Thirteen:

“I’m glad you’re loaded for bear!”

I sassed, as I returned fire at the slightly pudgy balding Irishman hovering near the door. He ducked back out the exit, and I caught a flash of light as the other side door opened and I spun, but the police girl was even quicker with her response now. She fired three semi-decently cropped shots on his chest. The surprise and pain seemed plenty, despite the tiny caliber of the weapon.

“Bullets are still bullets, even if they are smaller.”

She chastised me, and I swung and fired over her shoulder and clipped an elbow and the perp yelped in pain.

“Well, only clocked two so far, and both are wounded, care to try to see what we can see?”

I asked her, and she frowned at me puzzled.

“There could be more. They could have already called in for backup. That’s probably the first thing they did before walking in and opening fire.”

She said, and I nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, but their backup is likely minutes out if not more and they still have to pass through Triad controlled southside as well. Not going to get them here any faster, trust me on that.”

She seemed to consider my words and she arched a questioning brow.

“What’s your suggestion?”

She asked, and I said, “To run like hell, get in my SUV and boogie. No reason for us to play cops-and-robbers with the mob.”

She seemed to take offense at this as well since it was not regulation.

“You want me to leave an active crime scene with multiple dead or injured assailants?! What if they try to sue the department? What if they file complaints against me? I’m not even off my probationary status!”

She fumed and worried simultaneously. While I could appreciate the gravity of her concerns, I knew this dame was not long for this earth, should she continue to pry solo, and especially if she tried to stand sentinel over this shooting scene while waiting for her backup.

“I have to call this in!”

She exclaimed and flailed her arms, and I rolled my eyes.

“Do that while we’re in transit, and Tomoki, pay the man, please. This appears to be a couple of C-notes in damages to his business. Call it a dining expense with the boss, and he can feel free to complain to me personally if he wishes.”

The young officer seemed to study me, arching her brow in deep question.

“You’re dirty?!”

I grabbed her by the collar, and I pulled her closer, but there was nothing sexual this time. Just the unbridled fury of the accusation.

“I am going to work extremely hard to forget I heard you accuse me of being on the take. Not that I am a cop anymore, but the accusation is still just as sickening! I am simply assisting in a legitimate business issue and in exchange, I am relatively safe here in southside, thanks to someone!”

My words were like a lashing whip over her skin, and the young cop winced slightly and finally snapped herself free from my grip. Tomoki walked over to the register and sat down three large bean and cheese burritos and handed the man five crisp one-hundreds.

“Most expensive burritos in southside, but I think we can agree this should prevent you from recalling the appearance of the shooters who were defending themselves?”

Tomoki asked the man, his polite features were innocent, devoid of any malice, the older Asian man bobbed his head and collected the money.

“Of course, I was in back, didn’t get a look, just came out to the violence after the fact.”

Tomoki clapped him on the shoulder and said, “I’ll let Shen san know how cooperative you were, I am sure he will look favorably on your community spirit.”

I rolled my eyes and said, “If you’re done reenacting the Asian Godfather I do believe we should leave this joint!”

The cop seemed to study me as if I were her enigma. There was a part of me that couldn’t blame her, she was even younger than me, new to the job, and fresh-faced. There was almost no chance of such a kind young woman surviving the grinder that was Peckford PD. This entire city was a devourer of kindness and vulnerability.

Tomoki nodded in agreement, and we exited the front, but scanned the area for any possible lurking gunmen. My every instinct was blazing to dash straight to Henry, but I knew he was far safer remaining put so long as I led any potential attackers away. Even though I was so close to him now, I had not done anything that would tip off his location. I looked over at the young cop and I asked, “How did you manage to track me down?”

I asked, and she frowned and seemed to consider the question for a long moment and followed me at a brisk pace.

“I had a friend run facial recognition; your face popped up on cameras on this street.”

This explained why there were only two. They had been following her and planned to ambush her at the first opportunity. After hearing this I held out my hand towards her and said, “Give me your phone, you’re being tracked.”

I instructed her in a mild but assertive tone. She seemed to stare at my open palm for an exceedingly long moment and then she pulled out a new iPhone.

“Just sate the sim card out and leave my phone the hell alone!”

She said, and I grabbed it, and opened the back and pulled the battery loose and reach behind it and plucked the small white sim card free and snapped it in my fingers. Then I handed the phone back to her, and she quickly reassembled it while appearing very relieved that I had spared her iPhone the destruction I had originally planned.

