Nothing Special 03 - Here Comes Trouble (8 page)

Ruxs was already rounding the corner and he saw Aaron dart in between the cars, running across the parking lot. He was fast but Ruxs was definitely faster. He was closing the distance and hoping the whole time that Aaron was alone. He heard the squealing of tires and the rumble of a diesel engine, knowing Green was coming in fast.

“Stop, Aaron and I won’t put a bullet in your back!” Ruxs yelled, hoping his lie would make Aaron nervous enough to stop or make a mistake.

Green skidded just as Aaron cleared the parking lot but the man ran around the truck into the large supermarket at the end of the mall. He kept up his pursuit and could hear Green’s quick footsteps on his heels. They barreled through the doors and people were already screaming and yelling, since Aaron had just now knocked over a huge display case of canned goods.
Oh great, more damage
.

“If Syn grounds us, I’m going to kill you,” Green said huffing as they ran up the condiments aisle, trying desperately not to run anyone over. People were scrambling and yelling as he and Green shouted, “Police! Get out of the way!”

As soon as he turned the corner, Ruxs had to jump a woman’s cart to keep from knocking her over and ended up slamming into some shelves that were full of cereal boxes. The display went flying across the floor along with Ruxs. “Fuck!” Green was coming up the aisle to take the corner when Ruxs saw Aaron pull his weapon. “Gun!”

Green hurled himself at the stunned woman Ruxs had dived to avoid and crashed his huge body to hers taking her down to the unforgiving floor. Gunshots rang out in quick succession, and Ruxs pulled his weapon, hesitating to return the fire, not wanting an innocent hit by his bullet. He heard shots from Green’s Glock, and prayed he had clear shots.

“Up!” Green yelled.

Ruxs didn’t hesitate; he was on his feet and running along with his partner. They skidded to a halt at the end of the meat aisle and quickly peeked around the corner at the sound of the commotion. Aaron had run into a stocker that was unloading some large canned goods.

“Get that bastard, Ruxs,” Green yelled at him.

Why the fuck was he always responsible for catching the bad guys?
Shit
. Green could run too. Aaron was almost back to the front of the store. It looked like he’d lost his gun but the cell phone in his hand was very visible. If he gets through to Chainz, it’s a wrap. Ruxs picked up one of the large cans of green beans and hurled at the back of Aaron’s head, unfortunately it sailed over his head and into the store’s front window, shattering it to pieces. The sound was loud and had store patrons and register clerks taking cover. Aaron was just in front of him, too much activity at the front of the store for him to get out the doors. Ruxs jumped on his back, taking him down to the ground with an angry thud. 

“Don’t fuckin’ move, Aaron,” Ruxs growled, yanking Aaron’s hand behind his back, while he kept his other arm around his throat.

“Hey! Get off that kid!”

“Someone stop that guy!”

Customers who’d fled to the parking lot were yelling at Ruxs. Some taking pictures with their phones. He was sure he looked like a huge thug himself. He couldn’t worry about them. He put his knee into Aaron’s back to hold his pinned arm in place and took the cell phone out of his hand. He checked to see if the call had gone through, but it didn’t look like it.
Thank you for huge fuckin’ favors.

“Put your hands up! Get off the kid and put your hands up right now!”

Oh fuck. Not the police.
He and Green were way out of their jurisdiction. These guys probably didn’t recognize them, but he was sure they knew of God and Day. He heard the cop yelling more orders at his back, but there was no way he was going to let Aaron up. Ruxs kept his knee in Aaron’s back and snarled at him. “You better not fuckin’ move, or I’ll knock your ass out.”

“I will tase you if I have to. Get your hands up right now!” This cop was at the end of his patience already. Cops loved tasing people, he had no doubt the man was getting ready to follow through on his threat.

Where the hell is Green?

