Sin (The Waite Family) (6 page)

Coop had to be drifting in and out of consciousness and hadn’t realized he wasn’t getting
the
help he’d radioed for.
He pulled out his own cell phone and realized he’d radioed for help
,
officer down nearly an hour ago.
Fuck, he was a dead man.
His
c
aptain, Carl
Wickett
,
spoke again.

“Just knew you’d follow orders. Ain’t nothing but consistent are you, Cooperider?
Well, I had you leave that fancy cell of your
s
at home so in the event something…oh I don’t know, like you get
ting
gut shot happened, then you’d be too hurt to ask for help.”

Coop wiped the blood off his hands on
to
his pants legs of his jeans as he opened his phone to text.
There w
as only one person he kne
w he could trust right now a
n
d he hoped she wasn’t somewhere that it would take her too long to get to her only boy.

“You there, Cooperider?
Did you wonder why I gave you that fancy phone thin
g
to wear?”
He had
,
but didn’t answer.
“I got that from the powers that be. They said to make sure you had a nice policeman’s funeral and I aim to please
.
”

“Yeah, you always were great at ass kissing.”
Coop hit send and made his voice lower, weaker.
“Powers that be, huh?
So the chief wants me dead
,
huh?
Wonder when—
”
A coughing fit cut him off.

“Oh that sounds really bad, Cooperider. You should see a doctor before that kills you. Chief?
Nah, not him. He actually likes your goody
-
two
-
shoes ass.
Nah, this goes higher than that.
Might find me sitting next to the mayor if you weren’t dying.”

Coop
’
s phone vibrated.
“
Coming
,” i
t
said.
Then seconds later, “
Y
ou die and I will personally kick your ass, young man.
”
Then another, “
I love you
,
son.”

He closed his eyes. Mom was coming.
And she would kick his ass if he died
,
he thought with a grin.
Coughing again, he hoped he could hang on for her. He really would hate to disappoint her.
But for now he needed information. He dialed a second number
,
this time a phone number and not as a text
.

When the voice at the other end answered Coop spoke quickly.
“Mayor Chaney? Wow, you must have sucked a lot of dick to get that kind of job.
So you think me and the chief are expendable do you
,
Wickett
?”

Another burst of laughter.
“Expendable is a good word. College didn’t
do
you a damn bit of good
,
do you think?
You’re still bleeding to death in a dirty alley with only rats to keep you company.”

It occurred to Coop that he might not have anyone on the call and he’d been hung up on when he hadn’t answered right away.
He tried to lift the phone and had tried several times
,
but he was too weak and he’d lost too much blood.

“I’ll take my life over your
s
any day of the week,
Wickett
.”
Coop saw a shadow moving toward him. It blurred in and out before he could make it out.
“Mom, is that you?”

“Damn
,
boy, seeing your mama before you bite the big one? You really are a putz. A rich
,
dead
,
fucking putz.”
The radio went off on a bite of laughter.

Coop smiled up at his mom.
“I think the
c
hief is on my phone if the rat didn’t take it with him when he left.”

“Oh
,
Payton, whatever have you gotten yourself into?
I have the medical team on the way.
Let me have that phone, son.”

Coop couldn’t seem to make his fingers loosen their grip. Then he saw two more people there and he sort of fuzzed out.
Next thing he knew
,
he was in a moving vehicle.

“Detective Cooperider?
You’re going to be fine.
We’re life
-
flighting you to the doctors now.
Can you tell me where you hurt the worst?
”

His tongue felt thick and his mouth dry.
He hurt everywhere
,
he wanted to scream at him
,
but couldn’t manage it. Closing his eyes
,
he tried to concentrate on the exact location of each pain
,
but he must have fuzzed out again because he was in a more stationary bed and he was looking at a pretty girl.

“Mom?”

She grinned at him.
“Hardly
,
d
etective.
I’m Doctor Rosa. We’re going to take you to surgery as soon as we land.
You’ve lost a good deal of blood
,
but I want you to stay with us.”
She stepped out of his sight
then came back. “Oh, your
c
hief…huh, Cramer, Allen Cramer
,
said to tell you they got the bad guys.”

Coop felt his body begin to float. He must have made some noise because he heard someone tell him it was an IV.

~~~

It was four weeks to the day and he was bored. Not just bored, but if Coop had one more person ask him if he was feeling al
l
right he may beg someone to bring him his gun in and start shooting them.
He knew he was lucky to be alive. Hell, everyone from the woman who came in and mopped up his floor to the doctors kept telling him how lucky he’d been.
But he still couldn’t get over the fact that someone had planned his death
. N
ot just planned it
,
but had been there when they thought he’d been going to bite the big one.

His leg had taken the longest to heal. The bullet had gone straight through the large muscle in his calf and had
done
some major damage.
He’d
had to have physical
therapy
three times a week just to be able to bend his knee.
And now he had to go and learn to walk on it again.
Well, not learn he supposed
,
but how to walk on it so that he would
strengthen
the muscles without doing more harm than good.
He’d come back to his room covered in sweat and wanted something for the pain the first two days
. L
ess drugs
,
but no less sweat after that.

He looked at the television and finally just shut it off with a growl.

“Behave
,
young man.
Don’t make me have to bring in that nice nurse again and set you straight.”

Coop started to glare at his mom
,
but she raised that brow of hers and he stopped.
He
respected his mom.
Loved her with all of his heart
. She’d done all right for them since his dad had died
,
but hell
,
she could scare him near to death when she wanted to.

“Shouldn’t you be at some meeting or something?
I bet you have a sh…crap load of other things to do
besides
hand sit with me.
I wouldn’t want to sit with me. I’m cranky.”
He was a hell of a lot more than cranky
,
but he wouldn’t tell his mom that.

She stood up and poured him a cup of water.
“Drink.
And I have nothing to do at the moment.”
She fussed with the pillows under his leg, the one that the bullet had ripped through.
He reached down and grabbed her hand.

“Mom?
What is it?”
Every
time he woke up over the past two weeks she’d been right there by his bed.
Sometimes his sister Shaller, but always her.

“You scared me, Payton. When I got that text from you…what if I had turned off my phone? What if I been further away and not made it? What if—
”

“You can ‘what if’ things all day
,
but the simple truth is
none of those things happened.” He kissed her hand as he continued.
“
You didn’t turn off your phone and you weren’t too far away and you made it. That’s all you need to remember.”

With another pat to the pillow she moved away
. T
here were tears in her eyes. When she sat down he knew he’d put off talk
ing
to her long enough.
He needed her to know his plans.
“I have to disappear for a while.
It’s best if I don’t have any contact with you for awhile.
Thomas set something up for me.”

Thomas Miller was a friend of the family
,
not to mention cousin to his mom
,
and had been a very close friend of Coop’s pop.
He knew that he could trust Thomas as much as he had his own pop.

“I wondered if you were going to tell me or
if I
was just going to come in here one day and you’d be gone.” She looked away, teary again.
“What about your injuries?
Will someone be able to care for you there?”