sent pain stabbing up his right arm.
“ Don’t you listen, Walker? I said careful.”
“ Sorry,” Walker said, but he didn’t sound very sincere to Jim.
“ Now what are you guys going to do?” a young officer said, addressing the two policemen.
“ What else can we do? We take him in,” Washington said.
“ Like that? Aren’t you in enough trouble? The last thing you need is another brutality case.”
“ Washington didn’t bust him up. I did,” Walker said.
“ Yeah, but Washington’s in charge.”
“ How do we handle this mess, Lieutenant?” a fair-haired, uniformed sergeant asked.
“ Not lieutenant anymore,” Washington said. “You’re in charge, Sam. You out rank me now. It’s your show. You tell me what to do.”
“ It doesn’t seem right.”
“ It’s the way it is. What do you want me to do?”
“ Take your prisoner by Community Hospital. Get him fixed up. Then bring him in and get a statement. We’ll handle everything here.”
“ All right, Sam.”
“ And Lieutenant?”
“ Yeah, Sam.”
“ If it means anything, I think you got a raw deal, all the boys do. That son-of-a-bitch had it coming. We think you were too easy on him.”
“ Thanks.” Washington moved toward the passenger side of the car. “You drive,” he told Walker.
“ But you always drive?” Walker slid behind the wheel.
“ Not today.”
“ Keys.” Walker held out his hand. Washington fished into his pocket, handed them over.
They were a half mile from the hospital when Washington said, “Turn right.”
“ Huh?”
“ Just do it.”
Walker turned into an alley and parked.
“ It’s daylight, Hugh.”
“ I’m not gonna hurt him. I just wanna ask a few questions before he gets himself lawyered up.”
“ In the six months we’ve been partners I’ve never mentioned your brutality case, but I hear that’s what you did with the child molester.”
“ That’s what I did.”
“ I hear you almost killed him.”
“ Yeah, I beat him to a pulp, then kneed his balls so hard, he’ll never be able to get it up again.”
“ Why?” Walker asked.
“ The fear in that little girl’s eyes tore me up. That baby-raper was going to use her and kill her. I wanted to make sure he never got the chance again.”
“ So you weren’t thinking clearly?” Walker shut off the engine.
“ My mind was working fine.” He got out of the car, stretching as he looked up and down the alley. It looked to Jim as if he was trying to cover the fact that he was checking to see if anybody was watching.
“ Don’t hurt him,” Walker said as Washington climbed into the back.
“ I won’t, I just wanna ask him a few questions.”
Jim pushed himself as far from the big man as possible, but there was nowhere he could go. His retreat was blocked by the locked door.
“ Don’t hurt me anymore,” the voice in his head pleaded.
“ Quiet! I’m not a coward.” Jim thought it must be his subconscious and he didn’t understand, because he’d never plead, never beg.
“ I didn’t say anything,” Washington said. “And I don’t think you’re a coward. I just want to talk a little before we get to the hospital.”
“ You scare out a lot of confessions this way?” Jim asked.
“ Some.”
“ They stand up in court?”
“ Some. I’m a big man, big boned. Frightens some people.”
“ I killed a couple of baby-rapers once,” Jim said, ignoring Washington’s statement. “I caught them right after they raped a young mother and her little girl.” He was looking through Washington, speaking like he was in a trance. “I shot them both in the balls. Then I blew off their knee caps and sat and watched them scream and bleed to death. That’s what got me caught, watching them die. I could’ve killed them quick and got away, but I didn’t and it cost me four long years.”
“ Jesus.” Walker crossed himself.
“ And you know what,” Jim continued, “even though it was the worst four years of my life, if I had it to do over again, I’d kill them slow again.”
“ What have we got here?” Walker said.
He didn’t get an answer. The men in the back were quiet, staring at each other. The silence was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot and the pinging of shattering safety glass as a bullet lanced through the rear window.
“ Go, go, go!” Washington shouted, but Walker didn’t need any urging. He started the car in an instant, pulling the gear shift into drive with his foot already on the floor. The new Ford cruiser shot out with its rear wheels spinning.
A second shot rang out, ricocheting off the rear bumper, but before the gunman could fire a third, Walker had the car sliding around the corner. One hand on the wheel, the other on the mike.
“ Officers under fire! Alley behind Tenth, east of Park, turning north onto St. Joseph.”
Walker stomped on the brakes as soon as they were out of sight and no longer a target. He leapt out of the car with his gun drawn, instinctively opening the back door. Monday and Washington scrambled out. Washington also had his gun drawn. There was the sound of a siren off in the distance.
The two policemen ignored Monday as they ran, hoping to get a shot at their attacker, but by the time they reached the corner, the alley was empty. They turned and walked back to the car, only to discover their prisoner gone.
“ We’re in for it now,” Washington said.
“ Come on, get in,” Walker said. “He couldn’t have gotten very far.”
“ Over here.” Both officers turned toward the voice.
“ There, I think, between those two houses.” Walker pointed to an area between two houses covered in green bushes, a perfect hiding place for a child playing hide and seek.
“ I need some help here, I don’t think I can get up by myself,” Jim called out.
“ You didn’t think you could hide from us for long did you?” Washington helped Jim up.
“ I wasn’t hiding from you.”
“ Then who?”
“ The shooter, the man trying to kill me.”
“ What makes you think it was you he was after?” Washington said as the sirens got closer.
“ Someone tried to run me down on Second Street, but they got the wrong man. Makes me think the shooter was trying for me. Unless of course you guys get shot at all the time.”
Two police cars came skidding around the corner onto St. Joseph, one from the alley, the other from the north, boxing them in.
“ For Godsakes get these cuffs off. I think my arm is broken and besides, I’m not going anywhere.”
“ Turn around,” Washington said. Jim obeyed and Washington unlocked the handcuffs. “Now don’t go making me sorry I did that.”
“ Are you crazy, Washington?” Walker said. “Didn’t you hear what he said about killing and going to jail? Now you go and take the bracelets off. You think that’s smart?”
“ Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but I think I can trust him.”
