A Dangerous and Cunning Woman

by Ethan Johnson

  Diane struggled with a word as she thought through Lyssa’s situation. There was something she needed but didn’t have. She wasn’t going to get a job doing anything without it. Diane picked up her dictionary from her desk and flipped through several pages until the word came to her: incentive. That was it. Lyssa didn’t have an incentive to find a new job.

  What was Diane’s incentive? She hated living in the dorm. It was okay when she and Lyssa were going through the makeshift academy, but now that she was on active duty she felt like she was refusing to leave grammar school in her teens. Having her own place meant she could do whatever she wanted before and after work. Life in the dorm meant she was always in a bubble, having to watch herself and taking care not to let on about her relationship with Lyssa. She was picking up that boys weren’t supposed to like boys, but girls liking girls was okay if the boys got to watch. That, and the girls had to be sexy. The locker room talk at Panther clued her in on that rule as well.

  Incentive. Diane sounded out the word again. She let the soft c hiss between her teeth and tongue. She read the definition again to make sure this was the correct word she wanted: “A thing that motivates or encourages.” Yes, that was it. The list of similar words gave “reason” as a possible option. She tried that word in place of incentive. Lyssa didn’t have a reason to find a new job. It fit. It also angered Diane as she considered the meaning of the sentence. No reason? Did she expect me to pay for everything while she, what, sits around at home all day playing with her tablet? She wasn’t okay with that. She loved Lyssa, but she didn’t like the idea of being played for a sucker. Diane resolved to press her on this the next time they talked.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Sapphire returning to their dorm. Diane smiled at her. Sapphire tossed her bag aside and gave Diane a quizzical look. “What?”

  “Thank you for the incentive.”

  Sapphire walked slowly toward her bed. “Oh-kay, sure. What are you thanking me for, exactly?”

  “The incentive to get my own place.”

  Sapphire tipped her head and glanced at the dictionary. “Oh, you’ve found a new word to try out. Okay, well, yeah, glad I could help you out by being a terrible roommate.”

  Diane gasped. She began to reach for the dictionary, then pulled the most wanted flyer out from under her pillow. “No, I meant this. You gave me an incentive. I’m going to use it to make lots of money and get a nice place of my own.”

  “Okay, I’ll rate that a strong B-plus. You gave the right idea, you’re just not there with the correct usage. You were really walking a tightrope there. You’re lucky I’m in a good mood, or I would have ripped your head off.”

  “What should I have said?”

  “How about, ’Hi Sapphire, here’s a million dollars and tickets to Maui.’ You can’t go wrong with that, no matter how I’m feeling. Except I strongly advise having those things in your hand when you do, or you might be headless thisquick.” She snapped her fingers with a flourish. “Choose wisely.”

  Diane flopped down on her bed. “Fine, smartass.”

  Sapphire rolled her eyes and sat at the edge of her own bed. Diane remembered a similar scene when she and Lyssa first kissed. She looked Sapphire over and was relieved to find she wasn’t at all attracted to her. She was annoyed with Lyssa, but not on the prowl. She took some comfort in that. “Okay,” Sapphire said, “let’s see what you learned about this new word of yours. What does ‘incentive’ mean?”

  “Uh, it’s something that motivates people.”

  “Correct. Now, the incentive in your case is to get your own place, right? Or make gobs of money? Or both?” Diane nodded emphatically to her last question. “Good. By saying I gave you the motive for moving out, you came off like I clip my toenails and leave them on your pillowcase. Which I only do sometimes.” She gave Diane a devilish smile.

  “I wondered why I smelled poop.”

  Sapphire rolled her eyes again. “Well, if my toenails smell like poop, you can thank your buddies for giving me piles of crap to clean up day after day. With Griggs out, Neville has been teaching the new cadets. If he sends them on a 20-minute break one more time because he couldn’t find his dry-erase marker, I swear, I’m gonna rage-stab somebody.”

  Diane rolled her eyes sympathetically. “Oh, God, Neville. I totally forgot about him. Lyssa said he used to stare at her boobs all the time in class.”

