Love, Bullets, and Badges Ch. 02

*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

Also, this is not a 'stroke' story. The sex is minimal. If you are looking for a 'stroke' story, hit the backspace key on your keyboard.

*

Amber glumly looked up when her cell door clanged open.

"Come on, Sweetheart, let's go," Elise smiled, pushing Amber's ridiculously high heeled pumps toward her.

"I'm being arraigned?" Amber asked as she slipped her feet into her pumps.

"No, Sweetie; we're taking a little ride," Elise said.

She put Amber into the rear of her cruiser and pulled out.

"Ann?" Elise said into her cell phone. "On our way."

"My um, my apartment's that way," Amber said as Elise crossed over Highway 27.

"Uh huh," Elise said, pulling up to the drive-through window of Meche's Doughnuts.

"Damn, I just love these things when they're hot," Elise said.

Amber started getting nervous as they drove through a maze of side streets.

"And we're here," Elise said, pulling up in front of a modest home.

"Where? Where are we?" Amber asked, becoming shrill. "Bitch, you do anything to me..."

"Now, that's not very nice," Elise said. "Calling me 'bitch' when I've got a gun."

She opened the back door and took a firm hold of Amber's arm. Elise lugged both Amber and the box of doughnuts to the door.

"Hey," Ann Greene said, opening the door.

"Hope you got coffee; we've got doughnuts," Elise smiled.

"Cops?" Ann smiled. "We've ALWAYS got coffee on; you know that."

Amber looked at the woman, a blonde roughly the same age as herself, with tired eyes and tired smile.

"Police!" Evie exclaimed as Elise entered the house.

"That's right!" Elise laughed. "Police! You are so smart!"

Elise pulled the very nervous Amber into the kitchen and pushed her into a chair at the small table.

"Amber, this is Ann Greene. Her husband is Sergeant Eric Greene," Elise said. "I brought you here; I think you need to hear it, straight from the horse's mouth, what it's like being a cop's wife."

Ann sat down and let out a loud sigh. She looked up at the nervous Amber.

"He puts on his uniform; my God! He is the handsomest man I've ever seen. He has that look of pride, of self-confidence; damn, gets my pussy wet just thinking about it," Ann said, almost in a monotone. "Then he goes out and when you hear the door close, for a split second, your heart stops. Suppose that's the last time you'll ever see him? Then the baby needs changing, the boys are hungry, the boys need their lunch, where's my shoes? Life goes on, but you just can't quit hearing the door click shut."

Ann wiped at her eyes.

"I really...when he pulled me over for speeding; see, Sammy was whining about needing something and I just wanted to get home so I didn't wind up killing him or Robbie; Robbie was encouraging it and he hits his lights and siren and I'm just so damned mad I could scream and this cop's got the most beautiful smile and I just melted looking up at him," Ann smiled sadly at the memory of that speeding ticket.

She looked up at Amber.

"I didn't know," Ann said. "I didn't know about hearing the door closing. If I had known about the door, I would have just paid the ticket and told Officer Eric Greene to go fuck himself."

"Tell her what happened," Elise quietly encouraged, sipping her coffee.

"The door closed," Ann said. "But I've got to help Jacy; that's my sister, see this is her house; mine got burned down and she took me and our three kids in and the door closed; Eric goes off to work and Jacy needs help getting dinner together and Robbie needs construction paper for some school project; of course he waits until the night before right?"

"Eat a couple of doughnuts; sugar helps with alcohol withdrawal," Elise ordered.

Amber took a doughnut out of the box. Her hand shook horribly.

"Want coffee? Or, I got juice, um, let's see, we got orange, apple, that God-awful white grape stuff; Sammy loves that, or milk?" Ann said, getting to her feet.

"Coffee please," Amber said.

"I'll get it; you finish telling her," Elise ordered. "What you take in it?"

"Cream and sugar, please," Amber said.

"And I just about got them down," Ann said and I'm getting ready to fix myself a good old drink and I get the call."

"Thank you," Amber said as Elise put a mug in front of her.

"Some God damned fucking piece of shit mother fuckers decided to hold up Jitters; that little coffee shop?" Ann spat; her rage bursting out. "Two kids; that's all they had working there and these two fucking scum bag losers decide they're going to put guns to their heads and Eric walked in."

Ann burst into wailing sobs at the memory.

"And I got the call," Ann wailed.

Amber looked on, stricken. She looked at Elise and her wide eyes opened even wider as Elise calmly finished chewing her doughnut.

"My husband, my husband the cop is fighting for his life in the back of an ambulance," Ann sobbed. "Them two piece of shit ass holes? They're in Hell, right where they fucking belong but my sweet, loving, brave husband might not make it."

