Radio Static
Disclaimer: Basic plot, some dialogue, etc. belong to James V. Simpson, Nimrod Antal, and others at Screen Gems involved in the production of Armored.
Summary: "Armored" (2009) – Officer Jake Eckehart is about to the have the worst day of his life when he's drawn into an armored car heist. Shot and left for dead, Jake's barely clinging to life while his worried girlfriend looks for him and stumbles into a trap. Slightly-AU. Jake/OC.
Chapter One
He paused, midway through his usual lunch of hot dogs and a Coke, to listen to the alarm ringing in the distance. It sounded like a panic or burglar alarm.
"You hear that, Joe?" Jake Eckehart asked, his head tilted to the side.
"Hear what?"
He stepped away from the stand, listening to the distance. It wasn't a car alarm—it was a different frequency.
"It sounded like an alarm…"
Most of his fellow officers still didn't take him seriously because of his age and relative inexperience. Even more people he encountered on a daily basis looked at him, his crisp uniform, his youthful face, and laughed. The only person who seemed to appreciate and respect his work was his long-time girlfriend.
He headed back to his squad car. Thanks to budget cuts, most of the patrol officers were riding solo and without vests. In Los Angeles, that was the equivalent of walking around with a sign saying "shoot me, I'm a cop" in some sections of town.
Jake didn't mind. It gave him time to think about his future with Moira.
She'd brought up moving into a larger apartment or even a small house. She'd even been dropping hints about marriage. He was in late-twenties, with Moira just two years younger, but some days he felt closer to forty.
Today was one of those days. He'd just worked a double back-to-back and his shift was far from over. He was counting the hours until he could get home to his girl, kick back with a beer or two and some pizza, and rest.
He rolled into an abandoned steel mill about a quarter of a mile away, his eyes and ears open. He reached for the dashboard radio, trying to reach dispatch. Static crackled continuously as he tried to raise them.
It had to be a dead zone. However, he could hear banging, like metal crashing against metal. The mill was abandoned—there was no reason for there to be any banging.
Jake parked the car in front of a warehouse and exited the squad car. He'd check it out, see if there was anything going on, then drive out and call-in to dispatch.
A door clattered and a male voice greeted him. "Hey there."
"Hey!" His hand leapt to his hip and the pistol there. One hand went out reflexively in front of him, a warning to the scruffy stranger to slow down.
"Hey. I'm a good guy. I'm a good guy."
Be alert, move slow, don't point at anything you don't intend to kill…
Even when another man came closer, a security guard, Jake kept his hand close to the gun. He wasn't sure he trusted this stranger given all the noise he'd heard.
"Thought I heard a siren," Jake said, watching him carefully. He didn't see any weapons on him, but that meant nothing.
"Siren?" the guy in blue repeated. "No, no sirens here. At least to the best of my knowledge."
"What do they need security at an abandoned building for?"
The security guard fed him a story about insurance companies, liabilities, vagrants, and a dead dog in the warehouse behind him. Jake listened, asking a few questions, but mainly just observing.
"I'll take your word for it."
"You sure?"
"Yeah." He turned toward his car when the siren went off again.
In one smooth motion, he pulled the gun free and turned toward the building.
A blast blew out his eardrums temporarily. Then came the pain in his right lower abdomen. The burning pain and the warmth of his own blood as he hit the dirt.
His gun hit the dirt beside him. He groaned, reaching for it.
Men grabbed his ankles. They were wearing blue uniforms, like the security guard he'd been chatting with moments before.
I'm gonna die… I'm gonna die and Moira… I'll never get to say good-bye…
Across town, Moira Donovan signed out of the office and hung a white coat on a peg. The lab coat had a laminate badge clipped to the front pocket with her picture and "Dr. M. Donovan" written in bold ink. She slipped her bag over her shoulder and glanced at her watch. Jake was still on his lunch break for another half-hour.
With her long dark hair swinging behind her, she waved good-bye to her co-workers. Once outside, Moira dialed his cell.
It rang and rang.
"Jake? It's me…I just got off work. I thought maybe we could meet for lunch… Call me."
She slipped the phone in her bag. Odds were that Jake had already stopped at Joe's stand for hot dogs and left his cell in the cruiser. Sometimes she thought getting a radio might actually give her more face time than the cell phones. Jake never went far from his radio.
Not that she was much different. Her cell phone was her lifeline. Moira was on-call at the psychiatric center she worked at 24/7, much like Jake and the police. If it was a holiday, one or both of them had to go to work.
She climbed into her simple sedan, a black 4-door Suzuki, and started it up.
A few minutes later, she pulled up to the curb by Jake's favorite hot dog stand.
"Hey, Joe," she called cheerfully, walking up to the stand. Since she'd been at the office for paperwork only, she'd dressed down in jeans, sneakers, and a blouse over a tank top. Simple and modest.
"Hey yourself, pretty lady."
"Have you seen Jake today? He's always raving about your cooking."
Joe laughed, leaning on the counter. "He was here about ten minutes ago. Said he heard an alarm and took off. Kid's got hearing like a dog."
"Did you see which direction he went by any chance?"
He pointed down a road. "Down there. You have yourself a good day, Miss Moira. Tell that man of yours he'd better put a ring on that finger soon or I'll have to marry you."
"You're too kind, Joe." She blew him a kiss and returned to her car.
Inside the car, she called his cell again. It rang twice before clicking to an automatic message. "The number you are trying to reach is currently out of range. Please check the number and dial again."
"Out of range?"
Moira's blue eyes swept the landscape as she rolled slowly. There weren't many places in LA without cell service. At least not nearby.
"Hmm, this just doesn't…feel right."
She turned a corner, looking around. There was a gnawing in the pit of her stomach, especially since the phone went unanswered, Joe reported him taking off—not on a call, but on a hunch—and he left behind his half-eaten lunch. Jake didn't usually do that. Not without good reason, plus he knew she only had a few hours of paperwork. They almost always checked in with each other on their lunch breaks.
In the distance, she spotted steelwork. Metal and cinderblock were the two materials that readily interfered with cell phone signals in her experience. Maybe Jake was down there.
Moira slowly turned into the mill, ignore the warning signs on the fence. There were tire tracks ahead of her. Someone had been there.
She flipped open her phone. "No service available" flashed on the screen.
"Okay, Jake, where are you?" she breathed, looking for his squad car.
An alarm shrieked, cutting through the air. Wincing, she slammed on the brakes. It lasted for a few seconds before cutting off abruptly.
She leaned out the window, listening intently.
That's when she heard the crack of a gun.
Author's Notes:
I've seen "Armored" several times now (four or five) and just got the Blu-ray and I noticed a lack of fanfic, which is saddening considering that the characters' backstories are very open. That, combined with the lack of female characters, inspired me to write a short little story.
Given that Jake is pretty badly wounded, I wondered what made him hold on so long. Then I thought, what if he's hanging on because of a wife or girlfriend? So I created Moira, a high school friend and college sweetheart.
I knew she wasn't a police officer herself, but she was bright all the same. As her job took shape, I thought about her and Jake. How would she knew he was in trouble? What would she do?
And, voila, Moira took on a life of her own! I didn't want to introduce her and then leave her hanging, so I'm bringing her into the timeline of the movie which is going to affect the third act. I hope you all enjoy this!