Page 16 of Booking Burke
Those were the most precious words anyone had ever said to him. No matter what happened next, he’d treasure this moment for the rest of his life.
8
Burke
The shooter still hadn’t been apprehended. There hadn’t been another incident during the day or the evening shift. Those things should have made Burke feel better, but they didn’t.
He was out of the SUV, patrolling the Salem Willows on foot with Eli. They’d be walking the grounds until the amusement park and arcade shut down at 1am. After that, they’d go back to their assigned grid. Unless there was another shooting.
Chief Cisco Jackson had been more serious than Burke had ever seen him before. He’d mentioned getting an ass chewing from the governor over the fact that the shooter was still at large. Cisco passed along that ass chewing to the officers at the Charlie shift briefing. He’d taken the call to action so seriously that he’d would be out tonight working the streets with the rest of his officers.
Eli seemed to be following his chief’s lead. His partner had barely said a word all night. Burke didn’t know if he was regretting what the two of them had talked about last night before going to bed, or if his eyes were on the prize. Burke knew he should just keep his eyes open and his mouth shut, but he needed to know what was going on in Eli’s head. “You okay?”
A dark frown spread over Eli’s face. “There’s a lone gunman out here shooting at couples, Burke. This is the perfect place for him to strike again, with teenagers out on dates and people necking by the picnic tables.” Eli sounded pissed.
One of the pieces of news Cisco had for them all tonight was that the first shooting victim, Paul Adams, had been out to lunch with his wife. He’d walked her to her car and saw her out of the parking lot before heading back to his truck. That’s when the gunman shot him.
Burke knew he should have just kept his mouth shut instead of prodding Eli about his feelings. Jesus Christ, if he was going to be with a man nine years his senior, heneeded to grow the fuck up and fast. Nothing would drive Eli away quicker than acting insecure. “I just wanted to know if there was anything I could do.”
“Keep your eyes peeled and suck up your own feelings until we catch this guy. Got it?” Eli didn’t even bother to look at him.
Fuck. Burke got it all right. He nodded and did what Eli asked. His eyes were on the video arcade. From where he was standing, he could hear teenagers laughing and a cacophony of sound from all the video games chiming and talking at once. Everyone looked like they were having a good time, but he knew that could all change in a heartbeat.
Walking past the fried clam stand, Burke’s stomach grumbled. He’d eaten dinner around 6:00 p.m., but the smell of the deep-fried food made him want to order a bucket and eat them all along with a gallon of ketchup. Burke was reading the menu, when Eli grabbed his arm, pulling him forward.
“We’ve got all summer to come back here and get a basket of clams and fries. They’re coleslaw is out of this world.” Old Eli seemed to have made an appearance.
Burke wrinkled his nose. He was not a coleslaw fan. “It’s all yours, but throw in some fresh squeezed lemonade and I’m there.”
“Isn’t that sweet?” A strange voice sneered from behind them. “Planning a date for when you’re off-duty, officer. Too bad you’ll never see that day.”
Spinning around, Burke saw a man pointing a gun at them. They hadn’t found the gunman. The gunman had found them. The tallish, blond man was wearing jeans and instead of a Sox shirt, he had on Celtics tee. “You don’t want to do this.” Burke’s voice was steady. “Whatever’s going on, we can help you.”
The gun swung up to point at Burke’s head. “Fuck you, kid! Fuck love! Fuck it all!”
From the corner of his eye, Burke could see the alarm in Eli’s eyes. There was nothing either of them could do at the moment. Eli couldn’t key his mike or pull out his phone. He knew it was going to be up to him to save his partner from this madman.
“Tell me how I can help you.” Burke took half a step forward, trying to put himself infront Eli.
“You can help me by fucking dying!” the man shouted, sounding outraged. A shot rang out.
Before Burke knew what was happening, he was being thrown to the ground. He hit with a thud. Eli landed on top of him.
More gunshots rang out. From Burke’s position on the ground, he could see the gunman’s weapon raised in the air, he heard the tinkle of shell casings hit the ground, then the sounds of people running. Burke could hear them screaming. While he was lying on the ground, he gave himself a quick once over. His left shoulder hurt from where he’d landed on it. Other than that, he seemed to be fine. “Okay, Eli, you can get off me now, he’s gone. We need to call this in to dispatch.”
Eli didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
Scrambling to roll over, Burke felt Eli’s body roll off his own. “Eli?” His lover’s eyes were shut and there was blood soaking through the collar of the white tee he was wearing under his uniform and Kevlar vest. Grabbing the mike from Eli’s shoulder, Burke started to shout, “Officer down! Officer down! Clam stand at the Willows. Send help now! Eli’s been shot!”
“I’ve got back up and an ambulance on the way. Is he breathing?” Kendall’s voice was calm.
Shit, was Eli breathing? With shaking hands now covered in Eli’s blood, he rested the first two fingers of his right hand against the side of Eli’s neck. “His heart is beating. It’s slow.” Lowering his ear to Eli’s mouth, he could hear air moving. “He’s breathing too, but it sounds shallow.”
“Where was Eli shot?”
“I don’t know. He’s got his vest on, but there’s blood on his upper chest.” Eli couldn’t die in front of him like this. Burke was his partner. It was his job to protect Eli and he’d failed.
The wail of a siren caught Burke’s attention. A minute later he heard footsteps pounding toward him. Leading the charge was Cisco Jackson. He got down on the ground with Burke, pulling him up to his feet and out of the way of the paramedics who were running behind him. Burke clung to the chief.
