40: The Burning Question – Pt. 1

“How’s Derrick?” Mike asked with a smile hopping back in the car after finishing his second round of checkpoints. “I’ve been meaning to have you thank him for me for the Murray’s gift basket. It’s just as good as I remember. I am curious how he knew what I liked. Then again my pillow talk usually doesn’t involve meats…well, not those kind anyway.”

Victoria responded with a simple shrug but couldn’t help noticing the presumptuous smirk on her partner’s face. “He’s fine I guess,” she answered, choosing to ignore his comment about pillow talk. “I’ll be sure to give him your message.”

“You guess? You mean you didn’t ask this morning when you left his place?”

“Nice try Mike, but Derrick and I are friends. It’s not like we talk every day.”

“Really? Still just friends huh?”

“Uh yeah, just friends.”

“Ah ok. Given the way you two were working the dance floor at the party, one would assume, and rightfully so, that you’ve finally moved passed that point.”

“Well you’d be assuming wrong.”

“Ok. So tell me since when has it become ‘friendly’ for a guy to grab a girl’s ass when they aren’t romantically involved AND for said girl to laugh it off and wrap herself around his neck.”

“Gee, Michael, you seem to have paid an awful lot of attention to me and Derrick at a party where you were host and there were at least two dozen other attendees.”

“Yeah well like you said, I was hosting; had to make sure everyone was having a good time and by the looks of things, you definitely were.”

“Hmm, yeah. Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Victoria asked quickly changing the subject and slouching into her seat as another hour passed on their surveillance. “My ass is starting to fall asleep.”

“Really?” Mike asked with an incredulous look on his face. “Your ass; the thing that’s so big it has its own gravitational pull is falling asleep? Come on Vik. You have more than enough cushion to rest comfortably,” he laughed as she shot him an annoyed scowl and threw his hands up in defeat. “Alright, alright, how about you get out, stretch your legs and I’ll go grab us some coffee from the 7-11 on the corner?”

She smiled sincerely before dropping her walkie to the dashboard, pushing open the passenger side door and stepping outside. “Irish crème please?”

“You got it!” Everything had been planned out perfectly, or so they’d thought. With a confession from an informant on the Calabrese family, Victoria and Mike were certain they would get evidence on “The Breeze” that would put him behind bars for the rest of his life. And according to their source, their suspects were currently en route towards their location now. But after about four tedious hours they were still nowhere in sight.

The lamppost across the street flickered in and out over a deserted basketball court, giving the area a bit of a ghostly feeling. It didn’t help that the supernatural events she’d found herself caught up in lately had her seeing things that weren’t really there. But this was different. It was almost like a sixth sense that something wasn’t right around her. Victoria pushed away from the car and paced around the area for a little, letting the blood circulate through her system as she waited for her partner to rejoin her.

Headlights from a passing vehicle flashed into her face and Victoria brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the bright high beams. “Carson, you get a glimpse into that vehicle?” Bossley’s voice crackled over the walkie, prompting Victoria to take a seat inside the vehicle again. “Suspects on site. Keep your eyes peeled.” 

“Roger.” Two men jumped out of the truck and stopped just before entering the brownstone the department had been sitting on all night. One of them Victoria quickly identified as Frankie “The Fixer” Bonanno, the other, who although appeared familiar, was unknown to her. She didn’t think it was possible they’d been spotted from their positions but the men weren’t walking towards their intended destination.

Instead they turned abruptly and headed into the corner store. “Shit,” Victoria hissed under her breath as she watched them enter behind Mike. After everything that had gone down with his brother there was no way they wouldn’t recognize him on sight. Grabbing the walkie again she tried raising him over the speaker but repeatedly got static. “Come on Mike pick up.” She growled trying his cell phone instead this time with the same result; no answer. “Dammit! Mike’s not picking up, I’m going in.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? If they haven’t seen him yet he still has a chance of getting out before the mission is compromised.”

“And so I what? Hang back and hope they don’t see my partner’s face twenty feet from their front door? I don’t think so. Cover the front, I’m going in!” Quickly hopping from the car, Victoria checked for her side arm in her hip holster and started towards the door of the convenience store. With her back against the wall, she crouched low enough to peer through the plate glass window to locate her partner or the two men who had entered after him but there was no one in sight. Pulling her weapon free, slowly she slid along the wall.

Victoria crept low and entered the store, ducking behind the first aisle Victoria used the reflective mirrored surface of the surveillance cameras to try and locate Mike. A few moments later, the jingle of the bells alerted her to a new customer entering the location and without looking Victoria tucked herself against a different display case. Dammit. This was the last thing they needed, more civilians possibly caught in the line of fire because knowing Frankie, they weren’t coming quietly. 

Victoria took a breath to calm her nerves. Bossley could be right and she could be getting ahead of herself. She eyed the nondescript dark SUV parked across from the shop and about a dozen other officers waiting in the murkiness of the alleyways nearby. All it would take was one word and they’d all converge upon her location with guns blazing. Instinctively, she gripped her service weapon tighter ensuring it was ready for anything.

Victoria took each corner with caution trying desperately not to make a sound or alert the men of her presence. She moved deeper into the food aisles hoping to hear sounds of shopping or general conversation but there was none and the silence scared the hell out of her. It wasn’t until she reached the third aisle when out of the corner of her eye she spotted Mike standing casually amongst the sea of tea tins and coffee jars unharmed and oblivious towards his imminent danger. 

He held two Styrofoam cups in his hand as he read the ingredients on the pack of Lipton and leisurely sipped of the contents of one. Snapping her fingers, she grabbed her partner’s attention and he shrugged as if asking what she was doing crouching against the refreshment fridge. “Bonanno is here,” she mouthed and watched the surprised expression that followed on his face. Mike glanced out the store window and noticed a black car circle around the corner after flashing its headlights three times towards the store. It was a set up!

