Chapter 35: Speeding
Deac, Hondo, Street and Luca drove fast to HQ. Luca and Tan were already here, putting their tactical gear on. When they entered the room, Street and Chris nodded to them, letting them know they had finally told the truth about them being together. Tan and Luca nodded back and smiled.
They sped up and ran to Black Betty. Hicks had sent the address of Karlsson's location to Hondo's phone. Luca took the wheel, Tan sat next to him, the rest of the team sat at the back. Tan and Luca whispered on their own before laughing hard.
"What's so funny at the front? Share people!" Hondo asked.
"Alright, alright." Luca started, still laughing. "We were making fun of Deac not knowing for Chris and Street. I mean, could they be more obvious!"
"Not fair, Luca. " Deac defended himself. "You live with Street, easy to see."
"Deac, I've known for them since Street arrived. Since he was so upset after Chris stole him Jilly, the journalist. He had views on her. But you know the job, no relationship allowed, etc. We even bet on them with Bonnie!"
"No bro, you didn't do this?!" Street answered, surprised. Next to him, Chris giggled. Their colleagues were really crazy, in a good way.
"Oh yeah I did and she owe me a restaurant now."
"Deac, you're gonna hear of this for years." Hondo joked, tapping on his shoulder.
"Look forward to it." Deac answered ironically.
Hondo's radio beeped. It was Hicks's bringing them to reality. "Hicks for 20-David, 50 and 60-David Squad are in place, waiting for you. The place is calm. And there's light in the house."
"Be on site in 2 minutes."
Luca sped up in the last kilometers and parked Black Betty at the intersection. 20-David Squad jumped from the vehicle and joined the other teams already there. Hicks was already on site, in the command truck, giving the last orders to all the teams in place.
"50-David Squad, you're on the roof and in the garden. Keep your eyes and ears open and don't let anyone get out of there."
"Copy that, Commander." Rhokker agreed, before telling his team where to deploy.
"60-David Squad, you take care of the street, every corner, nook and cranny. No one is passing, not even a dog."
"Copy that, Commander." Smith answered, then leading his teammates to their spots.
"20-David Squad, you go into the house and you take Karlsson down once and for all."
"Copy that, Commander. Our pleasure!" Hondo turned to his team, right behind him. "You heard the commander, we catch this son of a bitch and we throw him rotting in jail for the rest of his life."
They all nodded, focused on the target. All tapped on each of Chris's shoulders to tell her they were all in this with her. Street did it last and stopped right in front of her. "We're gonna catch him, Chris. For you, for all of us, for our lives to start over."
She raised her head and looked at him in the eyes. Some tears were here and mostly rage and determination. "I know. He has no chance, his ass is roasted." She answered giving him a faint smile.
"Especially with you around…"
"You're not bad either."
"Stop flirting you two?" Tan came their way. Chris and Street let out a light laugh before focusing again on the mission and following their teammate. Hondo was repeating the scene in his head before waving at them.
"Time to catch this guy! Tan, Street take the back of the house. Luca, Chris, take the front. Deac and I will be entering by the basement."
They all nodded and ran to their positions. "LAPD SWAT, surrender now. This is over!" Hicks screamed with his megaphone to cover the noise of David Squads on the move. "We know you're here, Karlsson. There's no need to end this thing badly. Surrender now. Come out slowly and calmly and we will be able to talk."
No noise came from the house. Hondo nodded to Hicks and then made a chin move to tell his team to take into action. Tan and Street placed two blue bombs to blow the back door up while Deac and Hondo sneaked in the basement via an open window. Chris and Luca imitated Tan and Street and blew the entrance door up. The team invested the house and looked for Karlsson in every corner. The man was done. He could not escape.
"On the ground, I say on the ground!"
Tan and Street looked at each other, hearing Chris's voice.
"Karlsson is at the second floor!" Luca announced in the talkie.
