"Son of a bitch. We were hoping the neighbors were wrong when they said the family just had a baby. The husband hasn't even mentioned it once. Is it alive?" I can hear the anger in his voice, and like me, I feel the tension ratchet up more with this discovery.
"Captain, this is Bravo Team Two, we don't have any confirmation from our side as we have the brick wall back here," my teammate says into the comm.
"Appears to be sleeping. Active heat signature, so not dead and not currently making itself known," I say with as much hope as I can muster.
"Okay, Sierra, we're going to have to figure out a way to get him to put the boy down so we can get in there before we have a serious tragedy."
"Yes, sir." I click off my comm.
"Damn, sexy, glad I'm not you. You know I can't handle kids and guns in the same area." Derek sounds stressed and I want to turn and look at him, but I keep the husband in my scope and my eye on him. I switch my scope back to regular and look for any way to end this.
Wait, did I just see that? I watch him a bit longer and realize what's happening. I click my comm back on.
"Captain, I think he's up to something. He's talking to the boy."
"Keep an eye if you need to end it. You know what I mean. That's an order. Everyone clear."
"Yes, sir," I say as I hear each of the team members respond with an affirmative. I watch carefully as the man lowers his head to kiss the little boy. I see his eyes look at me and know he's found me. Shit, this isn't good. He puts the little boy down, steps back, and looks directly at me. How did he see me? I know we didn't give away our position.
"Shit! Sorry, sir. We got suicide by cop about to happen," I relay into my comm.
The man says something to his son again, looks at me, then points his gun at the little boy. Well shit, just another thing to fuck up my day. I take the shot. Good for him I'm the best. My bullet hits him in the upper right of his chest. It makes him drop the gun and fall down, but hopefully he doesn't die. The rest of the team rushes in the minute the shot leaves my barrel. I keep my team and the perp in my sights.
When the coast is clear, I start to relax. I couldn't take the kill shot. Deadly force was necessary but not needed. I knew my bullet was going to be close, but I couldn't, no matter what, take the kill shot. I wasn't going to leave those children without another parent.
Oh yeah, sure, he'll go to jail and the kids will go somewhere else, but he'll live with what he did and his kids will, at least, have a parent alive. I wish we'd been called earlier to preventthe wife’s death, but that could have been what started this whole situation.
I lie my head down on my gun and feel my heart harden a little to this newest pain. It's always like this; I get bitterer with each shot. Am I actually making a difference? Is being alone so worth it? Oh yeah, my pseudo boyfriend just cheated on me. Maybe alone is better. I feel Derek's hand on my shoulder.
"Come on, sexy, let's blow this Popsicle stand." He laughs. I know he's pretty messed up about what just happened, but this is the way he deals with the pain. I twist my ball cap around to cover my face and start packing up my gear.
We climb down and head back to the SUV. Other officers are patting me on the back and congratulating me on an excellent shot. I just feel empty and lost. I look out to see the news crews zeroed in on me. I don't want to be featured in a news story and pull my cap lower on my face.
"Sierra, right call. He had more bullets in that gun but is screaming that you should've killed him."
"Sir, I didn't see a reason to kill him."
"Sierra, you did fine. See you at the station for debriefing."
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
MAYA
After what seems like forever, I’m released from debriefing and head to the SUV. I remember I left my phone in the cargo area on silent. I open up the hatch and grab it. It's dead now, so I plug it in. As the screen lights up, I see there are literally over one hundred text messages and multiple voicemails. Wow, he doesn't give up easily. I guess I gotta face him now. I'll just make a clean break. Okay, yeah, I'm a chickenshit, I text him instead.
Me
Duncan, let's just be friends. You and I as a couple weren't going to work anyway.
I wait for the response, but nothing comes, so I head home. Derek went out with some friends. I park the SUV in the garage and head up to my condo. Sitting by my door is a bouquet of flowers. I pull my sidearm and check my surroundings. This shit's getting serious. Someone was on my floor again. I have apenthouse apartment. No one should be up here unless I let them.
I reach into the pocket of my cargo pants and pull out a black latex-free glove. This bouquet has a ribbon, maybe we’ll get lucky and find prints on it. I carefully lift the bouquet and walk into my condo and straight to the kitchen, where I pull out a bag and drop the flowers into it. I dial the number I've had memorized for years and know that I'm not going to get away from him moving in now.
"What up, sexy? We just got to the bar, want to come?"
"No. I just had a delivery waiting for me outside my door."
"That's it, Maya, no more! I'll be there in a couple hours. I'm moving in. Set the alarms. Did you keep them?" I can tell he's agitated and upset with my defiance to letting him stay, but he's right, this is getting out of hand.
