Badge of Honor (10 page)

“He seems like a good guy, judging from the one time I met him, anyway. But then, I guess he could have been nice because you had a gun aimed at him.”

“A gun wouldn't scare Nick.”

“I'm glad you have him out there with you, then,” Beth said. She let go of Sarah and turned back to the desk.

Sarah realized how blessed she was to have been assigned Nick as her FTO, in all aspects.

“I'll be better once he's caught. I'll think about what you said,” Beth promised as she started closing down the computer. She had several Internet browsers open, with many small message boxes on screen. She'd apparently been talking to some friends online.

That's what Sarah had thought all along, but Beth didn't need to hear ‘I told you so' from her. “I know, hon. We'll all feel better then.” She pulled her sister's hand away from the computer mouse. “I need to use this now. Just leave it as is, okay?”

“Let me close out this stuff for you.”

Sarah dared not venture into law-enforcement-officer mode. Nor another oldest-sister lecture. She'd laid it on thick enough for one night. “I can do it later. One quick shortcut and it'll all shut down at once. Let me just check my e-mails.”

Beth nodded. “Okay.” They were both silent, watching the hourglass on her computer turn.

Sarah slipped into the chair and stopped the process so she could search for clues as to who her sister had been talking to. “I'm going to go look at the condo again tomorrow afternoon, take some measurements and figure out where to put things. Why don't you come with me?”

“Yeah, maybe I will. I'm going to bed now. Thanks for the advice, Sarah.”

“Anytime,” she said, anxious to start her investigation.

N
ick left for work early again the next evening. In almost the same spot that he'd come across the stranded woman, he found a young boy trying to carry an injured dog. Nick never could turn away from a child in need. He called the parents and waited for them to come get the boy and the dog.

By the time he arrived at the precinct, his trainee was once again out on duty.

“Matthews, be sure to study the list we put in your box. We'll have extra officers on the midway, but most are going to be in street clothes. I don't want a repeat of last night,” the shift supervisor said as he headed into his office. “Meet me back here after you're in uniform. I'll take you downtown, since all the patrol cars are on the streets tonight.”

After studying the list of officers and their assignments, Nick dressed and hurried back to meet the supervisor. They were headed out his office door when the phone on his desk rang. At the same time, dispatch radioed in. “Sorry, Lieutenant, this caller wanted to talk to you. I think it's the rapist. He sounds very creepy.”

The supervisor turned off his radio and pressed speakerphone. “Lieutenant Douglas. Who is this?”

“Telling you that would ruin all the fun, wouldn't it?” the caller replied.

“You're having fun?” Douglas tapped the eraser of his pencil on the desk.

“Oh yeah,” the man growled. “I never knew the pursuit could be better than the catch. So you can move her as much as you like, but I'll find her,” he said in a raspy, forced voice.

The lieutenant grimaced, twirling the pencil from finger to finger. “Who are you looking for?”

Nick rested his hands on the desk and closed his eyes, praying it wasn't Beth. Praying he wouldn't know her name.

“Don't play dumb with me.”

The suspect was in a busy place, with lots of background noises. Nick listened for something distinctive. A whistle. Water. Anything they could use to track him.

“Oh, I forgot, you're a smart criminal, right? That's why you have to resort to forcing yourself on women….”

That obviously ticked the caller off. He was breathing hard now. Suddenly, the background noises became muffled. Was he in a closed-in area? A mall? Nick picked up a sound he'd heard before—the rhythmic clack of metal and the hum of electric generators.

“Oh, they pretend to be waiting, pretend to be pure….”

Nick wanted to reach out and grab the man through the phone.
Come on, creep, you're not as clever as you think.

The lieutenant took his time responding. They had to keep him on the line as long as possible, to give them more details to go on when studying the recording. “We didn't move anyone. Why don't you tell me why you're taking your anger out on innocent women?”

The caller chuckled, a deep and sinister laugh. “It's your job to figure that out. Mine is to find her before you find me. I'm hiding in plain sight.”

