Lucifer's Apostles

Lucifer's Apostles Episode 26

“If they follow their pattern, there’ll be another sacrifice tomorrow night. We need to stop that from happening. We’ve got a lot of work to do, so I want you all bright and bushy-tailed”. Bill Clements had often told him that tired soldiers don’t win battles. Everybody performed better early of a morning rather than dragging them through the night. It is also better for their family life.

Tank entered his office, sat down, and Face Timed his children on his computer. He needed to see their faces. Tiffany answered, she was always excited to talk to him. Dahlia was never that worried. She blamed Tank for the breakup. Still, she hated Simon, and she hated his son, Gilmore. “Hey Tiff, how are you all doing?” Tank asked. Tiffany answered, “We’re good, Dad, how are you doing? Mum saw the news this morning. She said Uncle Pete had been killed”. Tiffany started crying. She was close to Pete and even closer to Colleen, from all the times that Colleen had looked after her. “How’s Aunty Boo”? It was a nickname that Tiffany started calling Colleen when she was around two.

“It looks like I’m better than you”, Tank told her. “Aunty Boo and the kids will be okay. I will keep an eye on them. The whole police force will. I just wanted to make sure you kids were alright. I thought you might have been worried about me”.

“We were terrified. Ronnie thought you might have gotten hit by a bullet as well”, Tiffany said. Ronnie was the name they called Aaron. Tank hated it. If they had wanted a Ronnie, they would have called him Ronald.

“Are the other two around?” he asked.

“They went with Mum to get some dinner”, Tiffany replied. “We’re going to have a movie night, hooray, it’ll be something stupid Ronnie wants to watch. It’s a little better now. HE is in Adelaide doing who cares what, so it’s only the four of us”.

Tank said, “I’ve told you before to respect Simon. I mean it, Tiff. When they get home, tell them I will call again tomorrow. Tell them I love them and miss them. Hopefully, I can have you all next weekend if this case is finished”.

“I will, Dad. I love you, and be careful”, she said.

“I love you too”, Tank replied.

Katie had walked into his office and waited for him to finish, “Hey, Sarge, I have got a key for your cell tonight”, she told him. She had gone home and changed. To him, she looked as gorgeous as always. Katie had a black dress on. It was short, showing her shapely legs. She wore a pair of black high-heeled shoes, and her blonde hair glistened.

“I’m coming if you’re sure it’s alright. I don’t want to seem pushy. I thought it would be a nice distraction for me. I didn’t even consider the fact it was a family meeting”, Tank said.

“You will be distracted. I can assure you. It will be something like Aleks has a sore toe. If it is serious, you will be there to console me. Come here, Sarge, you look like you need a hug. I forgot about Pete for a minute. I am so sorry”. She held her arms, and Tank lifted her into his. They kissed for a minute, and when they were finished, Katie said, “I meant a cuddle”, with a smile.

Tank did not smile back. He was glad she was there for him. It would have been hard for him not to have a drink tonight if she were not. Times like this were the most challenging. Katie had been precisely thinking this throughout the day.

“Have you done something different with your hair?” he asked.

“Promise you will not judge me”, she said to him, and he nodded in agreement. “I tried the recipe our unsub has been using, olive oil and mayonnaise. It is incredible. Feel how much younger it is”. Tank glided his thumb and index finger down a part of her hair.

“It’s soft. Are you sure I don’t need to get changed?” Tank asked her.

He needed to hear her reply, “You are perfect just the way you are, Sarge”.

***

Maria had been silent all day. All she could think about were different scenarios of how she could escape. The door opened, and the larger of the two girls entered with a smaller man of Indian descent. She looked at the tray that the small man put on her bed next to her. She thought that he would make a better target than the big man they called Jacko. Maria said, “Hi, what’s going on in the world outside?”

Krishna looked at her and then at Melissa, who shook her head. It was not their job to be friendly to these women. She had no intention to get emotionally attached to anyone. She was not impressed that she had been called into work early, Tipsy had gotten sick, and Jacko and Snake had the night off after working all of the previous night. Melissa would never argue with Snake. He worked the weirdest hours.

“You are rude, do you know that? It doesn’t hurt to say hello or at least answer a question when someone asks you something”, Maria said directly to Melissa.

Melissa looked at Maria contemptuously, “Why would we need to talk to you. We get paid to watch you, feed you and clean up your mess”. Krishna left the room before any trouble between the two women started. Melissa was a Westbrook in this city, which meant lowlife. She had a family full of criminals, and the cops watched them like hawks over a chicken yard. Her father was behind bars for drugs, something she wanted nothing to do with. That was one of the reasons she liked the church. Nobody judged her for her father’s sins.

“You’re no better than me”, Maria spat out. “You might think you are because you’re not chained up. You look like a c***k w***e”.

Melissa moved quickly. She picked up the paper plate that Maria’s food was on and tipped it on the floor. “You can eat off the floor from now on b***h. You think I’m a c***k w***e. I think you’re a bloody pig. So, you can eat like one from now!” Melissa shouted. She took her stun gun from her belt and stuck it hard into Maria’s shoulder.

Maria squirmed with pain, but she did not scream. She was not going to give Melissa the satisfaction. “Go home and screw your brother c***k w***e. You look like you come from a family of in breeds!!” Maria spat at her. This was not going down as she had expected. Her plan was shot to bits at this stage. Melissa hit Maria with the stun gun, who covered her head before the stun gun hit her hands hard. Maria heard the bones break in her fingers before she felt them. She kicked out, hitting Melissa in the groin. Melissa kicked Maria back onto her bed and grabbed her by the hair. She then stuck the stun gun into Maria’s stomach. Melissa kept it there until Maria passed out. She knew not to use the stun gun while touching Maria, or she would be shocked herself.

Snake rushed into the room and dragged Melissa away from Maria. She had not let up with the stun gun. Snake felt for a pulse on the prisoner. It was there. “What happened in here?” Snake asked. He had been trying to get some sleep when Krishna came in and woke him.

“She called me a c***k w***e. I’m going to kill the b***h!” Melissa shouted, now being held by Jacko. Krishna must have interrupted whatever Jacko had been up to as well. It was lucky that Krishna had. Otherwise, Snake would have been looking at Maria’s dead body.

“We know you’re not a c***k w***e, Mel”, Jacko whispered in her ear. It miraculously calmed her down. She turned and hung on to Jacko tightly.

Snake said, while monitoring Maria’s pulse, “She’s going to live. The party’s over. Krishna, thanks for waking me. It could have been a disaster. Clean up this mess on the floor and leave her be until morning. She can go without food and a wash tonight. I’m going back to try and get a bit of sleep”.