Part 4 Consequences and Truths
Anita couldn't sleep, but she was afraid that if she tried to leave Lennie's arms she'd wake him. She knew he needed the sleep, so she rested in his arms and thought about their day together. She realized she'd sort of been playing house - cooking for him, helping him clean the apartment and do the laundry. For now it was fun, especially because he was right there with her the whole time, sharing the work, singing Broadway show tunes and hits from the 60s and 70s to her. As long as he never took it for granted that she should do those things for him, it would be okay.
Anita tried to think about the future they might have together but she couldn't see past this coming evening. She was a lot more frightened than she let on. She suspected Lennie knew that and hadn't argued with her saying they'd be alright because he was trying not to feed her fears or his own. She knew the Russian mob were not as virulent as they had been before the RICO Act prosecution, but she still wished she could be sure that if things went well this evening there wouldn't be any repercussions. She sighed, there were no guarantees, especially not in a cop's life.
Lennie woke and carefully stretched his arms so as not to jostle Anita.
"Hey baby, what time is it?" he asked.
"About 5:30, are you hungry?" she asked him.
He kissed her and then sporting a wolfish grin said, "For you, always".
"I meant for food," she laughed.
"I could stand a sandwich," Lennie said as he put on his boxers and pants.
"OK, where are my clothes?" Anita said looking around the bedroom, while clad only in her panties.
"Don't ask me, I was only concerned about getting them off you, not about where they landed. Besides I prefer you this way." Lennie replied making a half-hearted grab for her, which she danced away from taking his shirt out of his hands as she did.
"Fine, I'll just wear your shirt," she said with a smile.
As she put on his shirt and walked toward the kitchen Lennie laughed and shook his head, "Looks better on you anyway," he commented.
"How about you cut us up some fruit and get some drinks out and I'll make us some sandwiches?" she suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Lennie said as he set about slicing up an apple and a pear and peeling an orange.
Anita pulled out a loaf of rye bread from a breadbox on the countertop. She found some kosher dill pickles and a package of pastrami wrapped in butcher paper in the refrigerator. She took some of the meat out placing it in the microwave just long enough to get the chill of the frig off of it. She slathered deli mustard on several pieces of the rye and began constructing two pastrami sandwiches.
"Hey, what are doing," yelled Lennie as Anita threw the fat she'd trimmed from the pastrami in the trash, "You're throwing out the best part of the pastrami."
"No, I'm throwing out a bunch of fat that you don't need clogging your arteries," she countered.
Lennie sighed, "Oh great, so now I suppose I face a future of healthy eating-fake eggs, tofu, bean sprouts-"
"No, I'm not going to force a bunch of 'health food' on you. I'm just going to prepare the foods you like in healthier ways, so maybe I can have you with me for a long time, OK?" she asked tenderly.
Lennie pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head, "OK, since you put it that way."
After they finished their supper, Anita announced, "I'm gonna take a shower and get dressed."
"We could take our showers together. We'd save water, I could scrub your back and you could scrub mine and -"
"And we'd never get to the pool hall on time. No, I think I'll take my shower first and use up all the hot water so you have to take a cold shower," she teased.
"Now that's just uncalled for," Lennie responded.
As Anita was showering he reached in and turned the hot water off on her and she screeched, "Ooh, you're gonna pay for that mister!"
"Promise?" Lennie asked with a laugh.
Anita realized they were acting like kids and she was pretty sure she knew why - nerves. Tonight's undercover operations had them both spooked and this was one way to relieve some tension.
Lennie showered while Anita dressed and did her hair and makeup. She was wearing a sapphire blue short-sleeved sweater with a sweetheart neckline and a black leather skirt. When Lennie came out of the shower and saw how beautiful she looked, he remembered something he'd meant to give her earlier. He hurriedly dressed in a black silk shirt and his black dress pants, and then went out to find the small jewelry box he'd brought home from his shopping trip.
"Uh, I think maybe these might go with what you're wearing tonight?" Lennie said, as he offered her the jewelry box, hoping she'd like what he'd picked out.
She gasped as she saw the beautiful heart shaped diamond necklace and matching earrings.
"Lennie, this is beautiful. But, you shouldn't have spent so much money," she admonished him.
"I didn't spend more than I won last night, besides what good is money if I can't spend it on those I love?" he asked as he took the necklace from her and placed it around her neck.
"Well-"
"Look it makes me happy to give the jewelry to you and to see you wear it, OK?" he cajoled.
"All right," she said and turned to the task of putting the earrings on.
When they were dressed he went out to the closet and brought their guns down from the lock box.
"Need any help with that holster?" Lennie said trying to flirt with her some more.
"No, I'm fine," she replied rather flatly unable to make herself respond to his flirtatious remark.
"Hey," he said crossing to her and taking her in his arms, "remember, just like you said, things are gonna be OK. We have an ace in the hole, you know," he told her.
"What's that?" she asked perplexed.
"Not what, who, my partner. Ed won't let us down," Lennie said with certainty. He grabbed his leather jacket and cue case and they headed out the door.
As Anita and Lennie drove across Manhattan, Pete's pool hall began to fill up with people waiting to see Lennie play. The surveillance van was overcrowded too, as George Michaels, Jack McCoy and Emil Skoda joined Ed Green and the two AV techs.
"You know I'm gonna be a lot more effective if I'm inside that pool hall where I can actually see this guy," Emil said.
"I'm not putting a civilian in danger," Michaels said.
"There are plenty of other civilians in there," Skoda countered.
"Look Michaels, neither Emil or I have to take your orders and I for one enjoy seeing Lennie play in person. Come on Emil, it's too crowded in here anyway," Jack said as he grabbed his jacket and left the van.
Just as Lennie and Anita pulled up in front of the pool hall in the Lexus convertible, McCoy and Skoda walked up.
"Sharp ride, man," Jack said to Lennie.
Lennie stopped and talked to Jack and Emil like three guys talking about a cool car, when in actuality they were explaining that Emil wanted to be inside to be able to judge this hit man better. They proposed getting Skoda's recommendation on how to handle the guy to Lennie through Anita.
"Why not talk to me directly. Say you've got a proposition to discuss with me about my pool playing skills," Lennie countered.
"Hey, are we going in or not?" Anita asked, playing the part of a ticked off girlfriend to the tee.
"Yeah baby, just a second," Lennie said.
"Yeah baby?" Jack queried. "You're really getting into the part, aren't ya?"
Lennie shrugged and then gathered Anita to him to go into the pool hall.
The crowd in the pool hall greeted Lennie and Anita and it was obvious that a barstool had been saved for her and the center table for him. As he had last night, Lennie picked Anita up and put her on the barstool. Lennie asked Pete for a couple of diet cokes one with a lime twist, then he turned and said to no one in particular, "So somebody got the money to play me or am I just wasting my lady's time?"
"Lennie this is Paul Black," Steve, the better player Lennie had played last night, said as he presented a tall dark haired good-looking man. "I think he might give you an interesting game and he's got a pretty good roll with him too," Steve added.
Suddenly Lennie looked a bit concerned. He didn't know where his own roll of money was. Anita saw him checking his pockets and decided to ease his troubled mind.
"Lennie, " Anita called out to him, when he came over to her she reached in her evening bag and pulled out a large roll of bills. "When I was sorting the laundry today, I found your roll of bills in the pants you were wearing last night, so I added them to the winnings you gave me," she told him softly.
"What would I do with out you," Lennie said and gave her a kiss as he pocketed the bills.
"Hopefully you'll never have to find out," she said as he turned to head back to the pool table. He looked back and flashed her his most charming smile.
Lennie found that Paul Black was a better player than Steve had been but he still had no problem winning an 8ball match from him, pocketing $4500. He had developed a habit; he'd win a game and go collect a kiss from Anita while Paul racked the balls for the next game. His behavior didn't really draw anyone's attention, except Jack McCoy and Emil Skoda, who were debating whether their friends should move their act to Broadway or if it wasn't an act.
As Paul was talking to Lennie about the possibility of a 9ball match, which Lennie wasn't too keen on, three men entered the pool hall. Had the two larger men not been with him, the smaller man of the trio could have escaped notice. He was a very average fellow. About 5'9" and 155lbs with medium brown hair and brown eyes and fair complexion. There was absolutely nothing about him that stood out, his features were even and he had no scars or tattoos. That's what obviously made him the hit man. He could easily blend into a crowd and even a good description of him wouldn't do a cop much good. The way the two larger men interacted with him also told quite a story. They obviously respected him, perhaps even feared him and took suggestions from him as orders.
