The Unknown

Only once part 3

I think I know these kids, Officer Black muses as he pulls out his cell phone and quickly dials a familiar number.

 "Hello," answers a groggy, just woken up voice. It is 2am, afterall.

"Admiral Donovan, it's Officer John Black. I'm sorry to call you at such an inopportune time but we have a situation here."

"John what's wrong?" Shane asks anxiously, now bolted upright in bed, jolted awake by the gravity of the situation, based on John's tone of voice.

Shane's pov

A police officer calling me at 2am on a Sunday morning cannot possibly be a good thing but John and I go way back, so I guess it could be worse. We met in New York years ago while working on a mutual case.

"I believe I have three of your girls, Julie, Lisa and Stacey, and your car here."

"What? But the girls are in bed," I say, my voice trailing off as I jump out of bed and run out of my room barefoot and half-naked, clad only in boxers. I race down the hall to the girls' room and fling open the door, practically removing it from its hinges. Shit! It's empty.

"Shane, are you still there?" John asks.

"Yeah, I'm still here," I say, clearly out of breath and shape, apparently. "Where are they? What's going on? Are they ok?" I ask, now in full panic mode.

"Relax, Shane, they're fine, nobody's hurt."

"Pheww," I audibly let out a sigh of relief.

But my relief is short lived as I hear John say, "Your girls were pulled over by my colleague for erratic driving (cop speak for weaving in and out of your lane) and Julie blew a 0.11% on the breathalyzer. It's clear that Stacey and Lisa are even more impaired. We believe they were at a teenage drinking party here in Rockwell, five miles up the road, that we busted earlier this evening. I know I don't have to tell you how serious the consequences could have been if there would have been an accident."

My head was spinning. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The enormity of the situation was settling in quickly. As John was talking, I put him on speaker and threw on a navy blue polo and a pair of jeans. I put my socks and Nikes on as I was running down the hall, cradling my phone between my cheek and shoulder, making a bee line for Mike's room.

"Since they're minors, Shane, I think we can handle this off-record, if you know what I mean."

"Thanks, John, I would really appreciate that. Believe me, when I'm through with them, they'll have wished you took them into custody." I turned around, mid sentence and ran back to my room grabbing my brown leather belt and swiftly looping it around my waist. "What's your location?"

John gave me the info. I had a pretty good idea I knew how to get there. "I'm on my way," I said. "And, John," I paused, "thank you. I owe you one."

"You're welcome. I'll hold down the fort until you arrive. And yes, you do, big time," he replied.

Mike's pov

I awake to loud frantic banging on my door.

"What the Hell?" I mutter, rubbing my eyes. I hear Shane before I reach the door.

"Mike, wake up. The girls are in trouble!"

I look at the clock by my bed, 2:19am. This cannot be good. I open the door to see a very out of breath, upset Shane. He fills me in on his conversation with the cop.

"You're joking, right? Is someone videoing me right now? There is no way they could do something that idiotic," I say, in disbelief. 

"They can and they have," Shane replies, dead serious.

I grab my keys and his and quickly get dressed, throwing on a faded Coca Cola t-shirt and light wash jeans.

"I'll drive," I say as I slip on my Vans. I'm glad Shane doesn't argue with me about who's driving. He's literally shaking with rage. I've never seen him this angry before. He's in no condition to get behind the wheel and yet I think, Julie was stupid enough to drink and drive. "What in God's name were they thinking?" I ask, not really expecting an answer as we head off to Rockwell to retrieve our juvenile delinquents.

"They weren't," Shane says, with a mix of sadness and anger in his voice.

During the fifty minute drive up, I can physically feel the anger radiating off Shane. The vein on his forehead is pulsating and his hands are tightly balled into fists. He's trying, unsuccessfully, to slow his breathing as he becomes more and more upset.

I barely have the car stopped before he jumps out, to talk to the officer. I see the girls sitting near the ditch. Forgetting for a moment how upset I am with them, I pity how small and helpless they look. It's obvious Lisa's been crying. I've never seen Julie look so pale, her knees pulled tight to her chest, she's nervously rocking back and forth. She's clearly terrified, as she should be. Stacey is a shade of green I've only ever seen before on a frog puppet. Clearly, she had the most to drink and will be in a world of hurt tomorrow. Well, they all will. I walk over to the girls to make sure they're okay, while Shane and the officer continue to talk.

Lisa's pov

I see Mike's car approaching and I'm both relieved and terrified, at the same time. Shane gets out first and rushes to speak to the officer but not before looking over at us with a sadness in his face that I have never before seen. It broke my heart. I see Mike get out of the car and walk towards us. He looks really tired. I feel awful. When I thought about what would happen if we got caught tonight, I never considered how much we could actually hurt Mike and Shane in the process.

"We're so sorry, Mike," I say, crying.

"Now's not the time, Lisa. We'll discuss this tomorrow, after you've gotten some sleep and sobered up," Mike says sternly. "I just thank God you girls aren't hurt," he says, letting the sadness and worry permeate his voice.

Julie's pov

I see the cop get back into his squad car and drive off. Oh my gosh, I think, breathing a sigh of relief he's not taking us to the police station. As I see Shane approach, I suddenly wish he was. I get the distinct feeling, I would be safer behind bars. Shane has a look on his face that terrifies me to my very core. I audibly gulp as he gets closer to where we sit. I can honestly say, this is the angriest I have ever seen him.

He stands before us seething, arms crossed, not saying a word. Daggers shoot from his eyes. I almost wish he would start screaming at us because somehow this is worse, so much worse. He places his left hand over his mouth, gripping his chin. He stays in this pose, his eyes scanning us for what feels like an eternity. 

He slowly turns to face Mike.

"You take Stacey and Lisa in your car. I'll take Julie." Shane turns and bends down to meet me at eye level. "Get in the car, now!" he hisses, through clenched teeth.

"Yes sir," I reply, feeling like I'm three years old again.

We leave before Mike. The silence is deafening on the way home. I don't dare say a word, for fear of setting Shane off. He's like a ticking time bomb, he could explode at any minute. As we get closer to the Center, I notice we missed our usual turn. That's odd, why is Shane heading toward Memorial Park? We pull into the parking lot. The park is dark and deserted. It's 3am, so of course the park is closed. Shane shuts the car off. He gets out of the car and walks around to my side, opening my door.

"Get out of the car." His icy tone sends shivers down my spine. I'm paralyzed by fear. When I don't move, Shane roughly yanks me out of the car and pulls me toward the dugout of the baseball field.

Why in the world is he taking me here? Then it hits me, I know exactly why. Now, I'm truly petrified.