“If they find another way to track that thing, I am shipping it straight to the dump.”

I told her, and she glared at me balefully.

“Over my dead body!”

She said with all the fervor of a woman barely over twenty. I chortled and mused at the slight but vast difference in our age and our views on the importance of personal phones. I had grown paranoid enough to dislike being traceable. I kept an office line and Henry could forward calls directly to his smartphone, but I personally used burners which I rotated frequently. In this age, disposable cells were cheap as dirt and completely accessible to the public at any corner store.

After a moment, I narrowed my eyes at the officer and said, “I never caught your name.”

She seemed to flush slightly, and said, “Oh, I’m Penny Ashton, Officer Penny Ashton.”

I sniffed and said, “Yeah, I knew that last part already. How’s the job treating you so far?”

I asked her, and her eyes seemed to go distant for a moment as she considered my question.

“Oh, it’s going great, aside from this entire ordeal, however, I have noticed a lot of non-regulation actions surrounding this shooting. The number of procedural infractions committed is really disturbing. Part of me wished I could report it to IA, but I don’t think anything good will come from doing that.”

I nodded sagely and said, “Yep, besides, the IA rat squad will snitch on you. They are not exactly above board there in IA either. I learned that the hard way myself. Everyone’s on the take or worse. Officer Penny Ashton, I would advise you to quit this job before they chew you up and either convert you or destroy you. Make no mistake, the badge will not save you in the end.”

I told her in a dire, but a soft-enough tone that I did not sound like I was antagonizing or threatening her. Tomoki turned around briefly and said, “I don’t mean to interrupt, but we really should save this for later, when we’re not exposed to the elements. Shen san said you can use one of his apartments. It’s empty now anyway, so we are going there.”

I nodded and we moved on in relative silence until we reached the SUV. Tomoki remote started the car from a distance, his paranoia rivaled mine. However, it was well warranted, since the Irish mob has favored car bombs for decades.

“Smart move there Tomoki. I’m going to have to get me one of those buttons for my car.”

I said, and Penny frowned and said, “Your registered vehicle is an old beater if I am not mistaken.”

Her words caused me to hiss like a cat and I said, “No one knocks the ride! That car has seen me through a lot of hard times!”

My purple ninety-six Civic hatchback has been with me since I was a teenager. I managed to scrape together the money when I was seventeen. I’ve owned it about twelve years, and I have even had the engine replaced with a faster model from an Acura Integra. I took the custom job in trade for a few cases about four years ago. She did not appear to be much of anything to others, but my civic was a fast little lady! She was also a very unassuming vehicle and great for surveillance gigs. In a city, there are just too many older Hondas floating around to pay mind to all of them.

“It’s an old Honda, what’s the big deal!? The car is only worth about a grand in perfect condition if I’m not mistaken!”

She said in a very factual and confused tone. I sighed and shook my head.

“You just don’t get the bond between an orphan and her ride. It’s like shooting a girl’s horse—well if she has a horse and all.”

I said, and that appeared to hit home for Penny. She possibly spent a lot of time near horses and livestock where she was from. Not that everyone in the country had horses or even livestock, but her expression told me she had likely been near or around large animals. That led me to conclude she was a very literal farm girl. Penny was fresh of an actual farm and new-ish to the big city.

“You left home because you’re gay, right?”

Her eyes bugged wide and Tomoki snapped his head in our direction, like a rubbernecker drawn to a car crash.

“Nani?!”

He exclaimed, and I rolled my eyes.

“How could you possibly gather that from this one conversation?!”

Penny blurted out frustratedly and blushing deeply. She obviously had not spent a lot of time being openly gay yet. She was still sort-of in the closet, with her parents at the very least.

“Honey, I was a homicide cop, you don’t get to solve murders at my age by being a second-class detective.”

I said in a very matter-of-fact tone which held zero arrogance or self-aggrandizing in my voice. Personally, I could care less who thought what of me, for the most part. I was accustomed to being raked over the coals now, and even though human abuse still hurt, I was accustomed to the pain.

“What did I say that indicated I was gay?!”

She asked, and I smiled at her and deliberately left her hanging, enjoying how flustered she was getting with me and how fast it was happening.

“I believe we can safely get in the car now.”

Tomoki told me, doing an extremely good job of keeping his mouth shut about lesbians and other such topics that tend to draw male attention.