Chapter Two
Madison
I woke up that Monday morning knowing that it was the start of a week that would forever go down in history. A lot of drug busts happened all over the world, all throughout the year, but this one was definitely one that was going to get coverage. The police had been after this particular gang for a long time, but they were very smart and always managed to get away. They’d gotten away with a lot, and pulling off such a big drug bust was going to be wonderful revenge. Also, after a year of working on the case, I was ready for it to be over. I hadn’t realized how much fear I would feel every single day. For myself, for my team, but mostly for my partner, Max. I couldn’t help but admire him for putting himself in the line of fire in the way that he had.
I put on my uniform, still one of my favorite parts of the day, and smiled into the mirror. Becoming a police officer had been a dream of mine since I was a little girl. I’d been in a shopping mall with my mother, while she looked for a coat for winter, when a man walked in with a gun. We’d thrown ourselves to the floor while the man walked to the counter and demanded that the assistant hand over all the cash from the register. I remember looking at my mother and trying desperately not to cry and make a noise. My mother was dreadfully close to the man and I was so scared that he was going to shoot her. The man had taken the money and had suddenly declared that he wanted us all dead, when a group of policemen came hurtling through the door and captured him. We all stood up and watched as the man was handcuffed and pulled away. I’d run into my mother’s arms and had later told her that I would one day become a cop so that I too could protect those around me.
What I hadn’t realized back then, when I was too naïve to know any better, was that becoming a cop when I was a woman was not going to be the easiest thing. Even though things were a little different now, and we had just as many rights as the men did, I was still sometimes treated differently. It used to drive me crazy, but now I kind of liked the challenge and felt determined to change people’s minds. I was a tough cop, and I was more than willing to prove myself to people. Those that had known me for years now treated me like just another one of the guys, but I was constantly still having to prove myself to people that didn’t know me.
“The problem is that you’re very pretty,” Max had said to me once.
I’d laughed at the compliment. I had been surprised because it was the first time that Max had ever said something like that to me. I had no idea that he even considered me in that way. “What do my looks have to do with anything?”
“It’s just hard to be scared of someone like you. You’re not exactly very mean looking. You’re, well, like I said . . . you’re pretty.”
“You do realize I could kick your ass any day, right?” I said and glared at him. I couldn’t let him see that a small crush was about to creep up onto my face if I allowed it to. I had to defuse the conversation. “Arm wrestle,” I said and stuck my arm out.
He had groaned. “You don’t need to prove it to me. I know you’re a badass. I’m just telling you what other people might think. People that don’t know you as well as I do.”
“Is that what you thought when you first met me?” I asked. My first thought of Max was that he was someone that took his job a little too seriously, but it didn’t take long for me to start admiring that about him. It was a quality I very much saw in myself.
“I’m not answering that.”
“Why? Are you scared of me?”
“A little,” he admitted, and we both laughed.
I didn’t think Max was intimidated by me in the least, but he respected me, and that was all I wanted from my team. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to work with anyone that didn’t respect me. I’d done it once before, and I refused to do it again.
The two of us were sitting in the chief’s office talking about the drug bust on Friday. It was the only thing on anyone’s mind, and for a good reason.
“Are you nervous?” he asked Max.
Max shook his head. “No, I’m not nervous. I’ve been around these guys long enough now to know how to handle them.”
I let out a small chuckle, and he turned to look at me. “What’s so funny?” he asked.
“Why don’t you just admit that you’re nervous?” I said.
“Because I’m not.”
I rolled my eyes. “He’s nervous,” I said to the chief, and I saw him repress a smile.
“I’m not nervous. I’m confident.”
I groaned. “Those are two different things! You can be both.”
“Well, nervous or not, I think you’ve done a wonderful job. Both of you. I’ve put a lot of teams undercover before, and I’ve never had anyone that has worked as well as the two of you. You work very well together, even if you won’t admit it.”
I laughed. “Nah, I’ll admit it. We do make a good team. Max needs me.”
“And Madison needs me,” Max said and chuckled.
