Epilogue
WARNING: Character Death!
*
Back home in New York he gets a desk job. He'd like to get back on the streets but he doesn't trust anyone but Van or Billie to watch his back, and they don't let the new guy out there by himself. So he shuffles papers for the department between eight and five. People who didn't know him before know him as the silent one and assume he must have screwed up bad. People who did know him before think that his brother's death was the last straw and that his nerves can't take it any more. He misses Van. He misses Billie. But he knows he did the right thing. Sometimes he wonders if they miss him. He hopes they don't. Two months has he been doing this when he hears about a shoot-out in Los Angeles; one that killed six cops and thirteen thugs. Two of the cops were undercover. He knows it's them. He knows he should have been there. He manages to get a hold of the report and knows there was nothing he could have done. He looks at the one picture he has of Billie, one that he never handed over to Rudy and Randy; the one where her head is bent over the needle in her arm, but not bent enough for him not to believe that he doesn't see a flicker of disgust in her eyes. For a second there she seemed human, and he couldn't bear to part with it. He has no picture of Van. He would have liked one. He doesn't cry. He doesn't go to the funeral. Instead he bullies his Captain into letting him go under on his own. It's the only place left to go.
*
THE END
WARNING: Character Death!
*
Back home in New York he gets a desk job. He'd like to get back on the streets but he doesn't trust anyone but Van or Billie to watch his back, and they don't let the new guy out there by himself. So he shuffles papers for the department between eight and five. People who didn't know him before know him as the silent one and assume he must have screwed up bad. People who did know him before think that his brother's death was the last straw and that his nerves can't take it any more. He misses Van. He misses Billie. But he knows he did the right thing. Sometimes he wonders if they miss him. He hopes they don't. Two months has he been doing this when he hears about a shoot-out in Los Angeles; one that killed six cops and thirteen thugs. Two of the cops were undercover. He knows it's them. He knows he should have been there. He manages to get a hold of the report and knows there was nothing he could have done. He looks at the one picture he has of Billie, one that he never handed over to Rudy and Randy; the one where her head is bent over the needle in her arm, but not bent enough for him not to believe that he doesn't see a flicker of disgust in her eyes. For a second there she seemed human, and he couldn't bear to part with it. He has no picture of Van. He would have liked one. He doesn't cry. He doesn't go to the funeral. Instead he bullies his Captain into letting him go under on his own. It's the only place left to go.
*
THE END