Seventeen

Lee greets James on exiting the hospital.

Lee had awaited James’ discharge from the hospital with a great sense of anticipation. He had already taken his discovery to the chief. Since he had lost a man in the field over this whole thing, Bennet’s attitude had somewhat changed. He was now just as determined to get to the bottom of it as Lee, ‘Let’s find those b******s’ had been his exact words. Bennet had always been a cog, willing to play the game to keep on the upwards trajectory, but when it came to the lives of his men he had more balls than some. As a result Lee had been given pretty much free reign to organise things as he thought right, under the requirement that everything was sanctioned by James. In truth they didn’t need to wait for James to be discharged from the hospital to undertake the operation they had planned, but all parties thought it right that he should be there to witness the event. Lee watched James walk out, with less of a hobble than Lee had had when he was discharged just two weeks earlier. In the meantime Lee had continued to check the location of the mobile phones and to his satisfaction they had only confirmed the location of the chest.

‘Hey Nemo’ James’ face lit up to Lee’s surprise, and he realised his partner had not been expecting him. ‘You came to pick me up!’

‘Well who else was gonna do it’ Lee nodded at him and lifted out of one of his hands the bag he was struggling with. ‘I’m parked just over here’ Lee directed James to his badly parked car. ‘How are you feeling man?’ he asked casually, trying not to insult the man as they walked over to the car.

‘Never better’ James said back. Lee walked around to the boot, opened it and threw James’ bag in. ‘How about you?’ Lee slammed the boot shut.

‘I’m doing ok thanks buddy’, James opened the car door and eased into the passenger seat. Lee jumped in the other side. He could still feel a slight ache in his leg but the rest of his pain had all but subsided. This fact led him to question why he continued to take the Vicodin, but he knew why. It was a tough habit to lose. As Lee started driving he could see out of the corner of his eye James trying to get comfortable.

‘So’ James began, ‘Are we all in place, ready?’

‘100%’ replied Lee,

‘You had any news about Chuck?’, Lee looked at James briefly and back to the road in front of him. ‘Dead?’ asked James, quickly, attempting not to convey any emotion. Lee shook his head.

‘Doesn’t look good though man’

‘Well let’s do this thing for him then’ James continued,

‘Damn right’ replied Lee. He brought the car to a stop at a red light. ‘You know, you don’t need to be with us tomorrow. We’ve got all the officers we need and they all know where they need to be’

‘Lee’ James interrupted ‘I might be old and decrepit, but I’m still a better shot than you even with my eyes closed’ Lee looked at James as the lights went green and both men laughed. The kind of laugh they shared when stuck in beds next to each other in the hospital. The two didn’t say anything more as Lee drove the car to James’ house but sat in comfortable silence. Eventually Lee pulled up to the curb outside James’ house and shut the engine off. As James opened the car door and slammed it shut Lee rolled down the window and called after him,

‘Hey listen man’, James came back and bent down to listen through the window, ‘I never got to, y’know, just say thanks’ James rose an eyebrow, ‘for saving me’. James shook his head and let out breath through his teeth.

‘F**k you man, you saved yourself. You better start realising that pretty soon or you ain’t gonna last long in this game’, and with that James walked to the back of the car and grabbed his bag out the trunk.

‘5am remember’ shouted Lee after him. He held up a thumb and shouted back,

 ‘Night Nemo’, as he walked into his house and closed the door behind him.

‘Goodnight James’ Lee said to himself as he started up the engine.

 

When Lee arrived back at his apartment he opened the door to find Sarah sitting by his coffee table reading over notes. She had spent a large amount of time in his apartment to work the case with him. They had spent a large time planning how they would gain entry to the property whilst causing the fewest casualties. This had been done in his apartment as Lee was still allowed time off due to his injuries and hadn’t wanted to go into the office to face everyone, or be in the basement without James. Luckily Sarah didn’t seem to mind, and the two had settled into a routine of her arriving at 9am in the morning to a cup of coffee made or bought for her by Lee. They would then spend the day going over plans and theories, taking a short lunch break and watching TV before Sarah would either go home or fall asleep on Lee’s sofa. Her mind worked in a familiar way to Lee and he found it easy to bounce ideas off her. Easier even than it had been with James.

‘So I’ve had a last look at the plans’ she started as soon as he walked in, ‘and I’ve been thinking about a bit of a change’ Lee wandered over to his kitchenette and pulled out a glass with some scotch.

‘Oh yeah’ he replied. Sarah looked over at him as he poured a few fingers onto the ice in his glass,

‘How many of those are you having?’ she asked accusingly.

‘Just one’ he said as he turned around and took a well-earned sip. He found the situation surreal, it felt like he was married sometimes.

‘So’ she continued, satisfied with his answer, ‘I think we should put two more guys to the east. I’ve realised that this building on this side has great access to the adjacent street so that’s definitely where they’ll go.’ Lee walked over to her spot and looked at the map, nodding.

‘OK’ he said, ‘Sounds good’.

‘So I think I’ll take that spot with McAllister’, Lee looked down at her,

‘What?’

‘I’ll take it with McAllister’, Lee put his glass down and sat facing her on the opposite chair.

‘Sarah you aren’t coming’, she shook her head disapprovingly,

‘Oh piss off Lee, I’ve put so much work into this I’m coming’

‘No Sarah you’re not. We’ve got enough people on it and…’

‘What are you worried I’ll see your terrible shooting? Lee I’ll be fine’

‘No it’s not…’

‘I know you’ve been going to the shooting range Lee. But don’t worry’, Lee shook his head.

‘Sarah, you’re not listening. Do you know why I don’t want you to come into this?’ Sarah looked into his eyes, thinking for a moment.

‘Because you’re worried about me’, he shook his head again,

‘No’ he said simply ‘It’s because if anything goes wrong, f***s up, if I don’t come back there’s only one person other than me and James I trust to work on this. To finish it’

‘Lee…’ he interrupted her again,

‘You have to finish it Sarah’,

‘You’ll be fine and I’ll be fine so this is pointless’, Lee grabbed a hold of her hands and shook them to make the point,

‘Promise me, you’ll finish it’, Sarah waited a moment,

‘I promise’, with that Lee let go.

‘Good’, he said as he stood up and grabbed his glass of scotch. ‘Now, if you don’t mind I’m going to bed’, he began walking to his bedroom as Sarah shouted behind him,

‘So you’re not in love with me then?’ Lee stopped in his tracks and turned around,

‘It takes a lot more than a good cup of coffee and a blanket to get me to fall in love with someone.’ And with that he walked into his bedroom and closed the door behind him, knowing Sarah would be sleeping over.

Author's Note

Trying to put Sarah into the story a bit more