"Is it true that there is a certain pool shark here looking for some competition?" the newcomer asked in the sort of perfect English that suggested someone who had been raised in an upper class European family.
"Well, I don't know that I'd exactly call myself a pool shark but I have been looking for someone who could give me a run for my money," Lennie answered. "Lennie Briscoe and you would be?"
"Jurgen Schmidt," the 'hit man' answered. "Would you care for a few games of 8 ball at say $100 a ball?" Schmidt looked at Lennie totally ignoring Paul Black.
"Uh, Paul you mind, if I play this guy?" Lennie asked.
"No Lennie, go ahead, I may as well let someone else line your pockets," his most recent opponent said.
Lennie noticed how the two "bodyguards" took up positions at opposite ends of the pool hall, effectively covering the entrance and the exit. The one near the entrance put a satchel down next to him. But what Lennie noticed most was the way Schmidt looked at Anita. His undisguised appraisal of her made Lennie's blood pressure spike and when he looked at Anita he could swear she was shivering.
"Well then, I guess we play, Jurgen is it?" Lennie asked.
"Yes Lennie, shall we lag for the break?" Schmidt asked in an overly courteous way.
Lennie purposely lost the lag, so Jurgen could break and he'd have a chance to check on Anita.
"You OK, Anita?" he asked her, very concerned.
"Yes, there was just something about the way he looked at me that was very disconcerting," she answered sounding a bit shaky.
"Yeah, I know I wanted to take my stick up aside his head when I saw how he was looking at you," Lennie told her and then he kissed her softly. "I won't let him hurt you baby," Lennie promised.
"Your up Lennie," someone yelled.
Lennie looked over the table, Jurgen had done fairly well, he'd taken solids and only had two balls left to sink. He'd also left Lennie pretty badly hooked. Lennie surveyed the table from several different angles and finally settled on a masse shot that allowed him to sink the 14 ball, he then proceeded to run the table yet again. Lennie couldn't believe how hot he'd been these last few evenings. Lennie offered that Jurgen could break for the next game.
During the game McCoy and Skoda discussed the hit man and they also discussed Lennie and Anita.
"I don't know Jack, if Lennie really cares about her, and I think he does, then this gets more complicated. He may react instinctively to the situation rather than with a cool clear head. And this guy, Jack, needs to be handled by some one who is definitely cool headed and in control of his emotions," Emil declared.
"What, have you already got this guy figured out?" Jack said a bit incredulous.
"Not entirely but I've seen some clues. He's very self-confident and there's something about him. Look at how those Russian bodyguards obey him, almost as though they are afraid of him. Plus there's the way he looked at Anita, like she was prey he would hunt down and enjoy devouring. I could see her literally shiver when Schmidt looked at her and she's not a woman who is easily frightened, yet she senses something about him that is dangerous," Skoda concluded.
"Should we call Lennie over now to talk to him?" McCoy asked.
"No, let's give it a few more games, lets see how Jurgen likes constantly being beaten by Lennie," Skoda said.
On the third game Schmidt got lucky and ran out from the break, so this time it was Lennie's turn to rack and break. While he did so Jurgen went over to the bar for a drink, at least that was his cover but actually he went over to torment Anita. He knew she was frightened of him. All his chosen victims were. He loved to build the fear in them. This one would be a bit different, he could tell because she resisted showing her fear. He liked that in a victim, it was so much sweeter when that kind gave into the terror.
"Hello, lovely lady. Did I hear Lennie call you Anita?" Jurgen asked in a sticky sweet voice.
"I suppose you might have, as that's my name," Anita replied coolly.
"So tell me, are you and Lennie permanently attached or is yours more of an open arrangement?" Jurgen asked as he stroked her arm.
Lennie had taken the break and was lining up his first shot when he saw Schmidt touch Anita's arm. He immediately strode quickly away from the table, cue stick in hand, toward Schmidt.
"It's quite permanent and I'll thank you to keep your hands to yourself Mr. Schmidt," Anita told him firmly.
"And she better not have to tell you twice or our friendly little game of pool won't be so very friendly," Lennie said, reversing his cue in his hand so he now wielded the butt end like a club.
"Now, now dear Lennie, let's not get violent over a simple misunderstanding. I'd simply forgotten how possessive you Americans can be," Schmidt responded in his most obsequious manner.
"I'm not being possessive, that would imply that Anita is my property and she most definitely is not. The only person Anita belongs to is herself. She's with me because she chooses to be, I'm just defending her choice," Lennie corrected Schmidt.
"I stand corrected. Please forgive me," Schmidt said somehow managing to sound courteous without sounding apologetic.
"Two points for Lennie," Jack said to Emil.
"Not really," Skoda countered as Lennie and Schmidt agreed to get back to the game.
"What do you mean? Don't you agree with his viewpoint?" McCoy asked in a tone that said he challenged Skoda to be so politically incorrect.
"I agree with his viewpoint about women not being possessions, but I certainly don't share his motivation," Emil countered.
"His motivation?" Jack asked.
"Remember I said I thought Lennie really did have feelings for Anita?" Skoda asked and McCoy nodded.
"Well, I'm now sure he does," Emil explained.
"What makes you say that?" Jack asked.
"If he didn't, if he were just acting, his response to Schmidt's 'move' on Anita wouldn't have been so swift or so intense. He'd have needed a moment to think about how he should react, rather than just reacting," Emil answered.
"And you're sure that could cause problems?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, although Lennie seemed to rein himself in pretty quickly this time, if he really looses his cool with this guy the next time he provokes Lennie, and there will be a next time, loosing his cool could be the last mistake Lennie makes," Skoda concluded.
"So you got a pretty good read on this guy then?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, and I probably better clue Lennie in before he causes himself some real trouble," Skoda replied. He then stood up and moved toward the table at which Lennie and Schmidt were playing. Jack followed him.
They hovered near the table and after Lennie called and sank the eight ball, Skoda said to Lennie, "Could we talk with you?"
"My partner and I have a business proposition for you," Jack added.
Lennie turned to Schmidt, "Do you mind Jurgen?"
"No, please go ahead I'll take a little break," Schmidt said.
Before moving off to a distant table with McCoy and Skoda, Lennie looked to make sure Schmidt wasn't bothering Anita again. When he saw Schmidt talking to Pete, the pool hall owner, he relaxed a bit and joined McCoy and Skoda.
"So gentleman, what do you have to tell me? " Lennie asked.
"You can't help yourself, can you?" Emil asked Lennie.
"What do you mean?" Lennie asked.
"You had to check to make sure Schmidt wasn't bothering Anita, didn't you?" Skoda asked.
"Something wrong with that?" Lennie asked defensively.
"Not if it's just a check on your partner in this operation, but its not is it?"
"What are trying to say, Skoda?" Lennie asked a bit ticked off.
"Well, this guy Schmidt is dangerous enough, without the added distraction of what seems to be going on between you and Van Buren," Skoda said.
"How dangerous?" Lennie asked, trying to gloss over what Skoda was hinting at.
"Let's just say that Anita is not the only person in this room he sees as an object. In fact you might be the only person in this room that he sees as anything other than background noise and scenery," Skoda said by way of explanation.
"So what's your recommendation for handling him?" Lennie asked, his attitude still reflecting an annoyance with Skoda.
"Handle him carefully, but firmly. Make sure you're thinking, not just reacting. One misstep with this guy could be your last. Remember he makes his living killing people and he probably enjoys his work," Skoda replied.
"You think he's gonna press for me to use Anita as a table stake?" Lennie asked the question that was pressing on his mind.
"Yes, you'll know for sure if he tries to clear the pool hall out or get you to go with him somewhere for a private game," Emil answered.
"And what do I say or do in that case?" Lennie asked.
"Well, with your little lecture on Anita not being your property, he should expect you to resist the suggestion, so do that. He will then probably push very hard, maybe hard enough to arrest him just based on that, although from what Michaels says he wants something on this guy that will really stick," Skoda commented.
"Yeah well I don't give a rat's ass what that moron Michaels wants. Freaking idiot wanted me to lose Anita to this psycho so she'd be on the inside," Lennie said, obviously still upset about it.
At Skoda's skeptical look Jack nodded, "Wow, this isn't a professional opinion, but Michaels may be short a few bricks," Emil declared.
