Life Goes On by Tayell, Frank (large ebook reader txt) 📗

because a second suspect had been lurking in the shadows. The person Washington met when he took his dog for a walk. The whole reason he drove out to the factory. I spun, falling, firing. Three shots, into the dark, collapsing onto a table, wildly aiming light and gun into the shadows, until the beam glistened off blood. I’d hit her. Through the heart.

Who was she? Washington’s girlfriend, Kimberly Holne. A nearly honest petty crook, who’d been trying to persuade him they should run away together. He’d acquired false passports. Good ones. He had them both in his pocket. My theory is that they had decided to quit the business and start a new life far away.

What had made him decide to run? Along with the drugs aboard the boat, we seized a crate of machine pistols. The gang had been about to start a drug war. But we stopped them. That’s the job.

Had I not chased, Washington and his girl might have run, using those passports. Odds are, because we were closing in, we’d have picked them up at the airport. I’m certain they wouldn’t have got far. But he ran, so I chased, because that’s the job.

I nearly died there. But I didn’t. Lost a lot of blood, and what little I had left had been poisoned by what can only be described as a toxic blade.

Fredo, my partner in every sense of the word, was dead. One of those random shots by Washington had hit him in the neck. He bled out, alone, while I ran after our suspect.

The doctors were adamant there was nothing I could have done to save him. They were trying to be kind, but it made it worse. I could have tried to save him. I definitely could have been with him.

No one knew about our relationship, of course. He and I’d talked about it, and decided, once this case was done, we had a big decision to make. Break it off, or make it official. I knew which I wanted, and I’m positive he wanted the same. One of us would transfer. After the big bust we were sure was coming, we were both positive promotions were in our future. But he died, and I was pregnant. I didn’t know. Five weeks. Some detective, right? The stress of the case, the twenty-hour days, living on coffee, sugar, and adrenaline, and I didn’t realise. I miscarried.

Did I have to run?

We knew all of Washington’s addresses. We’d have caught him before dawn. If he’d used that fake passport, we’d probably have picked him up at the airport. But even if he escaped, so what? He was in over his head and looking for an out. He’d have gone straight, near enough. His girlfriend would have given him a reason to stay honest.

A hundred and three arrests resulted from that night’s work, though none from my part in it. But I chased because he ran, because that’s the job.

How do you go on from that? I nearly didn’t. I got a commendation. I got a promotion. Of course I did. They had to call me a hero in order to call the operation a success. I guess it had been successful, just like we’d been successful shutting down the predecessor gang, and how someone else succeeded in shuttering the dealers who took over the territory a few months later. And maybe we had succeeded in stopping a gang war. But me? What had I succeeded in?

He ran, so I chased. If it happened again, I’d do it again. That’s the job. My job. Fredo’s job. Sullivan’s job. Blame will keep you company, but it doesn’t help you move on.

But I can’t say that to Zach. Not yet. He’s still working out whom he’s grieving for.

25th March

 

Chapter 26 - The Courageous

Just before breakfast, we sailed into a storm. On balance, the timing was perfect. I was able to fall back into my bunk, barely bumping my head. Each surge threw me in a completely unexpected direction. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t read. Which only left thinking.

I didn’t realise how much I relied on my friends until they weren’t surrounding me. Back home, almost every day I’d pop in to see Liu for breakfast or dinner. I’d speak to Mick most days, and see him nearly as often, even if it was in conjunction with some remote accident or incident. The co-workers, the people I helped, and many of the crims I cuffed, were neighbours I’d known most of my life. It was a social life, if not always a sociable one.

Now, I miss Teegan. Not her snoring, or the way the first twenty minutes after waking were filled with grumbling, but she was easy to talk with. Bruce Hawker is rigidly professional. He’s a good bloke, but he’s standoffish. A product of high-risk assignments where he knows at least one of his colleagues will die. Nicko Oakes is fifteen years and more than a generation younger than me. It’s not just age, but experience, too; he’s not been through the wringer. Clyde still has a wall up around him. Sometimes I can jump high enough to see over, but that’s not the same as being invited in. He’s focusing on getting through this mission, and getting home to his family.

Captain Adams has her ship and crew to run, among whom I’m very definitely pigeonholed as a passenger. As far as the rest of her crew are concerned, I’m the civilian authority, and a cop to boot. Talking with Avalon requires an aspirin. Leo is busy keeping Zach busy with lessons on… on… actually, I’ve no idea. Yesterday, it involved a trip down to the engine room. Zach’s taken to it like a shark to a swim-class. When we get back to Australia, I’ll make it official, assign him to the scientists full-time. I think it’d be