Chapter 28 #2
A bog. It was a fucking bog, with a little stream spilling onto the muddy ground. There was an overturned cement mixer blocking the flow of water, the drum caved in at the sides.
“Fuck, don’t come over!” Johnny shouted, waving his arms as other officers began to follow.
Ripping his feet from the mud and nearly losing a boot in the process, he tugged a can of PAVA from his belt and lunged at the two men who were trying to make a run for it. One threw himself forwards, attempting to shift, so Johnny rammed his fingers into the soft spot behind his ear.
The other man screamed, cupping his hands in the stream and flinging milky water across Johnny’s visor.
It obscured his vision, but not long enough for him not to see the man draw a small flick blade from his pocket.
It glinted in the early morning light, the shine of it shaking, and Johnny realised the man was trembling.
“No you fucking don’t,” Johnny growled, snapping the cap off his PAVA and dousing the man in pelargonic acid.
The man flung his head back, automatically throwing up a hand to protect his face but clearly forgetting that he was holding a knife. He screamed as he jabbed himself in the eye with the tip, falling to the ground in a spray of blood and milky water.
Despite his own hands shaking, Johnny moved quickly to slap a pair of handcuffs on the man who had tried to shift, rolling him onto his belly to prevent him from running away.
“Get inside, they need you!” Isla shouted, yanking both men up by their arms and towards a waiting police van.
“Right.” Johnny nodded, hopping back over the tree trunk and thudding over a filthy patch of concrete. Adrenaline truly took over as he rounded the side of the building, the other officers just a flurry of black uniforms and hurried shouts.
The acrid stench of chemicals hit him hard, making his eyes water even though he was wearing a mask and a visor. He coughed as he crunched over the remnants of the door, the room bitterly cold as ten or so industrial sized air conditioning units pumped air into the dusty, open space.
It was a mess. A dangerous fucking mess, with piles upon piles of discarded tins and bottles, scales, glass jugs, muslin cloths, buckets, extension leads, metal vats and bottles of chemicals.
There came a bang and a scream from the floor above, followed by frantic shouts as more officers piled in and ran towards a metal staircase. Johnny followed, shoving his way to the front as his and Taylor’s bond pulled taut, dragging him forwards.
“Let me through!” he snarled. “I said let me fucking through!”
He managed to push his way to the front, spilling onto a raised walkway only to be greeted by Taylor’s legs dangling and kicking in front of him.
“Come here, ya bastard!” Taylor yelled, and when Johnny looked up he saw a man trying to escape through a skylight with Taylor holding on to his ankles.
Not just any man, but Aden fucking Manders.
“Fuck’s sake,” Johnny growled, jumping and grabbing Taylor around the legs. Amil appeared, chest heaving as he leapt up and grabbed Johnny around the waist.
All three of them pulled, the lip of the skylight groaning as it cracked on one side. It made Manders lose his grip, jolting them, before all four of them fell and landed in a heap on the floor. A handful of other officers tottered back, crumpling like a line of dominos.
Taylor coughed, his helmet covered in dust. “Got you, you little shit.” He gripped Manders’ shoulders as he tried to thrash, rolling him onto his front.
“Oh, fuck you!” Manders screamed, twisting and bucking, somehow managing to kick Taylor square in the face, cracking his visor.
Heat lanced through Johnny’s chest, quashing the adrenaline rush and turning it to bitter anger. He gave Manders a twisted smile and said, “Hello again, Adey.”
Manders spat, throwing his head back and knocking into Amil’s shoulder. “You—I—I—for fuck’s sake.”
Johnny tipped forwards, hooking his fingers around Manders’ throat. “You what? Never meant to be such a vile cunt? Never meant to abandon William? Hurt my family, my mate?”
Manders baulked, and Amil shoved Johnny back, pushing himself into the space between them. “None of that,” he snapped, sliding a pair of handcuffs onto Manders’ wrists. “Not worth the job.”
Johnny’s eyes flicked to Taylor, a dark look passing between them.
“We could throw him out the window.” Taylor smirked.
Johnny nodded. “We could. We should.”
“You shouldn’t and you won’t,” Amil said, hauling Manders to his feet. “Get out of here. I think the Love Dust residue is getting to you.”
Johnny sucked in a breath, blinking several times. He hadn’t realised it, but there was sweat in his eyelashes, his damp cheeks making his face mask wet. “Yeah. I think you’re right.”
Taylor took off his damaged helmet, running a hand through his hair. His uniform was dusted in the familiar shimmery powder. “Shit, we aren’t about to have a mass induced-heat party, are we?” Taylor said, covering his nose. “Could you imagine if everyone started shagging?”
There was a crash from one of the bedrooms, and when he and Taylor leapt up they found two more alpha officers squaring up to one another. Johnny sucked in a breath and pressed his radio. “Yeeeah, we’re drawing back, Sarge. Get a cold hosepipe ready because this shit’s about to get messy.”
They grabbed the two officers and dragged them outside, corralling them near the van with the other alphas, whilst Isla led the handful of omega officers into the woods.
“Ah, Jesus,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck as she reappeared several minutes later. “If we hadn’t separated the alphas and omegas that could have gone very, very wrong.”
“How many did we get?” Taylor asked as Johnny rinsed him down with the hose.
Isla counted on her fingers. “With the two prisoners still inside I think we got… hmm, ten, and a lot of drugs. Falkington doesn’t have the facilities to store all of this, and the Environment Agency are classing it as a noxious substance, soooo… the army is coming to take it away.”
Taylor spluttered, shaking water from his hair. “The army? Jesus, all this just because dear old Jill got her tits out to the neighbours.”
Isla laughed. “Well, there was a bit more to it, but… yeah. You fellas found the stash, the dealership on Applewood Heights, the stream, the barn, Benny Pearce, for God’s sake! Overall I’d say that’s a job bloody well done.”
Something fuzzy warmed Johnny’s cheeks, and when he glanced at Taylor he saw that he was beaming.
“We did good?” Taylor whispered.
Johnny huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, we did good, Tay.”