Elise finished her cup of coffee.

Ann wiped at her eyes.

"What happened?" Amber barely whispered.

"Got shot in the neck. Paralyzed from the chest down," Ann croaked out. "Stuck in a wheelchair; he'll never walk again."

"Saved those two boys' lives, though," Elise said.

"And still gets up every fucking morning, and still puts on the fucking uniform," Ann spat bitterly. "Fuck! Put it on this morning just to go to physical therapy! Can you believe that? Physical therapy! But, got to have the uniform on! And it's got to be clean and pressed; got to be perfect!"

Ann sneered for a moment.

"He's a cop, you know?" Ann spat out.

She looked into Amber's eyes.

"So, even though he's in a wheelchair, even though he can't drive himself; my dad drives him everywhere, I STILL have to hear that door close behind him," Ann said. "And I still got to wonder, 'this the last time I'll see him?'"

"Thanks, Ann," Elise said and nudged Amber with her shoe. "Come on, Sweetheart; let's get you home."

Elise again put Amber in the rear of the cruiser.

"So, think you got what it takes to be a cop's wife?" Elise asked.

"No ma'am," Amber whispered.

"So, I need to worry about you around my boyfriend?" Elise asked as she turned onto Highway 27.

"No ma'am," Amber whispered.

Elise pulled in front of Amber's apartment.

"Might want to cut back a little on the drinking," Elise said as she held the back door of the cruiser open for Amber.

"My drinking's got nothing to do with..." Amber weakly denied.

"Good bye," Elise said and closed the door of the cruiser.

"Good bye," Amber quietly said and dug around in her purse for her keys.

Chapter 10

Elise's cell phone buzzed. She looked at Eric Miller, her partner and frowned. The display showed it was coming from the station.

"Silent alarm at First Union Bank," Orville said. "Didn't want to use the radio in case they're using scanners."

"First Union," Elise ordered her partner.

"We're two blocks away," she said to Orville.

"No siren; go by real slow," she ordered Eric.

She saw the van and saw a nervous looking man sitting at the wheel. The man stared at them. Elise smiled and waved in friendly greeting.

The man, caught off guard, returned the wave.

'NAIS' was emblazoned on the sides of the van and 'National Alarm Installation Systems' was in smaller letters on the rear doors of the van.

"Smart," Elise said. "If anyone had called it in, they would claim they're testing the equipment."

"What a time for Dick to be out of town," Eric said nervously.

"Orville's on it," Elise assured her partner.

"Orville?" Elise said into her cell phone.

"Damn it, that's 'Deputy' and you know it," Orville tried to joke.

"One white male, look-out slash get away driver sitting out front in a gray cargo van, Ford, license number nine two A five three one," Elise reported as Eric turned onto a side street.

"Could you see inside?" Orville asked.

"I'm looking through the Drive Through window right now; sees two white males, armed, wearing vests," Elise reported.

"And they're on the move!" Eric exclaimed.

"Hit the siren," Elise ordered as Eric put the cruiser in reverse and floored the accelerator.

The two bank robbers saw the police car as Eric drove in reverse, blocking the van against the building. The pair ducked back into the building.

"Get out of the van! Get out of the van!" Elise screamed at the terrified driver. "Now! Get out of the van!"

Two shots rang out, striking the cruiser very close to where Elise stood. She whirled around and fired two quick shots toward the glass doors of the bank.

"Fuck!" she yelled. "Forgot they put in bullet-; proof doors!"

Eric made the driver lay on the asphalt of the parking lot while Elise carefully watched the glass doors of the building.

"Hey! Barbie!" she heard someone call out as the door opened slightly.

"Yeah?" she called back.

"Let our friend there go, let him bring our van up to the door, or this stupid bitch is dead; you hear?" the man yelled out.

Elise saw the tear streaked face of Mandy Hebert, a former class mate of hers. She saw the man holding a gun to Mandy's head.

"Please," Mandy begged silently, clutching protectively at her pregnant belly.

Elise nodded slowly.

"Eric," she said. Loudly "Let him go."

"What?" Eric asked, shocked.

"Put him in the van, let's just get in the car, and drive away," Elise ordered.

"Elise, no!" Orville ordered. "Darren and Jack are on their way right now; don't you dare..."

Elise hung up on him. A second later, her cell phone buzzed again, but Elise ignored it.

Inside the bank, the two armed men smiled in triumph as they saw the police cruiser slowly pull away.

"Bert, you the man!" one of them said. "You are the man!"

