"Here's the call," Yokas pointed out, nodding her head towards a
point on the left of the car outside the driver's side window. She brought
the squad car to a gentle halt, and stepped out, donning her cap, Bosco
right behind. He slipped his own hat onto his head, and then removed it
again instantly, throwing it lightly into his open window, shrugging
afterwards at seeing it fall haphazardly to the floor.
He reached up and activated his radio, saying, "Central, this is 5-5- David, we're at the scene of an armed robbery on Manhattan Avenue. No sign of suspect or weapons."
"5-5-David, this is Central. Ten-four."
Walking up behind his partner, he heard the shop owner ranting something about a tall black man wearing a leather jacket.
"Can you describe him any clearer for me, sir?" Yokas inquired, her notebook out and ready, her pen in her hand. She jotted down notes as the man replied.
"I'd say he was about six foot, shaved head, some kinda tattoo on his wrist."
"What kinda tattoo?" Bosco asked quickly, impatiently. He raised an eyebrow when the owner glanced his way, as if surprised that another cop was on the scene and asking questions.
"Um... looked like a snake," the owner replied.
"Okay, sir, can you tell us what happened?" was Yokas' next question, and her eyes floated to Bosco momentarily, squinting beneath her cap in the sun.
Bosco tilted his head and shrugged discreetly, listening to the owner's recollection of the incident.
"He just waltzed in when I was countin' the money in the cashier, and snatched it right outta my hand. It musta only been about eighty bucks, but he had a knife."
"A knife?"
The man looked to Bosco, puzzled at the request for repetition, and nodded. "Yeah, a knife. One of them switchblades."
"Did you see which way he went?" Yokas asked the man, glancing around the area for emphasis.
The man shrugged, looking around himself, and then responded, "He took off for Cathedral Parkway... down there." He pointed with a long finger, and stared at them. "You gonna go after him?"
For a moment, Bosco and Yokas looked at each other, before the former sighed, and nodded, walking away in the direction given to them. Yokas stayed behind to collect a detailed statement, or so Bosco figured.
He walked quickly, but casually, trying not to arouse suspicion from the passers by. They gave him only fleeting glances, and moved on their way.
Then Bosco heard a car pull up beside him, and he turned his head to see Spencer and Hinds climb out of their squad car, smiling at him. Bosco groaned under his breath, and furrowed his brow.
"What're you guys doin' here?"
Daniel Spencer moved up to walk beside Bosco, the older man a little taller, and by all means greyer. He was wrapped up unnecessarily in his policeman's jacket, zipped right up, topped off with hat. Grey eyes watched Bosco from beneath the peak of his hat. His partner, a younger woman by the name of Elizabeth Hinds was right on their tail. Her short black hair bobbed around her face limply, and her dark eyes flicked between the two men.
Bosco wasn't too keen on either of them, having had to deal with them on several occassions, none of which he cared to recall with a happy heart. They gave him nothing but grief, and seemed to enjoy making his life as miserable as possible.
"Heard you might need a hand, Maurice," Spencer teased, laughing quietly.
"Nothin' I can't handle," Bosco grumbled, and quickened his pace, desperate to lose the other officers.
But they were soon catching up to him, Hinds saying, "Wouldn't want you to get yourself into trouble, would we?"
Bosco glared at her momentarily, never stopping his walking, as he responded sarcastically, "How tragic would that be?"
Hinds chuckled, and shook her head at the retaliation she enjoyed so much. She always did like a good fight with Bosco; something the male cop despised... no more than the woman herself of course. She was constantly bitching with Yokas as well, and when those two got at each other's throat, even Bosco was tempted to run for cover. It was brutal.
"Got a description of the perp', Boscorelli?" Spencer inquired with a hint of mischief, strutting alongside him as they turned onto Cathedral Parkway, Bosco leading the way.
"Yeah," was all Bosco rewarded the ignorant man with, smiling subtlely as he knew how much his lack of divulgence would irritate the man.
"Not gonna share?" Hinds asked with a pout, "That's a little mean, don't ya' think? We're all on the same side here."
"You so sure about that?" Bosco inquired, his eyes catching a flicker of quick movement at the edge of the sidewalk, and he slowly moved in that direction.
