Linda Kay Silva - Delta Stevens 3 - Weathering the Storm (12 page)

“He’ll be heading south for the freeway, Carducci. Let’s go!”

Tires squealing down North Austin, Carducci slowed as he reached the intersection of North Austin and Conan Doyle.

“What are you waiting for? A traffic light? Go!”

Looking left, then right, Tony turned left onto Conan Doyle as Delta called in the description of the car and the direction she guessed he was heading in. When another unit came on and said they had spotted a car matching the description speeding through an intersection, she flipped on the lights and siren.

“There’s a faster way, Carducci! When you come to Poe, go west and then south again to Shelley.” Looking at her new partner for the first time since she got in the car, Delta noted the beads of sweat dotting his forehead. She wondered if it was the excitement, the adrenaline, the chase, or the fear, that brought this on and she wished she was driving.

When they came to Poe Street, again, Carducci slowed down, even though there were no cars approaching from either direction. “Goddamn it, Carducci, move it, will you? We haven’t got all night! Once he gets to the freeway, it’s a different ballgame!”

Nodding quickly, Tony took a right turn.

“I said west! Turn this thing around and go west!” Delta covered her face with her hands and wanted to switch seats, but she knew it would take more time than they had. Already, they were losing valuable seconds.

“What’s the matter with you?” Delta shrieked above the blare of the siren. “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

“Yes, damn it, I heard! I’m a little nervous, that’s all.”

“That’s all? A woman has her head bashed in and you’re driving like a little old man because
you’re
nervous? Get over it Carducci and put the pedal to the floor!”

Suddenly, another unit came on the radio saying they had just picked up the chase heading toward the Crowsy Tunnel.

Delta picked up the mike. “If he goes through the tunnel, he’ll be heading for downtown. We’ll head him off at Sherwood.” Hanging up the mike, Delta told Tony to head north down Esperanza.

“We’re out of our beat, aren’t we?”

Delta nodded, eyeing the speedometer. She wished he could push it a little harder. At this rate, they were out of the race. “Yeah. Why?”

Tony shrugged. “No reason.” When they approached Esperanza, Tony slowed down once more. Before Delta could stop him, he was flying south down Esperanza.

“What are you doing?” Delta screamed. “I said north! North is that way!” As Delta reached for the mike, a baritone voice boomed across the airwaves.

“S1012, this is Sergeant Rich. We just passed underneath you on Sherwood. We’ll assume your position in the pursuit. You can return to your beat.”

Snatching up the mike, Delta growled, “This is S1012, we copy.” Slamming it back in the holder, Delta felt every fiber in her body burn with anger.

“Pull over.”

Tony did as he was told and they switched seats without exchanging a word.

They rode in silence most of the way back, and when they returned to their beat, Delta made a follow-up check at the woman’s house. The ambulance door was just closing and the neighbors crowded along the street like vultures waiting for its prey to die.

“Stay here,” she ordered, slamming the door after her. She was soincensed that he’d botched the chase, she could barely stand to look at him.

Approaching Officer Firth, who was taking down witness statements, Delta inhaled slowly through her nose and tried to relax.

“You lose him?” Officer Firth asked, lowering his pad.

Delta shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”

Firth looked over Delta’s shoulder and grinned. “A rookie with bran for brains?”

Delta shrugged again. The heat of embarrassment rising to her cheeks. “Something like that. How are things here?”

Firth shook his head sadly. “If her head had been a baseball, he’d have hit a homerun.”

“It was a bat?”

“Apparently so. Took it with him, which is good. If the guys stop him, he’s history. He won’t see daylight for years.”

“How is she?” Firth glanced over at the ambulance. “She’ll be okay. A few stitches here and there ought to help. She’s a pretty tough lady.”

“I suppose she’d have to be after being his punching bag for years.”

“Yeah. It’s a shame they let guys like that off the hook so easily. Shoulda kept the bastard locked up for good.”

Delta nodded.

“We’re square here, Stevens, if you want to take off. She’ll be okay.”

Okay? The word rang through her head like a cracked bell. No abused woman would ever truly be “okay.” Why was that so hard for some men to understand? Just because her head would heal didn’t mean her spirit wouldn’t feel that blow for the rest of her life.

Okay? How could someone be okay after being beaten by someone who vowed to honor, to protect, and to cherish her?

Shaking her head sadly, Delta looked up from her thoughts and glared through the window at Tony, who was staring straight ahead. Maybe that’s why she was so hard on him for blowing the chase; crimes against women moved Delta unlike anything she’d ever experienced. She wanted to be the one to pull that bastard out of the car and read him his rights. She wanted him to know what it felt like to be powerless against a woman. Quite simply, she wanted to be the one to see him go back to jail for a long, long time.

Jerking open the door, Delta dropped angrily into the driver’s seat. “Any word?”

Tony looked out the window. “They lost him,” he said weakly.

“Shit!” Slamming her fists on the steering wheel, Delta shook her head. “We were that close. That close, damn it!”

Turning from the window, Tony stared down at his hands. “It was my fault. I’m sorry.”

The rage bursting inside her, Delta turned on him. “What in the hell were you thinking about? Don’t you know north from south or east from west?”

Even with all of the noise outside the vehicle, the inside of their car was sullenly quiet.

“Well? What happened?”

Tony slowly glanced up and allowed only the briefest contact with Delta’s eyes before returning his gaze to his hands. “I don’t.” Delta leaned forward to hear him better. “You don’t what?”

“I don’t have a sense of direction. Sometimes, when I’m nervous, I forget.”

“You forget?” Delta didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “You forget what?”

“Which is which.” Leaning back in her seat, Delta shook her head. “Oh, that’s just great. How in the hell did you ever get through the academy?”

