by Justin Sloan
“Top brass,” Buland said. “I’m not saying I’m with you or against you,” his chair squeaked as he changed his sitting position, “but let’s be honest. We serve the uniform, which means we have no choice but to follow rank.”
Wallace chewed on his lip a moment, “Given the cleanse that happened with the old Enforcers and the few corrupt cops that went with them, I’d say that only leaves Colonel Anderson.” He glanced back at the other cops, thinking hard.
“I’m with you, if it comes to it,” one of the cops said. Wallace recognized him as Karl Mason, one of the younger guys who’d started only a couple of weeks before everything fell apart with the arrival of Valerie, Sandra, and Diego.
Wallace nodded his thanks, but said, “Just make sure Major Donnoly is there beside him on that day, and we’ll sort this out.”
He gave Buland a judging glance before turning back and heading for the elevator. About halfway there, Karl caught up and said, “Sir?”
“No need for that,” Wallace said.
“Right.” The kid looked at him, nervously. “It’s just… there have been rumors about her. The others have been told to keep their mouths shut, but I thought you should know.”
Wallace stopped now, conscious of the others who were glancing their way but pretending not to. “What sort of rumors?”
“Threats mostly, of an underground movement that means to strike back at the city. Some are saying Ella plays a key role in the group.”
Wallace felt his heart clenching. He wanted to believe this wasn’t possible from her, but he’d been with her long enough to know that when she felt strongly about something, she went in with one-hundred percent.
It’s how they had ended up together in the first place—when she’d seen him and decided they would be together. He had tried to protest, given that his partner was her brother, but she wasn’t having it.
So they’d gotten together and soon he couldn’t imagine life without her. He was sneaking off behind her brother’s back so they could go on a date or sometimes a little more, and now it was like a part of him was simply…
Missing.
To think that she was possibly involved in an underground movement, maybe even an attack against the city, was gut-wrenching.
“Have you seen Peterson?” he asked, figuring that, if anyone could talk to her, it’d be her own brother.
The young cop shook his head.
“If you see him, send him my way,” Wallace said, and then thanked Karl before continuing to the elevator.
While it hurt that his lover had run off on him like this, even switched sides, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to handle it if his partner had done the same. The fact that nobody seemed to have seen him in a day or two made Wallace worry.
When the elevator doors opened, Colonel Anderson stepped out and gave him a look of disgust. His white hair was slicked back, his graying black mustache trimmed to perfection, and he stood a good foot taller than the next tallest man or woman on the force.
But none of that mattered to Wallace, because he wasn’t in the mood to take shit from anyone.
“You have something to say to me?” Wallace challenged.
“Soon enough,” the Colonel said.
Wallace glanced back to see Karl there among five others. Him and Karl against the rest, most likely. Not the best odds.
So he stepped into the elevator and turned to stare the Colonel directly in the eyes, letting him know his stance on the matter of leadership. When the elevator doors slid shut between them, Wallace breathed heavily through his nostrils and practically punched the number for Valerie’s office.
This was not going to be fun.
When the elevator let him out, he stepped into the wide, open floor that had Valerie’s desk at the far side along a wall of glass, and curved back behind him for a few offshoot rooms.
“Valerie?” he called out, but could tell by the silence that she wasn’t there.
He walked over to the walls of glass and stared out at the city. It looked so peaceful, in spite of the wall of gray clouds moving in like a tsunami about to crush them all. Not the best of omens, that was for damn sure. Anyone on patrol tonight was certainly not going to have fun walking around in that storm.
Several police pods were approaching the building and moved around to the side and out of his line of sight, likely going to the floor that opened up as a pod bay. He turned to watch the last of them disappear from sight, then noticed the light on the elevator ding on.
A shot of panic went through him as he considered the possibility of the Colonel making his move like this, with Valerie out. But when the elevator doors opened and it was just Cammie, he sighed with relief.
“I wondered if anyone would be up here looking for her,” Cammie called over to him and waved him her way. “Come on, Valerie has called everyone together and is waiting in the conference room.”
“Finally got it cleaned up, did they?” he asked, remembering the way it had been shot to hell and covered in blood after the attempted meeting with the city’s faction leaders.
“Let’s hope so.” She smirked and added as he joined her, “If not, you get the bloody chair. I can’t go staining my only set of nice clothes.”
He laughed, looking her up and down, eyes open in surprise. “What is that, stretchy pants and a robe?”
She twirled around for him, showing off her loose pants that came to a close around her ankles and the robe that she’d draped over her shoulders and tied around her waist. “It’s the newest fashion, because I say so.” She stopped and adjusted the shoulder cloth. “That, and it’s super convenient for if I want to transform. Doesn’t rip, though it might fall off, depending on how strenuous my following activity is.”
“Nice,” he said, nodding. “Shall we continue our little fashion discussion, or do you think this Valerie thing is possibly more important?”
“Maybe I just lock you up here and say you changed sides like your girlfriend?”