“Get that fucking gun off my partner right now, unless you want this size twelve up your ass.” Green’s deep voice cut off the cop’s orders. “I’m Detective Chris Green, Atlanta PD, and you are currently threatening Detective Mark Ruxsberg. Now move the fuck out of the way so I can secure my perp.”

Ruxs saw Green come into his line of sight and squat down next to him.

“About fuckin’ time. Did you stop to drink a damn bottle of water or something?” Ruxs snapped at his partner.

“No, I stopped to eat some green beans.”

Ruxs busted out laughing. “Fuck you.”

“What the fuck were you thinking, throwing that damn can like that?”

“You know I pitched college baseball.” Ruxs shrugged, trying to make his justification.

“Dude, that was over ten years ago.”

“I know. I was way the fuck off, wasn’t I?” Ruxs laughed again, pulling Aaron up by his arm.

“Hell yeah, you were. That’ll probably cost the department a pretty penny.” Green shook his head. “Syn should be here soon. I called as soon as you took off after him.”

“No it won’t cost the department anything, because he did it,” Ruxs said, bending down, just inches from Aaron’s sweaty face. “Didn’t you, asshole? You caused all that damage back there, and I’m going to make you pay for it.”

Aaron was only in his early twenties and he looked scared as shit right now. Ruxs had to be at least a foot taller than him and the more he glared the more Aaron seemed to shrink in on himself. Ruxs took Aaron’s cell phone and put it in his pocket as the local police approached them.

Ruxs secured handcuffs on Aaron and pushed him back down onto the curb. “Sit, and keep your fuckin’ mouth shut.”

“Um. Can I see your identification, sir? I saw his, but not yours.” The officer looked up at him. Damn, this guy looked like he had just graduated the academy yesterday. His face was void of any hard lines and his hair was moussed and slicked back. His uniform was so starched, Ruxs was surprised he could walk.

“Are you the one that said you’d tase me?” Ruxs made his voice deep and sinister and the rookie looked like he immediately wanted to take his request back.

“Yes, sir. But, I’m sure you understand my position and —”

“No, actually I don’t. Explain it to me. Your position.” Ruxs stepped into the officer’s personal space and the man tilted his head back to look at him or else he would’ve just stared at Ruxs’ chest.

“Sir, please don’t get hostile. What’s your badge number?” The officer stepped back, putting one hand up and one hand on the butt of his gun.

Ruxs could hear Green chuckling. He had to admit, he loved putting on a show for him. “I’m not hostile. Do I look hostile?” Ruxs took another couple of steps forward. “You want my badge number? It’s 612–not-gonna-fuckin-happen.”

“Sir. There’s no need to g-get upset.” The officer stuttered, looking over to his own robust partner that was providing him absolutely no help.

“I’m not upset. Do I look upset?” Ruxs hissed.

“Do I look upset?”

Damn
. Ruxs stood up straighter at the sound of the deepest voice he’d ever heard and moved away from teasing the officer, but still not bothering to turn around. He faced Green and mock whispered to him. “Does he look really upset?”

Green smiled and shook his head yes.

Ruxs finally turning around to face his lieutenant. “How’s your day going, God? Good, I presume. I must say, you’re looking very malicious and spiteful today.”

“Shut up, idiot.” God grumbled, strutting over to them. God was only a couple inches taller than them but his bravado made him ten feet tall. He watched as God stopped, then approached the stunned officers.

“My name is Lieutenant Godfrey, this is my sergeant, Corbin Sydney of the Atlanta PD narcotics task force. I’m sorry you had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting my enforcers. Take my sergeant’s card. If you have any questions when completing your report, you can speak with him.” God didn’t wait to see if the cops had anything to say. He simply turned and walked away to let Syn handle the rest of the situation.

They waited for Syn to finish with the officers, tensing when he turned and headed in their direction. His cold dark glare focused on them. Green stood just a few inches behind Ruxs, and he had to admit he needed his sure, confident, presence. 

“This is Chainz’s brother, Aaron Thompson?” Syn looked at the young face sitting on the curb.