Instantly his mind ran through the possible meanings of the signal and he turned back to Victoria with his mouth fixed to alert her. But before his lips parted to speak a warning, a shot was fired followed up by several dozen more from the surrounding aisles. Mike threw himself to the floor and Victoria fell for cover against the refrigerator doors. An explosion of bullets ripped through canned goods and household items shattering bottles of shampoo and various other liquids. It was chaos.

It wasn’t long before the officers outside got in on the gunplay and more shots rang out from outside the store, including more of Calabrese’s men. The two men Victoria had followed inside appeared from behind the counter and fired towards her and Mike. With gun in hand she crawled towards the top of the aisle and fired constantly towards the front door until she heard the click.

The first man went down with a thud and Victoria threw herself back towards the snack counter and nodded at Mike that she was out. Glass shattered onto the tile floor beside him as he shelled out his clip while his partner reloaded and the suspects turned their weapons in his direction. A woman screamed nearby and immediately Victoria remembered the sound of the door opening again and the civilian who must have entered behind her. Another clip was spent as she slowly made her way towards the crying woman, desperation in her voice as she begged to just go home. 

Victoria placed herself on top of the shopper protecting her from flying debris as she returned fire at the storefront again. The woman was crying, but kept her head down as Victoria moved her towards the back of the store still shooting over her head. Very soon her gun clicked again and she rolled behind the shelf to reload as Mike took point. “Give it up Bonanno, there’s no way out of here!” he yelled as the shooting died down a little. 

“Fuck you Pig! You’re gonna join that worthless brother of yours real soon,” he shouted back as the sound of his gun reloading caught Victoria’s ear. She shoved the woman beside her as far as she could go into a corner and rejoined Mike at the top of the aisle. He motioned at her that he was changing positions to better his vantage point and she knew there was no stopping him; not after what Bonanno said. 

Glancing over the top of the shelf, Mike angled himself in perfect shooting range of the Fixer’s position and waited until he caught sight of him. Counting to himself to relax the tension slowly drawing up his muscles, Frankie finally gave him vision of where he crouched and Mike aimed accordingly. It was a clear shot that any trained cop would dream of in this type of situation, but he thought about Benny lying in that box and knew the only way to get justice and the real person responsible was getting Frankie to roll on Calabrese. 

Killing him would get him nowhere so instead he aimed for his shoulder. “You have until the count of three to come out with your hands up before I end this right now, Frankie. What’s it gonna be?” There was a deafening pause as Mike awaited the man’s response and the store grew quiet.

“Kiss my ass!”

“Have it your way, Bonanno, one.” He started and slowly crept around the shelf, nearing the suspect as Victoria held his cover. “Two…” Shit. He moved out of her line of sight and she crawled around the next aisle to try and regain vision of him. The woman in the corner grabbed at her pant leg with a pleading look.

“Don’t leave me please,” she begged and tucked herself against the wall. She was desperate and afraid and her face was stained with tears but she was safe where she hid.

“I’ll be back for you,” Victoria spoke calmly as she wrestled herself from the woman’s grip and started again towards Mike. Before she could get herself into position, a bullet tore through the counter beside her entering the top of the counter door just over her right shoulder. The sound of a falling body followed next and the clinking of bullet casings as a new shower of shots rained down over her position.

A gun hammer cocked on the aisle beside her and she heard a sinister chuckle as footsteps descended upon her. “Three,” Frankie snarled as he lifted his gun towards her fallen partner, aiming for his head. The man’s back was to her and she could clearly make out the fear in Mike’s eyes as Frankie pulled back on his trigger. Time moved slowly as Victoria scrambled to her feet rushing to get to her partner in time and Mike shut his eyes to close out the look of Bonanno’s pugnacious smirk. A shot was fired. A gun fell to the floor.

A deep grunt released from Frankie’s chest and he turned to find Victoria crouched behind him; smoke billowing from the barrel of her weapon. Mike’s eyes opened just as Frankie’s body slumped onto the ground with an exit wound the size of Texas torn through his chest. Victoria dropped her gun near Mike’s head and knelt down beside him, pulling him against her body as she put pressure on his wound. “Vik?”

“Officer down we need a medic!” she shouted as she heard officers gain entry into the store and head towards them.

“Vik?”

“Get a bus here, quick!” She looked down at Mike’s pained face and did her best to keep a stiff upper lip as blood spilled out of his chest and through her fingers. “You’re ok Mikey, you’re gonna be fine, I promise.”

“I can’t feel…I can’t…”

“Just hang on Mike, help is on the way. Just hang on.”

“You got him.”

“No, we got him. I couldn’t have done it without you.” Mike groaned as his weight shifted in her lap and his eyes flickered shut for a moment. 

“Stay with me, Partner! You have a lot of explaining to do to Mason and there’s no way in hell I’m getting stuck with the paperwork for this mess,” she joked and watched a half smile cross his lips.

“I’m hurt Vik! I’m not writing reports.” He laughed that ended in a cough and more blood spurted from his opened chest. “This evening didn’t go quite as planned huh?”

“But I think we’re one step closer to our guy. We’ll get him, you’ll see.” 

“You mean if I pull through this.” A pair of paramedics rushed in with equipment bags and fell to their knees at Mike’s side. Victoria pulled away as one of them placed gauze over his wound and taped it tightly in place. Rolling out a stretcher, they quickly ushered Mike out of the store and into the back of the ambulance. She watched from the shattered storefront window as they shut the doors and disappeared down the block.

Continue---->