Always There

Early in the morning...Philadelphia.. DEA Agent, Carol Redding looked at her good friend, Lt.Sissy Van Buren...They both had on their blue Federal Strike Force jackets...Underneath they had on kevlar vests and trauma plates..  They checked their glocks...

"We haven't done this in years girlfriend." said Carol...

"I know right? Since we were young detectives under Cantrell..Taking down doors." said Sissy, smiling at her good friend....

There wasn't two more sexier women on the police force, unless of course you included my wife...Detective Carlotta Rodriguez-Wallace, who was dressed the same way and checking her riot pump shotgun...

She looked over at Duke, who was checking his sniper rifle until his wife, Dr. Hazel Hunter-Baylor walked over and gave him a very sensual kiss...

"I want you to be careful baby...I need you to come home to me..."said Hazel gently..

"After last night...How could I not?" he said quietly...

Hazel blushed heavily and smiled...

"Glad you enjoyed yourself..."she said.

Duke kissed her softly...

"Did you?" he asked.

"Immensely baby...Immensely.." she said in between kisses..

Detectives Tyriq Pile and Sirena Pile, were adjusting each other's vests and checking their weapons...

"Did I express my gratitude enough last night for your help with our case?" she asked him in a whisper...

"You damn sure did babes...If we didn't have to take part in these raids...I'd take you back to the room and let you thank me some more.." said Tyriq..

Sirena giggled...

"You so nasty." she said.

"But you love it don't you." said Tyriq slyly...

"I sure do....Now be serious and stop looking at my booty.." she joked..She was wearing some skin tight jeans that showed off her sexy body.

"Hard not to." he laughed.

Detective Antonio Hopkins adjusted his vest and checked his Riot pump shotgun...Carlotta had shown him how to weild one recently and he had picked up very fast on how to use it..

His wife, FBI SAC, Sharon Hopkins smiled as she watched her husband get ready..

"Wow..We going on our first major raids..." she said.

"Yeah babes...I'm stoked." he said.

"I'm stoked too...."she whispered..."Did you get enough sleep? We were pretty busy last night..." she said.

"I'm drinkin a lot of coffee...I'll be alright ,how bout you?" he asked.

"Once we take down the first door...I'll be into it." she said.

U.S. Attorney Brendan Burnside walked into our office...

"Okay...You guys ready?   It's time to go get em." He said.

I finally walked over to Carlotta and hugged her.....I kissed her passionately......

"Be safe baby....Come back to me..." I said.

She smiled...and gave me a soft, sensual kiss that I must admit got me very aroused...She knew it did too...

"Something to remember me by until I come back.." she said smiling, softly stroking my crotch area..

"I won't forget.." I said.

"Oh I know you won't." she said and shot me a salacious glance.

And then they were off...

II-

Backed up by Philadelphia Police ,FBI and DEA Agents...They strike force struck with a lethal accuracy that was mind bending...Within the next hour they arrested 56 drug suspects who we had photographed and profiled buying product from that warehouse..They represented Black,Latino,Asian and White drug gangs...Most of these guys were in their beds and were stunned to be taken down...

We hit the boats at Penns Landing and arrested 38 people...confiscated enough Heroin and Cocaine and Oxi to juice the entire tri-state area and rescued about 120 East European girls slated for Little Nikita's hotel....

Finally they hit the warehouse and arrested 40 people working there and confiscated enough drugs to keep Little Nikita afloat in the event of a shortage...We had effectively put him out of the drug business...

The raids continued...Over the morning, 39 high level members of his organization found themselves under arrest..The surprise on the faces when they were taken was priceless...

Neither Nikolay, Vladdy or Little Nikita were anywhere to be found...I imagine they started hearing about the raids and had gone to ground...We raided their homes and the apartments of their girlfriends...No sign of them...Now I was worried about Jimmy.

III-

The Strike Force next invaded the bar....They confiscated the ledgers and arrested 29 people working there...They hit the hotel and took all of the girls, the madam and the driver into custody.....We had close to 204 people in custody...It was mind boggling.

Brendan and I froze all of his on and off shore accounts so that he couldn't get to his money...We might not know where he was at the moment...but we knew he was in a box..In one morning...Little Nikita's entire world had collapsed around him...The question was...Where was Jimmy??

He was supposed to have come in hours before..We had warrants for the arrests of Little Nikita, his brother Vladmir and Nikolay for RICO and conspiracy charges....

IV-

Jimmy was in fact on a small out of the way street in Little Norway with Little Nikita and Vladmir and Nikolay...They had stopped him attempting to get in his car and come in out of the cold..

"Ugh, Ugh....You aint goin nowhere...You goin with us..."said Vladdy...

"I ugh gotta make a stop in West Philly." said Jimmy smiling..

"To see your girl huh? The Black chick?" asked Nikolay...

