Threatened

Chapter 11: Vandalism

Tom Hiddleston and chief Nichols showed up at the same time to a chaotic apartment. I was running around, trying to collect evidence from the mess the Vipers left behind. Lee was in the bathroom, throwing up after witnessing the horrifying sights.

The windows had been splashed with blood and black ink in the shape of a rat in a snake's mouth. Some of the blood has seeped through the slits where the window opens and it is dripping down the glass in an eerie pattern.

The mess inside is far worse. I am a light sleeper, but I never heard so much as a door creak. There are rat heads and tails strewn about the room as well as pictures of Lee and myself around the city. Nichols just stands there, staring at the scene around him. Tom runs down the hall. I hear the elevator sound its arrival, then the thump of someone falling into it.

I watched Nichols groan and run after Tom, but that didn't matter. My mind was racing a million miles an hour. I should have known- no, I did know that the Vipers would do this. I knew that Lee couldn't go out in public, but I let him anyway. This relationship between us can only be destructive, therefore it must stop now.

I stalk into the bathroom where Lee is curled over the sink, rinsing his mouth. When he sees me, his eye water and he wraps his arms around my shoulders before soaking my shirt with tears.

"Anna, I'm so sorry for dragging you into this. I'm recanting my statement right now-"

"You will do no such thing! We have both been through more than our fair share of trauma, but that is nothing compared to all the lives you can save with your testimony. Zach will keep you under a tight lockdown. Two more officers are going to take shifts at the door and Zach will personally appoint another guard to take the night shift. You and I cannot be seen together ever again, is that understood?"

Lee looks sympathetically at me, trying very hard to make me understand why he can't continue living in constant pain, but I have made up my mind. I can't stay here any longer.

"Please, I need you here. More than you can ever understand," he whispers so quietly that I assume it was only my imagination.

I walk out of the apartment to see Nichols leaning over an unconscious Tom and calling for an ambulance and a forensic team. I can hear Tom groaning as I walk closer, and before long I can see the stain on the carpet from where Tom threw up.

"Davis, what happened here? Where is Sykes? You were supposed to hand this assignment off to him last night."

"Detective Sykes is not well-suited for this kind of action, Chief. I know he can handle stress, but he can't play a role to save his life, and that can be very dangerous when playing a role is the only thing keeping you alive," I answer as respectfully as possible, refraining from using the nasty names I thought about last night. Nichols nods and turns back to a groaning celebrity.

I wait at the front door for the forensic team and the press. I'm going to announce the 'breakup' to the world so Lee doesn't have to.

"Davis!" my radio screams. "Get back up here, NOW!" I sprint back through the lobby and away from the reporters, wondering what Nichols could be so upset about. The elevator is occupied, so I'll have to run up the stairs like Zach did last night. Might as well get started now.

I throw the stairwell door open and almost crash into a janitor. "I'm so sorry! I didn't even see you there," I sputter. His uniform is wrinkled beyond the help of an iron and he has a black beanie that covers most of his head. He hasn't shaved in a few days, but it doesn't look like he intended to keep a well trimmed beard.

"No one ever does," he mumbles. Rude I think before noticing his equipment. The trash bags are full of rat bodies and every bucket has rims covered in viscous red blood.

"You," I gasp. His right eye is completely white and a scar sweeps from his central forehead to his right cheekbone. He looks exactly like my first collar. Charged with rape and murder, plead down to manslaughter in exchange for information on his associates. I was a rookie, but I still managed to find the bastard in his hideout.

He clearly remembers me. A quick flash of silver darts before my eyes and I have enough sense to duck before I lose my nose. He comes back at me, but I jerk his arm behind his back, forcing the knife from his wrist then dislocating his arm. The viper tattoo on his forearm becomes visible as I let the arm fall useless to scarface's side.

"You stupid bitch! You didn't need to break my arm!" he hisses.

"When faced with a deadly weapon, I'm permitted to use deadly force, asshole," I grunt, dragging him toward the maintenance elevator. It's not protocol, but I don't have cuffs on me, so strong grip in the elevator it is.

The moment we step into the elevator, he tries to break free with his good arm. I pin him to the brass walls.

"I'm curious, where were you going to go after you broke my grip? We're in an elevator headed toward more police officers and a forensic team behind us. You didn't get any smarter in prison, I see." He slams his head into my nose which crunches loudly.

"Picked up a few new tricks, though," he chuckles. The elevator finally stops on the fourteenth floor and I shove scarface into the lobby. He stumbles into the wall while Nichols tosses me a set of handcuffs. I slap them onto scarface's wrists and hand him to another officer.

Lee is standing outside his door, talking with Tom. They seem enthralled in conversation until I walk up in all my bloody glory.

"What happened to you?!" Lee cries, grabbing for a napkin he doesn't have.

"Little scuff with your vandal," I say nonchalantly. Tom chuckles softly at my relaxedness. Lee rushes into the apartment to grab something I can use to staunch the blood flow.

"Your nose is dripping blood, and it was 'a little scuff'? I'd say that's a full fledged fight." I shrug. Knife defense was the easiest course at the academy. "Lee is absolutely infatuated with you."

"What? No he isn't. I am just a body guard," I try to argue.

"Please, he just to-"

"Hey! Here Anna, use this," Lee interrupts with a stack of napkins.

"Thanks."

"Detective!" I hear from the other room. Zach throws his door open, hair lopsided from sleep.

"Where have you, oh. I see you have been sleeping while I've been doing your job," I growl. Zach scowls at me and hurries out to the elevator lobby. The screaming that ensues is audible from down the hall, and I feel the greatest pride when Nichols reassigns the case to me, that I went above and beyond expectations, how Zach just rolled out of bed while his client could have been killed.

Lee beams when he hears that I get to stay too, and Tom winks at me. I... I don't know what to think.