"I got a feelin' you don't like us very much, Maurice," Spencer commented sarcastically, revelling in the displeasure he caused.
Bosco didn't even respond, and for a moment, Spencer looked triumphant at silencing the cop in front of him, before he realised his point of focus.
"Wait here," Bosco ordered them, holding up a hand, and heading off at a jog.
He heard a mumble behind him as Hinds asked, "Is he kiddin' me?"
Damn that woman, Bosco thought angrily, and ducked into the alley, eyes scanning the area, his hand hovering near his weapon. He heard Hinds and Spencer come up behind him, but he paid little attention to them, listening out for sounds.
A clatter of garbage cans made him turn his head to follow the sound, and he sprinted up the shady alley, glancing around fleetingly in search of the man. He ran the description through his head over and over again as he moved, just as a cat sped in front of him, alarming him. He stopped at once, hearing a small laugh behind him.
"That's it," he growled, and whirled, facing off Spencer. "I've had enough of you and your partner. You do nothin' but try to make my life as hard a possible, Yokas' too. What have you got against us anyway? Afraid of the competition?"
Before either Spencer or Hinds could respond, a hand reached out and grabbed a taut hold of Bosco's collar, slinging him back roughly. He crashed into a fence, and felt his hand reaching for his gun, just as the tall dark-skinned man emerged, eyes wild, and had a grip on him, forcing him back and to the fence behind.
"Spencer!" Bosco shouted, seeing the older man fumble for his weapon. The woman removed her gun, and aimed.
"Wait!" he yelled again, trying to remove the man's hands from him, just as he heard the gunshot, and felt the man in front of him halt in his movement abruptly. He slumped to the floor immediately after, eyes closing.
Bosco dropped to his knees, checking the man for a pulse, shaking his head.
Hinds moved over, gun still in her hands, still aimed on the dead man before her. Bosco rolled up a sleeve to reveal a serpent tattoo coiled around his wrist. His eyes glared up at Hinds.
"What?" she snapped, holding out her hands in confusion.
"You should've waited. He didn't have his weapon... you didn't need to shoot the guy," Bosco told her, rising to one knee only, waving a hand at her vaguely for emphasis, staring in accusation.
"What, now you don't want my help? I thought that was what you were after... a helping hand," Hinds snarled in reaction to his words.
Just as Bosco was about to give her a further piece of his mind, several loud gunshots erupted from all around, and he reached out and grabbed hold of her pants leg, tugging her down roughly to the floor, and covered his own head as the firing continued from somewhere out of sight.
* * *
Faith grabbed for her radio, and clicked the button, throwing her notebook into the squad car, and taking off at a run, feeling her hat fall from her head as she called into the device, "Bosco? What's goin' on?"
She didn't receive a response, and used the device again, saying, "Central, this is 5-5-David, requesting backup on Cathedral Parkway, at the corner of Manhattan. We have shots fired, officer in pursuit of robber."
"Central, Ten-Four, all units responding."
Hurry, she ordered them silently, snatching her gun from its holster, and skidding around the corner, seeing a crowd at the mouth of an alley.
"Move!" she barked to them, watching as they scattered so she could enter. Faith shooed them away further, telling them they needed to clear back to the other side of the street, and grabbed her radio again. "Bosco, can you hear me? Bosco... respond."
A final gunshot was fired, and she shook her head, seeing movement down the alley, and decided against her best judgement to go on in. In the distance she could hear sirens wailing in response to her call for backup.
Faith soon found herself halfway down the alley, and whispered harshly, "Bosco!"
"Faith, over here!"
She followed the sound of the familiar voice, feeling her relief at hearing him, and immediately dropped her weapon at the scene of chaos before her. She held a hand to her mouth in horror, and felt her knees weaken.
There was blood everywhere, and the garbage cans and bags were shredded by bullets that had torn into them with considerable force. Officer Elizabeth Hinds sat shaking in the uttermost corner of the alley, arms wrapped around her frame as tightly as she could manage, blood dotting her hands and uniform. The limp body of a man meeting their robber's description lay beside her, a single bullet hole in his back.
Bosco was kneeling to the side of the focus of gunfire, panting heavily, and shaking his head. He was bloodied here and there, but looked unharmed. Blood coated his hands from where he had tried to help, but from the look in the brown eyes, he had known already that it was too late.
