Page 5 of Captive

Maddox gives him a sturdy shake. "Knock it off, Rocky. We are just trying to help you. Look what you've done to my partner. You're in big fucking trouble. Trust me, when we do the good cop, bad cop routine, she's always the badcop."

The guy has dirt smeared on his face and looks as if he hasn't bathed in a month. He curls his lip at me as I stand up. He's been skipping the toothbrush too it seems. "She's definitely abadcop," he sayssnidely.

The guy flinches as I limp toward him. I pick up his skateboard on the way and decide to hop on and give it a whirl, avoiding the painful steps on my right shin. Sirens scream in the distance. Two black and whites are heading towardus.

"Hey, bitch, get off my board," hesneers.

I stop and look at him, ready to lecture the ass about calling me a bitch but decide it's not worth it. Instead, I turn back to the group of boys watching the scene. I put my heel on the end of the board and spin it around. "Here you go, boys." I push the board toward them. They grab it andrun.

"What the fuck?" the junkie whines. "You can't dothat."

I shrug. "Just did." I lift my chin to Maddox. "Let's book him. He needs a shower and food and a few weeks without jamming needles into hisveins."

Maddox is still holding the guy's shirt as he reaches down to pull out the envelope of tainted heroin. "Don't you know this stuff'll killya?"

The black and whites pull up to the curb. "The cavalry is here," I quip. "Why don't you hand junior off. Wait, what happened toVinny?"

Maddox motions behind me with hishand.

I spin around and look back toward the Escalade. Maddox has handcuffed Vinny to the street light pole. The idiot has shimmied up the pole like he's harvesting coconuts. He's a good ten feet up but seems puzzled about where to gonext.

Maddox hands off the junkie to Officer Evans, and we walk over to the light pole. My gait is hampered by what I'm sure is a massive bruise. Maddox stares up at Vinny who has, for some reason, decided to continue his climb. "Where you gonna go when you get to that long arm with the light, Vinny? We could just leave you up there, only I need my cuffs back. Can't catch bad guys unless I have mycuffs."

Vinny looks down at the circle of officers that have now surrounded the pole, more for amusement than to show any kind of force. Officer Murray takes out his phone and snaps a picture. Vinny grunts and says something under his breath before inching back down thepole.

Maddox gets his cuffs and hands Vinny off to the officers. He motions for me to follow him back to his car. "Let's go get an ice cream. We deserve it. Nice little gymnastics display by the way. But not a ten. The landing was a littlerough."

"You think? I thought it was aten." I hobble after him. "I'm injured so you're buying. And I'm getting a double fucking scoop." We climb into the car. "So what were you going to tell me before all the funstarted?"

Maddox sets his hands on the steering wheel and stares blankly at the dials on the dash for a few seconds. He starts the car. "Nothing really. It canwait."

3

Maddox

Captain Clark is sittingat his desk looking over some files and pictures with his best buddy, Detective Grimly, as I burstin.

"Knock, asshole," Clark snarls at me without looking up from thepictures.

Grimly shoots me a fatherly scowl over his shoulder. I back up two steps and knock on the inside of the door. "We gotVinny."

"Do you want a hug and kiss?" Clark mutters. Clark is a Santa sized dude who likes to chew toothpicks and does the comb-over thing. His face looks like a sack of potatoes and he has a personality to go along with the look, but Mrs. Clark, Glenda, to be exact, is a sweet smiling, flawless skinned brunette who bakes cookies for the station and has an infectious laugh. She's the kind of woman you want to find standing up at the chalkboard when you walk into your new classroom because you know it's going to be an awesome year. Numerous theories about how potato-faced Clark landed a beautiful charmer have been bandied about the station for years. Unless he has a secret trove of treasure, the only other plausible theory, and one that brings up a little barf in my throat when I think about it, is Ten's suggestion that the guy 'knows how to fuck like a rockstar'.

Ten's profoundly off kilter footsteps sound behind me. "Did you tell him we haveVinny?"

I look over at her. "Yeah, he says he has a kiss foryou."

"No, thanks. I've had my fun for the day." She's rolled up the leg of her jeans. The crash with the skateboard has morphed into a black and blue gooseegg.

Clark peers up over the rim of his glasses. "Christ, Tennyson. Get some ice on that thing before itswells."

"I think that ship has left the barn." Ten winces as she leans over to touchit.

Grimly laughs arrogantly thinking he's caught her saying something stupid. "I think the saying is ship has sailed or the horse has left thebarn."

Ten claps him on the shoulder. "Thanks for straightening that out for me,Grimly."

Rather than burning shoe leather chasing down criminals, Grimly spends most of his work day ass kissing the big ass sitting in the chair across from him. Which is just as well because no one wants to partner with the guy. He's a lousy shot and trigger happy toboot.

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