“That must’ve been her meeting this morning. She mentioned something on her way out. That’s great,” Randi said.
“Are things weird between you guys?”
“No, not really. She knows there was someone else, but not who it was. She asked and I was honest. I have no reason to lie to her. We’re not together anymore.”
“That still had to be hard.”
Randi nodded. “So, what’s going on with you? Why are we escaping to Hawaii?”
“I could use a break from life for a hot minute,” Carrie said.
“We all could,” Randi replied, giving her shoulders a squeeze in a side hug. “Come on, we have some calories to burn off.”
Carrie laughed and followed her out onto the practice field.
*
The SWAT call was still fresh on Berkley’s mind long after her shift had ended. She’d gone straight to bed when she got home, something she never did. Then met up with Garrett later in the day since it was the start of their three days off. He was sympathetic, he’d been to suicide calls before, but that wasn’t where she wanted to be, or who she’d wanted to be with.
She needed to find a way to clear her head. She was working a pre-planned special assignment with SWAT that evening and needed to be as focused as she was rested.
Leaving the gym, she took the long way home, trying to clear her head as she rode her motorcycle. She hadn’t intended on going to The Grind, but a late decision as she’d passed by caused her to turn around and go back. She backed the bike into a parking space and went inside.
“Hey, stranger,” Paul said with a smile.
“How’s business?”
“Pretty steady. What can I get for you?”
“The usual is fine…if you remember.” She smiled.
“Of course. One iced cinnamon and unsweetened almond milk latte coming up.”
Berkley leaned against the counter as she waited. A few patrons were sitting at tables, and another person had come in behind her. She was happy to see local businesses making it despite the large chains popping up on every corner.
When her coffee was ready, she retreated to a table and picked up the newspaper lying in the chair. She scanned the front page as she sipped her drink, looking for any storyline about the SWAT call.
*
Randi was about to pull out of the Target parking lot when she saw a familiar face walking up to her car.
“What are you up to?” Carrie said, popping her head in the open passenger window.
“Not much. I needed to pick up a couple of things. I’m about to go grab a coffee. You want to go?”
“Nah. I have domestic chores I’ve been neglecting.”
Randi laughed. “Don’t wear yourself out.”
Carrie laughed. “I’ll see you at the game,” she said, backing away.
Randi waved and pulled out of her parking space, blasting the radio as she headed down the road.
The traffic was light so it hadn’t taken her long to cross town. When she turned into the strip center where The Grind was located, she nearly rear-ended the car in front of her. Her heart thumped so hard, it felt like it was going to rip right out of her chest at any moment, and it wasn’t because of the near-collision. She pulled into an empty space and got out of her car. She glanced at the motorcycle sitting a few spaces down before walking inside.
*
A grinning smile spread across Randi’s face when her eyes landed on Berkley. She knew it was her behind the newspaper. Everyone else was on an electronic device, but not the hardnosed cop. She was old school, and Randi loved that about her.
“I see you’re still keeping the local post in business,” she said, pulling out the chair across from Berkley.
“Old habits die hard I guess,” Berkley replied, lowering the paper. She wasn’t prepared for how hard it would hit her seeing Randi again. She felt like someone had swung a bat at the center of her chest. It had only been about three weeks, but it might as well have been three months.
Randi stared at the deep blue eyes looking back at her, searching for any kind of sign that Berkley missed her too. “You’ve been missed around the soccer stadium. Sasha has pretty much begged for your number.”
Berkley folded the newspaper correctly and set it aside. “Is that why you sat down at my table? To tell me Sasha is still interested in me?”
Randi shook her head. “I tried calling you.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“Olivia and I split a couple of weeks ago.”
Berkley nodded.
“We’re roommates currently. Although, that’s about all we’ve been for longer than I can remember. It should’ve happened a while ago. You helped me see that.”
Berkley sipped her coffee and leaned back in her chair. “I’m not social media savvy, but I’m pretty sure your followers seem to think you two are going to get married and have soccer star babies any time now.”
“Those are just fans. They don’t know anything about me. Olivia and I haven’t told the team yet, so we’re sort of keeping up appearances.”
“That doesn’t make much sense.”
“There are only a couple of games left in the regular season. If we win or at least tie in them, we’ll go to the playoffs for the first time. We’re trying not to upset the mojo with the team.”
“So, you’re broken up, but still living together…and no one knows. Am I right?”
“Carrie knows, and my sister as well.”
Berkley nodded.
“I miss you.” Randi bit the side of her lower lip. “I miss us.”
Berkley wanted to believe her. More than that, she wanted to pull her close and kiss her like she’d never tasted her lips before. She put her hand on the small table, inches from where Randi’s sat. She knew if they touched, it would be over. She’d be too weak to stop herself from claiming the lips that were beckoning her. But, at the last second, just when Randi’s hand moved, she backed away, crossing her arms.
“It sounds like you’re still playing games.”
“Games? With who?”
“Anyone who will play them.”