"Well, I better get back to the pool table," Lennie said, but as he started to leave McCoy put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"Lennie, I may be stepping over the line here, but don't you think you've had your heart broken often enough in your life without going after your married supervisor?" Jack asked.
"You're right on a couple of things Jack, you are over the line and I've had my heart broken quite a few times, but you're also wrong, Anita's in the process of getting divorced and for the first time in my life, my heart's being mended," Lennie told Jack and then walked away.
"Boy you're right. He's got it bad," Jack said with a small laugh.
"Yeah, well at least he made it sound like it's a two way street," Emil added and Jack nodded.
Lennie's mood hadn't been improved any by his conversation with Jack and Skoda, but he channeled his anger into his game, running the table even faster than he normally did. He took his normal break between games and headed for Anita.
"What did Jack and Skoda have to say?" Anita asked.
"About what you'd expect, Schmidt is a dangerous guy with little regard for human life. Skoda expects him to propose a private game and soon. He also thinks our relationship might make things more difficult. He's worried I'll react first and think later," Lennie said as he took a sip of her drink.
"Is he right?" Anita asked.
"No, baby, he's not. If I don't think before I act, I might put you in danger and I won't do that," Lennie said then kissed her and turned to go back to the table.
At the end of the match Schmidt handed him $6000 and then looked back at Pete.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have agreed to close the hall a little early to allow our friend Lennie to play a private game with Mr. Schmidt. I must ask you all to leave now, but please come back Monday evening for more fun," Pete announced.
Amidst a lot of grousing the crowd inside of Pete's slowly dispersed. Skoda stopped for a moment and told Lennie to remember what he'd said. Eventually there were only 6 people in the pool hall, Pete, the pool hall owner, Lennie and Anita and Schmidt and his bodyguards.
"Shall we increase the wager a bit, Lennie?" Schmidt asked.
"Why would you want to do that? You haven't managed to win more than one game the whole night. Have you been holding back Jurgen, trying to hustle me?" Lennie asked suspiciously.
"Perhaps I have. Do you feel lucky?" Schmidt said trying to goad Lennie.
"Luck has little to do with my game. What stakes are you interested in?" Lennie asked
"How about $5000 a ball, first one to five games wins the match," Schmidt proposed.
Lennie quickly did the math in his head, the take could be between $25,000 and $200,000 depending on whether the match was close or the winner managed to run the table on each game.
"I can't cover that large a bet," Lennie said.
"Oh, but of course you can, you have something you can use as collateral," Schmidt said in his oily voice.
Lennie tensed a bit knowing what Schmidt was going to suggest.
"What's that?" Lennie said as though he didn't have any idea.
"Why your lovely lady Anita, she's easily worth a couple hundred thousand," Schmidt said.
"I guess you didn't understand me earlier, she's not my property. She's not an object to be used as collateral," Lennie said trying to hold back his feelings.
"Oh that's right you said she belongs to herself and makes her own choices. So let's ask her," Schmidt proposed then turned to Anita.
"Anita darling, would you consent to be Lennie's collateral for this next match or," he paused and walked over to the satchel the bodyguard had set down earlier and quickly removed a hand gun and then spun back around leveling the gun at Lennie, "should I just shoot him and Mr. Artemis, " Schmidt motioned toward the pool hall owner who was standing behind the bar. Pete looked frightened and the bodyguards shifted enough to let him know they were armed and didn't want him to move.
"No! Don't shoot them," Anita said quickly then she drew closer to the table Lennie and Schmidt had been using. She turned to Lennie, "It's OK, I know you'll win," she tried to say confidently.
In the surveillance van an argument broke out about whether to send in uniformed back up or wait.
"Wait for what?' Wait for him to make good his threat and blow Lennie away?" Ed yelled at Michaels.
"Wait for this guy to admit to something. Right now all we've got him for is felony menacing, we need something we can use for leverage, so he rolls on the people who hired him," Michaels said.
Ed moved nearer the door of the van and kept his eyes on the screen showing what was going on in the pool hall.
Schmidt took stacks of bills out of the satchel and placed them on a nearby table then put his gun on top of the bills.
"I'll even let you break first, Lennie," Schmidt said.
Lennie sighed and then nodded. As he racked the balls he decided to try and get Schmidt to talk. "I can't figure it out Schmidt, why do you want to do this so badly?" Lennie asked.
"I doubt you could understand, my friend. But I have a little job to do tomorrow and it would so help me to spend the evening with this lovely lady prior to the job," Schmidt asked.
Lennie broke and proceeded to run the table as he seemed to always be able to do this weekend.
"Why Anita? Why not another woman?" Lennie asked.
"Because another woman doesn't belong to you," Schmidt answered as he racked up the balls for his turn to break.
Schmidt was doing fairly well in the second game and then Anita began moving nervously around the table. Her movement annoyed Schmidt and he walked over to the table where his gun lay.
"Anita darling, if you don't stay still I might have to punish Mr. Artemis for what you're doing, " Schmidt said and toyed with his gun.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong," she replied frightened of what Schmidt might do.
"Of course you didn't darling. I should of known it was inadvertent. You wouldn't try to give Lennie an unfair advantage, would you?" Schmidt said to her.
The match continued, as did the argument in the surveillance van. Although Schmidt's game was markedly improved he still lost to Lennie.
"Well, that's match," Lennie said as he sunk the eight ball in the pocket he had called.
"Yes it is," Schmidt said as he went to the table that held the stack of money and his gun.
"But I'm afraid I'm going to have to renege a bit on the bet. You can take the money, but I really need Anita," Schmidt said as he leveled his gun at Lennie's midsection.
When Ed Green saw Schmidt aim his gun at his partner, he decided he didn't care whether Michaels thought he had enough on Schmidt or not, his partner needed him to cover his back.
"Careful Mr. Artemis, I'd hate to have to shoot you, it would be such a waste of ammunition," Schmidt said as he noticed the pool hall owner moving behind the bar. The man froze where he was.
Lennie saw Ed Green coming down the street out of the corner of his eye and knew that the conclusion of this little drama was only moments away and he needed to think clearly and quickly about the right thing to do.
"You can keep your money but Anita's not going anywhere with you," Lennie told Schmidt coolly and took what he hoped looked like a protective step backwards to bring him to Anita's side.
"You're a remarkable man, Lennie Briscoe. A master pool player and a man with the courage to defy a man holding a gun on him," Schmidt said.
Just then Ed Green threw open the front door of the pool hall and shouted "Police, freeze!"
Schmidt and his bodyguards all turned towards Ed, but Schmidt was the only one who already had his gun out, he fired at Ed hitting him in the left shoulder. While Schmidt and the bodyguards were momentarily distracted, Lennie reached for the nearest gun he knew of, the one Anita had in her thigh holster, withdrawing the gun and at the same time pushing Anita down out of the line of fire. Ed took cover behind a table just in time to avoid Schmidt's second shot and although wounded, Ed simulataneously returned fire on the bodyguard who was behind Lennie, while Lennie plugged the one near the door. Ed then slumped to the floor. Lennie turned his weapon on Schmidt as Schmidt turned on Lennie.
"Mexican standoff," Schmidt said.
"Not really," Anita said from her position on the floor. While the men had been exchanging fire she had reached for the nearest gun available to her, the one in Lennie's ankle holster. She had crawled under the pool table to end up just a few feet from Schmidt holding Lennie's .38 in both hands and aiming it at Schmidt's crotch.
"Unless you've always had a burning desire to become a eunuch, I'd put the gun down," Anita advised Schmidt. He quickly complied.
Lennie moved around the pool table and looked down at Anita. He felt incredibly proud of her.
"Put your hands on your head," Lennie ordered Schmidt.
Uniformed officers finally came through both the front and back doors of the pool hall and began assessing the situation.
"About time back up got here," Lennie said. He decided to let the backups cuff and Mirandize Schmidt so he wouldn't get caught up in paperwork. He moved to the front of the pool hall to check on Ed.
"Here, " Lennie said as he handed Anita's 38 to a passing officer, "they'll want this, I used it to dispatch that one," he said as he pointed to the dead bodyguard near the front door.
"Where's EMS," Lennie yelled as he knelt beside his partner Ed Green.
"They're on their way, " one of the uniformed officer's assured Lennie.
"Hey partner, how you doing?" Lennie asked as he tried to inspect Ed's wound.
"I'd like to lie to you and say I'm fine but it hurts like a bitch," Ed admitted weakly.
Lennie lifted Ed slightly to see if the bullet had gone through his shoulder, it had. Ed groaned and Lennie settled him back down.