Laying face down in the centre of it all was what remained of Officer Daniel Spencer, his body ripped apart by numerous bullets that had been heard for blocks around. His hat had fallen from his head, and rolled away, a single hole in the top of it. Spencer hadn't even gotten around to removing his revolver to defend himself.
"Bosco..." Faith breathed, trying to take her eyes off the body, but finding she was unable to.
Her partner looked up at her, and mouthed words, before finally managing to say, "I didn't see anybody."
Faith nodded slowly, and clicked her radio, managing to say, "Central, this is 5-5-David... we have a 10-13, officer down, in the alley at the corner of Cathedral and Manhattan. Officer Spencer is DOA, repeat... DOA."
* * *
Bobby couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had spoken with Officer Spencer on several occassions, and he had just watched the coroner scoop what was left of him into a body bag. He and Kim had gone down into the alley to assess his condition, agreeing with Yokas' statement of the man being DOA. He hadn't stood a chance.
Now Bobby was taking a look over a stunned and quiet Bosco, having told the officer to remove his shirt so he could check him properly. From the looks of it, he was unharmed, just stunned. There had been blood on his hands and a little on his neck, but bobby figured it was just from the body of Spencer, nothing more.
A detective stood behind Kim as she checked Officer Hinds, and had a notebook open, and was staring at Bosco.
"Officer Boscorelli?"
"What?" Bosco grumbled unhappily as Bobby checked his blood pressure. He fastened the padded device around his arm, and listened discreetly. He saw Bosco's eyes turn to the detective.
The other man stared right back, tilting his head forward as he asked once again, for what to be the third time, "Did you see any of the shooters?"
Bosco sat for a moment saying nothing, before shaking his head and replying, "I didn't see a thing. I... I just heard the shots start and grabbed Hinds."
"And you did what exactly?"
"Are you kiddin' me? We tried not to get ourselves shot." Bosco got to his feet, against Bobby's quiet advice, almost taking the equipment with him. "You tellin' me you'd stand up and let yourself get killed in that situation?"
Yokas moved closer, hesitating for a moment, glancing between the detective and her partner.
"And you were unable to retrieve Officer Spencer?"
Bosco's glare hardened, and he took another step forward, even as Bobby took a moment to remove the blood pressure pad from his arm and move back.
"I did what I thought was right."
Yokas was at her partner's side at once, taking a hold of his forearm as if in warning. Bosco's eyes never left the detective.
"So you were unable to retrieve Offic-"
"How about you stop askin' him stupid questions, huh?" Yokas cut in, in defence of her partner, her own gaze boring into the detective now.
Bobby watched the exchange with muted interest, trying to keep out of it, unwilling to get involved.
"Bobby, he okay?" Yokas asked without glancing back.
"Yeah, he's fine," Bobby responded calmly, nodding for emphasis, knowing that the woman wasn't able to see his movement anyway. He started packing up his equipment, glancing momentarily to Kim, who sighed noticeably as she wrapped a blanket around Hinds.
"Come on, Bos', let's go." Yokas gave a gentle tug on her partner's arm, and the man stood for a moment, staring furiously at the detective, before he turned back to the bus and snatched his shirt and vest from inside, and stalked away.
The detective, whose name Bobby hadn't thought to remember, watched the two go, and sighed loudly, shaking his head. "I always seem to have trouble with those two."
"Maybe you shouldn't try to make things worse by accusing him," Kim interjected, moving over a little from Hinds, who was still crying, and trying to relay her perspective on the incident to another detective.
"That's not what I was doing," he told her, but didn't sound convinced. "I was simply asking him if he was unable to retrieve Officer Spencer from the line of fire as he had with Officer Hinds. It was a simple question."
"But obviously not what he wanted to hear," Kim added spitefully, crossing her arms. "You saw how he was. He felt bad enough without you asking him those things. I thought it was pretty obvious he couldn't help both of them without getting himself killed." She paused, letting the man face her. She stared at him in disgust. "At least he managed to save Hinds. You should be grateful he bothered." Kim moved away without so much as adding another syllable, and went about comforting the female officer.
Bobby felt the detective's eyes turn on him, and heard him say, "I'm just doing my job."