"You know about her huh?" laughed Jimmy...

"Yeah we know...We know a lot...She'll have to see you at another time..Maybe."said Vladmir...

"What do you mean maybe?" asked Jimmy..

Another gunman put a .45 to Jimmy's head...

"He means later!" said Little Nikita, snorting some coke and wiping his nose.

Little Nikita, who was known to abuse cocaine was busy snorting...His brother Vladmir was talking..

"You know...from the time you showed up again....I never trusted you...But my brother always thought you was solid." said Vladmir..

"I think I proved how solid I was."said Jimmy, not flinching...

"Nah....you didn't" said Nikolay..."You was runnin with us before and a number of cats all went to jail...Including you or so you say,,,You claim you did federal time in California...How come you didn't do time here?  I think...I think you cut a deal with the feds...and you were in witness protection."said Nikolay.

Jimmy laughed...

"And you wonder why you haven't moved up....You're clearly stupid." he said.

Nikolay clicked his .45...

"Watch your mouth son!" he said.

Little Nikita wiped his nose...He and a gunman walked over to Jimmy...

"He didn't cut no deal with the feds...He IS A DAMN FED!...I had you followed the other day...your day off, You was down in West Philly with a Black chick..At first I figured...Oh well, he's got some black boo boo down in West Philly that he don't want anybody to know about...I thought you was alright...But then my guy ran her plates on her car....She's a cop!" he said.

"Yeah she's a cop, but she don't know who I am, what I do for a living...She works internal affairs ..She don't investigate drugs, prostitution..She knows nothing..I don't talk to her about you, about my business..She thinks I sell jewelry."said Jimmy..

"I can't take that chance...One day after you meet with her...Natalia gets popped for murder...You were supposed to be on that...You were supposed to pop her before the cops got to her. My warehouse gets raided...the ships get raided , the bar and the hotel gets raided and now everybody under the sun is in jail,including people I do business with...My name is mud in the streets and I CAN'T TOUCH MY DAMN MONEY!" he screamed..."TELL ME YOU'RE NOT A COP!" he screamed..

Jimmy smiled...

"Why? So you can put a bullet in my head like you did Brendon?" he said...

"Brendon....Oh I remember him..You vouched for him...Turns out he was an undercover cop....Yes...I shot him....just like I'm going to shoot you if you say you're a cop!" he said.

"He was my friend you bastard..."said Jimmy...

"Funny how a lot of your friends all turn out to be cops....I think you're a cop too..Tell me I'm wrong boychick."said Little Nikita.

"I can't tell you that....I can't give you what you want." said Jimmy.

"Enough talk....Nikita...let me shoot him." said Vladmir...

"I'm disapointed in you Boychick..."said Little Nikita snorting more coke..

"I'm disapointed in you too Nicky...but not as Disapointed as YOU'RE ABOUT TO BE!  See, you just confessed to killing a cop.....My Iphone is on..it's been on since you guys snatched me...It has great pick up...My provider is Verizon...Who do you use? AT & T??? Well anyway..My partners can hear the whole thing and they followed the GPS signal...and yes...I AM A COP...DETECTIVE JAMES BARLOW!"said Jimmy...

"Give me your gun Vladdy..I'll shoot him myself.."said Little Nikita..

"I wouldn't do that....I want you to meet my partners....DUKE, where you at?" screamed Jimmy..

Duke came out of the shadows with his sniper rifle..

"Right here Junior.." he said...

"Rico....you got me?" said Jimmy...Tyriq walked out of the shadows with his glock aimed at their heads..

"I got'cha Junior boy! You boys need to back up ,I get pretty nervous ,My trigger finger just might  get to clappin..." he said....

"Partner...you here?"screamed Jimmy...

Carlotta cocked her riot pump shotgun...

"Right here papi.." she said...

"Sirena!!! ....Hop!!!...Where you at?" screamed Jimmy...

Sirena cocked her glock and Hop cocked his riot pump shotgun.....

"Just look over your shoulder darlin..We right here..." said Sirena as she and Hop moved in...

"Boss lady..."said Jimmy..

"Right here baby..." said Sissy as she walked up with her glock aimed at them...

Police cars drove up and unmarked cars full of FBI and DEA agents drove up...The game was over!

Little Nikita fell to his knees and broke into tears....

"NAHHHHHHH...Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo...THIS CAN NOT BEEEE..arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhlawd jesussss....arghhhhhhh.." he screamed...

Vladmir and Nikolay and the un named gunman with them sighed and raised their hands in surrender....I walked over to them with Brendan, Sharon and Carol..

"You must be Little Nikita....You are little....but you're in Big Doo Doo now...I mean we just had you for RICO and conspiracy charges...but now, we got you for Murder..Murder of a cop...Wow....You're big time now.." I said...

He said nothing...He looked at me with an icy hatred and spat in the street! Then he spoke..