"Like Barbie and Ken Cop were going to stop us?" the taller man sneered.

They watched as the van slowly pulled forward, and then began to back up to the front doors of the bank.

"They're going to kill you, and that pregnant bitch too, you know that!" the driver shrilled as Elise positioned the van.

"Uh huh," Elise smiled as she saw the taller man shove his intended hostage away.

Then she jammed the accelerator to the floor board and smashed the rear of the van through the doors.

"What the fuck?" Bert screamed as the van smashed through.

The rear doors of the van burst open and Elise put two bullets into Bert's hand, knocking his nine millimeter gun out of his hand.

"Down!" she screamed at the two suspects. "Down! Get down on the floor! Now!"

The smaller man immediately complied, but Bert charged Elise.

Elise put a bullet into his knee cap, bringing him down.

"Is there anyone else?" Elise yelled over the screams of the customers and tellers. "Anyone else I need to be looking for?"

"What the fuck?" Darren yelled at Elise as he barged in through the rear door of the bank. "Woman, are you fucking crazy?"

Eric and Jack followed, guns drawn.

"Are you?" Darren screamed at Elise. Huh? Where in the hell did you learn that?"

"Saw it in a movie," Elise admitted.

"God damn it!" Darren screamed, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You could have been killed! Did you even think of what I'd do, what Henry would do without you?"

"Oh my God!" Elise gasped, horrified. "Henry!"

"And me too," Darren said.

"Oh my God," Elise said, feeling light-headed.

"Situation under control; need ambulance," Eric intoned into his shoulder mounted radio.

"Did she really...?" Orville asked over the radio.

"Yep, backed the van right through the front door; it's a mess in here," Eric said, letting a nervous giggle escape.

"You? You're a cop," Elise mumbled. "But Henry...."

"Has already lost everything," Darren agreed.

X.X.X

The driver of the van, Chad Davis, was actually a cousin of Dick and Donnie Davis. He'd heard about Donnie Davis' wedding, knew that Dick was the Sheriff of Bender and would certainly be attending his younger brother's wedding. So, he and Albert 'Bert' Blanchard and Kevin Ramirez planned, scouted the area, and planned again.

They just didn't plan on Sheriff Dick Davis' daughter being on duty the day of her uncle's wedding.

X.X.X

"Come on, Sheriff, quit watching that," Orville said as Dick re-wound the surveillance video from the bank and again played the scene of the large van smashing into the bank.

"Look at this, just look at this; you and I couldn't have done it any better," Dick said as the silent tableau played out.

The rear doors of the van burst open, then Elise, dressed in police skirt and blouse, police cap firmly on her head, jumped out of the van, gun blazing.

"Joseph Marcolonie said he's suing for the cost of them doors," Orville remarked.

"Sue him for being a dumb ass too," Dick muttered as he watched the monitor.

He looked up and smiled at his Deputy.

"I mean, really? Stops three dangerous men from escaping with forty thousand and he wants to sue us over some ugly ass doors? Fuck him; let him sue us," Dick commented.

X.X.X

"Darren, I'm sorry, I'm wiped out," Elise said. "How about..."

"How about we grab Henry, just go get pizza?" Darren offered.

"No. We get pizza, he's going to want to go to Chucky Cheese and I just don't have the energy," Elise whined head down on her desk.

"Good God, you always so whiney?" Darren teased, stepping behind her and beginning a gently shoulder massage.

"Oh, God, don't do that," Elise moaned, moving her long blonde hair out of the way for him to continue.

Damn it, Darren!" Elise yelped, sitting up abruptly.

"Oops! Now how'd THAT happen?" Darren chuckled as Elise quickly re-hooked her bra.

She stood up and glared at him.

"Damn it! I hate when you do that!" Elise yelled, slapping at him.

"There is a way you can stop that," Darren said, putting his arms around her.

"Yeah? What?" Elise asked, struggling to slap him again.

"Don't wear one," he suggested and quickly kissed her.

"Uh huh," she growled, biting down on his bottom lip.

"Let go," he mumbled, trying to pull his lip away.

"Nuh uh," she said, pulling slightly.

"Ow, Elise, let go," Darren insisted.

"I love you," Elise said, letting go of his lip.

"And I love you too, you evil woman," Darren said, rubbing his lip.

"Evil, and woman, now there's a redundant statement if ever I heard one," Dick said, sticking his head into the small office. "Honey, there's a bunch of reporters want to see you."

Elise looked frightened. She looked from Dick to Darren, searching for support.

"Come with me?" she asked.

"Of course," both Darren and Dick said.

"Well, I um, well I guess I better get used to getting out of the way," Dick said after a moment.