Badly, if you ask me, Bobby found himself thinking, and mumbled quietly, "She's right," before climbing back into the bus and closing the doors, shutting off any response the detective had come up with.
Bobby slid into the driver's seat, and patiently waited for Kim.
He reached up and activated his radio, saying, "Central, this is 5-5- David, we're at the scene of an armed robbery on Manhattan Avenue. No sign of suspect or weapons."
"5-5-David, this is Central. Ten-four."
Walking up behind his partner, he heard the shop owner ranting something about a tall black man wearing a leather jacket.
"Can you describe him any clearer for me, sir?" Yokas inquired, her notebook out and ready, her pen in her hand. She jotted down notes as the man replied.
"I'd say he was about six foot, shaved head, some kinda tattoo on his wrist."
"What kinda tattoo?" Bosco asked quickly, impatiently. He raised an eyebrow when the owner glanced his way, as if surprised that another cop was on the scene and asking questions.
"Um... looked like a snake," the owner replied.
"Okay, sir, can you tell us what happened?" was Yokas' next question, and her eyes floated to Bosco momentarily, squinting beneath her cap in the sun.
Bosco tilted his head and shrugged discreetly, listening to the owner's recollection of the incident.
"He just waltzed in when I was countin' the money in the cashier, and snatched it right outta my hand. It musta only been about eighty bucks, but he had a knife."
"A knife?"
The man looked to Bosco, puzzled at the request for repetition, and nodded. "Yeah, a knife. One of them switchblades."
"Did you see which way he went?" Yokas asked the man, glancing around the area for emphasis.
The man shrugged, looking around himself, and then responded, "He took off for Cathedral Parkway... down there." He pointed with a long finger, and stared at them. "You gonna go after him?"
For a moment, Bosco and Yokas looked at each other, before the former sighed, and nodded, walking away in the direction given to them. Yokas stayed behind to collect a detailed statement, or so Bosco figured.
He walked quickly, but casually, trying not to arouse suspicion from the passers by. They gave him only fleeting glances, and moved on their way.
Then Bosco heard a car pull up beside him, and he turned his head to see Spencer and Hinds climb out of their squad car, smiling at him. Bosco groaned under his breath, and furrowed his brow.
"What're you guys doin' here?"
Daniel Spencer moved up to walk beside Bosco, the older man a little taller, and by all means greyer. He was wrapped up unnecessarily in his policeman's jacket, zipped right up, topped off with hat. Grey eyes watched Bosco from beneath the peak of his hat. His partner, a younger woman by the name of Elizabeth Hinds was right on their tail. Her short black hair bobbed around her face limply, and her dark eyes flicked between the two men.
Bosco wasn't too keen on either of them, having had to deal with them on several occassions, none of which he cared to recall with a happy heart. They gave him nothing but grief, and seemed to enjoy making his life as miserable as possible.
"Heard you might need a hand, Maurice," Spencer teased, laughing quietly.
"Nothin' I can't handle," Bosco grumbled, and quickened his pace, desperate to lose the other officers.
But they were soon catching up to him, Hinds saying, "Wouldn't want you to get yourself into trouble, would we?"
Bosco glared at her momentarily, never stopping his walking, as he responded sarcastically, "How tragic would that be?"
Hinds chuckled, and shook her head at the retaliation she enjoyed so much. She always did like a good fight with Bosco; something the male cop despised... no more than the woman herself of course. She was constantly bitching with Yokas as well, and when those two got at each other's throat, even Bosco was tempted to run for cover. It was brutal.
"Got a description of the perp', Boscorelli?" Spencer inquired with a hint of mischief, strutting alongside him as they turned onto Cathedral Parkway, Bosco leading the way.
"Yeah," was all Bosco rewarded the ignorant man with, smiling subtlely as he knew how much his lack of divulgence would irritate the man.
"Not gonna share?" Hinds asked with a pout, "That's a little mean, don't ya' think? We're all on the same side here."
"You so sure about that?" Bosco inquired, his eyes catching a flicker of quick movement at the edge of the sidewalk, and he slowly moved in that direction.
"I got a feelin' you don't like us very much, Maurice," Spencer commented sarcastically, revelling in the displeasure he caused.
Bosco didn't even respond, and for a moment, Spencer looked triumphant at silencing the cop in front of him, before he realised his point of focus.