"You think you are a big man huh?  My lawyers will make you look like a fool."he said.

"Lawyers? Can you even afford them at this point?" asked Brendan laughing...

He shrugged his shoulders and surprisingly he began to laugh himself...

"Imagine that?" he said,laughing as he was handcuffed and walked away,along with his crew.

I like a gangster with a sense of humor.

"Good Work Jimmy..."said Sissy..

"Thank you Lieutenant for letting me do this.." he said.

"I'd like to say anytime...but I won't..You scared us there for a minute."said Sissy ,nearly in tears...."Go find Angie..Tell her it's over...You're all hers now." she said.

"Boss Lady...I can't think of anything better." he said.

"Oh I can...You can tell her right now..She's here...We brought her." said Sissy.

Detective Angela Belton got out of an unmarked police car and walked over to Jimmy..She put her arms around him..

"We come a long way haven't we Jimmy? You were just some young Detective who had a crush on me...and now here we are about to get married."she said..

"I'm still that young detective with a crush on you...I'll always have a crush on you..." he said kissing her passionately...

"Awwww, you say the sweetest things baby!" she said in between kisses.

"Awww, that is sooo romantic "said Carlotta looking at me...

I whispered in her ear...

"We still have time to go back to that room and uhhh get romantic ourselves..." I said.

Carlotta blushed..Then to my surprise she whispered in my ear...

"Let's hurry up and get back there then...We don't have to be back until the morning.." she said...

I pulled her to me and kissed her....

I noticed that the crowd was beginning to disperse...The three criminals had been handcuffed and driven away....

There were only two couples still here...Me and Carlotta and Jimmy and Angie..

I think they had the same idea and took off early...

EPILOUGE-

Vladmir and Nikolay were convicted of several Rico charges and conspiracy and sentenced to 99 years in Federal Prison....Little Nikita was sentenced to 99 years on the RICO and conspiracy charges...I tried him for the murder of undercover policeman, Brendan Irvin ..He was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection...He sits on Pennsylvania's death row as of this writing..

Two weeks later on a sunny Saturday morning, Angie and Jimmy got married at Penns Landing on a Ship provided by Millionaire Playboy,Rollie Rollerson...(As a favor to Sissy....He still carries a torch for her!)Angie looked beautiful...

I was the best man...Sissy was the maid of honor....Carlotta,Hazel,Sirena, Carol Redding,Sharon and Bridget were her bridesmaids...

Tyriq,Hop,Kevin Morris, Angie's older brother, Earl,Duke and Eddie C. were Jimmy's groomsmen...

 Since Angie's father was deceased.....Captain Eddie Cantrell of all people walked her down the aisle and gave her away....He teared up to everybody's surprise...

We partied well until after midnight....A good time was had by all....Angie and Jimmy were oblivious to everybody (as they should be) they danced slowly in the corner and kissed passionately.....

I kept looking at them and smiling and remembering how they both began...

Nearly Two Years Ago-

 Detective James Barlow walked over to Angie..

"Uh Detective Belton...Could I ask you something in uh private?" he asked..

Sissy and Carlotta looked at me...I shrugged my shoulders...

"Sure Detective Barlow.." she said...She looked at Sissy,Carlotta and me..We all had puzzled looks on our faces...Only I really knew what he was going to ask her...

He took her over to the corner and said-

"Hey, I uh know of a nice little spot that serves great seafood...and has good wine and this weekend...They got a great band playing there....I happen to know that you like this band too and that Talapia is your favorite seafood.....Would you mind being my guest?" he asked.

"You askin me out on a date Jimmy?" she said loud enough for us to hear...

Sissy's mouth dropped...So did Carlotta's... I smiled sheepishly..

"Yeah ,I guess it is a bad idea....I mean, you've been through a lot and I am kind of younger than you and out of my league." he said.

"Not to mention white." she said, laughing....

"Yeah that too." he said.

"Sure I'll go." she said.

He looked stunned...

"Huh? What?" he said.

"Why not? You're kind of cute....You have a steady job...You aint in jail and you haven't raped or killed anybody...I could do worse." she said.

"So we are going out this weekend ???..You're not joshing me right?" he said.

"Yes!!!..I said I'd go...By the way...How old are you? You can drink legally can't you?" she joked.

"You got jokes huh?" he said and whispered in her ear his age.

"You're three years younger than me Jimmy." she said.

"Uh two to be more accurate....That a problem?" he asked.

"I won't tell if you won't." she said....

And from that beginning...These two began dating and then got serious and here we are at this day....

Married... I never imagined these two as a couple..Nobody did... I likewise never imagined such a great and talented bunch of Detectives , working so well with Federal agents and taking down major bad guys...I never imagined being married to Carlotta, a woman I had only fantasized about a few years earlier..

It truly was a world full of amazement and wonder I mused...


For L.


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