Hondo, Deac, Street and Tan ran to climb the stairs and joined their teammates they saw chasing a man in the corridor of the second floor. Chris, first on his feet. Luca following her. They ran just after them and chased the man throughout the house. Tan finally jumped over him to push him against the floor. The two fought hardly, Karlsson finally punched him in the face letting him fuzzy. Karlsson got up and ran again.
Chris got in the room and jumped over him. She punched him in the face, he answered. They rolled on the ground, each other responding to the punches of the other. He finally pushed her in the air and she hit the wall behind her. Hondo entering the room tried to catch the man but he ran away. Luca and Deac helped Chris to get up and before they could ask her if she was felling ok they saw her run like a fury, tackling Karlsson and projecting him and her by the same occasion throughout the window.
"Chris!" Street yelled as he saw her passing through the window. Without thinking, he climbed down the stairs to reach the garden of the house. Deac and Luca ran to the window to see if their teammate was ok and witnessed she was still fighting with the man who had almost ruining her life. They shared a nod and followed Street in the stairs. Hondo and Tan jumped from the window to join Chris quicker.
Chris didn't give a damn about what was happening around her, she just wanted to take Karlsson down. She hit him hard, she didn't want to see him win once again. She wanted to erase the smile from his lips. And then she felt it. His gun. In his right hand against her stomach. She didn't think one more minute and threw the gun away.
She was covered with mud because she had jumped over Karlsson to stop him after they passed through the window. Her helmet was at an angle on her head, her hair was messy. Street joined her first in a hurry. She could hear his jolting breath, the same he had when they made love.
He grabbed his gun and shot Karlsson in his right foot to take him down and winked at Chris. She was literally straddling over the man's back, holding tightly his hands to handcuff him.
"All's yours…"
"Peter Karlsson, you're under arrest for drug and gun trafficking. And for homicide attempt against my person. And for almost killing my teammate here, hitting him voluntarily with a car while running away. Everything you say could be use against you. You have the right to have a lawyer, if you can't afford one, Los Angeles county can provide you with one."
Street looked proudly at his teammate and girlfriend. She had brought down the man they were chasing for more than a year. A man that had threatened and scared her to death. But she had never given up, she had fought and now she was leading him in the police car.
"20-David to central, code 4. Suspect in custody!" Hondo announced proudly. The whole team took a moment to look at this man, who seemed so small under Chris's pressure.
Some of their colleagues from narcotics and crime units arrived some minutes later to collect the man and bring him into custody, breaking the moment.
"Nice job, guys." They thanked them before taking the man in their car.
Chris and Jim nodded. It was finally over. Karlsson was arrested and he was gonna rot behind bars for years after what he had plotted. The next months will probably see other big bosses fall as Karlsson will understand the only way to get better detention conditions will be to give names. Narcotics will be very busy. In the far away, Hicks and Lynch were already negotiating with the narcotics bosses to know who will be in charge of the next steps of the case.
50 and 60-David Squads and the rest of 20-David Squad congratulated themselves over their catch. "Tonight, beers on me." Hondo yelled.
"And I pay the second round, it's for me!" Rhokker added.
"I guess I need to pay for the third round, then. " Smith concluded, laughing.
"You guess well, Smith. But before fun, let's go back to the headquarter to debrief the case! A few more hours of work and then three days off to sleep."
"We join you at HQ. We'll take a patrol car!" Jim shouted at the teams. Rhokker and Hondo nodded in agreement.
"See you there!" Hondo answered and they all disappear in their Black Betties.
The three teams were soon out of sight. Chris and Jim remained a while, behind them, where they finally caught this bastard who had almost ruined their life. Silent. Thoughtful. Appeased.
Street looked at Chris still squatting at the place she stopped Karlsson. All muddy, bruised, but still so beautiful. He grinned at her, with his Cheshire cat smile.
"What? Why are you smiling like this?" Chris told her, with her so special tone, the one she was using with him from day one. Both excited and exasperated.