"Wait here," Bosco ordered them, holding up a hand, and heading off at a jog.
He heard a mumble behind him as Hinds asked, "Is he kiddin' me?"
Damn that woman, Bosco thought angrily, and ducked into the alley, eyes scanning the area, his hand hovering near his weapon. He heard Hinds and Spencer come up behind him, but he paid little attention to them, listening out for sounds.
A clatter of garbage cans made him turn his head to follow the sound, and he sprinted up the shady alley, glancing around fleetingly in search of the man. He ran the description through his head over and over again as he moved, just as a cat sped in front of him, alarming him. He stopped at once, hearing a small laugh behind him.
"That's it," he growled, and whirled, facing off Spencer. "I've had enough of you and your partner. You do nothin' but try to make my life as hard a possible, Yokas' too. What have you got against us anyway? Afraid of the competition?"
Before either Spencer or Hinds could respond, a hand reached out and grabbed a taut hold of Bosco's collar, slinging him back roughly. He crashed into a fence, and felt his hand reaching for his gun, just as the tall dark-skinned man emerged, eyes wild, and had a grip on him, forcing him back and to the fence behind.
"Spencer!" Bosco shouted, seeing the older man fumble for his weapon. The woman removed her gun, and aimed.
"Wait!" he yelled again, trying to remove the man's hands from him, just as he heard the gunshot, and felt the man in front of him halt in his movement abruptly. He slumped to the floor immediately after, eyes closing.
Bosco dropped to his knees, checking the man for a pulse, shaking his head.
Hinds moved over, gun still in her hands, still aimed on the dead man before her. Bosco rolled up a sleeve to reveal a serpent tattoo coiled around his wrist. His eyes glared up at Hinds.
"What?" she snapped, holding out her hands in confusion.
"You should've waited. He didn't have his weapon... you didn't need to shoot the guy," Bosco told her, rising to one knee only, waving a hand at her vaguely for emphasis, staring in accusation.
"What, now you don't want my help? I thought that was what you were after... a helping hand," Hinds snarled in reaction to his words.
Just as Bosco was about to give her a further piece of his mind, several loud gunshots erupted from all around, and he reached out and grabbed hold of her pants leg, tugging her down roughly to the floor, and covered his own head as the firing continued from somewhere out of sight.
* * *
Faith grabbed for her radio, and clicked the button, throwing her notebook into the squad car, and taking off at a run, feeling her hat fall from her head as she called into the device, "Bosco? What's goin' on?"
She didn't receive a response, and used the device again, saying, "Central, this is 5-5-David, requesting backup on Cathedral Parkway, at the corner of Manhattan. We have shots fired, officer in pursuit of robber."
"Central, Ten-Four, all units responding."
Hurry, she ordered them silently, snatching her gun from its holster, and skidding around the corner, seeing a crowd at the mouth of an alley.
"Move!" she barked to them, watching as they scattered so she could enter. Faith shooed them away further, telling them they needed to clear back to the other side of the street, and grabbed her radio again. "Bosco, can you hear me? Bosco... respond."
A final gunshot was fired, and she shook her head, seeing movement down the alley, and decided against her best judgement to go on in. In the distance she could hear sirens wailing in response to her call for backup.
Faith soon found herself halfway down the alley, and whispered harshly, "Bosco!"
"Faith, over here!"
She followed the sound of the familiar voice, feeling her relief at hearing him, and immediately dropped her weapon at the scene of chaos before her. She held a hand to her mouth in horror, and felt her knees weaken.
There was blood everywhere, and the garbage cans and bags were shredded by bullets that had torn into them with considerable force. Officer Elizabeth Hinds sat shaking in the uttermost corner of the alley, arms wrapped around her frame as tightly as she could manage, blood dotting her hands and uniform. The limp body of a man meeting their robber's description lay beside her, a single bullet hole in his back.
Bosco was kneeling to the side of the focus of gunfire, panting heavily, and shaking his head. He was bloodied here and there, but looked unharmed. Blood coated his hands from where he had tried to help, but from the look in the brown eyes, he had known already that it was too late.
Laying face down in the centre of it all was what remained of Officer Daniel Spencer, his body ripped apart by numerous bullets that had been heard for blocks around. His hat had fallen from his head, and rolled away, a single hole in the top of it. Spencer hadn't even gotten around to removing his revolver to defend himself.
