The Bust

A well-planned operation goes very wrong.

This was originally posted to the StarskyHutch911 live journal site on 10/10/15 in response to the Challenge 102 – Me or Thee. The idea was to write a story which could be viewed from either partner’s perspective. It’s up to the reader to decide which one is thinking/speaking.

I almost lost him last night. Again. And it shouldn’t have happened. The operation was carefully planned, everyone knew their places, the set up, how things were supposed to go down. Only it didn’t. Guess we should have known as soon as Morgan and Keeling were pulled off. Another of their cases had gone critical so their captain substituted Spaulding and Grimes at the last minute.

‘Spaulding the Balding,’ and ‘Tammy Grimes.’ The two most incompetent cops in the city. And they became part of the team ready to take down Deke Taylor and his gang of murdering jewelry store thieves. Three months Dobey and Eddings, Captain of Detectives in the Sixth, had worked on the bust. Three months! And we were ready. We knew where every member of Taylor’s glee club was last night, knew our places and what we were going to do.

But Morgan and Keeling were out, Spaulding and Grimes were in. And I almost lost my partner because of them.

As soon as Dobey told us about the two new team members, I got a bad feeling. I didn’t say anything though. I looked at my buddy and we both shrugged. There probably wasn’t anybody else Eddings could have given us. But I had a bad feeling.

I’m pretty sure my partner felt the same way but he didn’t say anything as we drove to the site. We laughed about the morning’s funny papers, railed about the fiasco the Dodgers had called a game that afternoon, first of a twi-night double header. We wondered aloud how the Boys in Blue were ever going to dig themselves out of the gutter this season. Silly stuff like that. We never once mentioned the pair of jokers the team had suddenly been saddled with.

Dobey might not have realized what screw-ups Spaulding and Grimes were, but we did. We should have asked Dobey to scrub the launch. No way those two were going to be able to hold up their end of an operation.

We didn’t though. Cover for your fellow officers whenever possible. Well, after this mess, it won’t be possible to cover for them again. They almost got a whole bunch of good cops killed.

There were sixteen of us on the team, eight from the Sixth and eight from our precinct. We knew all our own guys and we trusted them. Most of the ones from the Sixth were good, too. But not the last minute replacements.

How do guys like Spaulding and Grimes manage to stay on the job, I asked myself. Oh well, after last night, not much longer in their cases.

We all got to the take down location in plenty of time, plans were detailed yet again and everyone took their places.

Perfectly hidden behind a stack of crates that had been in the same place on the loading dock for weeks, my partner and I could hear Spaulding from half way across the yard. He was bitching about the rat ridden hiding place he and Grimes had been given. His buddy was almost as loud in his griping.

“Must have learned to whisper in a saw mill,” I said, my mouth at my partner’s ear. He smothered a chuckle and I laughed inside. I knew he was tense and was glad I’d been able to release a little of that.

We both heard their captain reprimand them. My partner looked at me. If we’d heard all that, any member of Taylor’s gang who arrived early would have, too.

As the team waited long past the supposed time of the meet, according to our snitches, my partner shifted warily. His eyes darted all around the pitch black warehouse area.

“We’ve got company.” His whisper was truly that, no one could have heard him a foot away.

Suddenly, between one heartbeat and the next, all proverbial hell broke loose. I saw Spaulding jump up, breaking cover, swatting at his fanny. “God damn sonava bitch bit me!”

Gunfire erupted from everywhere, including all corners of the warehouse roof. We only had two guys up there so I knew the operation was blown.

Thankfully, Dobey and Eddings had a SWAT team and a chopper on standby and they showed up fast. The rooftop shooters were taken out and the helicopter’s million candle power search light turned the yard into day.

Luckily for our side, cops can shoot better than thieves. At least, most cops. Spaulding and Grimes never even drew their weapons. They were found, literally cowering in their hiding place. I think Eddings was shocked but most of the rest of us weren’t.

When it was all over and everyone could breathe again, I noticed two holes in the unzipped left side of my partner’s jacket that hadn’t been there earlier. The fusillade had sent bullets our way that had very nearly found his body.

I felt a gentle hand on my arm and knew he sensed my fury.

He tried to smile. “Only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”

I put my arm around his shoulders. I was trembling and I knew he felt it. He turned and looked in my eyes. I stared back, not trying to hide my feelings any longer. Enough of that shit! “We have to talk,” I said quietly.

“Yeah…. We do.”

END