“Yes.” When Ruxs went to open his mouth to say more, Syn shook his head no, indicating he shouldn’t speak. “Get him down to the station. Make sure he doesn’t say a word to anyone. No one questions him. We can’t risk word leaking out to Chainz.”

“Aaron definitely saw JJ. He’s in the back of my truck now. I can’t let them ride together.” Green informed his sergeant.

“Ruxs you take your suspect back to the precinct in my car. I’ll ride with God. Which I’m really not happy about, but doesn’t look like I have a choice.” Syn grumbled. “You stay glued to Aaron’s side until I get there… If I make it back alive.”

Ruxs shook his head in pity for his sergeant. No one ever rode with God, except Day. The man drove like a complete maniac. Ruxs turned and faced Green. “I’ll see you at the station.”

At Day’s instruction, Green was able to get JJ to one of their safe house locations until his flight the next day. The guy’s usually mocha skin looked ashen by the time Green left the small house outside of Brookhaven. He was sure JJ wouldn’t breathe easy until he was landing at San Francisco International. It seems that they were able to apprehend Chainz’s brother before he had the chance to give him any type of warning.

Green drove back to the station in Atlanta. It was already after one o’clock. He should have just enough time for some catch with the guys before his date. He had to admit to himself that he was disturbed by Ruxs’ reaction. I mean, were they supposed to be alone for the rest of their lives? Ruxs was dating, why couldn’t he? Ruxs had actually looked pissed when he’d told him about it. It wasn’t like he’d broken some plans that they’d made together.

Green strolled through the station and noticed that there were way too many people in their department. He saw other sergeants, detectives from vice and robbery, even some admin specialist, were all laughing while staring at one the of the big monitors they used for meetings. He looked for Ruxs but didn’t see him, figuring he was probably still down in lock-up guarding Aaron.

As soon as Green walked through the doors, heads turned and the laughter went up another ten notches. What the hell is so funny? Curtis made his way over to him and Green gave him a quick one-armed hug. “Hey buddy. How was school?”

“Fine. I just stopped by to drop of Day’s dry cleaning and all this was going on.” Curtis waved his hand at the crowd. He looked nervous instead of amused like all the others.

Green craned his head in the direction of the television, so he could see what they were all laughing at when Vikki strolled up to him. “Well here’s trouble number two. I swear, you guys will never learn.” She shook her head sauntering off.

Green moved to get in front of the screen, his mouth dropping open as he watched the video footage of him and Ruxs running wild through the supermarket. One of the IT detectives sped up the footage right to the point where Ruxs picked up the huge can of green beans and hurled it through the front window of the store. Rambunctious laughter rang out again and Green groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” He hurried over to Stevens, the computer geek already rewinding and playing it again. “Hey, asshole. Turn this off, now!”

“You guys are in so much trouble.” Stevens grinned, pushing his black-framed glasses farther up his nose. “That woman you just tackled like Tony Romo, her lawyer already contacted the captain. The supermarket’s executive office is not in agreement that you guys were doing your job. They contend it’s negligence on the part of the police department to chase an armed suspect into a store full of innocent people.”

Green ran his hand through his hair, wishing this day was already over. “You know damn well if we would’ve let Chainz’s brother get away, our bust would’ve been tanked.”

Stevens just shrugged. One of the beat officers yelled for Stevens to replay Green slamming into the cereal display again. The young nerdy officer laughed hard and went to rewind it for his audience. Green yanked the kid up out of his chair, snarling in his face. “Turn it off or get ready for me to make a sequel starring me and you.”

“You’ve all got five seconds to get the fuck out of my department!” God’s deep voice had everyone scrambling for the doors. The office cleared completely in three seconds flat. Green watched God walk up to Stevens, glaring down at him as he removed the disc from his computer, handing it to Syn who had come in with his lieutenants. “The next time you want to entertain the masses at my detectives’ expense, you’ll do it from the fuckin’ unemployment line. Am I clear?”

