Disclaimer: Presence of strong language. Reader's discretion is advised!
"Street, Alonso" called Hicks, "take our suspect down to lockup...and make sure he doesn't pull a fast one!" he finished annoyed.
20 Squad had been called to provide backup for an FBI operation involving animal trafficking. A group of criminals had been under investigation for smuggling exotic birds through customs in the airport for the past seven months. The detectives had no real leads until yesterday afternoon. A confidential informant had come forward with intel on the specifics on the group's plans the following day. Thankfully the operation was a success except for one of the smugglers that decided to take Street and Chris on a 200 meter dash competition. The man ran through security checks, broke windows, jumped over people, maneuvered through halls and stalls, etc..The true definition of a rabbit!
It turns out the man was ex military with years of experience in breach and combat. So, it took the entire squad to surround the man and make him surrender. Once in the ground, he was taken under the control of the FBI. SWAT could breath again.
"Great job, guys! See you tomorrow!" said Hicks pleased with his crew. While he finished the transactions with the other officials, Hondo called 20 Squad to hop on Black Betty and go back to HQ for debriefing, paperwork and dispatch.
After three hours everyone had finished their statements and washed up. They gathered in the locker room, getting ready to head out.
"So...who's up for a nice night out? My chef's trying out new recipes and a new cool location, so...what do you say?" Luca said excited
"I'm in." Tan said nodding
"Rain check. Babysitting duties for me. Annie's sister is taking her to the opera, so I have to take care of all the kids." Deacon answered closing the door to his locker
"You mean the sister that has 3 kids?" Chris said surprised
" Woah! Seven kids? On your own, Deac?" Street asked surprised
"That's why I admire you, dawg!" Hondo said with a smirk
"I would go crazy!" Tan added added
"It's not as bad as it seems. Put on a movie for the younger ones...coz the older ones are mostly on their phones. So, I'll survive. I hope!" Deacon said swallowing hard
"Good luck, D!" Hondo said closing his locker door
"C'mon, guys! Food's on me!" Luca said eagerly
"I'll go!" Street said
"Free food? I'm there!" Chris said excited
"Boss?"
"Next time. Gotta stop by Raymont's, make sure he on the right track." Hondo said
"How's it going with him?" Deacon said stepping right behind him, as both officers were at the door
"Doing good, so far." Hondo said shrugging as they both left
"Alright, let's go!" Luca called
Everybody finished their prep and headed out the door.
The next day, 10:45am...
"C'mon, stop yapping! We got it done!" Street said angrily
"I don't care..." Chris began raising her tone
"Why does everything gotta be like you want, Chris? I'm..." Street retaliated at the same time
They stopped midway, arguing intensely, each facing the other. The confrontation got so loud, Deacon, who had already boarded Black Betty, got out and approached them.
"Hey! Stop!" called Deacon, interrupting them
Both took a glance at him, then turned to resume their path. They walked side by side quietly, as both wore an angry frown. Sweat coming down, nostrils blowing out steam, minds filled with a thousand things to yell at each other...
The group settled in Black Betty, as Tan, Hondo, Deacon and Luca continued the chit chat. They talked about the bust they just completed, the details of the investigation and other SWAT topics. By mid conversation, Hondo shot a look at Deacon and the older officer responded with a nod. They were surprised neither Chris nor Street had said a word. Both rode in silence, as Street kept his gaze to the floor, and Chris glanced away, both with angry frowns.
"You aight?" Hondo asked staring at Street and Chris, who sat across from him and Deacon
"Yeah, you two have been quiet?" Tan asked from the passenger's seat in the front
Chris turned her head to face Hondo, as she was clearly upset. "Yes, boss." she said dryly
Street didn't even bother to lift his gaze, he just stared down at the floor.
Luca shot a frowning look at Tan, Tan at Luca, Deacon at Hondo and Hondo at Deacon. All four gentlemen were puzzled by the couple.
"Ok" Hondo said staring her down. Chris' face expression didn't change as the truck rolled into the parking lot. The first ones out were Chris and Street as the other four exited slowly.
"Hey Luca!" called Deacon, who stood next to Hondo, both watching the couple with puzzled expressions, "Do you know what's going on with those two?"
"No idea, man!" Luca said frowning shaking his head
"Me neither!" Tan said shaking his head as well
"What happened yesterday night?" Hondo asked
"We went out and had a good time at the food truck." Tan answered
"Yeah, food was great. We even played darts and Foosball." Luca added
"I don't know what might've happened, but something did happen between those two for sure." Deacon said
"Like what?" Hondo asked
"Did you see something Tan?" Deacon asked turning to Tan
"To be honest, no. Everything was fine when I was there. Chris was all laughs and Street was, well, himself. Nothing out of the ordinary...but, I got a call and had to step out for a minute. Luca had moved to the next truck to try out some shots with some guys he knew, and when I got back to him to call it a night, we noticed Chris and Street went at each other. Hard."
