by Pj Fiala
Inside, he stood in a windowless room, and he tested to see if the light switch worked. A harsh, bright florescent light came to life, flickering at first, then dimly staying on. As his eyes adjusted the light slowly became brighter and he looked around to see what this room was.
A metal desk sat against the far wall with an old battered chair pushed in under it, the dark green vinyl ripped at both edges where the chair had been pushed against the desk over the years. Assuming it squeaked, he decided to leave the chair alone and opened the desk drawers on either side; he hoped they didn't make any sound, but he also knew that was likely wishful thinking.
The top right drawer only lightly rubbed against its tracking and was empty, so was the second, and finally the bottom the same as the other two. Moving to the left side, he pulled the drawer open slowly to reveal an empty envelope, three pencils and a smattering of paperclips strewn about. The second drawer held a ruler and an eraser. The bottom drawer was empty. Taking a deep breath and looking around some more, he found a four-drawer file cabinet in the corner with a coffee maker on top of it. Walking to the cabinet he pulled the first drawer out and the coffee maker wiggled a bit. What was strange was an inch of coffee still sitting in the pot, swirled around. Holding his phone light up to the pot, what he noticed was a puzzle. The coffee didn't have a fine coat of mold or film on it which meant it had been made fairly recently. He pulled the pot off the burner and sniffed. It smelled relatively fresh.
Looking around he saw a wastebasket in the corner. Replacing the coffee pot, he wandered over to the wastebasket and saw two coffee cups and a napkin laying in the bottom.
Pulling the first cup from the can, he looked inside and saw only coffee stains, no moisture in the bottom. He'd have to be a forensic expert to know drying times based on room temperature, etcetera, so he dropped the cup into the can and pulled the second cup out. A small amount of moisture sat at the bottom of the cup, but the interesting thing was this one had lipstick on the edge. A woman. And, since the cup still had coffee in the bottom it had been used somewhat recently.
Hearing a noise from what sounded like the first floor, he dropped the cup in the trash can and crept to the door. Listening intently, he could hear his own heartbeat and hoped beyond all reason that what he heard was Red making her way down to him so they could get the hell out of here. He wanted this drug ring sitting behind bars, but he sure didn't want to be sitting behind bars with them. A cop in jail never lasted very long. Not that breaking and entering could get him thrown in jail, but no sense in pushing their luck.
Not hearing any more sounds, he turned off the light, exited the office, closed the door and decided to finish his search of the perimeter of this room before going in search of Red to get home. He listened again wondering what he'd heard upstairs and felt uneasy that Red wasn't on her way down here. Deciding to screw it and go upstairs, the garbage can that Delhurst had tossed something into earlier caught his attention and he walked as quietly as he could to the can, shining his light inside. There were some miscellaneous pieces of paper, mostly brown packing material, a newspaper and something white and shiny.
Reaching inside for the white object, he strained to grasp it at the bottom of the can; he stretched himself out fully, his fingers finally able to grip it. Pulling it from the can, he shined his light on the object and his heart hammered in his chest as realization of what he held flooded his mind. This was big.
22
This building was eerie in the deep, dark, dead of night, or more accurately after ten at night with no lights on and when you weren’t supposed to be inside. But she just had to follow this hunch. The staircase was dark and echoed with each footstep, but she continued upstairs keeping her eyes and ears alert and her focus on getting at those files.
At the top of the stairs, she heard a sound and hesitated. Trying hard to keep her breathing even and steady; she listened for any sounds except that of her own heartbeat. The constant hum of a motor reached her ears and she realized the sound she'd heard before was the refrigerator kicking on. Then she wondered why they'd keep a running refrigerator in an abandoned building.
Easing down the hallway to the room that was the kitchen or break room, she edged her way to the refrigerator, using only the light from her phone to find her way. Knowing full well once the door opened the room would be flooded with light, but then reminding herself that there weren't any windows in this room, she quickly pulled it open to find a couple of food containers on the top shelf and six yogurt containers in the door. Peaking at the food containers she popped the top off one of them and was surprised to see it wasn't old and moldy but looked rather fresh.
Closing the door and glancing around the room once again, she made her way into the hallway and down to the Presidential office to look at those files. Each doorway she passed gave her pause and yet, she knew no one was here other than Rory, so whatever she was worried about was purely her imagination.
Reaching the door to the big office, she slid inside and shone her light on the credenza across the room. Nothing. Those files were gone. Padding across the plush carpeting, she began opening and closing drawers looking for those missing files but each one was empty. Turning to the desk she began checking the drawers and when each of those was empty, she searched the file cabinet on the far wall. It had only been three hours or so since they'd been in here, so either Maggie moved the files or someone else had been inside while she was. Hopefully, they weren't still here. That thought sent chills running down her spine.
Eager to get down to Rory but also wanting to make the most of this B&E, she decided to investigate the other offices along the hallway to see if the files were still in this building.
Hearing a sound from below, she pressed her back against the wall next to the door and took in a deep, slow breath, then let it out slowly to keep herself in check. A few moments passed and no other sounds could be heard, and she convinced herself it was either a furnace or some other system still running within the building. After all, the refrigerator was still on.
