Chapter Two
Faye woke early the following morning, doing her best to ignore the throbbing pain in her left arm. Awkwardly, she made a cup of coffee and rushed out the door. An icy winter breeze whipped her dark hair across her face as she stepped outside. Her breath caught in her throat as the cold began to sink through the thin layers of her clothing; she moved quickly to keep herself warm.
A makeshift sling held her arm still underneath her coat as she made her way through the early morning throng of people on their way to work. Taking care to avoid being bumped by the crowd, Faye wove her way through the labyrinthine setup of the city. The bounty hunters' headquarters was located very close to the center, a hive of activity that served as a hub center for hunters moving throughout the city.
When she reached the department, Faye slipped through the doors as a pair of hunters left, scurrying through just before they closed. Her first stop was the mailroom, where, to her delight, an assignment was waiting for her. She brought the envelope back to her desk, where she opened it with difficulty, grateful that no one could see her pitiful struggles over the walls of her cubicle.
Unfolded and spread out before her, the assignment was commonplace, as per usual, and Faye scanned it with little interest. The bounty was wanted for multiple robberies, but they were only small-scale holdups in liquor stores.
Grabbing a pen, she scribbled down the address of the latest crime scene on a piece of scrap paper and shoved it into the pocket of her coat. The writing was barely legible, and it took her a little extra time with her right hand, but she managed. Faye clipped her handcuffs onto her belt, switched on her radio, and double-checked that her gun was safely secured in its holster on her hip. She slipped an extra round into her pocket as a force of habit, hoping as always that she would never need it. She spotted Jack as she headed toward the front door and did her best to avoid him, but he caught sight of her and intercepted her before she could make it.
"Where are you off to? I didn't see you come in."
She shrugged lopsidedly and tried to scoot past him. "Got here early; I had some paperwork to take care of. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a job lined up. I really should be going."
She rushed away before he could ask her why only one arm was in the sleeve of her jacket.
The liquor store was relatively easy to find. A small crowd had gathered and was just beginning to dissipate as she arrived, flashing her badge at the two police officers standing guard at the door.
The entire front window had been smashed in, and the door was hanging precariously in a dented doorframe. Faye stepped inside gingerly, broken glass crunching under her boots. She made her way over to the lead detective, who was in deep conversation with the distressed storeowner. Faye was momentarily distracted by flashes from the opposite side of the store. She raised an eyebrow. Forensics? A man in a dark uniform was snapping pictures and trying to look like he knew what he was doing. Faye reasoned that the only reason he was there was because he was a rookie. He was learning on an unimportant crime scene to prepare him for the "big time".
She turned back as the storeowner grew almost hysterical.
"Listen to me, you-you-you … detective! My store is in ruins! And what are you doing? Standing here talking to me instead of arresting the man who did this?"
The detective raised his hands in front of him, trying to calm the man down. "Sir, the only way we can arrest this man is if we find out who he is, all right? Now, I'm going to ask you again. Do you have any video surveillance?"
"Well…I…yes. Yes, right over there."
"Just the one camera?"
"Is there a problem with just one camera, detective?" he squawked, indignant.
"No, no not at all. May I see the tape, please?"
"There isn't one."
"Excuse me?"
"I said there isn't one! That camera doesn't record. I watch a screen when I'm in the back, just to keep an eye on things."
The detective massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed. Faye turned away, smirking. As she turned around, the man from forensics appeared in front of her, folding and unfolding his hands nervously. She was surprised; he looked like he wasn't even twenty years old.
"S-sorry for bothering you, but the detective seems to be … busy. It's just, I found something over here that you might want to look at."
Faye nodded and followed him over to where he had been taking photos. "So, what am I looking at?"
He jumped. "Oh, of course. It's uh, it's right here. See this? Bullet casings. They're very unique. I have a feeling that if we run them through the system, we'll get a hit and you'll have your man."
"Nice work, kid," Faye said, patting him on the shoulder. A routine sweep of the crime scene would have picked up the casings in an instant, but as it was his first scene, she gave him credit. "Would you take these back as soon as possible and fax me whatever hits you get?"
He nodded, and Faye strode off, leaving the detective to deal with the storeowner, who was now ranting and raving about apparent corruption in the police department and a full-fledged conspiracy.
The stench of alcohol and disease hung in the air as Faye picked her way down a narrow street littered with empty cans and unconscious drunks. She rechecked the address she had written as she stood outside the apartment building. Forensics had sent over a single suspect, a repeat offender using the same weapon.
She scanned the bounty's description. The man was a giant; at six-foot-seven and almost three hundred pounds, he easily dwarfed Faye. She raised an eyebrow at the bounty offered. In her opinion, sending a slim woman after a monster like that and not even paying well for it was ridiculous, but there wasn't anything to be done about it.
Pulling a face at the odor, she shoved open the front door and stepped inside, unclipping her gun and raising it to eye level.
The interior of the building was in even worse repair than the decaying exterior. The faded wallpaper was peeling off in strips, yellowed with age. Mold spots bloomed on the crinkled paper, no doubt caused by leaks in the ceiling and walls. Faye moved quickly up to the second floor and down the hallway. She checked the address again. At apartment 146, she banged on the door.
