Page 9 of Control (Everyday Heroes 3.50)
“Crime’s everywhere.”
“You can say that again. I’m just coming off a homicide at one of the vineyards. Decided I’d kick it here for a bit, unwind, get my head straight before heading home to the fam.”
“Family?” I’m not surprised. Malone’s one of the good ones.
“Yep. Wife. Two kids with one on the way. Dogs.”
“So very TV sitcom-ish.”
We both laugh, the leap in our lives so very different than the last time we saw each other.
“What about you? You married? Kids?”
“Nah. Not sure if it’s for me or not.”
“I can respect that. Are you still on the right side of the law or did you decide it wasn’t exciting enough for you?” he asks without any judgment in his tone. It doesn’t surprise me that he remembers our late-night conversations in the Academy dorms. The ones where I confessed to what a punk I’d been. The trouble I’d been caught up in where I figured my only option was to sign on with the force or end up behind bars.
“Me? SWAT.” I love the look on his face. Shock mixed with disbelief. “Wild, huh?”
“You’re serious.”
“As a heart attack. Did entry for ten years, and I’ve been the commander of a team with SFPD for the past five.”
He looks at the beer between his hands and smiles. “Some of the guys took bets after we graduated from the Academy whether you’d stick it out or not.”
“Nice to know my friends are bastard assholes,” I say through a laugh, but know damn well I would have bet against me too. “And?”
“Looks like if I could track down the old crew, I’d be a rich man.” He taps the neck of his beer against mine and takes a long pull before looking back at me. “Fucking SWAT, Rez? Really?”
“Yep. Gotta get my fix of adrenaline somehow.” I take my time looking around the bar, watching to see who’s sitting back, taking note of who’s paying attention that Grant is talking to an outsider in this town where it seems everyone knows everyone. Getting the lay of the land even when I’m not on duty. It seems old habits die hard. “So this is your beloved Sunnyville, huh?”
“Yep. Big but small. Scenic but confining. A place where everyone knows your name...and your business.” He laughs, but I can tell he loves it here. “Told you that you’d make it here one day.”
“Guess it seems you knew all the answers back then. You should have been a fortune teller.”
“No, thanks. I’m good with where life has brought me. What brings you here?”
“I took some time off I had coming.”
“There’s never time off in our world,” he says, and I can see his mind working. I know he’s wondering if I was put on disciplinary leave for something. It’s really none of his fucking business, but the last thing I need is him looking into me.
“Shit went south in a situation I was leading my team on. A dad barricaded with kids. I made the call to breach. Shit went bad before we were able to neutralize him.”
That much is the truth.
“It’s not your fault.”
Malone gets it. What’s in my head. What keeps me up at night. Why I needed to leave the city behind for a little bit.
“Yeah. I know. It doesn’t make it feel any better.” I finish off my beer and shrug away the screaming echoing in my head from their mother as she stood behind the barricades fighting officers to get to her babies. “Just a fucking waste.”
“It always is.” He judges my mood with a nod and a tight smile. “I’m sorry.”
“No need to be.”
“So you took time off to get your head straight?”
“Something like that.” I chuckle and then sigh, because I know I need to give more. “It was either that or I was going to quit so...it was agreed I’d take some time. Besides, my sergeant knew the head of a self-defense academy out here. He needed some instructors and my boss wanted to make sure I didn’t fall off the damn grid. Figured, why not get the hell out of Dodge for a while and do that.”
