At his desk at Parker Central, Steve Sloan sighed and looked morosely out of the window. The weather perfectly mirrored his mood. Three days on since the bombing and still the storm was making its presence felt. It was not yet 10am and already the sky was dark, fat rain drops bursting kamikaze like against the window pane. His desk was littered with case files, half of them depicting potential members of underground terrorist organisations, the other half, well known LA mobsters. The disparity of his desk was a sad reflection of his own current confusion about the case.
All around him other cops went about their business, talking on phones, typing up notes, laughing and joking in the usual way they did in order to deal with the macabre nature of the job. Tiredly, Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. The ever present headache still crunched at his temples and his injured side throbbed irritably.
Pulling open the left hand draw of his desk, he retrieved the small bottle of pain killers his father had prescribed. He popped two into his mouth, quickly swallowing them down with the left over coffee from his 'Lakers' mug, a present from Amanda a couple of birthday's ago. He grimaced; the coffee had gone stone cold.
'Need a refill?' Tanis called over to him. She was standing by the coffee machine, a steaming mug in her hand.
Steve looked up 'You read my mind' he said gratefully.
'Mind reading' she said with a grin 'always been a big part of my job description'.
Striding over to the desk, she grabbed his cup 'Lakers fan huh?' she said screwing up her face 'Well I guess somebody has to be'.
'Watch it' Steve growled amiably.
Tossing his discarded coffee into a nearby plant pot, Tanis deftly refilled his cup from the machine and added milk and sugar. Grabbing her own cup, she brought both drinks over to Steve's desk and took the chair opposite him. 'I saw the pills' she said bluntly 'You feeling okay?'
Steve sighed 'I will be once we put this guy away' he said grimly.
Tanis picked up one of the case files depicting a potential terrorist and studied it, a frown marring her features.
'You still looking at this?' she asked 'I already told you we're not looking for a terrorist organisation. You're wasting your time and you know I could really use your help right now. Ross thinks that …'
'Ross thinks?' Steve queried a little irritably 'Since when do you know what Ross Cainen thinks?'
Tanis shifted awkwardly 'Since I went round to his place last night and we talked through all the major players who might have an interest in Ganza holdings'.
'His place?' Steve asked his eyes wide with incredulity 'Are you telling me that you went to his place last night, alone, with no back-up?' His head was spinning, surely this wasn't true? Surely she wouldn't be so stupid?
Tanis shrugged 'He's a cop, one of us'.
Steve shook his head in disbelief, his voice rising with anger 'He's also one of them. There are at least twenty guys that work for Cainen, who by rights should be serving life sentences right now. They don't know he's a cop, but they do know that you are. What if you'd been seen? They would have killed you, no questions asked! Did you even think of that?'
'Of course I thought of that' she shot back 'We were careful and besides Cainen would never have let it come to that'.
'You're right' Steve snorted 'He'd have shot you himself, just to maintain his cover'.
'Steve look' Tanis said seriously 'I'm a good cop and I know what I'm doing. Why can't you be with me on this?'
Briefly Steve covered his face with his hands, trying to get a grip on his emotions. The thought of the risks she'd taken the previous night took his breath away. Whilst he'd been dozing in front of his father's TV, doped up on pain medication, she'd been in the proverbial lion's den, risking everything just to get a potential lead on the case. She'd told him she was going home to get an early night and he'd believed her. It was the first lie of their relationship. When he finally looked at her, his blue eyes were flashing with barely controlled anger.
'I can't be with you on this because you're wrong' he said 'You can't take those kinds of risks, it's crazy'.
Tanis sighed 'The risks I take are a necessary part of the job' she replied 'If you'd been on the Task Force as long as I have, you'd appreciate that sometimes you just have to do something to buck the odds. You have to do something a little crazy'.
'And that's just it' he said bitterly 'when it comes to the Task Force your common sense just goes right out the window. It's like you have some kind of blind spot'.
'Oh come on' she hissed back, suddenly equally angry 'I don't think I'm the one with the blind spot here'. Her voice rose in both pitch and decibels as she warmed to her theme 'You know if I'd have thought you'd have backed me up, then maybe I would have told you where I was going. But then you're way too busy playing FBI with your buddy from Washington'.
'Well if I'd known you were out making friends with the mob then may be I …' Steve began to respond angrily, but didn't get any further, as he was interrupted by a voice even louder than his own.
'Now that's what I like to see' Police Chief Masters boomed, cutting across Steve's reply, as he strode purposefully into the room and came to a halt beside Tanis.
'Two of my best officers engaging in a healthy debate'. He grinned 'Arguing your point really gets the creative juices flowing I always think'. He paused 'But you know I've gotta ask ya to keep it down a little, you're disturbing the rest of my employees'.