  “Dorcas talks a lot of crap. Watch out for that one, Pembrook. One day that mouth of hers is going to land her in a heap of trouble. You don’t want to be caught up in her nonsense when it does.”

  Diane scowled at Sapphire. “Her name is Lyssa.”

  “Whatever you say, Jane Doe. Anyway, listen, this is important. I told you two before that women don’t get the best shake around here, and frankly, it’s getting worse. We just lost a female cadet because some dillweeds tried to gang-rape her in the restroom. Everyone was officially off-duty, but that doesn’t make it right. Worse, none of the guys even got so much as a slap on the wrist for it. You know what they did? They kicked her out for being out of uniform and improper restroom usage. How messed up is that?”

  Diane was incredulous. “That’s not fair! Can’t you do something about it? How are rapists running around free while the victim gets punished? That makes no sense.”

  Sapphire shook her head sadly. “Nope. Kenner rules this place with an iron fist. You think it’s a velvet glove holding a daisy because he’s nice to you, well, for him. He’s not a raging feminist, Pembrook. You need to be aware of that at all times.”

  “Who did it? I’ll show them what happens to rapists.”

  “Please, Pembrook. What are you going to do, castrate them? Fine, be my guest. They’ll get six more guys in here who drag their knuckles on the ground when they walk and think punching a woman in the face means they’re being affectionate.”

  “Wait, there were six of them? What kind of hellhole is this?”

  Sapphire leaned forward and patted Diane’s head. “The kind it’s going to become if you haul off and do stupid crap just on someone else’s say-so. Get the facts. Your incentive is to make this place a better workplace for women, how about that?” She smiled and patted Diane’s cheek. “Sleep on that. I’m wiped.”

  Diane scratched her head. “I’m so confused. Were there six of them, or not?”

  Sapphire stepped into the bathroom and slammed the door. “Good night, Pembrook.”

  Diane crawled into bed and studied her most wanted criminals list. She wished she had more than one bullet to give in the name of justice. One of these men would be dropped from the list by her hand. Which one, and for how much money? Diane fell asleep clutching the flyer.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The following morning, Diane adjusted her hat in the bathroom mirror and straightened her name pin. She patted her sidearm and nodded to her reflection. At long last, she was back on active duty. Whatever the criminal element in the city had been up to while she was out was about to come to a crashing halt. She thought about Alexa drinking herself woozy after being bested by a mysterious rival. I am made of tougher stuff, she affirmed. They’re not going to keep me down.

  She marched down the hall and strode confidently into briefing room 1A. She looked around the empty room and felt a surge of panic shoot through her. The daily briefing had always been in 1A. She checked the wall clock. She hadn’t overslept. She was five minutes early, in fact.

  She looked around for clues as to why the room was deserted. She peeked at the lectern and found it bare of paperwork. Sergeant Addison always had his briefing materials set out for him fifteen minutes before start. She began to reach for her radio when she heard raucous laughter from down the hallway. She hurried toward the noise and walked in on the daily briefing, already in progress.

  The wall clock was displaying the correct time. She grabbed an empty seat in the back and glanced around nervously at her fellow officers. She’d been gone a long time. This was no way to start her first day back.<
br />
  It got immediately worse. Sergeant Addison pointed to her and gave the room a knowing smirk. “Well, look what the cat dragged in. Welcome to the briefing, Pembrook. We thought we lost you to cell block D.”

  The room rippled with tittering laughter. Her partner Officer Hendricks pulled back his shirt sleeve and tapped his watch, making a face that reprimanded her for being late and embarrassing him personally. She returned an apologetic shrug and shrank into her seat.

  “Hey, give her some slack. She’s been working hard to get back to 100%. Guess nobody gave her the memo that briefings start at 0700 on the nose,” Hendricks said.

  Diane frowned. 0700? Briefings were always 0730. Always. When did the start time change? She felt compelled to say something. “Noted, sergeant. Won’t be a next time.”

