“Let’s go. Up on your feet,” Garrett said, placing his hands under the young guy’s armpits and pulling him up off the ground.
Berkley called in his ID to see if he had warrants while Garrett went through his pockets.
“No warrants,” she said.
“Nothing but a lighter and a pack of smashed cigarettes in his pockets.”
“You’re getting a resisting arrest charge and you weren’t even trying to hide something.” She shook her head. “All of this really was for donuts.”
“He’s drunk, and he’s hungry.”
“Well, he’s going to jail. Here comes your ride,” she said, seeing the transport car pull into the parking lot.
Garrett stuffed the drunk into the back of the car. “If you piss in here, Officer Mickler’s not going to be happy,” he said, nodding towards the officer who had gotten out of the car.
“Congratulations on making SWAT.”
“Thanks,” Berkley replied, shaking his hand. “He’s ready to go. I put his information and charges into the computer.”
“Sounds good,” the other officer said as he got back into his car.
“After all of that, now I want a fucking donut,” Garrett laughed.
“I thought you cut out sugar?”
“I did.”
Berkley shrugged and checked her watch. “Want to break for lunch?”
“Sure, but I’m getting a donut first. You want one?”
“Nope.”
“How do you have so much willpower?”
“I’ve been asking myself that a lot lately,” she muttered as she headed over to her car.
*
Berkley stared at the stars in the sky as she ate her sandwich. “I took Randi for a ride on the bike before I left for SWAT training.”
“Oh yeah, how’d that go?”
“We got soaking wet and nearly slept together.”
“No shit?”
She nodded.
“I thought you weren’t playing those games anymore.”
“I wasn’t…I’m not. I stopped it.”
“Did you tell Dena?”
“Yeah. She was pissed. She thinks I’m making a huge mistake just being friends with her. Maybe she’s right. I mean we clearly can’t just be friends.”
“You’re a big girl. You can make your own decisions. Although, I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
“Thanks.” She wadded up her trash and put it back in her lunch cooler as Garrett tore into his donut bag.
“You want half?” he asked, holding up a frosted blueberry donut.
“Give it here,” she said.
“I knew it!” he laughed, handing her the whole donut. “I got two!”
Berkley shook her head and smiled. “I guess my resolve isn’t as strong as I thought,” she mumbled, taking a bite.
“Nope.”
“Listen, there’s something else,” she started, finishing her donut in two more bites. “You’re my best friend on and off the job, and you’re my first call, always. SWAT isn’t going to change any of that.”
“Did Dena say something to you?”
“Yeah, but she didn’t have to. I’ve been so busy with going through the process, we haven’t had much time to talk at all. I was waiting to catch you in person.”
“It’s going to take some getting used to. I won’t lie. We’ve been each other’s backup from the beginning, but now you have a whole brotherhood behind you.”
“Yeah, but they won’t be there day in and day out. They’ll never replace my best friend. You’re like the brother I never had.”
He nodded.
“Don’t start crying or I’m going to have to tell Dena,” she teased, hoping to cut the seriousness.
“I’m not.” He grinned.
“Great, we have an assault call,” she said, grabbing the mic next to the computer in her car. “327—10-8. Responding 240. ETA five minutes,” she radioed, letting dispatch know she was back in service and headed to that call.
“Why do people drink too much every damn Saturday night and want to fight?” he muttered, grabbing the mic and mimicking her call to dispatch.
33
“All packed up?” Randi said, plopping down on the bed.
“Just about,” Olivia answered, walking out of the closet with the last bit of clothing for her suitcase. She smiled at Randi as she zipped it closed.
“It’s going to be quiet around here without you for a few days.”
“Are you saying I’m loud?” Olivia questioned with a raised brow.
“No. I meant I won’t have anyone to talk to, so it’s going to be quiet.” Randi grinned.
“I thought you said you were going to see your family.”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She shrugged, following her into the living room. “Five hours is a long drive…alone. Especially when you have to turn around and come right back.”
“Yeah,” Olivia agreed, grabbing a banana from the counter.
“Are you ready to go?”
“Might as well. My flight leaves in three hours.”
Randi nodded and grabbed her keys from the counter. Then, she turned and pulled Olivia into a hug, trying to remember what it felt like to be held by her, but the contact was brief. Olivia kissed her lips quickly and pulled away.
*
The drive to the airport hadn’t taken more than twenty minutes since there was a lot less traffic mid-morning. Once she’d dropped Olivia at the terminal, Randi headed to The Grind for a cup of coffee. She checked the strip of parking spaces, looking for any signs of Berkley. The last thing she needed was to run into her. She wasn’t quite sure how they’d left things when they spoke briefly after the game, and that was two days ago. She felt like a runaway train, trying to get back on the right track…but wondering where the new track was headed to at the same time.