Randi shook her head. “I’m not—”
“Look, I want to believe you. I know you’re not a liar. I guess I don’t understand how you would break up but still live together, and then keep the breakup a secret. It doesn’t add up, Randi.” Berkley stood and took the last sip of her coffee. “I have to go. I had a rough shift last night, and I have to go in today on my day off. It was good seeing you,” she said before tossing her cup in the trash on her way out.
“Damn it,” Randi mumbled under her breath as she watched her mount the bike and drive off. Then, she stood up and walked out the door, having never ordered the coffee she’d come to get.
*
Randi was unusually quiet as she dressed for the game in the locker room. She heard the conversations going on around, but wasn’t listening to what anyone was saying, including her ex-girlfriend, the captain of the team.
The only words tumbling around in her mind were: You’re still playing games. The idea that Berkley thought she was lying to keep having an affair cut her deep. She could sit around and replay their conversation a hundred times in her head, but it was only making her angry, and she had a game to play. She finished lacing her cleats and followed the team into the tunnel.
*
“Are you ready for this?” Connor said as he adjusted the straps on his tactical vest.
Berkley looked at the reflection of herself in the window of her patrol cruiser. She looked like a soldier ready for battle, except she was wearing all black instead of drab green or tan, and her tactical vest had SWAT written in white across the front and back of it. “Yeah. You?”
“I live for this shit.” He grinned. “This is why I joined SWAT.”
They were doing a drug raid on a house a block away. The plan was to go on foot from two different directions, so the full SWA
T team was broken up into two teams, Alpha and Bravo. Sergeant Jones, Connor, and Berkley were the Bravo team. Their orders were to come in from the back of the house while the Alpha team went through the front door with the search warrant.
“Bravo—move into position,” Lieutenant Sullivan radioed. “We’re fifty paces out. Breach in one minute.”
“Copy,” Sergeant Jones replied, setting his watch for one minute so he’d know when to breach the back door. He gave quick hand signals to his team to climb the fence and stay behind the shed.
Berkley scaled the wooden privacy fence and backed up against the dilapidated shed. Connor followed and wound up near the opposite corner. Both officers looked at Sergeant Jones, waiting for the ‘go’ signal while he watched the timer count down. He flashed three fingers and a closed fist for thirty seconds.
Suddenly, Berkley caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye. A white male in jeans and a red t-shirt had burst out the back door and was climbing over the fence. She took off after him, scaling the fence like a cat. The brightly colored shirt gave away his position twenty-five yards ahead of her as he cut through another yard. She had no time to listen to the commands on the radio, she was running full out, trying to catch the guy before he got away.
Finally, after he jumped the fence into the third yard, she caught up and grabbed him off the fence. Together, they fell to the ground. He began swinging his arms like a madman, but she was able to get away from him before getting hit hard enough to leave a mark.
“Stand still! You’re under arrest!” she yelled, pulling her Glock out of the holster on her waist and pointing it at him. She’d left her AK-47 rifle behind the shed when she took off running, but her handgun was always on her side.
Before she could say anything else, he put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a knife.
“Drop it!” she yelled.
He continued jumping all around like an unhinged animal, but never let go of the knife. She had no idea if he was going to lunge at her or not.
“Drop the knife!” she shouted. Don’t make me shoot you, she thought as her adrenaline spiked, causing her blood pressure to skyrocket. Her heart was beating so hard, she feared she might pass out.
The way he was moving all around reminded her of a cartoon character. He was most definitely on some serious drugs. His eyes looked twice as large as normal and his nostrils flared.
Berkley was barely ten feet from him. A hundred different scenarios went through her head while several calls came over the radio. Her team was looking for her and she could do nothing but stand there and stare him down. She knew she was in the row of houses behind the suspect house and roughly three houses north.
“Put the damn knife down, now!” she yelled.
A loud thump sound got the man’s attention. His hand dropped loosely to his side as he turned slightly to see what the noise was. Berkley lunged at him, knocking him to the ground and fighting to get the knife from his hand at the same time. She won the battle and tossed it back behind her, out of reach.
“Are you okay?” Connor said, jumping over the fence.
“Yeah,” she replied, sitting on top of the man.
Connor got on the ground and helped her wrestle him into handcuffs. Once they’d finished, the man was lying on his stomach with his hands behind his back. However, he was still flailing all around and saying all kinds of incoherent words.
“What the hell is he on?” she said, shaking her head as she put on a pair of gloves and began searching his pockets.
“Meth more than likely. They had a meth lab in that house. LT found several pounds of meth, and all of the ingredients to make more. Plus, a ton of paraphernalia, cash, and guns.”
“Yep,” she said, pulling a skinny glass cylinder from his pocket and a small baggie with white powder in it.
“Get up!” Connor growled, grabbing the guy’s arms.
Berkley opened the gate for the fence, and they walked out onto the street where a patrol car was waiting. She opened the door and Connor shoved him inside.
