‘We have a 132 in progress at the City Mini Mart on Devonshire Street. All officers in the area please report,’ rings through over the radio of our patrol car. “Let’s roll.” Office Romano puts the car in drive, flashes our lights, and I answer the radio letting them know we’re in route.
We are the first car on scene, I report in that we are here, and that we can see the suspect holding a handgun that looks like a forty-five caliber. Romano parks the patrol car off to the side a bit and gets out gently closing the car door so as not to alert the guy to our arrival. Romano tries to quietly enter the building. His back is to us and this is our one chance to sneak up on him. The suspect is aiming his weapon at the cashier, and I can see a woman on the floor covering a little girl. There is a guy face down lying very still, but he doesn’t appear to be injured.
I run around to the back of the store. There’s another entrance, and I want to try and get at him from a different angle. I draw my weapon and carefully round the back corner of the building. I need to be sure there isn’t someone there waiting for him. I hit the entrance and quietly slip inside. With my gun drawn, I make my way into the front part of the mini mart. When I peek my head out to ensure it’s safe, he’s practically facing me. I hurry to my left to hide down an aisle where I find more patrons lying on the floor, one quietly crying, the other mumbling prayer. I hold my finger to my mouth telling them to remain quiet.
I have no visual on the suspect or my partner from this angle. I take another deep breath and try to get into a better position. As I round the corner, something falls from the shelf alerting him. A single shot rings out, and I jump out to see Romano on the floor bleeding out. He turns his gun on me and we both fire. I take a shot to the shoulder, but not before he drops to the floor dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
Four more cops come running into the store. “Call a bus, Romano’s bad,” I call out, wincing in pain.
Maguire comes running over. “You’re not in too good a shape yourself.”
“I’m fine.” I start to make my way over to my partner, but before I can get there I hear Officer Lewis pronounce him dead.
“NO!” I shout out.
I jump up in bed dripping in sweat. “Fuck,” I groan to myself as I close my eyes and try to gain some sense of control. Using the back of my hand, I wipe the sweat from my face and then glance over at the clock to see it’s only three-thirty am. I drop back on my bed and stare up at my apartment ceiling trying to analyze where that nightmare came from. I haven’t had one in a while, and it’s been nice. I have an appointment with the good doctor tomorrow and I have to think about whether I want to discuss this or not. Every time I bring up a nightmare she mentions sleeping pills, and I’m not taking sleeping pills. I tried them once and I felt like I was in a fog the entire next day.
I roll over in bed and notice the green light on my phone is lit indicating I have a text message. It’s D canceling the gym this morning because he’s sick. “Damn pussy.” I grumble to myself as I climb out of bed. I might as well start my day. Just because he’s not going to the gym doesn’t mean I won’t go.
I pull up to the station at the same time as my partner. “Hey, Maguire,” I call over to Chloe. We never refer to each other by first name when we’re around the squad.
“Dude, you look like crap.” She looks me up and down.
I chuckle and shake my head. “Yeah, thanks.”
We head into the station to go through our morning of listening to the captain give us shit about crime in the city and hand out our assignments for the day. When he’s finally done, Maguire and I hit our usual coffee spot. As usual, we are greeted with smiles as we approach the counter. The manager is here this morning, she hands us our coffee and tells us it’s on the house today. We thank her and start off on our patrol. The second we get in the car Maguire starts in on me. “What’s up?”
“What do you mean?”
She looks at me with her one eyebrow raised, really, look. “Come on, man. I know we haven’t been partners that long, but I thought we were past this.”
“You’re right, I’m sorry. It’s silly.” She pulls into the lot the captain has stationed us at to keep an eye on traffic. She turns to me, but says nothing as she sips her coffee. She’s going to think I’m such a pussy. Here I am, one of the biggest, toughest cops in our precinct and I’m worried about a nightmare. “My nightmares came back last night.”
“That’s weird, because I heard Lexi fight through one last night, too. Was it the same nightmare as always?”
“Trust me, they're not always the same.” Shit, what am I doing? I’ve never told her about my history. She has no idea what happened to me as a child and the nightmares that haunt me periodically. She gives me a questioning look. “What are you up to tonight?” I totally change the subject. I need to be on my game and discussing my past pisses me off.