“Fuck you.” He didn’t mean it, and cringed as soon as the words left his lips. “Sorry, I just—”
Cammie held up a hand, her eyes flashing anger, but then she breathed deep and said, “No, my mistake. Not something to joke about yet, clearly.”
He gave her a nod and walked over to the elevator with her. “Truce?”
“What, like no more crappy joking from me and you don’t talk down to me like I’m some piece of cat-turd you found on your shoe?”
He frowned, not sure how to respond to that, but she laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You need to loosen up, my man.”
“You have no idea.” They stepped into the elevator together and he looked at her, completely serious and somber. “All kidding aside, do you have my back?”
“What?” She looked over and smiled, thinking this was the start of a joke apparently, but then saw he was serious and nodded, her smile dropping. “You know I do.”
He pressed the elevator button and he said, “Good. It looks like former leadership among the police might make a move against me. I have a plan, but I need to know you and yours will be there in case it goes south.”
“You can count on us, big guy,” she said. “But if you say the big F-you to me ever again, you’ll be eating your own asshole, got that?”
A chuckle escaped his lips before he saw the wild look in her eyes. “Yes ma’am.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Enforcer HQ
Valerie paced the floor at the head of the conference room while the others waited silently. She wasn’t sure how to best approach this, but she knew what had to be done.
Tiny droplets of rain were beginning to pelt the window—now only on the upper third of the wall, in a way that kept potential attackers below from seeing them, but also reminded Valerie a bit too much of the training facility windows back in France, where her brother Donovan had spent too many days kicking the shit out of her to make her into the warrior she was today.
And that’
s just what she was—a warrior. Which was why she had them all gathered like this. She hoped Jackson was okay out there, and she was ready to have this Ella business behind her.
The door creaked.
She turned with a smile to see Cammie and Sergeant Wallace enter. Glancing around the room, she saw most of them were here. Royland, Duran, Sandra, Diego, and now Cammie and Wallace. That should do.
“Let’s begin,” Valerie said, doing her best to ignore the sound of the rain as it picked up from droplets to a sudden barrage. “Come on!” she yelled at the window as a gust of wind hit it and caused half the room to jump.
The rest chuckled, nervously, and she realized she’d built this up too much and kept them in suspense for too long.
“Ignoring the storm outside as best I can,” she started, “I’m reminded that I cannot and will not ignore the storm that is tearing away at each of us.”
Cammie furrowed her brow and said, “Is this a metaphor or simile or one of those things? Because I’ll be honest, not my strong suit.”
Valerie licked her lips, trying to decide whether Cammie was serious, but went ahead with the cautious route. “Okay, what I’m trying to say is that we’ve ousted Strake and the CEOs, right? We’ve left this city in a vacuum of leadership, and the people need a leader. That much is clear.”
Royland looked her in the eyes, “They have you.”
She smiled at him, noting the bags under his own eyes. They had probably woken him up for this, but she would have to remember to ensure he wasn’t taking on too many shifts in the night. Keeping the city safe was important, but it would be hard to keep it safe if her best fighters were all too exhausted to lift a finger.
Unfortunately, her latest decision meant this wasn’t her responsibility.
“I’m no leader,” Valerie said, making sure to make eye contact with each of them, so they’d know she wasn’t saying this out of any sort of cowardice. “You all know that I have been appointed to be this city’s Justice Enforcer, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it only makes sense for me to focus on my own role, while others focus on rebuilding Old Manhattan.”
“But you’re the one who took out Strake,” Duran said, earning him a reproachful look from Cammie.
“No, it’s okay,” Valerie said to her, then turned to Duran to address his statement. “I removed a source of evil, yes. But do you embrace a spider because it killed a hornet? No, you leave the spider to its web so that it might catch more potentially harmful creatures.” Cammie started to raise her hand, but Valerie beat her to it this time. “What I’m trying to say is that there are others better suited to these tasks. Me? I’m here to root out causes of injustice, to make the evil suffer, and see that those that do wrong are no longer able to do so.”
“Okay, so you want us to step up?” Diego asked. “Is that it? I mean, who amongst us is ready to lead?”
She had been thinking about this question since running back to HQ, and had yet to come up with a perfect answer. But standing here, looking at them, she started to understand.
“You can each play a role. Jackson has his faction, and I’ll be counting on him to pull them together while hopefully corralling the rest of the city as best he can. Wallace, you know how the streets work, see that order is maintained on a shallow level while I dole out justice in the deep shadows. Sandra, you are more caring than anyone I know, and these people need to be cared for. You’ll be in charge of the medical supplies and more, but you each must work together to ensure this city rises out of darkness to shine with the greatness I know it’s capable of.”
Wallace cleared his throat and said, “You trust us? There might be some issues with senior leadership among the police, but I think I have a solution.”
“If you feel it’s best, then yes.” Valerie looked to the rest. “Can I count on you all?”
There was a moment of silence, and then Sandra leaned forward, elbows on the table and said, “Val dear, it sounds like you’re planning on leaving us.”
One or two sets of eyes in the room went wide with surprise, but the others were apparently sharing this thought.