"Pete give me a couple of clean bar towels," Lennie requested.
Pete quickly brought Lennie two clean towels and Lennie placed one under Ed's back at the exit wound and the other over the entrance wound on his shoulder. He applied pressure to try to get the wound to stop bleeding and Ed groaned.
Lennie thought he'd better talk to Ed to keep his mind off the pain.
"Not that I'm complaining mind you, but what's with the bad Tonto imitation?" Lennie asked his wounded partner.
"Tonto?" Ed asked bewildered.
"Yeah, you know, the Lone Ranger would always get in trouble and Tonto would come along and bail him out, except Tonto usually brought the local sheriff or somebody to help out" Lennie said.
"Yeah well, the local sheriff wasn't George Michaels," Ed said weakly.
Blood was soaking through the bar towel and Lennie was growing very concerned for his partner.
"Where the hell is the EMS?" Lennie growled.
"Right here, sir," an ambulance attendant said as he maneuvered a stretcher into the space near Ed.
"He's bleeding pretty badly," Lennie told the EMS tech.
"We'll take good care of him, sir. If you'll just give us some room to work on him," the tech said gently and Lennie rose, relinquishing his position next to Ed to the ambulance crew.
As he stood and looked around the pool hall he saw Michaels talking to Anita and strode over to them, his anger just barely in check.
"Ah Detective Briscoe I'd like to have-"
"I don't give a damn what you'd like. Here," Lennie said as he reached out and took Michaels hands, smearing the blood that had seeped through the bar towels from Ed's shoulder wound onto his hands over Michaels' hands, "I think it's only appropriate you have Ed Green's blood on your hands since it was your half-assed decision that got him shot."
Lennie walked away from a shocked Michaels to go wash his hands of Ed's blood.
Michaels looked at Lennie's back and then turned to look at Anita expectantly.
"Don't look at me to apologize for him. I happen to agree with him," Anita said as she moved away from Michaels.
Alfie Kiefer was helping out the CSI tech that was bagging evidence, when they came across the stack of money on the pool table, "Don't bag that," Alfie said suddenly.
"Why not," the tech asked.
"That belongs to Lennie," Alfie answered.
"Huh?" the tech responded.
"Jack McCoy told him he wouldn't be prosecuted for gambling while on this undercover operation and that anything he won was his, I heard him talking about it with the shrink. Lennie won that money, it's his," Alfie said emphatically.
"That's right. I'll take it for him," Anita said taking an unmarked evidence bag and shoving the money in it.
Just then Lennie came up, his hands now clean and said to Anita, "Let's go to the hospital and find out how Ed is."
"OK, I think that's a good idea. Oh and here's your gun," Anita responded as she handed Lennie his .38. Lennie squatted down and tucked it back in the ankle holster.
"Lennie, don't forget your stick," Pete said as he handed him his case.
"Thanks Pete, wouldn't want to forget this," Lennie said.
"You come back anytime Lennie. Table's always free for you," Pete told him.
Lennie nodded and maneuvered Anita out of the pool hall through the throng of police officers and curious bystanders to the Lexus. They headed off towards the nearest Emergency Room to find out how Ed was.
Lennie looked over and saw the bag in Anita's lap. "What's that?"
"Your winnings from the last match," she answered.
"Uh, I don't think that's really mine," he said a bit shocked.
"Jack McCoy said you could keep anything you won," she said.
"He was joking," Lennie said, although a small voice inside him was saying, 'I won Anita in that last match. Does that mean I get to keep her?'
"Doesn't matter if he was, he said it and there were plenty of witnesses," Anita said.
Just then they arrived at the ER and she put the money in the glove compartment.
Lennie asked at the desk about Ed. Initially they balked at telling him anything until he fished his badge out of his pocket. They told him Ed was in surgery to repair blood vessels that had been damaged by the passage of the bullet. Then they asked him if he knew whom to contact in Ed's family. Lennie asked for Ed's cell phone, which was among his clothes. He looked through it and found Ed's sister's number and called her. He left it up to her as to whether to call Ed's father or not. Finally a doctor came out and told them Ed would be fine but that he wouldn't be up to visitors until tomorrow morning.
Lennie looked over and noticed that Anita looked exhausted. So he went over to her and said, "Let's go home".
She smiled at him and answered, "If that means your apartment, OK".
Lennie gently kissed Anita and then they put their arms around each other's waists as they walked to the car. They didn't see Ana Cordova and her partner Mark Johnson, who had decided to stop by the hospital at the end of their shift to see how Ed Green was, but they saw Lennie and Anita.
"Mark, we didn't see a thing, OK?" Ana Cordova implored her partner. "But-"
"No, we didn't see them like that Mark. If we say anything then they get in trouble," she said trying to convince her partner.
"Yeah well, they are breaking departmental policy, at least they are if what we saw means what I think it means," Mark argued.
"Look, first we don't know for sure if what we saw means what we think it does. Second they both looked happy. Why let stupid departmental policies screw that up?" Ana asked.
"Well, as long as nobody asks me about them, I won't tell anybody what I saw, OK?" Mark proposed and Ana nodded then went to the nurses station to ask about Ed.
When Lennie and Anita arrived at his apartment, Lennie went through his normal routine of taking off his gun and then realized he'd effectively lost Anita's gun for her for a time. Before he could say anything about that she handed him the bag of money and he heaved a sigh and added it to the lock box.
"I'm still not sure it was a good idea to take that money," Lennie said.
"Just be sure you report it as income and pay the taxes on it," she said to him with a smile.
"I'm going to take a shower," she said.
He wonder for a moment why she'd want another shower so soon and then he saw her unconsciously rub at her arm where Schmidt had touched her and he understood, she needed to shower to cleanse herself of that scum's touch.
"OK baby, looks like I've got some phone messages to listen to anyway," Lennie told her.
Anita heard the beginning of the first message as she undressed and set the shower temperature. She could almost imagine the smile on Lennie's face. The message was from Lennie's daughter Julia, she was hoping to set up a time to bring Lennie's grandson to visit. She didn't hear the next two messages, a long scathing one from Michaels telling Lennie he expected a report first thing Monday and was definitely filing a report about his behavior and a call from an officer with Internal Affairs requesting Lennie call immediately.
Anita stepped out of the shower to hear Lennie's side of a phone conversation.
"Yeah, this is Briscoe. I'm returning your call," he said then listened to what the person on the other side of the conversation said.
"Yes, I know but my partner was wounded and I wanted to check on him, and then I was just so exhausted I decided to go home," he answered.
"You've got the gun I used and a videotape of the incident what more do you need?" he asked sounding a bit exasperated.
"OK, how about first thing tomorrow morning?" Lennie suggested.
"Seven? On a Sunday?" he said a bit shocked.
"OK, OK Seven AM at One Police Plaza," Lennie reluctantly agreed.
"Sounds like you've got an early appointment for a grilling by IAB," Anita said as she came out of the bedroom wearing his robe and toweling her hair dry.
"Yeah, just a routine Officer Involved Shooting Investigation, unless they've already gotten Michaels' complaint," Lennie told her.
"Michaels' complaint?" she asked as she tossed the towel she'd used on her hair back toward the bathroom.
"Yeah, he called too, to tell me to get a report in to him first thing Monday and to inform me he'd made a formal complaint about my behavior tonight," Lennie said, obviously miffed at the guy.
Anita sighed, and placed a hand on Lennie's chest. "Let's just forget about it tonight and try to get some sleep," she suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds good," Lennie said and began to lead her to the bedroom.
She began to unbutton his shirt, running her hands over his chest and placing small kisses on his skin as it was exposed. He caught her wrists in his hands to stop her.
"You keep that up and we won't be sleeping," he said with a grin.
"You'll sleep better afterward," she said with a saucy grin and pulled him towards the bed.
Lennie was a bit surprised with himself, he wasn't a young man anymore and he was tired, but Anita's mere presence inspired him. He made love to her slowly and tenderly and then cradled her in his arms to sleep. But Anita had other things on her mind than sleeping. She started musing about all sorts of things they should consider in their relationship. When should they tell Ric and Julia about their relationship? Where should they live? How should they handle things at work?
"Baby, I gotta be up in about 5 hours and I'm not exactly at my best right now. Can we talk about all these important things tomorrow?" Lennie asked.
"Of course, I'm sorry," she said and kissed him, snuggling down into his shoulder to sleep. He kissed the top of her head, sighed and settled down to rest.