"Marry me, right here, right now."
She remained quiet for a few seconds, surprised by his question. Processing what she had just heard. "What? Are you insane? We're covered in mud and we're stinking. Better ways to get married!"
She laughed hardly. This situation was beyond crazy.
"I'm not kidding Chris. Just marry me, I don't want to waste another minute not being officially your husband, you badass woman."
"You're really serious? Like serious, serious?" She asked both puzzled and flattered.
"I've never been more serious in my whole life." He knelt on the floor next to her. "I've no ring to give you, just my heart… At least officially, because you own it for a long time now… So, what are you saying about this crazy idea?"
"Um… Um… Yeah…" She stumbled on words. What she was living was absolutely crazy. "Yes, James Street, Yes."
"Really?" He took her hand and they got on their feet. He was so surprised she yielded to his passing fancy so easily. He swore he saw her blush when he asked her to marry him. She turned at him, grinning.
"Hurry, Long Beach. We've got things to do."
He grinned at her too. They started running and went to see one of the patrol officers, standing a few yards from their place. They asked him if they could borrow his car. They told him they had something very important to do right now. Something that couldn't wait.
"It can't wait. Very urgent." Jim tried to convince the young LAPD policeman who finally agreed with a nod.
Both got into the car. Both silent. Both smiling. She put her hand over his, which was on the gearshift and pressed it. "Are we crazy?"
He grinned. "Maybe … But we only live once… And after what we've been through, it gets your head straight. I don't want to lose another minute, Chris."
"Neither do I." She answered shyly, pressing his hand harder.
He parked the car in front of the city hall twenty minutes later. They both got out of it and ran till the welcoming desk asking where the marriage registration office was. The receptionist smiled and indicated them the way to reach it. "And congratulations." She added with a smile.
"Thanks." Chris answered, lowering her head, being shy once again.
Street pulled her in the right direction, she hurried her walking to follow his path. He was so excited for them to tie the knot. She felt the same way and ran next to him, not letting his hand go of hers.
They reached the office and found a woman behind a desk. They shared a quizzical look. "Sorry to bother you… We were wondering if it was possible to get married today…" Jim asked slowly.
The woman weighed them up from the head to the toes. Probably because it was unusual for her to see two people wearing uniforms, covered with mud asking to tie the knot in the middle of the afternoon.
"You want to marry now… Dressed like this?" She said with an arrogant tone.
Both nodded. They were crazy and they didn't care. For once, Chris let her insouciance speak for her. She loved that new feeling she was experiencing since she was with Jim. She no longer imposed herself limits and boundaries. She just lived. Fully. Entirely. And it felt good.
"And what's the problem? Is there any dress code to marry the person you want to be with?" Chris answered, mischievously.
Jim looked at her, surprised by her answer. Nicely surprised to be honest. She was a hell of a woman. Even more than he thought. The woman lowered her head to the computer.
"Wait for a moment, I'm gonna see the clerk. While waiting for me, please fulfill these documents." The woman disappeared behind a door after having given them a pile of documents.
"What was that?" Jim told her, totally impressed.
"What? I want to get married and this is not a woman like this who's gonna prevent me from being your wife today. Not even all these documents to complete."
Street let out a smirking. She was as committed as he was in this craziness.
"I love the way you're thinking. " He came closer and kissed her. Strongly. Deeply. With spirit. She bit her lower lip when their tongues separated.
"And I love the way you kiss me for absolutely no reason…"
"Except I love you, Christina Alonso. Never forget about this."
She grinned at him. The smile she only gave to him. The only person in the world she wanted to give this kind of smiles. Like a Cheshire cat smile, fewer the evilness. They stopped talking for a few times to fulfill all they needed to in the papers. All their personal information, some they had never revealed to each other, some they knew by heart. The woman came back soon, with a tall and thin man. They handed her the documents. She quickly checked them and nodded to the man.
"The clerk is available now if you still want…"