“I told you. It only happens when I get really nervous. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well, tell that to the lady in the ambulance. Damn it, Carducci, are there any other quirks in your character that I should know about? Any skeletons in your closet that could get us killed? Do I need to go through your file to see if there’s anything in there you haven’t told me?”

Tony shook his head. “No.”

“Are you sure?”

Tony nodded. “Positive.” Looking back up at Delta, Tony’s eyes revealed his defeat. “You’re not going to tell the captain about this, are you?”

Delta could only stare at him while the anger slowly burned itself out. A partner who didn’t know directions or couldn’t get his bearings was like a blind guide dog—no use to anyone and more of a detriment than the handicap itself.

“Is it something you can work on, or are you cursed with being a directional dunce forever?” Delta’s voice was cold and biting. “Be honest with me, Carducci. Our safety’s at stake here.”

Tony shrugged and moved his eyes away from her penetrating stare. “I’m willing to work on it, but I don’t know if I can fix it.” Delta leaned forward, her eyebrows capping a pair of intense green eyes. “That’s not what I asked you.”

Looking back out the window, Tony sighed loudly. “I don’t know. I’d have to work on it during really stressful situations. Believe me, I’ve practiced and studied and even seen the academy shrink.”

“And?”

“And it comes and goes.”

Delta eased back. “That’s what they’re going to be saying about you if we can’t straighten you out.”

Tony nodded. “I know.” Turning to her, his eyes were pleading. “This is your big chance to dump me, Delta. If you tell the captain, it’ll be desk duty for me.”

Delta stared into his eyes and thought about Tony’s words. The right thing for her to do was to tell the captain that he was a deficit on the street. After all, Carducci’s “problem” was responsible for losing an attempted murder suspect, and without directional capabilities, he was a hazard to both of them. Maybe if she dumped him now, she could get a partner she could actually work with. Maybe if she unloaded his arrogant self on the captain’s doorstep, she’d get a rookie she might even like.

Maybe.

Closing her eyes and inhaling slowly, Delta could see Miles’s face. She remembered him telling her once that, “good, bad, or indifferent, your partner is like your spouse. He’ll make a lot of mistakes, he’ll fuck up at bizarre moments, and he’ll piss you off like no one else can, but as long as those things stay between the two of you, they’ll get resolved and you’ll both be better for it. The last thing you ever do is snitch on your partner.”

Yes, the right thing for Delta to do was to dump Carducci at the captain’s feet, denounce him as the directional boob that he is, and ask for reassignment. That would be the right thing—procedurally.

But the best thing to do was to maintain the integrity of their partnership, blunders and all. The best thing for her to do was to work with him on his inadequacies and help him overcome his nervousness.

As usual, the best thing had nothing to do with the right thing.

Leaning back over, Delta softened her tone of voice. “Let me tell you something, Carducci. When I was first working with Miles—”

“That was your partner who was killed, huh?”

Delta nodded. “Yes.” For a moment, memories overwhelmed her. Suddenly, she could smell Miles’s new cologne and feel his presence next to her. It happened less frequently than it used to, but at times like this, it was as if his spirit somehow swept through her and touched her soul just to remind her that he would always be there.

“Delta?”

Shaking the memories back to the trunk of her mind, Delta sighed heavily. “I made my fair share of mistakes, Carducci. Hell, I came out of the academy like the Tasmanian Devil whirling around, knocking stuff over left and right, going through everything instead of around it.” Delta grinned. “Sometimes, I still do. But through it all, not once did Miles reprove me to our superiors. Not once did he call me on the carpet for pulling a major boner. You know why? Here’s lesson number three, Carducci. Miles believed that good cops aren’t born, they’re made. My job right now is to help make you into one. That’s what Miles did for me; and it’s what I’m going to try and do for you. As long as you don’t endanger lives, as long as you continue to learn and grow, then we’ll work through your malfunctions, no matter how quirky they may be. You’re my partner, whether I like it or not, and I have my own codes to live by here on the street. One of those is that you never rat on your partner. If you put my life in danger, that’s a different story. But for now, we’re stuck with each other.”

For the first time in an hour, Tony allowed himself the slightest grin. “Thanks, Delta. You won’t regret it. I swear you won’t.”

Starting the engine, Delta drove into the night. “I’d better not. Because if I do, my little Hispanic friend at the computer will kick your balls up into your neck.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll just bet she could.”

Delta turned and smiled. “Could and would.”

“Then I’ll do my best to keep that from happening.”

“You do that, Carducci. You just do that.”

“S1012, we have a request for a 9-1-0 at 45 Alcott Way. See the woman.”

Delta picked up the mike and responded affirmatively. “What’s a 91-0?” she asked Tony as she slipped the mike back in the cradle.

“You don’t know?”

Delta sighed. “Of course I know, you dolt. I want to see if you know.”

Tony’s forehead furrowed in thought. “Someone requesting assistance?”

“That’s a 4-1-0. Try again.”

“Oh.” Drumming his fingers on the dash, Tony chewed his bottom lip. “A trespasser?”

“Six-zero-three. Carducci, didn’t you learn anything in the academy?”

Shrugging, Tony surrendered. “I give up.”

Delta shook her head. “Are you sure it was the Police Academy you went to? A 9-1-0 is someone asking us to check on the well-being of someone else. You know, an elderly neighbor no one has seen in days or something like that.”

“Oh, yeah. Now I remember.”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Delta sighed loudly. How had he passed the academy? “Take this left and then a right at the first stop sign. The house is the second from the corner.”

Tony looked amazed. “You know that by heart?”

Delta nodded. “After five years, I hope so. I know every inch of this beat as well as those on either side. Believe me, it pays to know.”