Yes, I am.’

  ‘You will go to work and carry on as normal.’

  ‘What?’ He wasn’t sure what was going on but he expected more than that.

  ‘Well, Sergeant, due to my change in plan, I need an extra day to get sorted and so I want you to go to work as normal tomorrow. Now I will be listening in to the scanner so will know if for any reason, you are trying to find me or something. That wouldn’t be good for your girlfriend’s health here. I will call back tomorrow at the same time.’

  He hung up before he had got chance to reply or to ask to speak to Kathy.

  ‘So, what does he want?’ Tom asked impatiently.

  ‘For us to go to work as normal and he will call same time tomorrow. He will be listening in to the scanners to ensure we don’t try finding them,’ Will answered despondently.

  ‘I don’t get it.’

  ‘He wants me to sweat. He won’t give her up easily until he is sure he has got away with it. He wants me to be on edge and screw up, but I will not let him win, not this time.’

  ‘OK, so we are done. Do you want a beer? You can unwind and maybe it will help you get some sleep. I know you and you will only obsess if you go home.’

  ‘Yeah, sure, think I need one.’

  Chapter Seven

  Will and Tom decided to go for a quiet drink in their favourite bar, it was Tuesday so not many officers would be there tonight, which meant the need for small talk would be reduced greatly. They walked across the road together after getting changed. Charlie’s bar was open every night, Will and Tom had been going there since they joined the force; it wasn’t the biggest, but it had a pool table at the bottom end, a small bar up by the door and about twenty small tables with chairs and another twenty-five bar stools at the bar itself and various high tables including in the window.

  When they entered, there was Charlie behind the bar as always and there were two men playing pool who they didn’t recognise. Will went to the bar and Tom sat at a table.

  ‘Charlie, can I get two beers please?’

  ‘Sure thing, Falco,’ replied Charlie.

  ‘Quiet tonight,’ Will said, looking around the bar.

  ‘Yeah, except a couple of tourists,’ he said, gesturing towards the pool table. ‘Don’t get many regulars from the PD on a Tuesday.’

  He put the beers on the bar and Will paid him. ‘Thanks, Charlie,’ he said, taking them and heading to the table where Tom was sat.

&
nbsp; He sat in the chair opposite. They didn’t speak for a few moments but Tom couldn’t stand the silence.

  ‘So, what did the Captain say? You never said.’

  ‘Not much, just wanted to know what happened.’

  ‘That’s all?’

  ‘Yeah, he was not happy of course, especially as he has got the jump on us twice and so we will see what happens with that.’

  ‘Does he think someone tipped off our locations?’

  ‘I don’t know, but it feels like he is playing us and I don’t know how to get Kathy back without playing along.’

  ‘So we just do what he says in hope she is still alive?’

  ‘Well that depends on what he wants us to do, doesn’t it? I think he will keep her while he pulls a job, but I might be wrong.’ Will took a long drink.

  ‘We will see what happens tomorrow,’ Tom said.

  ‘Yeah, and are we set for the weekend? I mean if this is over?’

  ‘Of course, it’s your birthday and I will be there with you as always, and it will be over, I am sure.’

  Will and Tom had got together for Will’s birthday for the last five years, they visited his parents’ graves then had a meal in their favourite restaurant. Lynne, Tom’s wife, would often join them for the meal but Will usually went alone. His parents had been killed buying his birthday gift and it was a difficult time of year for them both.

  Will got up and headed to the rest rooms at the back of the bar; he past the two men playing pool. On his way back past, he knocked the cue by accident.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, then he headed back to the table.

  ‘Hey,’ one of them shouted after him. ‘Hey, I’m talking to you.’

  Will turned around to see a man just a bit older than him, but he was just five-foot-six, his red hair was thinning on top and he was a little round around his waist. His friend stood just behind him, taller at five-foot-ten, completely grey, in his forties, but trimmer than the other one.