She pulled into an open parking space when she didn’t see the motorcycle or Berkley’s truck and headed inside. She contemplated the idea of traveling to see her family while she waited for Paul to make her order. She missed her parents and her sister, but the thought of spending ten hours in a car by herself within 72 hours wasn’t appealing at all. “I’ll just stay here,” she mumbled to herself.
“What was that?” Paul asked, handing her an iced double-shot mocha. “I have two chocolate chip muffins left.”
“Not today.” She smiled. There was no one at home to take it to. She took a sip of her coffee and glanced around the small area where half a dozen empty tables and chairs sat.
“She hasn’t been in lately,” he said.
Randi nodded and held her cup up in a gesture of thank you, before walking out the door.
*
Berkley backed her patrol car into her driveway and turned the key. She’d already radioed the dispatcher that she was home and off shift when she turned into her neighborhood. Looking forward to three days off, she yawned and grabbed her lunch cooler from the passenger seat.
“Morning,” her neighbor across the road said with a wave as he got into his truck.
She waved as she walked around the car and entered her house through the front door. She set the cooler on the counter and headed to her room to strip out of her uniform. She’d promised to meet Garrett at the gym later in the day, but contemplated canceling on him. It had been a few days since her commendation for making SWAT. She hadn’t had any call outs, but the team was getting together in a week to do some tactical training. She thought about Randi briefly, before her phone lit up with Dena’s picture.
“My savior,” Berkley said, answering.
“I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing,” Dena laughed.
“Let’s go with neither. What’s up?”
“We all just got off shift, and if you’re anything like this beast sitting next to me, you’re starving to death.”
Berkley laughed. “I’m fine. I’m actually about to go do my ya
rd work. If I don’t get it done today, it won’t get done with the nasty weather headed this way from tropical depression what’s his name.”
“That storm’s not coming anywhere near here,” Garrett yelled in the background. “If it was, they would’ve put us on standby.”
Berkley knew he was right, but they were still going to get some rain.
“Are you sure we can’t entice you to come out with us? We were thinking pizza.”
“Nah. I’m not interested in doing extra cardio,” she chuckled.
“I heard you guys ate donuts the other night,” Dena stated. “A couple slices of pizza won’t kill you.”
“The donuts were your boyfriend’s idea, and that was a call from hell.”
“That guy pissed in Mickler’s cruiser, by the way,” Garrett yelled.
“Ew, gross!” Dena exclaimed.
“It happens more often than not. I hate dealing with the drunk ones,” Berkley said. “I’m glad I don’t have a cage anymore. Someone else can deal with that mess.”
“We were called out last night for a homeless man with hypertension. He smelled like week-old shit. I thought Mags was going to puke. She had to ride in the back with him.”
“Damn,” Berkley mumbled.
“It took us two hours to get the smell out of the rig. I swear we wiped down everything five times!”
“On that note,” Berkley laughed, “I’m going to mow my grass. Enjoy your pizza. Garrett, you better be ready to burn that shit off later!”
*
At nine p.m. the tropical depression passed right over Richey, bringing a ton of howling wind and heavy rain with it. Randi was sitting in the living room in a tank top and a thin pair of cotton shorts with nothing under them, and her hair up in a messy bun watching the news report of the storm…until the power went out. She searched the house for candles and found two small ones, both of which put out tiny flames when lit.
“Son of a bitch,” she said, finding a flashlight with dead batteries. She searched for anything else to light up the dark house, but found nothing.
She thought about just going to bed, but the house was eerily quiet, and nearly pitch black, causing her heart rate to increase and the hair on the back of her neck to stand up. The wind continued to blow, causing tree limbs to fall on fences and cars, and pelting rain battered the roof and windows.
A shrill scream came from her mouth when she heard a loud banging noise right outside. She grabbed her phone, scrolling her contacts for Olivia’s number.
“Hey, babe,” she said, answering.
“I should’ve gone to see my family,” Randi said.
Noticing the difference in her voice, Olivia sat up straighter and turned down the TV in her hotel room. “Is everything okay?”
“No.” Randi tried to keep it together. “There’s a nasty storm. A tropical something or other. The power is out. I can’t find any fucking candles. It’s dark and I just heard a loud bang.”
“Call Carrie. Maybe she and Anna can come spend the night.”
“Her brother is in San Antonio for business this week. She drove down to see him. Besides, I’m sure no one is on the streets right now.”
“The cops probably are. Why don’t you call Berkley to come check everything out?”
“I’m sure she’s busy.”
“Okay…” Olivia sounded frustrated. “You’re sitting there alone in the dark, hearing noises. You sound scared. I’m just trying to find someone who can come check on you. A cop is your best choice.”
“Alright,” Randi sighed, knowing she was right. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Olivia said, hanging up.
Randi bit her lower lip, staring at Berkley’s name in her phone. A flash of lightning lit up her backyard, followed by a loud crack of thunder that caused her to jump a foot off the couch. She quickly pressed the call button.
