'Hey what's up Steve?' Detective Lillian asked as she saw him packing his stuff into a box.
'I have been suspended and demoted,' he said with a sigh.
'What?' She exclaimed covering her open mouth with her hands. He shrugged as he kept on packing.
'Why?' She asked when he didn't say anything else.
'Well Mr Norman called and was saying stuff about us not doing our best and how we were incompetent and stuff like that and I got pissed and told him that he could go and look for his daughter by himself,' he said and she tried to stifle a laughter.
'Laugh all you want Lillie,' he sighed.
'So that was why he came today,' she said with amusement.
'Yeah,' he said with resignation.
'I don't blame him though,' she said and he looked at her with disbelief.
'You're on his side too?' He asked shaking his head at her and she laughed.
'No what I am saying is that anyone in his shoes would do the same thing he is doing. Even you too Steve,' she said pointing her finger at him.
'I wouldn't have done that,' he said swatting her finger away.
'Oh come on Steve. I mean the guy just lost his only daughter to Kidnappers and right now he doesn't even know if she is alive. He doesn't know what to hope for,' she said.
'But it still doesn't give him a right to be insultive. I mean we are trying our best to help him.' He said running his fingers through his hair.
'We know that. He is just desperate and you haven't really given him any hope that he would see her again,' she said looking up at him.
'Why are you being so protective? Do you like him?' He asked suddenly making her blush.
'N-no why on earth would you think so?' She stuttered and turned to leave briskly.
'If you didn't then you wouldn't be running away right now, ' he yelled at her retreating figure.
'I'm not running. I just remembered that there is something that I ought to have done earlier,' she hollered back at him.
He shook his head and chuckled slightly. So she actually did like him, he mused. Too bad the man had the reputation of a bad womanizer.
He felt pity for the man but he seriously didn't like being pressured. The case was driving him crazy and he didn't know what else to do. Every clue led to a dead end. He would need a miracle to crack the case.
Despite the fact that he was suspended, he was still on the case. He would need to clear his head.
'Yo steve,' he looked at the person with the voice and groaned internally. It was his nemesis Christopher. Oh well maybe not his nemesis but he got under his skin most times and was downright annoying but good at his job.
'Chris,' he nodded curtly.
'Jeez man what's all the formality for?' He asked slapping hs back lightly and earning a glare from Steve.
'You are such a bore,' Chris said as he stuck out his tongue at him.
'And you are so immature,' he retorted back at him.
'I'm immature?' He asked pointing his finger towards his chest. 'You are the immature here cause I can't remember telling a grieved father to look for his daughter alone.'
Steve mouth hung open. How did he know? The only two people who knew where the chief and Lillian. Chris smirked.
'Yes Steve, I know about that and the chief said that I am now on the case as your partner. So you better get used to me,' he said as he spun around to leave and Steve was left there fuming.
He finished packing and went to his car and zoomed off to his house. His house was going to be his office for the next two weeks.
He looked at his rear view mirror again at the black Land Rover Jeep that he had noticed since he left the station. It was two cars behind him.
He suddenly increased the speed of his car with his eyes fixed on the rear view mirror and he saw the other jeep catch up. He realized that the fellow was indeed tailing him.
He senses had switched to action mode and he was ready for a chase. He swerved his car to the left still maintaining a high speed. He then did a sudden U-turn and drove backwards into the traffic he had come out from and turned into an adjoining street.
He checked again and he saw the car gaining up on him. 'Damn that guy must be good,' he thought. He suddenly stopped and got out of the car carefully with a gun using his door as a shield as he waited for the jeep to come by.
The jeep stopped the car and he aimed and he saw a leg clad in black boots drop out first. A tall dark haired broad muscular man with a dark tan came out of the car with a smile.
'I should shoot you now and throw your body into the oceans for the shark to have a field day with you goddamn dead ass body,' he said deadpan.
The man laughed at him. 'I just wanted to have some fun man. Jeez cool off a little will ya,' he said.
'Chris I swear I will k..' he started off but was cut off by a gunshot.
'Is this one of your foolish games too? Because I am so not falling for it anymore,' he glared at Chris.
'That was not me I swear,' Chris said bringing out his own gun and coming to meet him crouched down with the car as a shield.