Nick heard the music from the Ferris wheel at the Harvest Festival just then, behind the caller's voice. Immediately, he ran out the door, heading to his own car, and grabbing for his radio as he did so. “Officer 235 en route to Harvest Festival. Officer 318, code 33, contact by phone.”

He was racing downtown a minute later when his phone rang. “Nick, what's going on?” Sarah asked.

“The rapist called from a pay phone at the carnival. I could hear the Ferris wheel. Where are you?” He pulled up to the first traffic barricade and waved himself past the security guards. He realized as he got out of his car that he could hear the Ferris wheel music for blocks. The suspect could be anywhere.

They'd had more problems with gangs in the downtown area lately, and Nick was thankful there were more officers on duty tonight.

“I'm near the chicken hut—” Sarah said quietly. The same music was playing in the background.

“I'll be right there,” he interrupted, and disconnected. He tried to look casual as he searched for Sarah, but panic was taking over. In the crowds of pedestrians, he spotted the blonde baker they'd met in the alley the night before. Maybe she'd seen his partner.

“Hi, Officer Matthews,” she said, handing him a coupon for a discount on a costume rental. “Need a costume?”

He eyed someone dressed as a big yellow bird walking past the chicken hut. “No thanks, I brought my own. Looks like you've already drummed up some business.” He nodded. “Is that one of your costumes?”

“Yes, interest has been even better than I expected….”

Nick thought of the muffled sounds during the rapist's phone call. A close-fitting mask could do that…. He didn't have time for small talk, not with a predator on the loose. “Good, have a nice evening.”

I know you're short, Sarah, but where are you?

The yellow bird was pacing back and forth in front of a bar overflowing with young customers, as if it was ready to pounce.

Was
their suspect in costume?

The bird took a few steps, just as Nick heard Sarah say over the radio, “Suspicious party in front of the leaning…”

Suddenly, the bird took off running.

Someone yelled, but Nick couldn't make out what was said. Seconds later the yellow-feathered creature pushed through a crowd, then ran into a man and woman, knocking the woman down. A large pink purse went flying.

Nick raced forward, dodging people and baby strollers, as screams erupted.

The man kicked the chicken, then took off, after pausing a second to look at his date on the ground.

What was going on? Was he waiting for the girl, or wanting the purse? Nick wasn't sure who was after whom, or what was going down. He was closing the gap as the college-age female rolled over and shoved the bird away.

The bird struggled back to its feet, the bulky costume adding to its problems. It took one step toward the man then stopped as the suspect disappeared between two buildings. The bird knelt in front of the upset woman.

Nick yanked the costumed figure aside with one hand and helped the girl to her feet with the other. Neither the bird or the woman reached for the purse lying on the sidewalk.

Nick confirmed that the victim was okay, and instructed her to stay close while he sorted things out. Then he turned to the bird, which was stomping its feet, struggling to get away, as other police officers pushed through the gathering crowd.

“I had him, Matthews!”

Nick let the yellow feathers drop from his hand.

Sarah?

S
he was still reading Nick the riot act as yet another officer approached, pushing the crowd back. “He advertised to meet interested parties here, Matthews….” she mumbled, nodding toward the hysterical woman.

“I'll talk to you in a minute,” he growled. He picked up the giant pink purse and slid it onto his shoulder.
What the blazes is she carrying in here?

Nick looked at Sarah, confused. He pulled her away from the victim, as he would have separated the individuals in any fight, then scanned the crowd once more, looking for the suspect. All he saw was a woman arguing with one of their plainclothes officers. It seemed as if he'd missed catching the real suspect, for an undercover cop.

“Didn't Lieutenant Douglas tell you?” Sarah whispered.

Nick looked around the scene, assessing the situation. Crowd of people, gangbangers lurking in the distance. They probably weren't an issue. “Tell me what?”

“About my disguise.”

“He didn't. And just in case the suspect is still hanging around, you're being treated just like our other suspects. We don't dare let on that we have cops in costumes out here. How many others are there?”

“Just me,” she muttered, as Nick pushed her up to the wall of the bar and made a show of frisking her.

