Eddie and Jamie walked in to the 12th precinct at the end of their tour. It had been a quiet day, and Eddie was a little restless as always. It was already a darkening outside and almost cold.
"You coming for a beer at the Penny?" she asked Jamie as she pushed open the door from the precinct's lot, with Jamie right behind her.
"Can't stay for long, though," he answered. "By the way, I thought your car was in the shop?" Jamie asked curiously, when they turned over their radios and the car keys to the guy at the counter so it would be ready for the next shift.
"Yeah," she turned to him, with a smirk on her face, "that's kind of why I need you to come," she said openly. "Or at least give me a ride," she continued. Jamie sighed with a smile and nodded.
"All right, ready in ten?" he asked, agreeing to give her a ride to the Black Penny, the cop bar, only a twenty minutes drive from the 12th.
"You're the best, Reagan," she said and headed to the women's locker room. Jamie walked the other way to the men's locker room.
Half an hour later they walked through the door at the bar, Jamie headed to a small table and Eddie went to the bar for drinks. They were the first ones off shift to make it to the bar that Saturday night. But it wasn't quiet, far from. The bar was half filled already with familiar faces, and more cops walked in all the time.
"You owe me one," Eddie said, sliding onto the stool across the table from him and passed him a glass with his favorite beer in it. They couldn't see other cops from their precinct.
"Like you don't owe me already," Jamie said, smiling, clinging their glasses and drinking. The door opened and a couple of cops from another precinct walked in, laughing and talking loudly and articulated about an arrest they had made the same day. They headed for Jamie and Eddie as soon as they saw them.
"Reagan, Janko, how's your tour?" Morgan asked and leaned at the table while his partner, Talbot, got the beers.
"Slow business," Eddie said, taking a sip of her beer. Jamie knew she wasn't as cheerful as she looked, when around Talbot, partly because of the way he was always looking at her. But she liked Morgan, the ten-years-older married man. He was of Hispanic with an Irish name. Talbot was a bit older, also married and he had kids, a big waist and grey hair. The conversation struck towards the old mantra of stories from their work. More friends joined them, even Renzulli came by. After a couple of hours Jamie gave Eddie the ready-to-go-look and she stood up, ready for the lift home.
"We'll see you around, guys," Jamie said, standing and grabbing his coat from the back of the chair. As soon as he and Eddie got out and the door closed behind them she started talking again. She was always unusually quiet in the presence of Talbot, but the company of their other coworkers made it easier and put some distance between them. Jamie didn't ask about it. They walked down the street to the small parking lot, where Jamie's car was parked. It was a small lot, only six spaces at both sides between two apartment buildings. It wasn't late, but later than Jamie had anticipated. Midnight was cold and grey and the moon was shining bright above them. Eddie was on his right trailing to the other side of the car.
"Thanks for the ride, Reagan," she said and yawned midsentence when they approached his car. Jamie grabbed the car keys in his pocket and was just about to answer her, when he felt someone big behind him. He could feel a weapon pointed at the back of his head. Just like a mirror, a gun was pressed into Eddie's back by another man. Like Jamie, Eddie froze solid when they saw the guns pointed at each other.
"No sudden movements," said the unknown voice behind Jamie. He couldn't see his face, but he could see the other guys face, which already told him, it wasn't going to end well for them. "You move, she gets a bullet to the head, are we clear?" the man said. Jamie estimated him to be at least twice the size of Eddie, judging by the shadows and the deep voice. Jamie nodded slowly but clearly. "Give me the keys to your car," the voice said. Jamie didn't move right away. "KEYS!" he groaned at Jamie's right ear. The second man, big and ugly as he was, behind Eddie grabbed her by the hair and forced her down on her knees, she cried out, swearing under her breath. He held the gun to the soft skin behind her left ear.
"All right, all right," Jamie said, his heart pounding. "Here, take them," he said, throwing them on the ground between him and Eddie. "Take the car, take the money… take it… go," he said standing with his hands out palms up.
"You are making a mistake." Eddie said, hiding her fear and terror. "We are cops… if you go now, we'll not arrest you," she tried. She and Jamie were unarmed and not about to start a fight with the two armed men behind them. The ugly man with the crooked nose looked at the man behind Jamie and then pistol whipped Eddie so that she fell unconscious on to the ground.
"EDDIE!" Jamie shouted. He spun around to the man, caught a glimpse of his face before the man threw a fist at his jaw. Next, Jamie landed on the ground, dazed and hurt, but alive. The man was older than he sounded
"I know who you are, Officer Reagan," the man smirked and kneeled down next to Jamie as if to apologize. He grabbed a handful of Jamie's hair, lifted his head from the paved ground at jerked it down again, knocking Jamie out.
Danny paced back and forth in the dining room setting the plates on the table while worrying about his kid brother. Danny had missed church due to a case he was working, not able to get a lead, just before driving to his dad's house for the mandatory and famous Reagan Sunday dinner.
"Jamie wouldn't miss church for anything in the world," Danny said and placed the last fork on the table before he grabbed his phone out of his pocket. "If he couldn't make it, he would call, at least," he said and speed dialed his kid brother's phone. He had just learned that Jamie didn't show up this morning.
"Danny," Linda said impatient. "I'm sure Jamie can take care of himself, don't get everybody worked up and worried," she said. Dinner was almost ready. She and Erin had been preparing it since yesterday. Danny put his phone down, even more worried because he didn't get an answer and looked at Linda. The rest of the family was in the sitting room, cheerful laughter pouring out with the well known voices of the Reagan family.
"I'll drive by his place to look for him," he said, not listening to his wife. "Tell the others I had to go back to work," he said and walked out the door.
Jamie woke up and grimaced because of his headache. He lifted his right hand to the back of his head, sore as hell. It took him a few moments to realize where he was and what had happened. A single beam of light came through a small hole of the covered-up windows. It might have been some old news papers, he thought. He sat up and realized his left hand was cuffed to a pipe by an old heater. He heard something to his right and turned to see Eddie's shape stir on the ground. "Eddie," he said and turned towards her. "You all right?" he asked and she let out a gasp when he touched her aching head.
"I would be, if you could keep those icy fingers of yours of my head," she murmured without looking at him. She raised her right hand but it was cut short by the hand cuffs to another pipe. She huffed in frustration and pulled herself up right. "Where are we?" she asked and looked around. Her eyes fell on his shoulder, it was dark with dried blood. "Are you bleeding?" she asked and he sat up next to her as close as the cuffs allowed him, they leaned against the wall.
"I don't know where we are," he said. His right touched the back of his head, only to produce another grimace. "Not anymore," he said afterwards and tried to stand up, limited by the pipe. "It's Sunday, it's late…" he said looking out of the small hole. His free hand flashed to his neck, feeling a needle mark on the side. "We've been drugged," he said and swore under his breath as he sat down again, thinking. Eddie was quiet for a while.
"Do you think we'll survive?" she asked with a tiny voice and a hand to her throat. Jamie looked at her dark silhouette and put a hand on her shoulder.
"We'll figure it out," he said, hoping he would sound encouraging enough.
"You're a terrible liar, Reagan," she said and padded his hand.
"I know Danny would be looking for me already," he said, thinking of his overprotective brother.