"Bosco..." Faith breathed, trying to take her eyes off the body, but finding she was unable to.
Her partner looked up at her, and mouthed words, before finally managing to say, "I didn't see anybody."
Faith nodded slowly, and clicked her radio, managing to say, "Central, this is 5-5-David... we have a 10-13, officer down, in the alley at the corner of Cathedral and Manhattan. Officer Spencer is DOA, repeat... DOA."
* * *
Bobby couldn't believe what he was seeing. He had spoken with Officer Spencer on several occassions, and he had just watched the coroner scoop what was left of him into a body bag. He and Kim had gone down into the alley to assess his condition, agreeing with Yokas' statement of the man being DOA. He hadn't stood a chance.
Now Bobby was taking a look over a stunned and quiet Bosco, having told the officer to remove his shirt so he could check him properly. From the looks of it, he was unharmed, just stunned. There had been blood on his hands and a little on his neck, but bobby figured it was just from the body of Spencer, nothing more.
A detective stood behind Kim as she checked Officer Hinds, and had a notebook open, and was staring at Bosco.
"Officer Boscorelli?"
"What?" Bosco grumbled unhappily as Bobby checked his blood pressure. He fastened the padded device around his arm, and listened discreetly. He saw Bosco's eyes turn to the detective.
The other man stared right back, tilting his head forward as he asked once again, for what to be the third time, "Did you see any of the shooters?"
Bosco sat for a moment saying nothing, before shaking his head and replying, "I didn't see a thing. I... I just heard the shots start and grabbed Hinds."
"And you did what exactly?"
"Are you kiddin' me? We tried not to get ourselves shot." Bosco got to his feet, against Bobby's quiet advice, almost taking the equipment with him. "You tellin' me you'd stand up and let yourself get killed in that situation?"
Yokas moved closer, hesitating for a moment, glancing between the detective and her partner.
"And you were unable to retrieve Officer Spencer?"
Bosco's glare hardened, and he took another step forward, even as Bobby took a moment to remove the blood pressure pad from his arm and move back.
"I did what I thought was right."
Yokas was at her partner's side at once, taking a hold of his forearm as if in warning. Bosco's eyes never left the detective.
"So you were unable to retrieve Offic-"
"How about you stop askin' him stupid questions, huh?" Yokas cut in, in defence of her partner, her own gaze boring into the detective now.
Bobby watched the exchange with muted interest, trying to keep out of it, unwilling to get involved.
"Bobby, he okay?" Yokas asked without glancing back.
"Yeah, he's fine," Bobby responded calmly, nodding for emphasis, knowing that the woman wasn't able to see his movement anyway. He started packing up his equipment, glancing momentarily to Kim, who sighed noticeably as she wrapped a blanket around Hinds.
"Come on, Bos', let's go." Yokas gave a gentle tug on her partner's arm, and the man stood for a moment, staring furiously at the detective, before he turned back to the bus and snatched his shirt and vest from inside, and stalked away.
The detective, whose name Bobby hadn't thought to remember, watched the two go, and sighed loudly, shaking his head. "I always seem to have trouble with those two."
"Maybe you shouldn't try to make things worse by accusing him," Kim interjected, moving over a little from Hinds, who was still crying, and trying to relay her perspective on the incident to another detective.
"That's not what I was doing," he told her, but didn't sound convinced. "I was simply asking him if he was unable to retrieve Officer Spencer from the line of fire as he had with Officer Hinds. It was a simple question."
"But obviously not what he wanted to hear," Kim added spitefully, crossing her arms. "You saw how he was. He felt bad enough without you asking him those things. I thought it was pretty obvious he couldn't help both of them without getting himself killed." She paused, letting the man face her. She stared at him in disgust. "At least he managed to save Hinds. You should be grateful he bothered." Kim moved away without so much as adding another syllable, and went about comforting the female officer.
Bobby felt the detective's eyes turn on him, and heard him say, "I'm just doing my job."
Badly, if you ask me, Bobby found himself thinking, and mumbled quietly, "She's right," before climbing back into the bus and closing the doors, shutting off any response the detective had come up with.
Bobby slid into the driver's seat, and patiently waited for Kim.