23. Mutual agreement
MUTUAL AGREEMENT
Oh, the world is a cruel place. It was one thing to be assigned a trespassing case on the senator you loathe, and another to actually have to do it. I pulled up outside the federal building, badge hanging from my neck. Simmons met me on the steps.
“You got the call to handle this too?” She asked.
“Yeah, I was fixing to leave for New York, when it came through. Capt. wanted me personally.” I sighed.
“Ten bucks says it’s a disgruntled ex-employee,” she laughed.
“Nah too easy to handle.” I shrugged as we swung open the door; the secretary met us at the door.
“He won’t leave the Senator’s office,” the guy said after a nervous glance around.
“Well that’s what we are here for,” Simmons replied.
We walked towards the office in question, the door slightly ajar. A deep, throaty laugh came from the room, and the sickening words stuck in my brain, “Alright dad, When exactly are you marrying this one? What’s this make step-mother number three? Will she have a tragic illness as well?”
“I think it’s time for you to leave son,” Senator Jeffery spoke. Simmons opened the door; I stepped in right behind.
“What the fuck?” I muttered under my breath; the thought was mutual, and the hatred bloomed behind Cole’s eyes.
“Fucking hell, what are you doing here?” He groaned.
I stood there a moment longer than necessary.
It was the first time I saw him outside the hospital in clear daylight.
The church shooting flashed behind my eyes, his bullets flying towards me.
Chaos and bloodshed, and the angry yells from Summer as I shot her. I was in for some deep shit.
“Ah Jones right?” Senator Mathew asked, and I just blinked, trying to get my head straight.
I could see the family resemblance; both had a large frame and a well-built chest. Their noses have a similar curve. Senator Mathew had brown eyes, and Cole had gray ones.
“Yeah, we met a few months back sir,” I replied curtly.
“Please stand up with your hands behind your back,” Simmons instructed Cole.
“Of course officer,” Cole stood.
“How did that pan out, with that lawyer? What was his name? A—” The senator’s words were cut off as Cole slammed into me.
I fell backward, blocking my face as a second punch vibrated my jaw.
“Get off me,” I yelled, throwing a jab towards his side. He groaned and grabbed my head, smashing it into the ground. Pain shot across my skull, but I didn’t have time to analyze it.
“You sold him out, you son of a bitch.” He spat at me as I blocked another blow. I needed to move. To do anything to get him off me, but it was no use; he was fiddling with my holster, trying for my pistol.
“I didn’t do anything to him,” I grunted, landing another solid punch in his ribs.
The taser landed on his neck with a second to spare.
My gun clattered to the ground beside my head as Cole’s body fell to the other side.
Simmons slapped cuffs on his wrists. I rolled and sat up, holstering my pistol, and Simmons grabbed my hand, pulling me to my feet.
“Jesus Christ Jones, what the hell did you do to him?” She slapped me on the back as I tentatively checked the skin around my eye. Yep, I’ll have a black eye.
“It’s a long story, let’s just get him out of here.” I hauled Cole’s limp body up and over my shoulder, groaning from the weight. This guy must have weighed close to three-hundred pounds, a fucking oak tree.
“Goodbye detectives,” Jeffery’s voice too cheery.
I flipped him off as Simmons opened the door and we walked out.
As soon as we got to her Humvee, I dropped his ass on the seat and cuffed his ankles.
“I am not driving that raging asshole, you take him.”
“Fine,” I muttered as we exchanged keys.
The engine turned over, and I was just reversing when a brunette woman came out of the building, waving me down to stop.
“Detective, these are the papers, the Senator is not pressing charges.” She said, out of breath, and her lipstick was smeared, her face flushed. I grabbed the papers and shoved them into the passenger seat.
“Thanks.”
“Where am I?” Cole groaned, rubbing the back of his neck.
He was handcuffed to a chair in my living room as I packed up the remaining gear to leave, Kade and James were meeting up with a contact they knew to get a scope of the Obsidian’s warehouse or whatever, I was supposed to be there by now but obviously delayed.
“Not jail,” I replied, shuffling some paperwork, some blueprints, and a list of supplies already on their way.
“Why?” he asked. I heard the fiddling of handcuffs, and I sighed, walking to the kitchen and pulling out a bottle of bourbon.
“We got off on the wrong foot,” I spoke as I poured two glasses.
“I am not an evil bastard, I didn’t sell Addams’s out.
All I did was ask if we would be able to get a warrant.
Capt. was the one who brought your father into it.
Swell guy by the way.” I took a swig of the amber liquid, setting it down on the coffee table between us. The bottle rested between the glasses.
“Why should I believe you? You shot her.” He jabbed at me.
“Okay true, I did shoot Summer, but would she have pulled the trigger faster than his knife plunge?” I asked.
He looked to mull that over in thought; I walked behind him. He flinched; I held up a key.
“I’m just un-cuffing you so we can talk.”
“Fine,” a moment later he was rubbing his wrists and looking at the bourbon like it would bite him if he stared too long.
“How is she?” I asked after taking another sip from my own glass.
“She’s fighting,” he said, trying to find the right words.
“And yourself? You were close with the kid right?”
“Yeah,” he choked on the word, and then cleared his throat. “Where are you off too?” He asked, redirecting.
“To find my brother…and kill him.” I took the last of the bourbon, tipping the cup to my face.
“No love lost over family.” He chuckled, “Give him hell.”
We sat there in silence as we mulled over the situation.
He could kill me; I wouldn’t fight it, but then he would alienate Summer.
I didn’t have any beef with the guy, just with what he did.
It was a mutual understanding. Both of us said nothing as we drank the rest of the bottle.
I wasn’t sure if he was trying to find the words to let me do what I needed to do or if he was sizing me up for another fight.
I shrugged, stretching my arms over my head and yawning.
“Find the girl, Summer needs something good in her life.” I said at last.
He stood, holding his hand out. I clasped it, shaking his hand in agreement.
“I’ll find her,” he confirmed, and then turned towards my door to leave.
“Wait,” I said as his hand gripped the handle.
He turned back, and I tossed a set of car keys at him. He looked perplexed, and I shrugged before he walked out the door, leaving me to my thoughts.