Anita couldn't sleep, but she was afraid that if she tried to leave Lennie's arms she'd wake him. She knew he needed the sleep, so she rested in his arms and thought about their day together. She realized she'd sort of been playing house - cooking for him, helping him clean the apartment and do the laundry. For now it was fun, especially because he was right there with her the whole time, sharing the work, singing Broadway show tunes and hits from the 60s and 70s to her. As long as he never took it for granted that she should do those things for him, it would be okay.
Anita tried to think about the future they might have together but she couldn't see past this coming evening. She was a lot more frightened than she let on. She suspected Lennie knew that and hadn't argued with her saying they'd be alright because he was trying not to feed her fears or his own. She knew the Russian mob were not as virulent as they had been before the RICO Act prosecution, but she still wished she could be sure that if things went well this evening there wouldn't be any repercussions. She sighed, there were no guarantees, especially not in a cop's life.
Lennie woke and carefully stretched his arms so as not to jostle Anita.
"Hey baby, what time is it?" he asked.
"About 5:30, are you hungry?" she asked him.
He kissed her and then sporting a wolfish grin said, "For you, always".
"I meant for food," she laughed.
"I could stand a sandwich," Lennie said as he put on his boxers and pants.
"OK, where are my clothes?" Anita said looking around the bedroom, while clad only in her panties.
"Don't ask me, I was only concerned about getting them off you, not about where they landed. Besides I prefer you this way." Lennie replied making a half-hearted grab for her, which she danced away from taking his shirt out of his hands as she did.
"Fine, I'll just wear your shirt," she said with a smile.
As she put on his shirt and walked toward the kitchen Lennie laughed and shook his head, "Looks better on you anyway," he commented.
"How about you cut us up some fruit and get some drinks out and I'll make us some sandwiches?" she suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Lennie said as he set about slicing up an apple and a pear and peeling an orange.
Anita pulled out a loaf of rye bread from a breadbox on the countertop. She found some kosher dill pickles and a package of pastrami wrapped in butcher paper in the refrigerator. She took some of the meat out placing it in the microwave just long enough to get the chill of the frig off of it. She slathered deli mustard on several pieces of the rye and began constructing two pastrami sandwiches.
"Hey, what are doing," yelled Lennie as Anita threw the fat she'd trimmed from the pastrami in the trash, "You're throwing out the best part of the pastrami."
"No, I'm throwing out a bunch of fat that you don't need clogging your arteries," she countered.
Lennie sighed, "Oh great, so now I suppose I face a future of healthy eating-fake eggs, tofu, bean sprouts-"
"No, I'm not going to force a bunch of 'health food' on you. I'm just going to prepare the foods you like in healthier ways, so maybe I can have you with me for a long time, OK?" she asked tenderly.
Lennie pulled her to him and kissed the top of her head, "OK, since you put it that way."
After they finished their supper, Anita announced, "I'm gonna take a shower and get dressed."
"We could take our showers together. We'd save water, I could scrub your back and you could scrub mine and -"
"And we'd never get to the pool hall on time. No, I think I'll take my shower first and use up all the hot water so you have to take a cold shower," she teased.
"Now that's just uncalled for," Lennie responded.
As Anita was showering he reached in and turned the hot water off on her and she screeched, "Ooh, you're gonna pay for that mister!"
"Promise?" Lennie asked with a laugh.
Anita realized they were acting like kids and she was pretty sure she knew why - nerves. Tonight's undercover operations had them both spooked and this was one way to relieve some tension.
Lennie showered while Anita dressed and did her hair and makeup. She was wearing a sapphire blue short-sleeved sweater with a sweetheart neckline and a black leather skirt. When Lennie came out of the shower and saw how beautiful she looked, he remembered something he'd meant to give her earlier. He hurriedly dressed in a black silk shirt and his black dress pants, and then went out to find the small jewelry box he'd brought home from his shopping trip.
"Uh, I think maybe these might go with what you're wearing tonight?" Lennie said, as he offered her the jewelry box, hoping she'd like what he'd picked out.
She gasped as she saw the beautiful heart shaped diamond necklace and matching earrings.
"Lennie, this is beautiful. But, you shouldn't have spent so much money," she admonished him.
"I didn't spend more than I won last night, besides what good is money if I can't spend it on those I love?" he asked as he took the necklace from her and placed it around her neck.
"Well-"
"Look it makes me happy to give the jewelry to you and to see you wear it, OK?" he cajoled.
"All right," she said and turned to the task of putting the earrings on.
When they were dressed he went out to the closet and brought their guns down from the lock box.
"Need any help with that holster?" Lennie said trying to flirt with her some more.
"No, I'm fine," she replied rather flatly unable to make herself respond to his flirtatious remark.
"Hey," he said crossing to her and taking her in his arms, "remember, just like you said, things are gonna be OK. We have an ace in the hole, you know," he told her.
"What's that?" she asked perplexed.
"Not what, who, my partner. Ed won't let us down," Lennie said with certainty. He grabbed his leather jacket and cue case and they headed out the door.
As Anita and Lennie drove across Manhattan, Pete's pool hall began to fill up with people waiting to see Lennie play. The surveillance van was overcrowded too, as George Michaels, Jack McCoy and Emil Skoda joined Ed Green and the two AV techs.
"You know I'm gonna be a lot more effective if I'm inside that pool hall where I can actually see this guy," Emil said.
"I'm not putting a civilian in danger," Michaels said.
"There are plenty of other civilians in there," Skoda countered.
"Look Michaels, neither Emil or I have to take your orders and I for one enjoy seeing Lennie play in person. Come on Emil, it's too crowded in here anyway," Jack said as he grabbed his jacket and left the van.
Just as Lennie and Anita pulled up in front of the pool hall in the Lexus convertible, McCoy and Skoda walked up.
"Sharp ride, man," Jack said to Lennie.
Lennie stopped and talked to Jack and Emil like three guys talking about a cool car, when in actuality they were explaining that Emil wanted to be inside to be able to judge this hit man better. They proposed getting Skoda's recommendation on how to handle the guy to Lennie through Anita.
"Why not talk to me directly. Say you've got a proposition to discuss with me about my pool playing skills," Lennie countered.
"Hey, are we going in or not?" Anita asked, playing the part of a ticked off girlfriend to the tee.
"Yeah baby, just a second," Lennie said.
"Yeah baby?" Jack queried. "You're really getting into the part, aren't ya?"
Lennie shrugged and then gathered Anita to him to go into the pool hall.
The crowd in the pool hall greeted Lennie and Anita and it was obvious that a barstool had been saved for her and the center table for him. As he had last night, Lennie picked Anita up and put her on the barstool. Lennie asked Pete for a couple of diet cokes one with a lime twist, then he turned and said to no one in particular, "So somebody got the money to play me or am I just wasting my lady's time?"
"Lennie this is Paul Black," Steve, the better player Lennie had played last night, said as he presented a tall dark haired good-looking man. "I think he might give you an interesting game and he's got a pretty good roll with him too," Steve added.
Suddenly Lennie looked a bit concerned. He didn't know where his own roll of money was. Anita saw him checking his pockets and decided to ease his troubled mind.
"Lennie, " Anita called out to him, when he came over to her she reached in her evening bag and pulled out a large roll of bills. "When I was sorting the laundry today, I found your roll of bills in the pants you were wearing last night, so I added them to the winnings you gave me," she told him softly.
"What would I do with out you," Lennie said and gave her a kiss as he pocketed the bills.
"Hopefully you'll never have to find out," she said as he turned to head back to the pool table. He looked back and flashed her his most charming smile.
Lennie found that Paul Black was a better player than Steve had been but he still had no problem winning an 8ball match from him, pocketing $4500. He had developed a habit; he'd win a game and go collect a kiss from Anita while Paul racked the balls for the next game. His behavior didn't really draw anyone's attention, except Jack McCoy and Emil Skoda, who were debating whether their friends should move their act to Broadway or if it wasn't an act.
As Paul was talking to Lennie about the possibility of a 9ball match, which Lennie wasn't too keen on, three men entered the pool hall. Had the two larger men not been with him, the smaller man of the trio could have escaped notice. He was a very average fellow. About 5'9" and 155lbs with medium brown hair and brown eyes and fair complexion. There was absolutely nothing about him that stood out, his features were even and he had no scars or tattoos. That's what obviously made him the hit man. He could easily blend into a crowd and even a good description of him wouldn't do a cop much good. The way the two larger men interacted with him also told quite a story. They obviously respected him, perhaps even feared him and took suggestions from him as orders.