"Yeah, they were screaming and cussing. Me and Tan had to step in and separate them after Chris pushed him off and he grabbed her arm. She was gearing up for a left hook!" Luca said surprised
"What?" both older officers asked in awe
"Yeah, I mean, everything had gone so well up until that point. I don't know what happened." Tan said shrugging
"That's strange...I wonder if that's the reason they split up today in the mission. Remember? You called for them to take the 3 and next thing you know Street is coming from the other side of the house, almost costs us the op!" Luca added
"Tell me about it. Now I gotta hear it from the boss!" Hondo complained
"Damn!" Tan added
They made their way into the building and to their floor, when they noticed Hicks meeting with Chris and Street at the very end of the hall, in front of the side stairs. Commander was steaming as he used strong gestures and shot menacing looks at the young officers. The rest of the squad just stared. Tan shook his head, Luca hung his, Deacon took deep breaths, and Hondo stared at the scene clenching his jaw.
"I don't want any more excuses. Get out of my face!" Hicks said loud enough for the group to hear. The two young officers hung their heads and nodded.
"Hondo, my office. NOW!" called Hicks angrily
"Damn!" complained Hondo under his breath. He shook his head and took a deep breath. The rest headed to the locker room as Hondo did the walk of shame towards the commander's office.
The guys made it back to the locker room, still puzzled with the situation between their teammates.
"Man, I can't wrap my head around it. What could've happened?" Luca asked
"Yeah, I mean, I could've sworn I wasn't more than...let's say, 7 minutes? My call was pretty short." Tan added
"Luca, did you notice anything weird when you two went home?" Deacon asked curiously
"Deac, he got home really really late. I was asleep by then." he paused to think, "The only thing I can tell you is something happened this morning that was weird for sure."
"What?" Deacon asked
"Street's the kinda dude that has his phone glued to his body all the time. Like, he carries that thing everywhere he goes. He even takes it to the bathroom when he takes a dump or a shower!"
"So?" Tan asked frowning
"I never saw it this morning. Dude even turned on the TV! Now that's bizarre!"
"Why is that so weird?" Deacon asked frowning
"Jim never uses the TV in the morning! Dude will wake up with his phone: read the news, text, DM, Facebook, Twitter... everything with his phone. The only time I remember he turning on the TV in the morning was the day after renovations were finished... because I told him to test it. That's it!"
"Maybe it was to avoid her texts or DMs?" Tan wondered
"Yeah, maybe...or something happened to it!" Luca added
Chris and Street were sitting on different tables in the kitchen, as he downed a bottle of water and she enjoyed a snack with a glass of orange juice. The door swung opened and an angry Hondo came in.
"I just got grilled by Hicks. I hope you two are happy. What the hell happened between y'all?" he said approaching the middle of the room.
Both officers lifted their gaze but didn't look at him. Silence.
"Oh...is gonna be like that, huh?" he paused, as he again received no verbal answer. "Aight. You two are is some deep sh*t with Hicks, but...I got him to hold off on the suspension without pay. Y'all gonna be doing wash up duties and inventory the rest of the day. I don't wanna hear a word from either of you and I better see the target training room spotless and the checklist complete by the end of the shift. Y'all feel me?"
Chris and Street now turned their stares towards him, as both young officers nodded their heads slowly.
"Go!" Hondo ordered.
Street opened the door to the bottom floor and stepped in, only to find Chris already working with the boxes in the classified storage compartments of the storage room next to the target training room.
"How come you get to do inventory?"
"Because I got here first!"
"So what? I wanna do inventory!"
"F*ck off, Jim!"
"Hey! Stop cussing at me!"
"Listen" she said lifting her gaze, shooting a menacing look at him, "Hondo said not a word, so shut up!"
"You shut up!" he snapped back angrily
"You wanna get suspended without pay, smart *ss?"
Street stopped for a second, then grabbed the keys from the counter. He located the correct one and opened the maintenance closet.
"This will be like a regular day for you, screw up!"
"Shut up, Chris! I don't get to talk, neither do you!"
"Don't shut me up or I'll finish off your phone!"
"You know, you can be such a b*tch some times!"
"Whatever you say, ass**le!"