Looking over her shoulder Tanis winced. The rest of station had miraculously come to a standstill, all enjoying their ringside seats for the latest drama in her and Steve's relationship. She spotted Turner and McBride in the far corner, both of whom were sniggering into their coffee. Unfortunately Steve had spotted them too.
'Something you wanna say guys?' he challenged, his irritation still dangerously close to the surface. Standing up and taking a step in their direction, he was stopped by the Chief's restraining hand on his shoulder. Steve attempted to shrug it off, but the Chief increased the pressure until Steve sat back down.
'Back off Lieutenant' the Chief said 'You have more important things to do with your time'. He smirked 'Besides you'll never make good on that threat, the state you're in right now, my ninety eight year old Grandmother could take you out without even breaking a sweat'.
Turning back to the room at large, the Chief treated his officers to his trade mark glare. His six feet seven inches of height, that enabled him to easily tower over them all, just added to the authority he projected. It would take a brave man or woman to flout John Master's command.
'Shows over folks' he said 'and I'm not paying you to stand around drinking coffee, so get back to work, all of you, now'. He turned back to Steve and Tanis 'And I would appreciate it if you two could keep the domestics at home where they belong'.
As the other officers grudgingly got on with their work, still casting interested glances at the two detectives, the Chief sat down on the edge of Steve's desk and lowered his voice, his tone menacing.
'Not many people know about the remit of the Task Force' he said 'and I'd like to keep it that way. I can't afford to have you two mouthing off about confidential information in the middle of the station, it could get people killed. I hear one more word out of either of you and I'll have your badges, do you understand me?'
Tanis felt her face flame 'Sorry Sir' she said stiffly 'it won't happen again'.
The Chief glared at them both 'You're damn right it won't. Now get out there and go do something useful and take that FBI agent with you'.
He turned to head back to his office, pausing only to bark
'And get some sleep Sloan, you look like hell'.
And then he was gone, leaving both Detectives feeling like school kids reprimanded by the Headmaster.
Looking at Tanis, Steve took a long, deep breath and let it go. He was still furious with her for putting her life at risk, but the Chief was right, now was neither the time nor the place to get into a fight about it.
'Ron thinks that the pattern of the bombing, what with the timing, the weather and the calling card, suggests a terrorist organisation'. Steve said tightly, waving his hand to indicate the case files 'These suspects are our best guess so far'.
Tanis, didn't want to continue the fight either, but she still couldn't see how the bombing could be anything other than mob related 'if it was a terrorist organisation then why hasn't anyone owned up to it' she asked stubbornly 'people who are acting for a cause want the publicity'.
Steve shrugged 'May be this was just the first wave' he said 'May be they were just trying to get our attention before they hit us with the main event'.
She sighed 'If that's the case then I'm not looking forward to the main event'.
Picking up another file, Tanis looked at Steve in surprise 'This is Jack Tandy's file' she said.
Steve nodded 'Uh huh'
'So you do still think this could be mob related?' she said accusingly, sitting further forward on her chair and looking at him with challenging eyes.
'I never said that' Steve snapped irritably.
'But you're not denying it'.
He looked at her levelly 'Right now I'm not ruling out anything and if you're as good a cop as I used to think you are, then you wouldn't either'.
It was a rebuke and they both knew it. Tanis' eyes met his and he could see the hurt in them. She opened her mouth to respond and then shook her head 'You know what' she said 'forget it. You do your job and I'll do mine'.
Picking up half of the case files, Tanis spun on her heel. Steve grabbed her wrist 'Tanis wait' he said 'Let's not do this okay?'
Putting down the files, she took a breath and pushed a hand through her hair 'I gotta know that you trust me Steve, that you respect what I'm trying to do'.
He nodded, his eyes on the desk before him, then he looked up at her, and let out a breath 'I need some air' he said stiffly 'Wanna join me?'
She raised an eyebrow, indicating the ferocious storm outside 'Out there?'
Steve nodded 'Jack Tandy owns a club on the East side doesn't he?' he asked brusquely.
This time it was Tanis' turn to nod 'Sure but it doesn't open until noon'.
Steve shrugged and smiled tightly at her 'So let's go give him an early morning wake up call.'
Tanis recognised the gesture for what it was; she also knew how much it had cost him. It wouldn't solve their problems, but it was a start. It was time for her to compromise too. Taking another deep breath she shrugged 'And I guess we could give Agent Wagnor a call on the way' she said.
As he followed Tanis out the door, the atmosphere between them was still strained, but Steve figured, at least they were still working together. He sighed, was that enough? Deep down, he knew that he had caved. As usual he'd reigned in his emotions, swept his deepest feelings under the carpet. He just hoped it wouldn't get them both killed.
TO BE CONTINUED …..