When there was no reply, she shouted, "I'm with the DBH; I have a warrant for your arrest. Open up!"
There was no answer, but Faye heard movement on the other side of the door. She sighed and rolled her eyes. Why did they always have to make it so difficult? She repeated her previous call, emphasizing the point that she did indeed have a warrant for arrest before kicking in the door.
The old, rotting wood splintered and gave under her boots. Faye stepped into the apartment, right hand clasped firmly around the handle of her gun, left hand held protectively at her chest. She heard him before she saw him, crashing about in the next room. Quickly, she sidestepped around the corner and swept the gun in an arc before her. The man was on the far side of the room, pushing open a window in an attempt to get away by means of the fire escape. When he saw her, he turned and reached for the gun on the windowsill next to him.
Faye let loose a shot as the man picked up the gun, but she missed; the bullet thudded into the window frame off to the side. She cursed as the man returned fire. She slipped out of the room and took shelter behind the wall. When she looked back, the man was gone.
A deep sigh escaped her lips. Returning the gun to its holster, she crossed the room to examine the window frame and sill. The bullet was buried deep, but other than that, no sign of the struggle was apparent. She paused, wondering idly how a man of that size could possibly fit through a window so small, then turned and left the apartment.
Normally, she would have been out the window and chasing the man in a heartbeat, but she knew that, with her damaged arm, she would probably end up falling two stories as well as losing the bounty. Dejected, she headed down the stairs and back outside. She was already behind on the rent; she had needed this job. When she returned to the department, she would have to fill out a report documenting the bounty's escape. The case would either be given back to her as a work in progress or kicked up to a higher level. The bounty would obviously be increased as well, reasoning that the man was more difficult than previously assumed.
Faye stormed out of the apartment building, cursing the would-be thief who had stepped on her arm. The trip back to the department was uneventful, nothing out of the ordinary. With her gun hidden underneath her coat and her badge out of sight, Faye felt distinctly normal. She stopped on a street corner, looking at the people moving around her, going about their business. She realized that she didn't want to be one of them, that her status as a bounty hunter had made her feel different. If that were taken away from her, would she be just another face in the crowd?
She pushed the thoughts away, chiding herself. Falling into her usual routine of ignoring the people around her and weaving her way through them, she reached the department within minutes.
The building was crowded with people; it looked like most of the hunters had congregated there. Faye frowned, puzzled. Did no one have jobs to do? Something must be going on.
She pushed her way inside and shouldered her way through to Jack's office. He was inside, alone, deep in conversation with someone on the phone. Faye knocked on his door, and he waved her away. She opened it and stepped inside anyway. He rolled his eyes and turned around, one hand holding the phone to his ear, the other atop his shaved crown. Faye sighed as she slumped in one of Jack's chairs, idly twirling a dark strand of hair between her fingers and vaguely wondering how much longer it would have to grow before she could tie it back out of her way.
Jack slammed the phone down and rested his hands on his desk. He sighed and straightened up, planting his fists on his hips. Faye raised a quizzical eyebrow as he turned and faced her.
"What's up, Jack? Why the department swarming with hunters? They can't possibly be looking for work. We've no shortage of work these days."
"They aren't here for work, Faye. We have … an issue, at the moment. Have you been listening to your scanner recently, by any chance?" She nodded, curious. "Well," he continued, "then you may have heard about a bounty unidentified as of right now."
"I heard about him!" She remembered the expensive bounty the scanner had reported. "What's he got to do with anything?"
"I've had my top ranks working on it for weeks now. Mark and Jaiden have been putting in all of their time to nab this guy, but it's slow going; he's smart, really smart."
Faye blinked. That was it! Jaiden. She knew she'd heard it before. He was the hunter who delighted in making her miserable. She didn't feel bad at all that they hadn't caught the bounty.
"So…what does this have to do with everyone else?"
"We're going to need everyone on this guy."
"Everyone?" Faye was incredulous. Their department may be smaller than the various police departments, but a large number of people made up their task force.
"Not everyone actively. My superiors have instructed me to send out information to every hunter we employ so that they can be on the lookout for anything that Mark and Jaiden would find useful. Just keep an eye out, all right?"
Faye nodded and rose to her feet, completely forgetting about her arm. Jack caught sight of the clumsy splint.
"What in the hell is that?"
"What? Oh…em…it's nothing. Really, Jack. Don't worry about it."
"All right…come on, out of my office. I have a lot to do."
She rolled her eyes and left, back to the noise and confusion of the main floor. Their current assignments temporarily on hold, hunters stood about discussing the new bounty. Faye didn't catch sight of Jaiden as she forced her way through to her desk. An assignment envelope was waiting for her on top of her keyboard, along with forms for the previous assignment. She shoved the forms to one side; it could wait.