  Addison gave the room another smirk and flipped over to the next document in his briefing materials. “Okay, good to hear. Moving on. Next up, oh, this is good. Guys, I believe you all heard the First Lieutenant say he was expecting big things from our star recruit. Well, let me tell you, the feedback has been off the charts. First Lieutenant Kenner has passed along a huge assignment, and I can’t wait to see him knock this one out of the park and put up some big numbers in the red zone.” He pointed to Cade Goodwin, who stood up briefly and gave his fellow officers a magnanimous wave before sitting down again.

  “I’m on it, Sergeant.”

  “Yes, you are. And here’s the play: Sorrellis, hit the lights, will you?”

  Sapphire stood up and flicked four light switches down in rapid succession. Once the room darkened, a male officer seated in front of Diane leaned over to another one seated to his left and muttered, “I’d hit Sorrellis, for sure.”

  The other man shrugged as he looked her over. “Maybe not in a heartbeat, but yeah, I can see that.”

  Addison aimed a laser pointer at a photo of a mug shot. A short-haired man with a scar on his cheek held a placard containing his booking information and looked directly at the camera with heavy-lidded eyes. “Gentlemen, this scum-sucker is the city’s number two most wanted. Bank robberies, extortion, wire fraud, the works. This piece of crap has been seen dicking around by the waterfront lately. Our tactical surveillance teams have his base of operations narrowed down to this area here,” he said, making a tight circle with his laser pointer at a patch of map bordering an inlet.

  The officer in front of Diane leaned over again. “Cripes. If they had a bead on him, why not take him out? Do they need a fricking invitation?”

  Addison looked at him as he spoke, despite the man keeping his voice down. “Kenner wants Goodwin to reel in a big one. Boost the old confidence and give him a big W going into mid-season.”

  Diane was lost. The men were all nodding along as Addison spoke what might as well have been a secret language. She ached for her dictionary, but as she thought about what she was hearing, she didn’t think it would do much good. She hoped Sapphire could decode it for her later.

  “Reel it in, baby,” shouted Officer Morse. Officer Price hooted in agreement.

  “Cade’s got this. Rookie of the year, in the bag,” Officer Klasner said. Diane felt her blood heat up as Goodwin raked in support and adulation from their peers. I’m better than him. That assignment should have been mine, she thought darkly.

  No sooner had her thoughts turned dark when the lights snapped on once more. “Okay, everyone. That’s a wrap for this morning. Go out there and do us proud. And hey,” Addison’s voice softened, “not another Arbor Day.”

  Diane and her fellow officers bowed their heads, then noisily rose from their seats and cleared out of the briefing room. Diane patted the photo of the Fourth Precinct, then did a double-take. The photo was a bikini-clad woman standing in front of an American flag, clutching a machine gun. “God, guts, glory,” said Officer Morse as he kissed the photo. Diane noticed he aimed for the model’s breasts.

  “Go get em, Gunslinger,” Officer Hendricks said, patting Goodwin on the back. Goodwin smiled sheepishly as he accepted the praise and encouragement.

  Diane pulled her partner aside. “Ready to roll, Hendricks?”

  “Oh, hey, Pembrook. I was getting worried there, when I didn’t see you come in until we were well underway.”

  “Yeah, like Addison said, I didn’t get the memo about the briefing time changing to 0700. Or moving to another room.”

  Hendricks cocked his head. “Huh? The briefing has always been in here at 0700.”

  “No, it has not. It’s been 0730, in room 1A ever since I’ve been here.”

  “Okay, whatever you say, Pembrook. It’s too early to argue. Let’s go nail some bad guys. The city’s a hot mess these days. Get ready to wade hip-deep in slime.”

  Diane was eager to get out there and fight back, but she had the odd sense that she was already up to her neck in slime without leaving the building.

  Diane and Hendricks drove in silence. She found herself snapping back into her usual habits. She scanned the front and side windows for threats, while Hendricks sat slightly slumped behind the wheel, keeping his eyes forward unless something–or someone–caught his eye. He seemed more reserved now. He used to chat with her about whatever was on his mind at that moment. She tried to chat him up with small talk, but he mostly replied with noncommittal grunts.

  She finally got him talking. “Who did they pair you up with while I was… out?”

  “Hinajosa.” He pronounced the silent h.