“This is a family event. You should be ashamed of yourself,” he said, loud enough for the gawkers to hear. Then he added under his breath, “I can't believe Douglas failed to tell me something this critical.” He gave her the once-over as he turned her around. “The suspect called. Douglas was talking to him. I didn't know you'd be…a chicken. It wasn't on the list.”

“Give her the stupid purse, then,” Sarah yelled. “Let me go.”

“You're under arrest for robbery,” he said, pulling a set of handcuffs from his belt.

“You're kidding me,” she growled.

“Everyone break it up,” Nick bellowed. “Go on your way. We have this situation under control.” He turned her around, just then noticing several gang members moving closer.

“What's going on?” Sarah whispered.

Nick hated to cuff his backup, but put the cuffs very loosely on his undercover partner before handing the purse to the young woman. “I'm not positive, but it doesn't look good. Don't break your cover unless it's absolutely imperative, Roberts.”

 

A witness started swearing at Nick. “That's my purse! This
stupid duck
knocked it out of my hand.”

“I'm not a duck,” Sarah retorted, leaning forward and playing along with the arrest. She'd learned the first week of FBI training that undercover work was the most dangerous assignment of all. Things could change at a moment's notice. They'd never given her the chance to prove herself because of her size. This was her chance to do so here. “Don't you know the difference between a duck bill and a chicken beak, you moron? This is a beak!” She started clucking like a chicken, startling the crowd.

Nick grabbed her by the wing and tugged her close to the coed in the miniskirt.

“Give me my purse back,” the tough-looking woman said, pushing her way through the crowd. She belonged to a gang, Sarah suddenly realized as she peered through the feathers hanging in front of her eyeholes.

The crowd was thinning, but the gang members remained, swarming around them. The woman yelled, “You're no better than that thief, pig. Give me the purse, and they'll back off.”

Without another word, Nick pulled the hefty woman's arms behind her back. He pulled out a second set of handcuffs and radioed for backup. “That's threatening an officer, not to mention what we may find when we open this bag to verify its ownership. And I'm sure your customers are anxious to make a buy…. You've saved us a lot of work, gathering them all together for us….”

Sarah watched in amazement at how quickly the crowd dispersed. At how Nick had taken control of the situation, without revealing that they had undercover officers on duty, mixed in with the throngs around them.

She'd been so intent on the suspect she'd totally missed that the purse was far too fat to contain the average college girl's supply of makeup and sundries. Sarah eyed the frightened all-American coed, clean-cut, except for her miniskirt, then the hefty gang member wearing tons of makeup. Even if the monstrous purse wasn't filled with drugs, it made no sense for the student to be traveling with it.

Besides, pink clashed with her outfit. The coed seemed the type to coordinate every detail.

The other officers were milling through the crowd, some in street clothes, a handful in uniform. They all knew Sarah's identity.

“The bird's under arrest for robbery,” Nick told Jared Daniels as he came to assist. “I've searched her, but leave the costume on, let her sweat a little.”

She knew he was trying to tell the others to keep up the charade.

“I read you. Good job, Sergeant,” Jared Daniels said with a smile.

Sarah thought of how close they'd come to initiating a gang riot, and her heart raced. Give her the cold, calculated threat of a terrorist and she was in her zone, but here in the midst of gang members she was as green as they came.

“Where's the squad car?” Nick asked her in a whisper.

“I drove my own car,” she answered quietly. “Kinda blows the cover to have a police escort to a party.”

Jeremy Logan stepped through the crowd and handed Nick a set of keys. “My car's at the end of the block. Take the bird and the victim, and I'll have Daniels bring the owner of the purse in for you.”

Nick looked at Jared and leaned close. “Get those cuffs back to me. They're my grandfather's.”

“Will do,” Jared confirmed, then led the gang member in the opposite direction.

Nick escorted Sarah to the car, the coed—the rapist's target—alongside. Lieutenant Douglas met them at the vehicle. “We almost had him, but good job, both of you,” he said in a low voice. “Get back on the streets ASAP. We'll talk about this later. I expect to make sure the teardown of the festival goes smoothly, so plan to stay late to talk with me about the call.”

Sarah took a deep breath, thankful that she could hide behind the chicken head for the moment. She'd blown it big this time.