Read Taking the Highway Online
Authors: M.H. Mead
Taking the Highway (41 page)
Another part of Andre’s conscience nagged at him. He wasn’t the only one who owed Talic a debt.
Thanks for killing those who needed it
, was something no one was ever going to put on a cityscape holo banner. He glanced around Talic’s sad, empty apartment, and something told him that it always looked like this, that Talic was always ready to leave.
Andre gestured with his glass. “How’s the leg?”
Another man would have showed off his bandaged ankle with bravura. Talic just took another mouthful of wine. “Hurts.”
He nodded. Hospitalization was out of the question under the circumstances. Andre had to be content with the fact that Talic could walk and stand without apparent agony. He continued to tell himself that his conscience didn’t bother him about that either.
“Where will you go?”
Talic leveled a gaze at him. “I have some contacts in other countries. Don’t worry, LaCroix. It won’t be anywhere nearby.”
He’ll be in Canada.
Andre had already looked into the cross-border exercises Talic led. He had a considerable network of relationships among the Mounties as well as the Provincial police forces. He wouldn’t go far, just far enough.
Talic drained his glass and set it on the counter. He waited for Andre to do the same. And waited, eyebrows raised in question.
“That glaze dealer in the zone. Sufek Reem.”
“That always stuck sideways with you, didn’t it?”
“Was it you? Did you take the shot?”
Talic blew out a breath through his nose. “No. I don’t even know exactly who did. I was just closing ranks, LaCroix. Protecting my team.”
Like I’m doing now.
Andre drained his glass and set it on the counter next to Talic’s. “I can live with that.” He made for the door.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Have you decided what you are, yet?”
“You mean, cop or fourth?”
“You’ve pretty much proven you can’t be both.”
Andre rested his hand on the apartment door and thought about the media, how they were tripping over themselves to pour the love on fourths. Video clips of Bob and his friends linking arms to close the on-ramps were still in heavy circulation on national and even international news. He thought about the hard work ahead to clean up the mayor’s office now that Mother Mad had been arrested, and the just plain grunt work that the police patrol would have to do as the public slowly regained its trust in Overdrive.
He thought about the city as a whole and how much he needed to be a part of it. Sure, he could be both cop and fourth. He was for three years. But fourthing had made him a shitty cop, and the last thing Detroit needed was more shitty cops. He looked back at Talic. “I’ve decided.”
“And?”
He lifted a corner of his mouth and tilted his head to the side. “I love this town.”
Talic pushed his glass away, parking it next to the gun. “Love can be a bitch.”
Andre smiled ruefully, thinking about the events of the last two weeks. “Only if you do it right.”
He walked out of the apartment and down to Sofia’s waiting car.
T
hree weeks later, Andre
found a parking spot in the cemetery and wheeled the Raven into it just as his datapad vibrated for attention. He routed the call through the car’s companel and commanded it to answer. Danny Cariatti’s face filled the screen. “Your implant is down.”
“I’m not on the clock.”
“You turned it off?”
Andre leaned into the screen and whispered, “We’re allowed to do that, you know.”
“Shit, man. I don’t even turn mine off when I’m in bed.”
“Julie must love that.”
“She hates it. Says she feels like she’s fucking the whole department.”
“Did you call for a reason, or just to put disturbing images in my head?”
“The prelim for that other kid . . . what was her name?” Danny leaned away from the screen to consult some notes. “Wilma Riley.”
“The one on Friday?”
“Moved to Thursday.”
“Still ten o’clock?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell the captain I’ll be there.” Andre shut off the car’s engine and reached for the door handle. “And Danny?”
“What?”
“Try it without the implant. Not just sex. Try it for other stuff too.”
“Yeah, sure. We’re
cops
.” Danny knocked knuckles against his forehead. “Mind and body and all the hours of your days belong to the city.”
“And my soul?”
Danny reached for the cutoff button. “You get to keep that.”
Fallen leaves blew over his feet as Andre walked toward Jordan Elway’s grave. He put his hands in his pockets against the chill. Every second or third grave spotted fresh flowers, reminding him that he’d forgotten to buy some on the way. Next time. For now, he picked up three loose stones and held them until he got to the site.
It was a nice marker. Elway would certainly have appreciated the holocarving of his name, the way the letters seemed to hover a few centimeters above the surface of the granite. Andre knelt, feeling the dampness of the grass beneath his knees and not caring. He pushed aside the modest pile of stones he’d left earlier and dug a hand’s-breadth into the loose soil. He fished inside his coat pocket, bumping his hand against the familiar presence of the Challenger key. He reached deeper and pulled out two things—his police credentials and his fourthing badge. He looked from one to the other, then put the police shield back in his pocket. He set the fourthing badge into the hole, smoothing the dirt back over it, then rebuilt the stones into a miniature cairn marking the spot.
The cemetery was set on gently sloping land and he climbed the hill at the center of it. From here, he could just glimpse the edge of the rolling skyline of Detroit. He couldn’t see the corruption of the government or the poverty of the oh-zone. He couldn’t see the endless traffic on the highways or hear the non-stop droning of the spinners. From here, he could only see the sun glinting off the tops of the buildings. From right here, he couldn’t see anything but the glow.
About the Authors
M.H. Mead is the shared pen name of Margaret Yang and Harry R. Campion. They have been friends and co-authors for many years. The authors live in the Detroit area, where they are hard at work on their newest novel.
Catch up with Margaret and Harry on their website where you can read their short stories, learn about their novels series, visit their blog, and find links to all social media sites.
Other Works by M.H. Mead
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