Easing out to the hallway she began moving slowly to the staircase, suddenly more eager to leave than to prove a hunch right.
"What are you doing here?"
She turned at the male voice, which sounded familiar, but she couldn't see the person it came from.
"Who’s there?"
Her phone held up, she tried to keep her hand from shaking when the man stepped into the light revealing himself.
"Officer Delhurst, what are you doing here?"
"I believe I just asked you the same question."
"Oh, I thought I saw someone in here and came in to investigate."
"Really?" His voice deepened and the look he gave her was anything but friendly. "How did you get in?"
"The door down in the dock area was open."
He took a step toward her and she instinctively backed up. The grin that creased his face reminded her of the cartoon Grinch whose grin slowly spread across his face and looked purely evil.
"What are you doing here, Officer?"
"I got a call that someone was lurking about in here, lights flashing, etc. So, I came in to check it out."
"Oh."
"Did you find anyone in here?"
"No."
"I wonder why you wouldn't call the station and let them know you were coming in?"
"I happened to be in the area and just thought a quick investigation would be prudent. After all, I know you all are working so much overtime and if it was nothing, I wouldn't want to pull anyone off their assignment for a false alarm."
Her heart beat so hard in her chest it was downright painful and she realized how foolish this likely was. Rory was right; sometimes she was simply too impulsive.
Light footsteps could be heard from the staircase, much too light to be Rory's. Delhurst's eyes never left hers, which scared the shit out of her because he wasn't alone. Hopefully one of Rory's friends from the station came along and would be friendlier.
The door from the stairs opened and she stepped aside so her back wasn't to Delhurst, who stood stock still and never took his eyes from her, to see none other but Maggie standing in the doorway.
Looking her up and down, the perusal gave her the creeps and it was then that her brain registered that this was very serious. As in, possibly lose her job, or worse, deadly serious. Every horrible story she'd ever heard from the various DEA agents she'd worked with flooded through her mind and finally ended with where in the hell was Rory? But, if he were still here, he'd surely hear something and come looking for her.
"So, decided to come back and take a look around on your own, Special Agent Alice Tucker, DEA?" Maggie sneered.
Deciding sarcastic would not go well right now, she opted for nothing at all.
"What did she say, Paul?"
"Saw someone was in here."
"Hmm." Maggie walked toward her, still wearing the pencil skirt and heels from earlier today, still dripping in diamonds, still reeking of money.
"What are you really doing here? And, don't lie."
Moving her body as if she were talking with her hands, she tried making her way to the stairs, but Delhurst pulled his gun, "Not another step."
Maggie chuckled and it was sad or maybe pained in some way. "Take her downstairs, the truck is here, she can be discarded just like they did with my man. Toss her in a box and ship her out with the goods. Dump her somewhere where she won't be found for a long time."
Her mind screamed to keep up, but she struggled with it. Her man? Her baby daddy? Discarded?
"Let's go, Special Agent." The sarcasm couldn’t have been thicker.
Delhurst used his gun to point to the stairs as she tried running all the odds through her brain. Run, no, he was taller and likely faster than she. Try and trip him? Could work but then again if not, it would be worse. Go along and see if something better came to mind? That's what she had for now and that Rory would intervene and help her along the way. Hopefully, they hadn't found Rory yet. Where was he anyway?
23
Hiding in the back of the shipping area, Rory watched as the truck pulled up and three men jumped out. Cases of product were hauled out by hand and stacked in three separate areas. The workers seemed to know what each area meant, but he was still puzzling it all together. Once the truck was unloaded, the boxes and crates were opened, and the product unpacked. Coffee cans were pulled from the cartons, another worker opened the cans and pulled packages from inside. They were then sorted and repackaged in smaller boxes with false bottoms and sorted according to zip code based on the zip codes written on the side of each box. No one talked and everyone did what they were supposed to without a word.
He heard footsteps on the metal stairs and peered around the office he'd recently vacated only to see Red coming down the steps, with Delhurst behind her, a gun in her back. Not long after, he saw Maggie coming down behind Delhurst. That's when things clicked for him. Delhurst hid the files from them and threw the cocaine away. He surely knew what it was but didn't want Red or him to see it and acted as if it was nothing. Slowly drawing his gun from his back holster, he calculated who he'd have to shoot first, Delhurst or Maggie or the workers if each was armed and how long it would take him to pull off enough shots to get each of them and not get Red caught in the cross fire. Or get killed himself.
Deciding he had the advantage while they were on the steps, he saw Red turn his way and slightly nod, she was ready and would hit the floor before anyone else could draw and shoot. He aimed for Delhurst and got him in the ribs, knowing instantly he'd punctured his lung at the way he buckled. Red jumped the final two steps down and rolled out of the way, then pulled her gun from her ankle holster. Maggie turned toward him, her eyes evil glints of steel as she followed Delhurst down the steps and he pulled his second gun from his ankle, this one not police issue, and aimed it at her. Before he could get off a second shot, Red shot Maggie in the stomach and then one of the workers who'd pulled a gun. He took care of the other two by simply pointing his gun at them.
