.
Three hours after patrolling the entire route, we stopped to watch the intersection at the small 7/11 on second street. Nothing interesting has happened. We'd already cruised the streets and had lunch.
"So, Dino... How's Tyke?" Vas broke the silence that had formed around us as we watched the endless stream of cars on Cardinal street. His fingers drummed on the steering wheel. I made sure to keep watching the 7/11.
"Oh Tyke... well he broke up with me, actually." I did my damnedest not to break my gaze from the 7/11.
"Now what happened?" Vas easily came off irritated, but I knew he genuinely cared. He'd shifted his weight a bit at an to make attempt eye contact with me.
"He found out I was a cop." I tapped on the door handle, my heart was beginning to race. Right then a low riding Subaru Impreza rolled up the then side of the building, bumping the curb a bit. It was black, with gold rims that just seemed way too big for it. Two teens stepped out of it, each with their hoods up. They were the ones who probably thought that the car would look "cool" with giant gold rims and a black out paint job. But it sadly was uglier than sin.
"Shit Dino..." Vas let a sigh from his lips. It was quite exasperated. "You should've told him to begin with."
"Hey... Can you see the plates on that black Impreza?" I pointed at the car, whose owners had disappeared around the front and into the store.
"Very nice subject change, Dino..." Vas shook his head a bit before looking the Impreza over. "It doesn't seem to have any..."
"Hmm." I nodded, looking at Vas, who looked over at me at the same time.
"Let's go have a chat, shall we?" As if someone had pulled our strings, we popped open the Vic's doors and began to rise from our seats. Truthfully we were just about in perfect sync.
It was not a long jaunt over to the parked Impreza. Vas began to inspect the car, walking slightly slow as he examined it.
"No plates." He pointed to the empty slot.
"Wonderful." I looked into the passenger window. The car's engine grumbled as it sat awaiting it's driver. It had a manual transmission. That kind of explained why the car was against the curb. I walked to the back of the car where Vas had already inspected. I stood and watched for the two teens. Vas continued looking the car over, and was just about to call the plateless car in when they both burst around the corner and came sliding to a halt a few yards from me.
They had ski masks on, one had a bag in his hand, the other had a gun.
"Freeze!" I shouted.
"Drop the gun!" Vas added, his hand on his own gun.
"Bolt!" The one with a bag turned on his heels, and sprinted off towards Cardinal and Avoca's intersection. The other fired a shot in the air before racing off down Avoca Avenue.
"I'll take the first one!" I ran after the one headed for the intersection.
"Aight! I'll chase the other and call for backup!" With that said, Vas tore after the other teen. He'd probably radio as soon as he could with the station half way across town.
Now my pursuit could've been much easier if some car in the intersection had a close call with the kid. But that's not how my luck works. He'd already made it across the intersection, and was sprinting down the sidewalk. I launched across the intersection, with no near misses. Luckily every driver sort of expected a cop to be tailing the masked idiot. Once I reached the other side, I gave a quick scan of the area. He was pretty much at the end of the block now.
Groaning, I resumed sprinting after him. He only had a minor head start now, and could've easily slipped away. But he chose to turn down the alley instead of going down to the next block where the road had a sky way that was underground. A tunnel. The alley was just a poor choice on his part.
As I whirled around the corner that would open into the alley, I got whacked in the face by something silver and shiny. It knocked me straight on my ass. Thankfully I had put in my contacts this morning.
"Dumbass cop!" The teen snickered at me as he raced off again. Blood began to ooze from my nose.
"Oh that's... that's it!" I clambered to my feet and charged blindly in his last direction. Blurry. That's how the world looked when I began to move. "Stop... running... or I swear to... I will tackle you to the damned ground!" I shouted after him, causing him to look over his shoulder at me.
"Yeah, right old man!" He laughed mockingly at me, just as he collided with a quite shiny chain link fence. The very same fence that was installed just last week after a dispute between the four businesses it sat between. Slowing down I looked down upon the writhing teenager.
"Karma... Dear Boy... Is a bitch." Rolling him enough to where I could slap cuffs onto his wrists made him groan. He slowly put his hands behind his back, giving me only a little aid. Once the cuffs were secure, I assisted him up and onto his feet. "Now for that wonderful walk of shame."
I gave a small laugh and smirked as we both headed for the streets again.
"Vespa--Status." A rather familiar voice came over my radio.
"Runner is caught. We are making our way back." I looked at the teen, and nudged him. "Ya maybe wanna walk faster?"
"No." He practically growled at me. His face had some cuts on it from how hard he smashed into the fence. One had blood dribbling from it. His nose also had blood seeping from it, as well as a minor cut on his right arm.
"Distance?" The voice from my radio demanded.
"Oh, just down the block... West, I think." I gave a more forceful nudge to the teen this time.
"Yeah, West." That time I fully recognized the voice. It belonged to Vas.