“That is exactly what I intend to do,” Valerie said. “I didn’t come here to suddenly be the Queen of New York. I don’t need to be in the public eye. I just need peace and to see justice has her day. Listen, I have no idea what a proper ruling system is. Have any of us lived in anything other than anarchy, or a dictatorship? No, because that’s all this world knows. But what if things weren’t always this way? Forget the past, actually. Let’s focus on the future and say that, no matter where we’ve come from, we’re focused on what tomorrow brings, and we’re going to make damn sure she doesn’t bring us crap.”
She paused listening to the howling winds and thunderous rain, the worry for Jackson out there hitting her again. Then she sensed another worry, coming from Wallace.
“Where’s your partner?” she asked him.
His eyes went wide, but he said, “Missing.”
“What do you mean, missing?” Cammie said, turning to him in surprise. “You didn’t think that was worth mentioning?”
“Come on, Cammie,” Sandra interjected.
“No, if we’re going to work together to lead this city like Valerie’s saying, this is the type of stuff that can’t be kept secret.”
Wallace held up his hands in surrender, and then slammed them on the table. “For all I know, he’s gone off to join his sister.”
The room got quiet, aside from the wind and rain.
Finally, Valerie breathed deep and said, “I hope he hasn’t. This couldn’t have anything to do with the leadership issues you mentioned?”
Wallace snorted in anger, “If it does, I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Saying anything more on the matter was likely to piss him off. The feelings from the rest of the room were coming her way too—mostly apprehension, though a different sort of tension was strong between Sandra and Diego. Valerie didn’t need her enhanced abilities to sense that one.
“The point is that I trust each of you,” Valerie said, bringing the topic back to the right one for the moment.
“You still haven’t trusted us by telling us where you’ll go,” Cammie said.
“I wish I could say I trust you’ll lose your attitude someday,” Valerie said with a hint of a smile. “But I honestly can’t. And maybe that’s for the best. As for your question, here’s how it is. This city sees me and, while most don’t know who I am, the rest either hate me or love me. It’s time I went into the shadows.”
“Another metaphor?” Cammie asked.
Valerie shook her head as she chuckled. “I mean it quite literally. There are still criminals out there, still vampires on the loose, Nosferatu perhaps. And there’s the whole underground rebellion which Ella, and maybe Peterson, are part of. While, yes, staying here appeals to me, the only way I’m going to root them all out and truly make a difference to this town is if it’s clear that I’m not running anything, and if I’m out there stopping evil before it has a chance to spread.”
“And find any ties to the CEOs you can,” Duran said with a knowing look.
She touched her nose and then pointed at him. “Exactly.”
They lingered to discuss details while the storm raged outside, but just as they were about to conclude the meeting, shouting sounded outside the doors.
Valerie stood and went to the doors where she found two cops holding back Jackson, who was drenched from the rain outside and struggling to break free.
“He’s with me,” she said, annoyed at the two cops. She didn’t know them, or they would’ve received more of a reprimand for not recognizing him.
Jackson pulled his arms free and glared at the two as they turned to walk off, then ran to Valerie, taking her hands even though the others were watching through the glass doors.
“This is bad,” he said. “I couldn’t talk my people down, and half have gone off to the underground. They’ve confirmed Ella’s down there, and somethi
ng big is coming. We’ve gotta be ready.”
“It starts now, then,” Valerie said. She stared into his eyes, then pulled him in for a kiss. When she pulled back, his eyes were wide with confusion. “We can’t be seen together in the near future, Jackson. It’s putting you in danger. It’s putting a wall between you and your followers. And it’s dangerous for both of us.”
“What,” his eyes opened larger, if that were possible, “no….”
But she was already walking away from the group and him, back toward the elevators.
“Where are you going?” he asked.
She didn’t answer. The others could fill him in on that part of it, and while she was strong and determined in many ways, her little experience with relationships hadn’t been enough to prepare her for having to tell the only man she’d ever cared about that she was leaving now.
Instead, she made it to her office and looked it over for a moment. She grabbed her sword and strapped it on, then her pistol. She rifled through her drawer and found any extra ammunition she had stashed. Last, she found her purple jacket, the one he’d helped get mended after the horrible fight that ended with the death of her brother.
Instead of going back out the main way where others could question her and try to stop her, she took the stairs to the pod bay.
Only Sandra stood just outside the doors, waiting for her, sniper rifle slung over her shoulder.
“You know me too well,” Valerie said with a sad smile. “But you can’t stop me.”
“I don’t mean to.” Sandra looked sideways, bit her lip, and then said, “But can’t I come to? You’ve seen what I’m capable of.”
“Yes, from a distance.” Valerie stepped over to her friend, putting her hands on her shoulders and then took her in an embrace. A few moments, a few minutes or perhaps it was but a few seconds before she pulled back to look at her again. “You’re the best friend a woman could have. When I was a lonely vampire, you made me feel human again, Sandra… but now it’s time to be that vampire in the shadows. It’s time for me to learn what all this training, and this power from Michael, have made me into.”