'Another car must have followed us when you were busy with your childish game,' he whispered fiercely to Chris.
'But you gatta admit that, that was fun,' he whispered back smiling like a goofy idiot.
'Yeah and thanks to your idiot fun, we didn't notice the real enemy here,' he eyed him.
'Chill man, we got this,' he said slapping his back and earning a glare from Steve.
He shot the tires of the cars that was approaching and it screeched off to a halt. About four men came out armed with automatic rifles and pistols.
'Damn man, all we gat is just this damn guns. Those are auto..' he was cut off when they started shooting.
'Quick Dave get into the driver's seat and start the car,' he quickly ordered Chris.
'Man you're crazy. I ain't getting in there. No way,' he said stubbornly.
'Just get in there you moron, the whole car is bulletproof,' he pushed him away.
'Sweet,' he exclaimed like a high school child.
'All of our official cars are bullet proof you moron,' he told him as he stood up to shoot at the assailant closet to him and ducking again to avoid a blast of bullets.
'Start the goddamn car already!' He said through clenched teeth.
'Alright alright I'm starting it already,' he said fumbling with the keys.
'Get in,' he said when he finally got the car started. He got in slamming the door.
'Serves you right idiots, in your face, the damn car is bullet proof you can't k...' he froze as a bullet whizzed over his head.
'Man I thought you told me this car was bullet proof,' he said when he got off the shock as they sped off.
'There was no invisible shield of bullet proof while you rolled down your windows,' he said rolling his eyes .
'Man my head almost got blown up. This is not the time to be sarcastic,' he said rubbing his head.
'It wasn't me who told you to roll the windows down and insult the people who wanted to kill you', he said gravely.
'What? Is that all you gat to say to me after I almost got killed?' He asked stepping on the brakes too hard causing them to lounge forward.
'What the hell is wrong with you man? So you almost got killed, and now you want to commit murder and suicide?' He screamed at him as he held the dashboard for stability.
'Man you are gonna treat me with respect if you we are gonna work on the case,' Chris said glancing at him speeding up the car.
'How does that even relate with what we are saying? And why the hell are you driving this fast?' He screamed at the infuriating hell of a man.
'No man! Say you'll treat me with goddamn respect,' he screamed back as he swerved to the right to avoid colliding with a car and he swerved to the right again to avoid another car.
'You are crazy man!' He screamed holding on to his chair.
'That's not respect man!' He retorted doing a doughnut at the middle of the road and skidding off to the left before picking up speed again.
'You're gonna kill us!' Steve shouted clearly scared shitless now.
'Say you'll show me respect!'
'I'll show you respect just slow down the damn car,' he shouted.
'Okay. We are at your house anyway,' he said stopping the car at the front if a white bungalow.
Steve struggled frantically at his seat belt and rushed out of the car.
'Nice place you gat here,' Chris said as he followed Steve into his house.
'Mmhmm,' he replied.
'So the case?' Chris asked him.
'Hmm,' he answered clutching his stomach.
'Are you alright Steve?' He asked the pale man and he rushed to a room and Chris heard puke sounds and he laughed.
'You are such a big baby,' he laughed as he came out looking less pale.
'So the case, what have you gat?' he asked turning serious.
'Yeah all the clues lead no where. These guys must be good. They left no trails at all,' he said sorrowfully.
'Ah my friend that's where strategy comes in,' he said smiling.
'What do you mean?' Steve asked quite perplexed.
'We all have been looking at this case in one way. It's time to look at it in another way,' he said scrunching his nose in concentration as he looked at the file Steve handed to him.
'You need to explain further,' Steve said still perplexed.
'If the people we are looking for needed money, they would have contacted her dad a long time ago and if it was murder we would have seen her body a long time ago,' he said in deep concentration.
'So what you are trying to say is that she is still alive?' He asked.
'Yeah and her captors are masterminds and they have set up a game for us to play. We are going to play that game but not with their rules,' He looked up at Steve.
Steve looked at his partner not with contempt as before but with new found respect.
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A/N: Hey me hearties. I hope you love this chapter. Please don't kill me cause I didn't continue from where I stopped in freedom. I promise to update soon. Love you guys. Please vote and comment as always