"Roger that. We'll be just out front of the candy shop for pick-up." The voice claimed. I was quite sure of who it was now, and they didn't trust Vas and I to transport the two teenagers to the station.
"Roger that." I gave a sigh and looked at the teen more closely. His ski mask was gone, revealing that he was around eighteen years old, and very visibly pissed. "What happened to your mask?"
"Dropped it." The words slipped from his mouth like a snarl from a rabid dog.
"Officer Vespa! Over here!" A voice shouted as we stepped from the shadow of the alley, bringing my attention off the teen. Just coming towards us was one of the two rookies, Officer Adkins. He was five foot eight, with very short cut brown hair and matching deep hazel eyes. He was fairly built, too.
"Hey Adkins." I looked around quickly to find Dunn. He was just stepping up onto the sidewalk, with a stupid grin plastered onto his face. He truly always thought he'd won before any battle ever began.
"What'd you do, fist fight him?" Dunn motioned to me, then the teen. I hated that he was considered a Senior Officer. He was just the biggest asshole that graced the station's halls.
"No I--"
"I hit with a trash can lid." The teen spoke with an irritating level of confidence, and Dunn laughed.
"Well that's not any better. What happened to you kid?" Dunn crossed his arms. He was digging for something to get me into trouble.
"Karma." I bit my lip, attempting to not allow any other words out.
"Karma... Karma beat the shit outta him?" Dunn shot me a glare, and looked at the teen. "He beat you?"
"Nope. A fence did." The teen seemed to catch on that Dunn was attempting to drag me in the mud, and shot a glare back at Dunn. "You think he could beat me? He's a twig." The teen practically snarled. The twig comment stung a little, but it seemed the idea of getting his ass handed to him by me was way worse of an insult.
"Alright, alright." Dunn rolled his eyes, and snagged a hold on the cuffs. "I got him from here, Vespa. Door Rookie!"
"Yes sir!" Adkins bolted to the back passenger door and yanked it open. The damn boy was being brainwashed by Dunn to respond to his every whim. This was Dunn's first rookie, and boy was he taking advantage of him. Dunn followed slightly behind, shoving the teen into the back seat of the shiny Charger. Dunn had never been a gentle officer.
"Oh, and Vespa?" Dunn looked over at me, sneering as he slammed the door shut. "You're dismissed."
It was then that the Crown Vic pulled up, Vas quickly opening his door to rise from within and watch as Dunn and Adkins clambered into their Charger, and zipped off. Vas drummed his fingers on the door as I whirled to face him, a growl slipping from my lips.
"Are you sure I can't punch him in the face?" I balled my fists. Dunn just pissed me off in general, but little things like that really slid under my skin with ease. Vas stopped drumming on the door, and looked a bit stern for a moment.
"Yes, I'm sure."
"What if I just broke his nose a little bit?" Vas' stern demeanor broke then as a laugh tumbled out of him.
"The answer is still no, Dino. You may not." He motioned to the Vic.
"Fine... But one day though!" I shook my index finger at him, and gently tugged the passenger door open before sliding into the warm seat.
"Maybe." Vas had a smile on his face as he slid back into his own seat and started the Vic. "Ready to go home?" He clicked his seat belt then, also leaving the Vic in park.
"Is it really that time already?" I checked my old battered watch. The cracked silver face read six thirty.
"Yeah." Vas slid the Vic into drive, and slipped gracefully into the dying rush hour traffic.
"Home actually sounds wonderful today. Need to.. Well, clean up my face." I gently wiped my nose with my hand. My lips and chin had semi-dry and very sticky blood caked on them. My hand barely removed any.
"Yeah ya really do." Vas gave a small chuckle. "I am fairly glad we didn't have to book those two."
"Oh?" I relaxed into the seat. One thing this old car had going for it, was that it was quite comfortable.
"Well... mine was one of your nephews." Vas' words basically brought my heart to a stop for a hot moment. My brain seemed to slow. One of my nephews had a gun? And was robbing a store with it?!
"Wha--What?" I sat up then, looking over at Vas. "You better be damn yanking' my chain Vas."
"Sadly, I'm not..." Vas kept his eyes locked on the road.
"Fuck." I growled once more. My family was troubled, yes... I had two older siblings. My siblings had at least one kid already. "Which one...?"
"Daniel." He tapped on the wheel, a sign he was a bit nervous about talking on this topic.
"Dammit." I whacked the door, my anger bubbling inside me. I had four nephews and one niece, I did my best to keep tabs on them all.
"He surrendered after a small chase... He also recognized who I was after about a block of running." Vas slowly turned into the mobile park I lived in. It always, always looked great when a cop car dropped you off in the shadier neighborhoods. Although at this point: They knew I happened to be an officer. And one who didn't own a car. I also used most of my money to help support a boy in foster care. He'd grown on me since I met him at the precinct. Due to that little bond, I can't entirely afford an actual house. Plus my credit sucks.