Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Game of Revenge ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Sergeant Allison Douglas was a woman in her 30s with straight platinum blonde hair pulled tight into a ball at the nape of her neck. The popular Headquarters lore was that she had been admitted to the job masquerading as a man, and then by the time she revealed her disguise the task force was already under her complete control. Jack didn't believe these rumors, but whatever the case, she was a force to be reckoned with, and Jack wondered what he had done to land himself in this situation. He swallowed, rapped his knuckles on the door, and was immediately beckoned inside by Allison's no-nonsense tone. He entered and sat down in the chair before her clean, tidy desk and waited for her to begin.

“Jack, I want to offer my condolences about what happened to Edward. He was a fine young man, lots of potential, and the way he had to go was one of the worst. But Jack,” she paused, and Jack shifted slightly in his chair, “I heard about what happened last night, how you took off to look for Tompson on your own. I understand how you feel, I lost a partner once, but there is nothing you can do about it, and nothing you should do about it. My men will take care of it, I'll be sure to get them out as soon as I can, but I cannot afford to lose my detective, Jack. Do you understand?”

Jack understood completely, and he felt anger rise inside of him, but when he spoke his voice was steady.

“Your boys will take care of it, huh? Don't lie to me, Sergeant, I know how it really is. You're so wrapped up in your own matters you don't give two shits about catching that bastard or not.”

“How can you say that? Don't you trust the force, Harper? I promise we will find him and when we do…”

“Exactly!” Jack growled back, his voice rising, “When!? When will you decide that it's finally time to stop fooling around and try and get the real murderers? Why won't you let me do it, sergeant? Why not me? No, just stick me here with this damn paperwork and expect me to sit on my ass and do nothing while that bastard is out there! Damn it, Sergeant, don't you think I can take care of myself?”

“Inspector Harper,” her voice was like ice, and getting colder, “I have no doubt in your ability to, as you say, `take care of yourself,' but it is my job to keep my officers in one piece. I have already lost one detective who was sure he could handle the situation, I'm not about to make that same mistake again.”

“So you're saying Edward was stupid? Well I'll tell you, he wasn't, you're the one who's stupid here! If you don't want to make another mistake, then let me find him! Let me do my job, Sergeant!” Jack was roaring now, his head pounding from the whiskey and lack of sleep, but he was sure. If he didn't do this, then no one would. No one cared enough to. And then that bastard would go free. And Jack was not going to let that happen.

Silence hung heavily over the space between Jack and Allison. Jack was on his feet, breathing harshly, but he didn't remember when he had stood. Allison remained still behind her desk, cold blue eyes boring into his grey. Finally she spoke.

“You are dismissed, Inspector Harper.”

Jack pushed his chair to the side and stormed out of the office, past the staring, upturned faces of the police in the room, up the stairs, and burst into his office, slamming the door behind him so hard dust floated from the walls. He marched to his desk, grabbed the nearest pile of paperwork and case files, and flung it across the room where it burst against the wall with a flurry of white. Jack then went on to the next pile, and the next, until the air was thick with the pages that floated down like hundreds of lost souls.

What makes her think that she can control me? If she won't back me, I'll do it myself, and let her try… let her try to stop it… Jack's eyes gleamed as he went to the walls and stripped them of the articles that hung there, throwing them on top of the useless busywork in the corners. He then proceeded to open every filing cabinet in his office, digging through them ferociously, searching… I know I have them, they're here, all the clues I need… A new pile grew on his desk, one built of older reports, things almost thrown away, but then stuffed back into the drudges at the bottom of the box. All the reports had the same name typed evenly across the front of them; Tompson, Kyle.

Jack tacked every one of the papers he found to the wall behind his desk. The same face stared back at him from every angle, challenging the man before their printed eyes to find their secret. Jack poured over each page, trying to find even the smallest hint. He was interrupted suddenly by a knock on the door, and he whirled around to face the person who was opening the door to his sanctuary. Russell's round face peered around the door frame, and when he saw Jack, he entered and closed the door behind him.

“I heard what the Sergeant said. I think she's right Jack…”

“What? Are you going to try and stop me too, Russell? Because…”

“No, Jack,” and Russell smiled, “I just don't want to lose you. I'm here to help, if you want me to. Besides… You're your own cop, Jack. I think it's time you got back to your old job.”

Jack returned the grin, and waved his friend over to his side.

“I'm trying to find out all I can about Tompson. I want to be able to see his next move, and then maybe I can catch him in the act.”

Russell nodded, and began to scour the yellowed pages as Kyle Tompson's grayscale eyes regarded his trackers emotionlessly.