Eagerly, Faye tore open the envelope and pulled out the stack of papers within. The information on the bounty was extensive, but as far as she could tell, largely useless. She saw why they were having such a problem with him. The man's extensive crimes were documented thoroughly, but none of the information was going to help them capture him. Faye picked up the set of forms and scanned them before realizing that writing everything out was going to take her all day. Her handwriting was barely legible when she used her left hand. With her right, unless she spent a lot of time on it, it looked like a foreign language.
Suddenly, Michael appeared over the wall of her cubicle, making her jump. She sighed and shot him a glare.
"Michael! Please, can you stop sneaking up on me?"
"Sorry! Hey, Faye, did you hear about that new bounty?"
"Yes, Michael, everyone has. They're having trouble catching him."
"Are they? He must be clever, this guy."
"Apparently so."
Michael paused to think for a second. "Well, I guess I'll be off then."
"Do you have a job right now?"
"No."
"Then-"
"Didn't you hear? They've given us all the day off!"
"What? How does-"
"I think Jack said something about background checks. Bye Faye!" He grabbed his bag and left, smiling at anyone who passed. Faye shook her head. Background checks? It was probably protocol, she mused; rule out anyone in the department early on. Still…she had never known the department to run full background checks before. There was a routine sweep during the application process, but never afterwards. She shrugged and gathered up the papers on her desk, resigning herself to ignorance.
As she pushed open the front doors and the weak winter sunlight shone on her face, she smiled; she could use a day off.
It was the third time she had woken up that night, drenched in sweat. Faye eventually gave up on sleep altogether. Her arm was throbbing painfully, and had since swelled to an alarming size. She had spent most of her day filling out the forms on the escaped bounty at an agonizingly slow pace. Her right arm felt cramped, and the left felt like it was on fire.
She leaned over the sink, shaking. She wanted to rewrap the arm, more tightly this time, but undoing the bandage would allow it to swell further and cause her more pain. She fumbled through her cabinets until she found a few painkillers and downed the lot. She choked as she swallowed the pills dry, and the sweat beaded on her forehead again. She slid down the counter and sat on the floor, her arm hanging limply by her side.
Her head rolled to one side as she turned to look at the clock. The numbers' sickly green glow projected 2:24. She let her head roll back and rest against the counter behind her, her eyelids heavy but unable to close.
Jack picked up his phone and dialed Faye's number, hoping she would show up for work sometime soon. It rang a few times before clicking and going to her voicemail. He listened to her voice for a few seconds before sighing and hanging up. Just then, he glanced up and saw her come in through the front doors. He stood up and peered at her through the blinds before hurrying out of his office.
"Jesus, Faye! What happened to you?"
She blinked blearily at him and yawned. She mumbled something that he didn't catch and turned to the receptionist behind the front counter. The receptionist took the stack of papers that Faye tossed on the counter and grimaced.
The pronounced dark circles under Faye's eyes contrasted sharply with her too-pale skin, and her eyes were only half-open. Jack noticed that a makeshift sling now hung around her neck and shoulder, supporting her left arm.
"You were awake all night, weren't you?"
She nodded sleepily and rubbed her hand across her face. Jack sighed and went back to his office. He grabbed his coat before returning. Faye muttered incoherently as he grabbed her by the shoulders and steered her out the door, telling the receptionist to take his calls as he went. She nodded, still staring wide-eyed at Faye.
Opening the passenger door of his car, Jack eased Faye into the seat and ran around to the driver's seat. She sat up and looked around, puzzled by her surroundings.
"I'm taking you to the hospital, Faye," Jack said matter-of-factly. "That arm needs to be looked at. Today." She turned to protest, but he silenced her with a look. "If I don't take you to get it fixed, then I'll have to fire you because you can't do your job." She opened her mouth to reply but snapped it shut. Jack wouldn't look at her; he knew that if he did, he would have to tell her the real reason.
At the hospital, a nurse shooed Jack into a plastic chair and pulled Faye into an exam room. An hour later, she was back out in the waiting room, her arm encased in a thick, white cast and held in a proper sling. She looked much more aware of her surroundings, and Jack suspected the doctors had given her something.
"That was fast," she said by way of greeting. Jack shrugged. He did not mention that he had shown the nurse his badge and insisted that Faye's arm be taken care of as quickly as possible. A doctor wandered over and handed Faye a bottle of pills.
"Now, those are for the pain. Only one every six hours." He turned to Jack. "The x-rays showed a double break and a splintered fracture. She'll need to take a few weeks off of work to recuperate."
Jack nodded and sighed. Faye was tapping her cast absentmindedly, oblivious to their conversation. The doctor noticed her behavior and leaned in, whispering.
"We uh … we gave her some … medication. She may be out of it for the next few hours." Jack raised an eyebrow but said nothing. The doctor turned and left, leaving Jack to steer Faye back out to the car.
"You're going to have to take some time off, Faye." He pulled up to a red light and turned to look at her. She was staring out the window.
"How long?"
"We'll say two weeks and then go from there. I'll drive you home." Faye didn't say another word for the rest of the drive. When they pulled up in front of her apartment, she got out of the car, thanked Jack, and disappeared inside. He waved as her front door closed, then sighed and headed back to work.