She shakes her head. “Nothing really. Heard you and Lexi are going out tomorrow.”
We stop our conversation to listen to the squawking that comes over the radio, but it’s nothing for us. “Yeah. I was going to see if you and Lucas want to come out with us on Saturday?”
She shrugs. “I don’t see why not. I’ll run it by him and let you guys know.”
These damn patrols can be so freaking boring. Sometimes there’s nothing to do other than shoot the shit while we wait for something to happen. After an hour of absolute silence, a car comes flying past us. Maguire puts on the sirens and takes off after the vehicle. It takes a minute for the person to pull the vehicle over, but when he finally stops, Maguire begins running the plates while I cautiously approach the vehicle. People think this is the easiest part of our job, but they are so wrong. There are more cop injuries and fatalities over random traffic stops than you could ever imagine. “Roll down your window and put your hands where I can see them,” I call out. The window slowly rolls down and two shaking hands slide up onto the base of the window. I approach to see a teenager sitting in the driver's seat with his mother passed out in the seat next to him.
“Is she okay?” I ask him. I’m not even sure this kid is old enough to drive. Kids these days tend to look older than they are, but I need to make sure this woman isn’t hurt before dealing with that.
“I don’t know. I got home and she was a mess. I made her get in the car. She started shaking and then passed out. I’m on my way to the hospital.” I call into my radio that I need an ambulance.
Maguire comes running over. “What’s wrong?” I use my chin to point into the car.
“Step out of the car,” I tell the kid. When he does I tell him to place his hands on the roof. “Am I going to find anything on you I shouldn’t?”
“No, sir.” He’s shaking like a leaf, and I can tell from his voice he meant no harm.
“How old are you?”
“Sixteen.”
“He’s clean,” I tell Maguire.
“Turn around,” she says to him. “Do you have your license?”
He shakes his head. “My permit. I’m taking driving lessons.”
Her brows shoot up. “You do realize you’re in a lot of trouble.”
He dips his head looking to the ground, and when he looks back up a tear runs down his cheek. “I didn’t know what to do. She’s always a mess.” Holy shit, suddenly I’m back in time. This kid is dealing with the same shit I did, a fucked up mother who cares more about herself than what she’s putting her son through. “I just wanted to get her help. The last time I called an ambulance we got into a huge fight and she…” his words trail off “…because we don’t have good insurance, and they wanted to bill my mom.”
“What’s your name, kid?” I ask him, feeling bad for this kid. He reminds me so much of me as a child.
“Julian,” he croaks out. “What’s going to happen to me?”
I’m about to answer him when the ambulance pulls up. They take his mother out of the front passenger's seat of the car and begin working on her. They are throwing tons of questions at Julian and he has no answers. That’s when I realize he should be in school right now, but I wait to address that. They load his mother into the back of the ambulance and take her away. She’s high on something and they need to get her to the hospital so they can figure out what it is and try to get her some help.
Poor Julian looks defeated as he leans against his mother’s car. The tow truck pulls up and tows it away. It’ll go to the impound until his mother gets out of the hospital and can pay the storage fee to pick it up. “Why aren’t you in school?”
He shrugs. “I wasn’t feeling well this morning. Mom never cares when I skip so I stayed in bed. I got up to take something and there was nothing in the house, so I walked to the store up the street. I bumped into a few friends we hung out for a bit, but I picked up some cold medicine, and when I got home I found her stumbling around.”
I look at Maguire and then back to him. “We have to bring you in, you were driving illegally. You’re going to have to go into court.” His eyes go wide. “I’ll be there, too.” I hand the kid a card with my info on it. “If you promise to stay in school and volunteer at the D.A.R.E program with me, I will speak on your behalf. Maybe we can get you community service, and hopefully save you from losing your license.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Why? What’s in it for you?”
I shake my head. “Nothing. Kids like you are why I became a cop.” I put my hand on his shoulder and guide him over to the patrol car and shut the door once he’s settled in the back.
Maguire meets me at the front of the car. “Why do I have the feeling this has something to do with the shitty past you won’t talk about?”
“Because it does.” I walk around to my side of the car. We both get in, but ride back to the precinct in silence.