"Is it true that there is a certain pool shark here looking for some competition?" the newcomer asked in the sort of perfect English that suggested someone who had been raised in an upper class European family.
"Well, I don't know that I'd exactly call myself a pool shark but I have been looking for someone who could give me a run for my money," Lennie answered. "Lennie Briscoe and you would be?"
"Jurgen Schmidt," the 'hit man' answered. "Would you care for a few games of 8 ball at say $100 a ball?" Schmidt looked at Lennie totally ignoring Paul Black.
"Uh, Paul you mind, if I play this guy?" Lennie asked.
"No Lennie, go ahead, I may as well let someone else line your pockets," his most recent opponent said.
Lennie noticed how the two "bodyguards" took up positions at opposite ends of the pool hall, effectively covering the entrance and the exit. The one near the entrance put a satchel down next to him. But what Lennie noticed most was the way Schmidt looked at Anita. His undisguised appraisal of her made Lennie's blood pressure spike and when he looked at Anita he could swear she was shivering.
"Well then, I guess we play, Jurgen is it?" Lennie asked.
"Yes Lennie, shall we lag for the break?" Schmidt asked in an overly courteous way.
Lennie purposely lost the lag, so Jurgen could break and he'd have a chance to check on Anita.
"You OK, Anita?" he asked her, very concerned.
"Yes, there was just something about the way he looked at me that was very disconcerting," she answered sounding a bit shaky.
"Yeah, I know I wanted to take my stick up aside his head when I saw how he was looking at you," Lennie told her and then he kissed her softly. "I won't let him hurt you baby," Lennie promised.
"Your up Lennie," someone yelled.
Lennie looked over the table, Jurgen had done fairly well, he'd taken solids and only had two balls left to sink. He'd also left Lennie pretty badly hooked. Lennie surveyed the table from several different angles and finally settled on a masse shot that allowed him to sink the 14 ball, he then proceeded to run the table yet again. Lennie couldn't believe how hot he'd been these last few evenings. Lennie offered that Jurgen could break for the next game.
During the game McCoy and Skoda discussed the hit man and they also discussed Lennie and Anita.
"I don't know Jack, if Lennie really cares about her, and I think he does, then this gets more complicated. He may react instinctively to the situation rather than with a cool clear head. And this guy, Jack, needs to be handled by some one who is definitely cool headed and in control of his emotions," Emil declared.
"What, have you already got this guy figured out?" Jack said a bit incredulous.
"Not entirely but I've seen some clues. He's very self-confident and there's something about him. Look at how those Russian bodyguards obey him, almost as though they are afraid of him. Plus there's the way he looked at Anita, like she was prey he would hunt down and enjoy devouring. I could see her literally shiver when Schmidt looked at her and she's not a woman who is easily frightened, yet she senses something about him that is dangerous," Skoda concluded.
"Should we call Lennie over now to talk to him?" McCoy asked.
"No, let's give it a few more games, lets see how Jurgen likes constantly being beaten by Lennie," Skoda said.
On the third game Schmidt got lucky and ran out from the break, so this time it was Lennie's turn to rack and break. While he did so Jurgen went over to the bar for a drink, at least that was his cover but actually he went over to torment Anita. He knew she was frightened of him. All his chosen victims were. He loved to build the fear in them. This one would be a bit different, he could tell because she resisted showing her fear. He liked that in a victim, it was so much sweeter when that kind gave into the terror.
"Hello, lovely lady. Did I hear Lennie call you Anita?" Jurgen asked in a sticky sweet voice.
"I suppose you might have, as that's my name," Anita replied coolly.
"So tell me, are you and Lennie permanently attached or is yours more of an open arrangement?" Jurgen asked as he stroked her arm.
Lennie had taken the break and was lining up his first shot when he saw Schmidt touch Anita's arm. He immediately strode quickly away from the table, cue stick in hand, toward Schmidt.
"It's quite permanent and I'll thank you to keep your hands to yourself Mr. Schmidt," Anita told him firmly.
"And she better not have to tell you twice or our friendly little game of pool won't be so very friendly," Lennie said, reversing his cue in his hand so he now wielded the butt end like a club.
"Now, now dear Lennie, let's not get violent over a simple misunderstanding. I'd simply forgotten how possessive you Americans can be," Schmidt responded in his most obsequious manner.
"I'm not being possessive, that would imply that Anita is my property and she most definitely is not. The only person Anita belongs to is herself. She's with me because she chooses to be, I'm just defending her choice," Lennie corrected Schmidt.
"I stand corrected. Please forgive me," Schmidt said somehow managing to sound courteous without sounding apologetic.
"Two points for Lennie," Jack said to Emil.
"Not really," Skoda countered as Lennie and Schmidt agreed to get back to the game.
"What do you mean? Don't you agree with his viewpoint?" McCoy asked in a tone that said he challenged Skoda to be so politically incorrect.
"I agree with his viewpoint about women not being possessions, but I certainly don't share his motivation," Emil countered.
"His motivation?" Jack asked.
"Remember I said I thought Lennie really did have feelings for Anita?" Skoda asked and McCoy nodded.
"Well, I'm now sure he does," Emil explained.
"What makes you say that?" Jack asked.
"If he didn't, if he were just acting, his response to Schmidt's 'move' on Anita wouldn't have been so swift or so intense. He'd have needed a moment to think about how he should react, rather than just reacting," Emil answered.
"And you're sure that could cause problems?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, although Lennie seemed to rein himself in pretty quickly this time, if he really looses his cool with this guy the next time he provokes Lennie, and there will be a next time, loosing his cool could be the last mistake Lennie makes," Skoda concluded.
"So you got a pretty good read on this guy then?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, and I probably better clue Lennie in before he causes himself some real trouble," Skoda replied. He then stood up and moved toward the table at which Lennie and Schmidt were playing. Jack followed him.
They hovered near the table and after Lennie called and sank the eight ball, Skoda said to Lennie, "Could we talk with you?"
"My partner and I have a business proposition for you," Jack added.
Lennie turned to Schmidt, "Do you mind Jurgen?"
"No, please go ahead I'll take a little break," Schmidt said.
Before moving off to a distant table with McCoy and Skoda, Lennie looked to make sure Schmidt wasn't bothering Anita again. When he saw Schmidt talking to Pete, the pool hall owner, he relaxed a bit and joined McCoy and Skoda.
"So gentleman, what do you have to tell me? " Lennie asked.
"You can't help yourself, can you?" Emil asked Lennie.
"What do you mean?" Lennie asked.
"You had to check to make sure Schmidt wasn't bothering Anita, didn't you?" Skoda asked.
"Something wrong with that?" Lennie asked defensively.
"Not if it's just a check on your partner in this operation, but its not is it?"
"What are trying to say, Skoda?" Lennie asked a bit ticked off.
"Well, this guy Schmidt is dangerous enough, without the added distraction of what seems to be going on between you and Van Buren," Skoda said.
"How dangerous?" Lennie asked, trying to gloss over what Skoda was hinting at.
"Let's just say that Anita is not the only person in this room he sees as an object. In fact you might be the only person in this room that he sees as anything other than background noise and scenery," Skoda said by way of explanation.
"So what's your recommendation for handling him?" Lennie asked, his attitude still reflecting an annoyance with Skoda.
"Handle him carefully, but firmly. Make sure you're thinking, not just reacting. One misstep with this guy could be your last. Remember he makes his living killing people and he probably enjoys his work," Skoda replied.
"You think he's gonna press for me to use Anita as a table stake?" Lennie asked the question that was pressing on his mind.
"Yes, you'll know for sure if he tries to clear the pool hall out or get you to go with him somewhere for a private game," Emil answered.
"And what do I say or do in that case?" Lennie asked.
"Well, with your little lecture on Anita not being your property, he should expect you to resist the suggestion, so do that. He will then probably push very hard, maybe hard enough to arrest him just based on that, although from what Michaels says he wants something on this guy that will really stick," Skoda commented.
"Yeah well I don't give a rat's ass what that moron Michaels wants. Freaking idiot wanted me to lose Anita to this psycho so she'd be on the inside," Lennie said, obviously still upset about it.
At Skoda's skeptical look Jack nodded, "Wow, this isn't a professional opinion, but Michaels may be short a few bricks," Emil declared.
"Well, I better get back to the pool table," Lennie said, but as he started to leave McCoy put a hand on his arm to stop him.