“Yes, sir,” Stevens said in a soft tone, quickly moving out of God’s way.

“Since you have so much energy and time to entertain, go down to lock-up and relieve Ruxs, tell him to come back up. You can sit there with Chainz’s brother and entertain him for the night. No one is to talk to him, he’s not to make a phone call, nothing. Got it?”

Stevens face couldn’t hide how much he hated his reprimand, but he didn’t dare voice it. He simply nodded his head stiffly and left the office.

God didn’t say anything to Green yet. He figured he was waiting on Ruxs to get back, to give them their own punishment. When his partner finally made it back upstairs, he looked like a hot, tired mess. He must’ve figured the same thing… this was not going to be pleasant.

“Stop looking so nervous,” Syn said from his desk, looking over at them. “You guys are not going to be grounded.”

“This time,” Day added quickly, coming through the door. “But I can tell ya. You’re getting real close.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t see another way that situation could’ve been handled. If Aaron would’ve gotten away, our plans to intercept Chainz’s deal would’ve been completely shot to hell. So I appreciate you guys doing what you needed to do to ensure that didn’t happen.” Syn stood and came over to clap Ruxs on his back. “But next time leave the throwing to Felix Hernandez.”

Everyone laughed, including God. “I can’t believe you fuckin’ did that, man. It would’ve been badass if you would’ve actually hit him.”

“What about the woman that I had to take down. Is she really suing?” Green asked his lieutenant.

God dropped down in his chair, rubbing his goatee like he was thinking. “Well. I told her lawyer, next time we’ll let her take the goddamn bullet. Then she wouldn’t be able to sue us ‘cause she’d be dead. At this point, I don’t give a fuck. It is what it is.”

Day draped his body over God’s shoulders from behind. Green never minded stealing a glimpse of their bosses’ love for each other. They didn’t do it in front of them often. But every now and then you’d catch them staring at each other, stealing a quick touch or embrace. It was stunning. The two beautiful, strong men like them together was a sight no one should want to turn away from. Anytime Day touched God, it looked like the man was no longer paying attention to anything around him. He’d closed his eyes and leaned his head back into the comfort of his partner. Green looked over at his own partner. Ruxs appeared to be mesmerized by the display of affection.

Day kept talking, breaking them all out of their thoughts. “Make sure you guys check out that warehouse tomorrow, see if anything is going on over there. It’s probably quiet, but get me some pictures if you see anything… and do it without making the goddamn six o’clock news, please.” He added with a smirk.

Ruxs and Green both stood up and begin to gather their things. Curtis was still sitting Indian-style on his desk playing with his phone. Green got up and pulled the sweet boy into a headlock, laughing as he squirmed trying to get away. “We still playing catch? Got plenty of daylight left.”

“Yeah. Sure,” Curtis said eagerly, hopping down to the floor. “What’s for dinner?”

“Actually, I’m going out buddy,” Green said.

“Oh okay. I’ll go over to Shane’s house. I think he’s having some friends over.”

“Over for what?” Ruxs jumped into the conversation, his voice deep and firm.

Curtis shrugged, walking with them out of their office. “I don’t know. Just over… ya know. Play some video games, whatever.”

“Alright. You know the rules. No drinking, no drugs.” Ruxs scrubbed his knuckles over Curtis’ blonde hair.

Curtis batted his hand away. “You know I don’t do any of that.”

“I know. I mean don’t be around it, either. If you see someone doing it, leave.” Ruxs opened Green’s back door and let Curtis climb up into the truck.”

“I know, I know. Dad.” Curtis laughed.

Hearing Curtis say that to Ruxs, even though it was a joke, stirred something in Green. He just couldn’t identify it. He looked over at his partner in the passenger seat and saw that it had touched something in him too. The entire task force felt like big brothers to Curtis but the relationship they’d developed with him over the years felt different.