"I don't get it. What is your problem? I made sure you won so you didn't have to stand that guy and you go ahead and make a show about it!"
"You really are a piece of crap!" she paused as he got angrier, "Who told you I needed rescuing, Street? I could've beaten that guy's ass without having you tried to cheat! Because of you I was the laughing stock of the night!"
"Be quiet! There cameras here. Hondo catches us and we're screwed"
"That's normal for you!"
"Knock it off!"
"How many inventories for punishment have you done, Street? Bet there too many to count! Coz this is my second one!"
"Shut up, Chris!"
"You shut up!"
"No, you shut up!"
"How about both of y' all shut up!" Hondo said loudly, as he entered the room, sneaking up on them. "I ain't playing with y'all. I don't wanna hear another word! We about to roll out and I better not get my ass hauled in to the principal's office again coz Romeo and Juliet opened up a can of whoop ass in the target room, understand?" he paused as he took another step towards them, "Y'all feel me?"
"Yes, sir." responded the pair quietly, both staring at the ground.
Hondo stood facing them for a full minute, then turned towards the door. As he went by Street, who was on the way, he softly bumped into his shoulder and whispered: "Kid, c'mere!" Street immediately dropped everything and followed his leader.
Both men made it to the staircase, walking quietly. There, Hondo gestured for Street to stand against the opposing wall, while he closed the door behind him.
"Hondo, we're ready to roll." Deacon's voice was heard through the radio
"I'll be there in 2 minutes. Tell Luca to start Black Betty." Hondo answered
"Listen, kid. You aint even back a full year and you pulling off these stunts. You want ya ass back at patrol?"
Street hung his head, shaking it slowly. "No, sir."
"Then, this is what you gonna do. Listen." Hondo paused as he took a step towards him, "Bite your tongue, say yes ma'am and move on. You got that?"
"But I didn't do anything wrong. She's overreacting-"
"Hey! Stop!"Hondo interrupted, "You ain't ever gonna be right, Street. Ever!"
Street shook his head slowly, as Hondo stared at him in silence.
"Do the chores quietly and let her win. You understand? Live to be SWAT another day...at least til the boss cools down!"
"Fine!" Street complied, as Hondo offered his fist and Street responded the gesture.
The boss was soon gone and he returned to the room. Chris was sorting out boxes and ammo, guns, materials and others, as he broomed, mopped and cleaned the area.
He kept glancing at her, hoping she would apologize for his broken phone but the devilish woman just glanced back with frowns and angry looks. He couldn't believe he was stuck with a smashed phone for helping her stand up against those drunks last night. It just wasn't fair at all!
You're gonna get yours! he thought as he angrily wiped each piece of each service weapon. Meanwhile, she quietly went over each box in storage. Since they had to share the keys, the set was placed on the table in plain view.
After 35 minutes, Chris was halfway through the list and Street only had a few more weapons to clean.
"Here!" she said breaking the silence.
She came out carrying one of the biggest security boxes in the small room. She needed to key to open it and Street needed to clean those weapons. So, for the first time all day they actually worked together to finish that small task. It was a small step to world peace!
He did notice however, that her cellphone had fallen out of her pocket while trying to carry the big box back into the storage space.
"Hey-" as he called for her bending down to get it they felt a violent shake in of the ground
GOOOOUUUUU GOOOOOOUU
WHACK! BAM! BOOM!
The ground shook violently as Street tried holding on to the table. Unfortunately, it couldn't hold off the movement and he ended up tumbling to the ground. He heard many objects fall and even the paper targets clipped danced from side to side!
"Earthquake!" he said under his breath. He really hated those!
"AHHHH" he heard Chris yelled, as more boxes fell.
BAM
The gate to the storage space slammed shut as it continued to shake.
"Chris!" he called between the noise
"I'm okay!" she called
He couldn't see much, only a silhouette. The movement of the ground was disorienting!
When the shaking stopped, Street lifted himself off the ground and straightened up, heading towards the storage space. He took one step and felt something under his shoe. When he bent over he found one of the weapons on top of Chris's cellphone, which now sported a brand new crack that went from the top of the screen to both bottom sides!
Oops! The weapon must've landed upright against the mobile, since he forgot to secure it when he finished polishing it.
"Ah!" he heard Chris sob
He forgot about the phone and approached the space. The door was closed shut, as Chris was sitting down with five boxes around her feet. She must've had some of those drop on her head because she had both hands up rubbing her head.
"Hey! You ok?" Street said trying to open the gate
"Yeah...just got something heavy drop on my head." she said slowly
"It hurts? Let me get help" he said turning around, heading for the door.