"Lennie, I may be stepping over the line here, but don't you think you've had your heart broken often enough in your life without going after your married supervisor?" Jack asked.
"You're right on a couple of things Jack, you are over the line and I've had my heart broken quite a few times, but you're also wrong, Anita's in the process of getting divorced and for the first time in my life, my heart's being mended," Lennie told Jack and then walked away.
"Boy you're right. He's got it bad," Jack said with a small laugh.
"Yeah, well at least he made it sound like it's a two way street," Emil added and Jack nodded.
Lennie's mood hadn't been improved any by his conversation with Jack and Skoda, but he channeled his anger into his game, running the table even faster than he normally did. He took his normal break between games and headed for Anita.
"What did Jack and Skoda have to say?" Anita asked.
"About what you'd expect, Schmidt is a dangerous guy with little regard for human life. Skoda expects him to propose a private game and soon. He also thinks our relationship might make things more difficult. He's worried I'll react first and think later," Lennie said as he took a sip of her drink.
"Is he right?" Anita asked.
"No, baby, he's not. If I don't think before I act, I might put you in danger and I won't do that," Lennie said then kissed her and turned to go back to the table.
At the end of the match Schmidt handed him $6000 and then looked back at Pete.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I have agreed to close the hall a little early to allow our friend Lennie to play a private game with Mr. Schmidt. I must ask you all to leave now, but please come back Monday evening for more fun," Pete announced.
Amidst a lot of grousing the crowd inside of Pete's slowly dispersed. Skoda stopped for a moment and told Lennie to remember what he'd said. Eventually there were only 6 people in the pool hall, Pete, the pool hall owner, Lennie and Anita and Schmidt and his bodyguards.
"Shall we increase the wager a bit, Lennie?" Schmidt asked.
"Why would you want to do that? You haven't managed to win more than one game the whole night. Have you been holding back Jurgen, trying to hustle me?" Lennie asked suspiciously.
"Perhaps I have. Do you feel lucky?" Schmidt said trying to goad Lennie.
"Luck has little to do with my game. What stakes are you interested in?" Lennie asked
"How about $5000 a ball, first one to five games wins the match," Schmidt proposed.
Lennie quickly did the math in his head, the take could be between $25,000 and $200,000 depending on whether the match was close or the winner managed to run the table on each game.
"I can't cover that large a bet," Lennie said.
"Oh, but of course you can, you have something you can use as collateral," Schmidt said in his oily voice.
Lennie tensed a bit knowing what Schmidt was going to suggest.
"What's that?" Lennie said as though he didn't have any idea.
"Why your lovely lady Anita, she's easily worth a couple hundred thousand," Schmidt said.
"I guess you didn't understand me earlier, she's not my property. She's not an object to be used as collateral," Lennie said trying to hold back his feelings.
"Oh that's right you said she belongs to herself and makes her own choices. So let's ask her," Schmidt proposed then turned to Anita.
"Anita darling, would you consent to be Lennie's collateral for this next match or," he paused and walked over to the satchel the bodyguard had set down earlier and quickly removed a hand gun and then spun back around leveling the gun at Lennie, "should I just shoot him and Mr. Artemis, " Schmidt motioned toward the pool hall owner who was standing behind the bar. Pete looked frightened and the bodyguards shifted enough to let him know they were armed and didn't want him to move.
"No! Don't shoot them," Anita said quickly then she drew closer to the table Lennie and Schmidt had been using. She turned to Lennie, "It's OK, I know you'll win," she tried to say confidently.
In the surveillance van an argument broke out about whether to send in uniformed back up or wait.
"Wait for what?' Wait for him to make good his threat and blow Lennie away?" Ed yelled at Michaels.
"Wait for this guy to admit to something. Right now all we've got him for is felony menacing, we need something we can use for leverage, so he rolls on the people who hired him," Michaels said.
Ed moved nearer the door of the van and kept his eyes on the screen showing what was going on in the pool hall.
Schmidt took stacks of bills out of the satchel and placed them on a nearby table then put his gun on top of the bills.
"I'll even let you break first, Lennie," Schmidt said.
Lennie sighed and then nodded. As he racked the balls he decided to try and get Schmidt to talk. "I can't figure it out Schmidt, why do you want to do this so badly?" Lennie asked.
"I doubt you could understand, my friend. But I have a little job to do tomorrow and it would so help me to spend the evening with this lovely lady prior to the job," Schmidt asked.
Lennie broke and proceeded to run the table as he seemed to always be able to do this weekend.
"Why Anita? Why not another woman?" Lennie asked.
"Because another woman doesn't belong to you," Schmidt answered as he racked up the balls for his turn to break.
Schmidt was doing fairly well in the second game and then Anita began moving nervously around the table. Her movement annoyed Schmidt and he walked over to the table where his gun lay.
"Anita darling, if you don't stay still I might have to punish Mr. Artemis for what you're doing, " Schmidt said and toyed with his gun.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong," she replied frightened of what Schmidt might do.
"Of course you didn't darling. I should of known it was inadvertent. You wouldn't try to give Lennie an unfair advantage, would you?" Schmidt said to her.
The match continued, as did the argument in the surveillance van. Although Schmidt's game was markedly improved he still lost to Lennie.
"Well, that's match," Lennie said as he sunk the eight ball in the pocket he had called.
"Yes it is," Schmidt said as he went to the table that held the stack of money and his gun.
"But I'm afraid I'm going to have to renege a bit on the bet. You can take the money, but I really need Anita," Schmidt said as he leveled his gun at Lennie's midsection.
When Ed Green saw Schmidt aim his gun at his partner, he decided he didn't care whether Michaels thought he had enough on Schmidt or not, his partner needed him to cover his back.
"Careful Mr. Artemis, I'd hate to have to shoot you, it would be such a waste of ammunition," Schmidt said as he noticed the pool hall owner moving behind the bar. The man froze where he was.
Lennie saw Ed Green coming down the street out of the corner of his eye and knew that the conclusion of this little drama was only moments away and he needed to think clearly and quickly about the right thing to do.
"You can keep your money but Anita's not going anywhere with you," Lennie told Schmidt coolly and took what he hoped looked like a protective step backwards to bring him to Anita's side.
"You're a remarkable man, Lennie Briscoe. A master pool player and a man with the courage to defy a man holding a gun on him," Schmidt said.
Just then Ed Green threw open the front door of the pool hall and shouted "Police, freeze!"
Schmidt and his bodyguards all turned towards Ed, but Schmidt was the only one who already had his gun out, he fired at Ed hitting him in the left shoulder. While Schmidt and the bodyguards were momentarily distracted, Lennie reached for the nearest gun he knew of, the one Anita had in her thigh holster, withdrawing the gun and at the same time pushing Anita down out of the line of fire. Ed took cover behind a table just in time to avoid Schmidt's second shot and although wounded, Ed simulataneously returned fire on the bodyguard who was behind Lennie, while Lennie plugged the one near the door. Ed then slumped to the floor. Lennie turned his weapon on Schmidt as Schmidt turned on Lennie.
"Mexican standoff," Schmidt said.
"Not really," Anita said from her position on the floor. While the men had been exchanging fire she had reached for the nearest gun available to her, the one in Lennie's ankle holster. She had crawled under the pool table to end up just a few feet from Schmidt holding Lennie's .38 in both hands and aiming it at Schmidt's crotch.
"Unless you've always had a burning desire to become a eunuch, I'd put the gun down," Anita advised Schmidt. He quickly complied.
Lennie moved around the pool table and looked down at Anita. He felt incredibly proud of her.
"Put your hands on your head," Lennie ordered Schmidt.
Uniformed officers finally came through both the front and back doors of the pool hall and began assessing the situation.
"About time back up got here," Lennie said. He decided to let the backups cuff and Mirandize Schmidt so he wouldn't get caught up in paperwork. He moved to the front of the pool hall to check on Ed.
"Here, " Lennie said as he handed Anita's 38 to a passing officer, "they'll want this, I used it to dispatch that one," he said as he pointed to the dead bodyguard near the front door.
"Where's EMS," Lennie yelled as he knelt beside his partner Ed Green.
"They're on their way, " one of the uniformed officer's assured Lennie.
"Hey partner, how you doing?" Lennie asked as he tried to inspect Ed's wound.
"I'd like to lie to you and say I'm fine but it hurts like a bitch," Ed admitted weakly.
Lennie lifted Ed slightly to see if the bullet had gone through his shoulder, it had. Ed groaned and Lennie settled him back down.