“I always knew that the two of you would work well together, and it shows in your work. I swear, I’m going to have to pull some of these guys apart one of these days. When you’re not on the same page as your partner, it really starts to show. Well, let’s talk throughout this week and make sure that we completely up to date with what is happening. I’ll organize a meeting for Wednesday with the whole team. I’ll see you both there,” the chief said, and we made our way out the door.
“Are you ready to go back to the den?” I asked Max as we walked out. We always emphasized the word den every time we mentioned it, as if it were hell itself. Although sometimes I was sure that was what Max compared it to. He liked to act like he was brave, but I had been monitoring him in for almost a year now, and I knew the difference between his normal voice and his scared voice.
Max shrugged. “I’m not sure I’ll ever feel ready to go there, but it’s nice knowing the whole thing is almost up. So, yeah, in that sense I guess I am ready. You just like eavesdropping on me, don’t you?” he teased.
“Why yes, there’s nothing I like more than spending my day listening in on your boring conversations.”
We chuckled as we walked out of the police station, and I noticed that heads turned as we walked. A lot of people in the office had profound respect for what Max and I had been doing, and many had come to us and told us that they were not sure if they would’ve had the guts to do it. I tried not to notice the eyes following us but secretly felt proud. It was more Max than me, but I was glad to be his partner on something so big.
“So,” he said as we stepped outside. “What are we going to do once this bust goes down? It’s weird to think that something that was such a big part of our lives is soon going to be over. Not that I’m complaining of course, but it’s still going to be strange.”
I nodded. “Yeah. I’ve been giving a lot of thought to that myself. It’s been a stressful year. We deserve some vacation time, don’t you think? The chief already suggested that we take some time off, so maybe we should look for somewhere to go. If we hang around here, we’re both just going to end up working. You know what we’re like.”
“A vacation? Yeah, I like the sound of that. It would be nice to get out of Oregon for a while. Got any places in mind?”
“I’ve got a few places in mind. I’ll start looking more seriously into it soon. Ah, I can think of nothing better than having nothing to do but drink cocktails and read my book.”
Max smiled. “I’d call you a nerd, but to be honest, that sounds amazing to me too right now. I love that idea. Okay, I’ll leave that for you to look up.”
I raised my eyebrows at him. “You’re leaving it to me to organize? Is that because I’m a girl?”
He laughed. “You’re not a girl.”
I giggled at that. Max and I had a great relationship, and I knew that going away with him on vacation would be nothing more than two friends out to have a good time. There was no sexual tension between us, and that was something I was grateful for. I could think of nothing worse than being in a relationship with a guy who did what Max did. I would be on edge all the time worrying about something happening to him. It was hard enough having to worry about myself. Apparently, in a drunken state, I’d told one of my friends that I found Max attractive, but I didn’t remember doing so. I wasn’t exactly a lie, though. Max was incredibly good looking. But he was too tough and too serious for me. With the sort of job, we had, I needed someone with more of a sense of humor. Although, he did have a sense of humor with me. It was only with the rest of the world that he was so serious. Sometimes I felt it was because we were the only two people who really understood what we went through each day. It was nice to have that sort of friendship. When I talked to him, it sometimes just felt like I was talking to myself.
“Okay, here we are,” I said as we arrived two blocks away from the den.
“Another day. Another den,” Max said and made sure that his microphone was completely hidden. It was a routine we always went through even when we felt sure that everything was fine. The reason that we made such a good team was that we both believed in triple checking everything.
“Good luck, Max. You’re almost done with this. Now, make sure you don’t get shot,” I said. It was the same line I always said before he went out.
“I never do,” he said just as he always did.
As he walked away, I heard him mumble to me, “You just love the sound of my voice.”
I thought Max was hilarious, but everyone I spoke to told me that he was the most serious man that they had ever met. Why was he so different with me? Maybe, just maybe, if the situation were different, there was a chance that we would be together. But we were partners now, and there was no way I wanted to get involved with him. I chuckled to myself and got ready for another hour of listening in. The laughter had subsided the moment I heard him walk inside. There was nothing funny about this situation. Maybe the reason that we joked around so much with each other was because we knew how serious it really was.