  “Oh, Gabe? How’d that go?”

  Hendricks shrugged. “He’s alright. Kind of quiet.”

  Gabe. Diane remembered her fantasies of their relationship going somewhere. She had imagined what it would be like to be married to him and to take his last name. Diana Hinajosa. Die-yah-nah Eee-nah-hoe-sah. It still sounded musical to her as she sounded it out in her head. Their relationship failed miserably, and she didn’t give him much thought. To her surprise, he visited her while she was locked up, but to her, he was just a useful tool in the moment. She gave him a message to bring to Lyssa: Diane will see you in her dreams tonight. Gabe didn’t know about them. Lyssa told her he passed the message along matter-of-factly and left without saying goodbye.

  Gabe was unaware of the gravity of the message he carried. Diane wasn’t told Lyssa had been to the station several times begging to see her, only to be turned away every time. She stopped coming to the station when someone threatened her with a trespassing rap if she ever returned, no matter why. To Diane’s consternation, Lyssa couldn’t remember many details about the officer who threatened her except to say, “He was a huge jerk.”

  “Yeah, he’s not a big talker,” she said. “Did he say anything about me?”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. We used to be a thing. It didn’t last very long.”

  Hendricks shot her a surprised glance. “Huh. No, not a word about any of that. To be honest, he doesn’t strike me as being your type.”

  “Oh yeah? What’s my type?”

  “Forget I said anything. Hey, something’s up at two o’clock.” He jutted his chin toward the windshield. Diane looked in that general direction and spotted a man wearing a heavy overcoat leaning against a wall beside a local convenience mart. He glanced from side to side nervously, then gave an elaborate handshake to a man who approached him and slipped something small into his left coat pocket. He stepped away and put his right hand behind his back and received something in return. He palmed the object and spirited it away in his front pants pocket as he walked away.

  “Thignoids. I’ll bet you any money,” Hendricks said, and reached for the lights.

  Diane’s eyes widened in recognition, then she waved him off. “No, not yet. You’re going to spook him. Drive past him. He’ll think we didn’t see anything, or we don’t care.”

  Hendricks withdrew his hand. “But we did see something, and we do care.” He gave her a concerned look. “We care, right? Prison changes people, I hear.”

  “Very funny. Yes, we care. I
f you hit the lights now, he’ll scram. Just drive by nice and easy, and don’t make eye contact.”

  “Fine. I’m not sure I like taking orders from you, but you’ve got a point.” He slouched lower in his seat. Diane removed her hat and fiddled with the lining. She spied the dealer from the corner of her eye as they rolled by. The man stiffened at the sight of the patrol cruiser, then relaxed as they passed. She lowered her sun visor and used the embedded mirror to spot the dealer giving another elaborate handshake.

  “We’re clear,” she said, putting her hat on.

  “Now what?”

  “Turn here, slowly. Not too slow. I mean, drive casual.”

  Hendricks puffed at her. “I’ve got the wheel, Pembrook. Cool it with the backseat driving.” He swung the car to the right and Diane caught a final glimpse of their quarry at the next street corner. “Where to now?”

  “Give me a second. Okay, guys like that usually have lookouts. He seemed pretty small-time. I’d be shocked if he has more than one, probably across the street.”

  “Yeah,” Hendricks said, rubbing his chin. “The thing is, which street?”

  “Let’s don’t worry about that,” Diane said. “Let’s think of how we can sneak up on him. I figure we come in through the back entrance of that store and we nail him the second we walk out the front.”

  “Not bad, except places like that don’t have a back entrance, usually. I see them getting deliveries through the front all the time. And we don’t know if anyone in the store is on his side. I figure he’s got that spot picked for a reason.”

  “He’s got customers, that’s why.”

  Hendricks took another right turn. Diane wanted to give him solid instructions, but the dealer was going to be a hard target. She couldn’t simply gun him down at distance and let the coroner handle it. Sneaky criminals like him didn’t seem like they were doing anything wrong. There would be a public outcry about police brutality if they didn’t get a clean bust. She could shoot him if he ran. They had to make the effort to cuff him first.