"Pete give me a couple of clean bar towels," Lennie requested.
Pete quickly brought Lennie two clean towels and Lennie placed one under Ed's back at the exit wound and the other over the entrance wound on his shoulder. He applied pressure to try to get the wound to stop bleeding and Ed groaned.
Lennie thought he'd better talk to Ed to keep his mind off the pain.
"Not that I'm complaining mind you, but what's with the bad Tonto imitation?" Lennie asked his wounded partner.
"Tonto?" Ed asked bewildered.
"Yeah, you know, the Lone Ranger would always get in trouble and Tonto would come along and bail him out, except Tonto usually brought the local sheriff or somebody to help out" Lennie said.
"Yeah well, the local sheriff wasn't George Michaels," Ed said weakly.
Blood was soaking through the bar towel and Lennie was growing very concerned for his partner.
"Where the hell is the EMS?" Lennie growled.
"Right here, sir," an ambulance attendant said as he maneuvered a stretcher into the space near Ed.
"He's bleeding pretty badly," Lennie told the EMS tech.
"We'll take good care of him, sir. If you'll just give us some room to work on him," the tech said gently and Lennie rose, relinquishing his position next to Ed to the ambulance crew.
As he stood and looked around the pool hall he saw Michaels talking to Anita and strode over to them, his anger just barely in check.
"Ah Detective Briscoe I'd like to have-"
"I don't give a damn what you'd like. Here," Lennie said as he reached out and took Michaels hands, smearing the blood that had seeped through the bar towels from Ed's shoulder wound onto his hands over Michaels' hands, "I think it's only appropriate you have Ed Green's blood on your hands since it was your half-assed decision that got him shot."
Lennie walked away from a shocked Michaels to go wash his hands of Ed's blood.
Michaels looked at Lennie's back and then turned to look at Anita expectantly.
"Don't look at me to apologize for him. I happen to agree with him," Anita said as she moved away from Michaels.
Alfie Kiefer was helping out the CSI tech that was bagging evidence, when they came across the stack of money on the pool table, "Don't bag that," Alfie said suddenly.
"Why not," the tech asked.
"That belongs to Lennie," Alfie answered.
"Huh?" the tech responded.
"Jack McCoy told him he wouldn't be prosecuted for gambling while on this undercover operation and that anything he won was his, I heard him talking about it with the shrink. Lennie won that money, it's his," Alfie said emphatically.
"That's right. I'll take it for him," Anita said taking an unmarked evidence bag and shoving the money in it.
Just then Lennie came up, his hands now clean and said to Anita, "Let's go to the hospital and find out how Ed is."
"OK, I think that's a good idea. Oh and here's your gun," Anita responded as she handed Lennie his .38. Lennie squatted down and tucked it back in the ankle holster.
"Lennie, don't forget your stick," Pete said as he handed him his case.
"Thanks Pete, wouldn't want to forget this," Lennie said.
"You come back anytime Lennie. Table's always free for you," Pete told him.
Lennie nodded and maneuvered Anita out of the pool hall through the throng of police officers and curious bystanders to the Lexus. They headed off towards the nearest Emergency Room to find out how Ed was.
Lennie looked over and saw the bag in Anita's lap. "What's that?"
"Your winnings from the last match," she answered.
"Uh, I don't think that's really mine," he said a bit shocked.
"Jack McCoy said you could keep anything you won," she said.
"He was joking," Lennie said, although a small voice inside him was saying, 'I won Anita in that last match. Does that mean I get to keep her?'
"Doesn't matter if he was, he said it and there were plenty of witnesses," Anita said.
Just then they arrived at the ER and she put the money in the glove compartment.
Lennie asked at the desk about Ed. Initially they balked at telling him anything until he fished his badge out of his pocket. They told him Ed was in surgery to repair blood vessels that had been damaged by the passage of the bullet. Then they asked him if he knew whom to contact in Ed's family. Lennie asked for Ed's cell phone, which was among his clothes. He looked through it and found Ed's sister's number and called her. He left it up to her as to whether to call Ed's father or not. Finally a doctor came out and told them Ed would be fine but that he wouldn't be up to visitors until tomorrow morning.
Lennie looked over and noticed that Anita looked exhausted. So he went over to her and said, "Let's go home".
She smiled at him and answered, "If that means your apartment, OK".
Lennie gently kissed Anita and then they put their arms around each other's waists as they walked to the car. They didn't see Ana Cordova and her partner Mark Johnson, who had decided to stop by the hospital at the end of their shift to see how Ed Green was, but they saw Lennie and Anita.
"Mark, we didn't see a thing, OK?" Ana Cordova implored her partner. "But-"
"No, we didn't see them like that Mark. If we say anything then they get in trouble," she said trying to convince her partner.
"Yeah well, they are breaking departmental policy, at least they are if what we saw means what I think it means," Mark argued.
"Look, first we don't know for sure if what we saw means what we think it does. Second they both looked happy. Why let stupid departmental policies screw that up?" Ana asked.
"Well, as long as nobody asks me about them, I won't tell anybody what I saw, OK?" Mark proposed and Ana nodded then went to the nurses station to ask about Ed.
When Lennie and Anita arrived at his apartment, Lennie went through his normal routine of taking off his gun and then realized he'd effectively lost Anita's gun for her for a time. Before he could say anything about that she handed him the bag of money and he heaved a sigh and added it to the lock box.
"I'm still not sure it was a good idea to take that money," Lennie said.
"Just be sure you report it as income and pay the taxes on it," she said to him with a smile.
"I'm going to take a shower," she said.
He wonder for a moment why she'd want another shower so soon and then he saw her unconsciously rub at her arm where Schmidt had touched her and he understood, she needed to shower to cleanse herself of that scum's touch.
"OK baby, looks like I've got some phone messages to listen to anyway," Lennie told her.
Anita heard the beginning of the first message as she undressed and set the shower temperature. She could almost imagine the smile on Lennie's face. The message was from Lennie's daughter Julia, she was hoping to set up a time to bring Lennie's grandson to visit. She didn't hear the next two messages, a long scathing one from Michaels telling Lennie he expected a report first thing Monday and was definitely filing a report about his behavior and a call from an officer with Internal Affairs requesting Lennie call immediately.
Anita stepped out of the shower to hear Lennie's side of a phone conversation.
"Yeah, this is Briscoe. I'm returning your call," he said then listened to what the person on the other side of the conversation said.
"Yes, I know but my partner was wounded and I wanted to check on him, and then I was just so exhausted I decided to go home," he answered.
"You've got the gun I used and a videotape of the incident what more do you need?" he asked sounding a bit exasperated.
"OK, how about first thing tomorrow morning?" Lennie suggested.
"Seven? On a Sunday?" he said a bit shocked.
"OK, OK Seven AM at One Police Plaza," Lennie reluctantly agreed.
"Sounds like you've got an early appointment for a grilling by IAB," Anita said as she came out of the bedroom wearing his robe and toweling her hair dry.
"Yeah, just a routine Officer Involved Shooting Investigation, unless they've already gotten Michaels' complaint," Lennie told her.
"Michaels' complaint?" she asked as she tossed the towel she'd used on her hair back toward the bathroom.
"Yeah, he called too, to tell me to get a report in to him first thing Monday and to inform me he'd made a formal complaint about my behavior tonight," Lennie said, obviously miffed at the guy.
Anita sighed, and placed a hand on Lennie's chest. "Let's just forget about it tonight and try to get some sleep," she suggested.
"Yeah, that sounds good," Lennie said and began to lead her to the bedroom.
She began to unbutton his shirt, running her hands over his chest and placing small kisses on his skin as it was exposed. He caught her wrists in his hands to stop her.
"You keep that up and we won't be sleeping," he said with a grin.
"You'll sleep better afterward," she said with a saucy grin and pulled him towards the bed.
Lennie was a bit surprised with himself, he wasn't a young man anymore and he was tired, but Anita's mere presence inspired him. He made love to her slowly and tenderly and then cradled her in his arms to sleep. But Anita had other things on her mind than sleeping. She started musing about all sorts of things they should consider in their relationship. When should they tell Ric and Julia about their relationship? Where should they live? How should they handle things at work?
"Baby, I gotta be up in about 5 hours and I'm not exactly at my best right now. Can we talk about all these important things tomorrow?" Lennie asked.
"Of course, I'm sorry," she said and kissed him, snuggling down into his shoulder to sleep. He kissed the top of her head, sighed and settled down to rest.