"Lay down, on the ground, hands on the back of your heads." He yelled and they quickly dropped to the ground.
Walking to Delhurst, he heard the wheezing and saw the bubbles of blood on his side, but the man's eyes locked on his and he mouthed, "Sorry."
Maggie tried to crawl toward the gun Delhurst had dropped but Red ran to it and kicked it out of the way. Quickly pulling Delhurst's cuffs, she secured Maggie's hands behind her back. Red then pulled her cell phone from her pocket and called it in.
Keeping his gun trained on the two workers, he waited until officers arrived at the scene, at which point he was relieved from keeping them in his sights. As soon as his Captain arrived, he and Red were each taken to separate areas of the building and questioned, he by his Captain.
"What went down here Richards?"
"I won't lie Captain, and if you have to relieve me of my duties, then do what you have to do, but we came in here tonight because we knew something wasn't right about what we saw today and Red had a strong hunch that something was going down. I went along with it because she's smart and good and her senses on things have always been spot on."
"So, you were here illegally, and yet, it worked out, but we have an officer involved shooting, two of them, one a DEA Special Agent; we’ve got some issues to work through, but, on the good side, I do believe you've cracked this drug ring."
"Red did, Captain."
"Okay, Richards. Get back to the station. Go straight to the station, Tucker can ride with Waters. Don't talk to each other until we're finished with the questioning. Got it?"
"Yes, sir."
Officer Jason Robards came to the scene and gave him a ride to his car. Since they were all shaken at having a dirty cop in their midst very little conversation was going on other than what was necessary. He couldn't stop shaking, likely from the adrenaline and the fact that he saw Red with a gun at her back and the look of pure terror on her face. He'd never get that sight out of his mind and he never wanted to see it again.
Walking into the station, he felt bone tired and figured that Maggie was behind this whole mess. Talk about someone you'd never think would be involved with something like this and what about her kid?
He sat in his office, his mind still not able to process all that had transpired; and he hoped he'd find out the whole story so he could settle back into his life as usual.
He heard commotion and saw Red walking into the station with Waters and Bowers with her. Red seemed shocked and he wanted nothing more than to pull her into his arms and hold her. But they were likely to be here for a long time yet. He took a deep breath and resigned himself to sitting in until the Captain got back and both of their interrogations were finished. Then, he'd hold her all night long. At least for as long as he had, ‘cause now that this was likely wrapped up, she'd be heading back to Indianapolis and that promotion she was counting on. It's what she'd worked her whole life for and that was hard to walk away from, and he'd never ask her to, just like before.
24
She was so warm and she felt like she had a weight on her, her limbs felt heavy, but so did her eyes. So heavy. Rory's deep, even breathing behind her warmed her neck and she sighed. Nestling her head deeper into her pillow his arms pulled her closer into his body. That's why she was warm, his arms anchored her to him, and it felt so good.
Prying an eye open she saw the sun shining brightly outside, dust particles billowing in the stream of light from the window. She'd discharged her weapon last night, something she hadn't done in a while. She hoped she never had to do it again. That was if she wasn't charged with wrongdoing. Maggie had still been alive when she and Rory came home last night; if she died during the night, she could very well be charged with some lower degree of murder. She had a solid argument of self-defense, or at least in the defense of another, because when she saw Maggie begin to point her gun at Rory, she didn't even wait to see what was going to happen, she just acted. That was her job,
to protect the cops. Aside from that, she’d never be able to forgive herself if Rory had been injured or killed. It was entirely her responsibility he had been there at all. Knowing she'd been right did little to ease her guilt. Hopefully, time would be on her side.
Soft lips kissed the back of her neck before his soothing, deep voice whispered, "Did you sleep good?"
"Yes, better than I have in a long time."
"Mmm. Me, too."
His phone rang and with a groan he rolled over to swipe it off the bedside table.
"Yeah."
She listened to his side of the phone conversation knowing it was likely a summons to come into the station. Dreading that it may be someone calling to say that Maggie had died.
"Yeah."
He tapped his phone ending his call then dropped his arm and his phone to the bed.
"We've got to go in for more questioning."
"Okay. I'll get some coffee going. I can't do anything before coffee."
He chuckled and rolled off the bed. "I'll jump in the shower then start breakfast."
She sat up, realized she was naked, saw his shirt laying on the floor next to the bed and tried to remember how they ended their night here, but she couldn't quite remember it. Clearly exhaustion had set in.
Snagging his shirt from the floor she slipped it over her head and walked out to the kitchen. The first thing she noticed was the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and she smiled. Ahh, what a great thing to wake up to. Then she noticed two cups sitting next to the coffee pot. Pouring coffee into the cups she shook her head when one cup of coffee turned a nice caramelly color. He'd already put creamer in it. He must have done all of this last night after she dropped into bed. What a sweetheart. She would miss him terribly.