He made his way through the small walkway and by the time he placed his hand on the door knob he was thrown backward by a violent aftershock.
GOOOOOEDDD GOOOOED
The walls whistled as yet another round of shaking happened, this time stronger that the original one.
"Chris, hold on!" he yelled as the noise kept getting louder and louder. Street was trying to get to his feet but it was a true challenge.
BAM!
The ground suddenly stopped shaking and Street immediately went for the door. Uh oh! The knob wouldn't turn and the door was jammed shut. There was no way to open it! Oh no! Lights went out so the backup generator began to sound, as only the emergency lights in the building worked. The target room went dark, except for three bright LED lights coming from three corners of the wide room.
"Chris?" Street called concerned
"Yeah!" she quickly answered, "Must've been over 6, for sure! I'm still dizzy!"
"Me too!"
"I can't find the keys!" Chris said quickly. There was clearly panic in her tone as Street remembered her saying she couldn't stand being trapped anywhere.
Street took a few steps backward and with all his might, went shoulder first ramming at the door.
BOOOM!
All that hard work in the gym sure paid off as the door came crashing down. Now that the door was knocked down, he turned his attention to Chris.
Let me check on her one more time before getting help. he thought Just in case she needs medical help now.
"Chris you-" he stopped mid sentence after spotting something shining in the floor. It was the set of keys! It sat in the floor between the weapons, cleaning cloths, bottles of solution, papers, boxes and other debris that had fallen because of the movement. He bent down and grabbed them.
When he looked up, Chris was standing behind the caged door, breathing a little bit faster that usual. "Good, you found them. I thought I had lost them." Street stared at her, "Quick! Open this up and let's go check if they need us upstairs."
Street stood frozen with the keys on his hand.
Wait a minute! he thought
"Street, what are you waiting for? Get me outta here." she said desperately
"You hate being trapped, huh?" he said grinning
Chris shot a frown on him, puzzled. "What?"
"You're freaking out, aren't you?"
"Jim, stop playin' and get me out!"
"What if I don't?" he said placing the keys in his pants pockets with a devilish grin
Chris was utterly disgusted by the events that were unfolding in front of her eyes and her look clearly showed it. "Jim, what the hell are you doing? Boss may be watching!"
"Camera's off!" he said signaling to the camera to his right. It was clearly off as no light was reflecting from it.
"So? SWAT's gonna get calls like crazy. Stop messing around and get me the hell out of here, Street!" she demanded, pulling on the door of the cage
The structure rattled as the angry officer shook it... even more violently than the ground itself!
"Ok, but...you gotta be nice to me!" he said crossing his arms on his chest
"What?"
"You can start with a real apology", he paused taking a step forward, "for breaking my phone!"
"No way in hell I'm apologizing to an ass**le like you!"
"Ok, fine." Street said as he turned around and headed for the door
"Wait! Wait!" she called after he took two steps. "Ok, fine. I'm sorry for breaking your phone. There! Happy? Now get me the hell outta here, Jim!"
Before he could answer the ground began to move again, this time subtly. Another aftershock! he thought. However, this one was much shorter and lighter, only lasting 35 seconds.
"Street, please get me out!" Chris pleaded, definitely panicking
"How about an apology for cussing at me in front of the whole crowd yesterday, huh? I didn't deserve that, Chris!"
"Fine! Fine! I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I called you names, now can you please open this door!? I hate this! You know I do."
"Ok, but you gotta ask nicely." he said shooting a smile
Chris took a step back, hung her head. She clinched her jaw and as she shook her head wearing an angry expression said "Street, could you be so kind enough to open the gate? Please?"
"Why yes, I would love to." he said taking the keys out of his pockets. "See? You can be nice!"
"You know I'm going to kill you, right?" she asked as she clinched her jaw and fists, "Kick your ass so bad-"
He approached the gate and inserted the key. Both stopped when they saw that the entire room lighted up.
"You can't! Lights are back!" Street smiled triumphantly as he knew he dodged a huge bullet!
CLICK
The gate finally opened and a desperate Chris jumped out. She took several deep breaths and quickly calmed herself down. Street placed both hands on his pocket and giggled softly.
Chris turned around and took a step towards him. He was sporting the biggest grin possible, dimples on full show!
"Well played." she said grinning at him, placing both hands on her pockets as if imitating him. "Just want to remind you" she paused dramatically, "I know where you live, honey!"
He felt like a shot went through his skull as his lips fell into a frown. Sh*t!
"Sleep with one eye opened!" she said as she turned towards the door.
Luca! Help!