“Drive him back around. We’ll hop the fence,” he said to the officer. When the car drove away, he turned back to Berkley. “You okay?”
“I nearly shot him.”
“I saw you. I’m sorry it took me so long to catch up.”
She nodded.
“You know…we were supposed to have the easy job on these last two calls.”
“Someone should redefine easy for the brass,” she laughed.
“No shit. Come on, let’s go help them tally up everything since we’ve done the grunt work for them.”
“I’m getting too old for this shit,” she mumbled as they climbed over the fence to get into the yard behind the one they were standing in and went through the gate to walk the rest of the way down the street.
*
Richey was up by a goal over Portland when they stepped out of the locker room after halftime. Olivia had given her pep talk, and the coach had discussed areas to improve for the second half. Jorja and Sasha were on yellow cards. Portland was playing dirty and getting away with it in front of the referee. Randi was already on edge from her conversation with Berkley and getting shoved around on the field only pissed her off more.
“They think they can come into our house and push us around, bitches please!” she yelled in the huddle before they took the field. “We need a win here, or the championship is out the window. Now, let’s go!”
“Hell yeah!” Sasha yelled, followed by Jorja and Carrie as they put their hands in.
“Kick some ass on three,” Randi shouted. “One, two, three…”
Everyone yelled, “Kick some ass,” before running out onto the field.
The ref blew the whistle and Carrie passed the ball back to Randi, who lobbed it forward back to her. Then, Randi ran up the side, anticipating a wide pass. She didn’t bother looking for the defender near her as she watched the ball coming straight to her. It wasn’t until she was hit from behind and flew to the ground that she realized the defender had been right on her.
It took an extra second for Randi to catch her breath before she got to her feet. The ref never blew the whistle and the ball had continued in play. She threw her hands up at the ref and shook her head.
“What the fuck was that?” she growled as she ran past her.
“Language!” the ref yelled.
Randi ignored her as she got back into play. Sasha quickly sent a long ball forward. Randi dove into the air, heading it down. The same defender who had body-checked her, wound up with the ball. Randi cut her off at the sideline. They fought for the ball, back and forth, tugging jersey’s and elbowing each other in the ribs until Randi finally hip-checked her and she fell to the ground.
The ref quickly blew the whistle for a foul and awarded Portland the ball.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Randi yelled at the ref.
“That’s your first warning. The next time it’s a yellow,” the ref said.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Randi spat. “That’s a bullshit call and you know it!” she added, walking away.
Everyone got back into position for the indirect kick. As soon as the girl kicked it, Randi ran towards the center circle to cut her off when she went around Carrie and took off on a breakaway. Randi caught up to her, but she’d already sent it in to the box to a teammate who took a quick one-touch shot.
Olivia dove through the air, punching the ball up and over the back off the goal, giving Portland a corner quick. Randi went into the box, leaving Carrie as the only forward, with one midfielder with her near the circle.
The Portland player lobbed the ball right into the middle of the box. Everyone went into the air to head the ball. Randi and a Portland player crashed into each other’s shoulders and the person behind them wound up getting her head on the ball. It bounced to the ground and was kicked back and forth by players on both teams as they fought for it. Randi wound up with it and tried t
o clear it from the box, but the player she’d tangled with shoved her from behind. Randi landed on the ground and quickly jumped up in the girl’s face.
“What the fuck is your problem?” Randi yelled.
“Get out of my way, bitch!” the girl shouted, shoving her back.
“I’ve had enough of your shit!” Randi countered, pushing her equally as hard.
Play had kept going and most of the players were near the other end of the field as the two of them continued yelling and pushing each other. The sideline ref finally got the center ref’s attention and she turned to see Randi and the Portland player tussling at the edge of the box, literally about to start swinging fists. Olivia ran out from the goal line, doing the ref’s job for her as she got between them, quickly wrapping Randi in a bear hug and walking her backward, just as the ref blew the whistle and raced up the field towards them.
“I could red card you both!” the ref yelled as she showed them the yellow.
“Come at me again,” Randi growled to the Portland player.
“Calm down, Randi!” Olivia said.
“You better get your girl,” the Portland player sneered at her.
Both players caught back up to everyone else and play restarted. It didn’t take long for Randi to find the ball once more. A different Portland player shoulder-checked her and won the ball. Having had enough, Randi took off at full sprint, slide-tackling the Portland player and kicking the ball away a split second before the player tumbled to the ground. The ref quickly pulled the yellow and the red card from her pocket, showing them to Randi.
“You are the worst ref I’ve ever seen! Are you fucking blind?” Randi yelled, shaking her head.
The ref ignored her as she waited for her to clear the field.
“This game is out of control,” Carrie said as she and Jorja watched Randi leave the game to a standing ovation and boos by the crowd.
There were only five minutes left in regular time when Randi stepped off the field. The assistant coach handed her a penny to put on over her jersey, but she just threw it over her shoulder and sat down in one of the bench chairs.
Playing the Game Page 25