*
Berkley spread the blinds with her fingers, looking out at the trees swaying in the pouring rain, thankful she was off and hadn’t been called in. Still, she kept her phone close just in case she was needed. Suddenly, it vibrated in her hand, then began ringing. She glanced at Randi’s name on the screen and raised a brow.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Berkley?”
“Yeah. Hey.”
“Are you working right now?”
“No. Why? What’s up?” she asked, walking away from the window. Two large battery-powered lanterns had her living room lit up almost as brightly as a light bulb.
“My power is out. It’s dark as hell because our candles suck, and I keep hearing banging noises. I was going to see if you’d stop by for a minute and check things out. Olivia is in Canada, so I’m alone and a little freaked out.”
“I’ll be there in about ten minutes…maybe fifteen if the roads are bad,” Berkley replied, already rushing around to gather up her candles to take over to her.
“You don’t have to come over. I thought maybe if you were working—”
“It’s fine. This storm isn’t letting up anytime soon, so your power is bound to be out the rest of the night. The least I can do is bring you some decent candles and maybe figure out what the banging noise is.” Berkley tried not to think about the worst-case scenario as she tossed the candles into a box. Then, she slipped her gun into a small carry case, and shoved her wallet with her badge inside, into the back pocket of her comfortable jogger pants, zipping it closed. She knew power outages made nicer neighborhoods easy targets for thieves and robbers because they didn’t have an alarm system to contend with.
“The roads are probably really bad. You shouldn’t be on them,” Randi said.
“If I were working, I’d be on them. It’s okay. Stay on the phone with me. That way you’ll know everything is okay.” And I won’t worry about you.
“Alright,” Randi agreed.
“Leaving now,” Berkley said, grabbing the keys to her truck, thinking if the roads were flooded, she had a better chance of getting through since it was higher up.
34
Berkley walked around the exterior of the house with her flashlight, searching for any sign someone had been trying to get in. Heavy rain still fell, and periodic gusts of wind bent the trees over.
“The patio door latch is broken,” she said, removing her raincoat as she came inside. “I need some string or something to tie it closed.”
Randi began searching through the kitchen drawers. Finding nothing, she went out into the garage, holding one of the candles with an oven mitt. She tripped over something and nearly crashed to the ground. Luckily, she had good balance and hadn’t dropped the glass jar. “Damn it,” she growled.
“Are you okay?” Berkley asked from the doorway.
“Yeah. I tripped over an old shoe, I think.”
“Does it have laces?”
“Hold on…” Randi said, bending down carefully with the candle. Why didn’t I take her flashlight?
Berkley went back into the kitchen to retrieve her flashlight when Randi came out with the shoe in her hand.
“Will this do?”
“Perfect.” Berkley pulled the lace out of the shoe and walked through the house to the sliding patio door.
Randi tried to watch through the blinds, but it was pitch black. All she saw was the light from Berkley’s flashlight bouncing around. A minute later, Berkley returned to the door and Randi slid it open for her.
“I tied it to the grill. At least it won’t slap back and forth anymore.”
“Thank you,” Randi said. “You didn’t have to do all of this.”
“I couldn’t leave you here in the dark.”
Randi looked at the candles burning on the kitchen island, setting the open room in a soft glow. “I understand if you need to go,” she said softly.
“It’s fine. I’ll hang out for a bit,” Berkley muttered, looking through the blinds to make sure the string was holding. “This thing should be passed
us in a couple of hours.”
Randi bit her lower lip and nodded.
“You can go to bed if you want. I’m used to being up all night.”
“I don’t think I could sleep through this if I wanted to,” Randi said, sitting on the couch.
Berkley nodded. She had never been able to sleep through bad storms either. She checked her phone, making sure the station hadn’t tried to contact her. Then, she sat down on the couch, leaving a good amount of space between them.
“I remember dealing with hurricanes when I still lived at home. My family is in Galveston.”
“I’ve never experienced a hurricane. I’m from the DFW area.”
“My mom would make a bunch of food and we’d have a family hurricane party.”
Berkley smiled. “Do you have a big family?”
“Yes and no. Our family is quite large, but they are all in South America. My parents immigrated from Chile. My sister and I were born in Texas. It’s just the four of us here.”
“Wow. Do you go back and visit?”
“When we were little we went once a year, but I haven’t been there in three years.” Sadness filled her voice.
“It’s just me and my parents. The rest of our family is scattered around. I saw my grandparents when I was younger, but all I have left is one grandmother. She’s in a nursing home.”
“What made you become a cop?” Randi asked.
Berkley gave her a sideways look. “That’s not a very interesting subject change,” she chuckled.
Randi smiled and waited for her to answer.
“You know I was an EMT first. I had a bad call one night and I realized I could’ve done more for the people who wound up dying if I’d been a cop, not just an EMT.” She shrugged. “What about you? How did you become this soccer star?”
Randi laughed. “I’d hardly call myself a star.”
“Have you been to your games?” Berkley questioned with a smirk. “I’m pretty sure you have more fans than Tom Brady.”
Playing the Game Page 20