"But, but I meant both of y'all," Elise said.

X.X.X

Occasionally, Dick interrupted the reporters' questions to remind them that that this was an on-going investigation, but for the most part, he let Elise and Eric answer the questions.

"Were you scared?" Chelsea Guidry, a very young, attractive brunette reporter from Performance 12 News finally managed to ask over the other reporters.

Elise looked into the reporters large blue eyes for a long moment.

"There was a pregnant woman," Elise answered and paused.

"What was the woman's name?" another reporter asked.

"I'm sorry, we're still..." Dick interrupted.

"And I could see her eyes," Elise said, swallowing.

Chelsea held Elise's gaze intently.

"One of the suspects had a gun to her head. She was scared; she was scared out of her mind, she was begging with me to help her," Elise swallowed again. "She wanted to live; she wanted her baby to live."

Elise swallowed again.

"Was I scared?" Elise asked. "Yes ma'am, I was. But that woman was even more scared than I was. She was just a customer, in there to cash her pay check and then go to the store and buy her and her friend some milk; they'd been out of milk for a couple of days and she was just going to the store and get them some milk and then suddenly a couple of men were in there with guns and they were screaming and yelling and threatening everyone. She needed someone to help her, to protect her."

The reporters listened intently, hanging on Elise's words.

"So, my partner and I? We did what we could to protect her," Elise said. "Whether we're scared or not, our job is to protect and to serve."

Elise broke her gaze with the reporter, stared down hard at the makeshift podium she was standing behind, swallowed hard then looked up at Chelsea Guidry again.

"Ma'am, that was an excellent question," Elise said. "It really cut to the heart of what it means to be a cop. We do it. We do it whether we're scared or not, whether we're tired or not, whether we're aggravated or not. We're cops. We do our job because people need us to be cops."

Chelsea Guidry broke into a wide grin; she had been intimidated by the other reporters and had to jostle and elbow her way close to the makeshift podium. The other reporters had been shouting questions, shouting over her.

"Thanks," she mouthed to Elise. Elise nodded and then asked her partner to answer a few of the questions.

"She is a professional. She may not be a twenty year veteran, but she has street smarts, she knows procedures, she knows what she's doing," Eric answered a reporter, putting a hand on Elise's shoulder. "So yeah, when she said 'put him in the van' I wasn't sure what she was doing, but I knew she knew what she was doing. Partners have to trust each other; they have to rely on each other."

Eric smiled at the attractive brunette reporter. Chelsea felt her panties flood as the drop-dead gorgeous officer smiled at her.

"Ms. Guidry, any questions?" he asked.

"Are you single?" she blurted out.

Hoots of laughter went up and she blushed hotly. Eric smiled and looked over at Dick for assistance.

"Um, as I've said before, this is an on-going investigation..." Dick smiled.

"I cannot believe I said that," Chelsea groaned, hand over her face.

"I meant, any questions related to this case?" he smiled.

"You said the call came in over your cell phone, right?" Chelsea recovered.

"Yes. We did not want to use our radio in case the suspects were using police scanners," Eric smiled. "Great question, Ms. Guidry. Great question. As we saw, from beginning to end, we had the element of surprise in our favor. Had they known we were on to them, someone may have gotten hurt. So, we communicated with Deputy Orville Jackson via cell phones."

After a few more questions and answers, Dick called an end to the press conference and ushered all of the reporters and cameramen out of the small station.

"Now, Officer Simone, don't go getting all 'Hollywood' on us," Dick teased.

"Are you single?" Jack Vogel mocked Eric.

"Ooh, I think someone's jealous!" Eric shot back.

Chapter 11

"We seen you on TV!" Henry shouted when Elise stopped at her brother-in-law's house to pick him up.

"Oh my God," Iris said, face pale. "I mean, I kind of knew what y'all did was kind of dangerous, but I never in a million years..."

"Yeah?" Elise smiled at the very excited Henry. "Did I do good?"

"You did great!" Henry affirmed.

"Aunt Leesey!" Carmen called out. "We seen you on TV!"

"I know!" Elise agreed.

"Weren't you scared?" Iris asked.

"I was terrified," Elise admitted. "And then, when it was all over, all I could think about was coming and seeing my little man."

"Why you keep calling me your little man?" Henry asked as Elise picked him up and cradled him in her arms.

"Because, Henry, you are my little man," Elise said.

She thanked Iris, waved good bye to her nephews Trey and Richard, and her niece Carmen, then left the house.

Elise smiled as her mother came walking rapidly toward her. Her smile faded when she saw the raw anger on her mother's face and her red, puffy eyes.