The Invictus, page 15
Michael stared at Danny with steely eyes. “Know this. The next battle Craig faces will be one of temptation.”
Master Jason was in a rare position. He grimaced through the pain. Craig had cocked Jason’s arm behind his back and pinned him face down on the mat with his legs atop his body. He was bracing Jason’s arm with his knees and was awkwardly twisting his instructor’s wrist toward the ceiling with both hands.
Then, slowly, as if reluctant to relent, Jason reached out his free hand and tapped sharply twice on the mat, the sign that he had submitted. Craig released him from his grip, and both men relaxed on the mat.
Jason shook his head, clearly impressed. “That was good, Craig. Your skill and precision have definitely ticked up lately. There’s real power and authority in the way you’re fighting.” Craig sat up on the mat, a satisfied smile curled on his face. “Yeah. I feel different, for sure. Good, I think, but different too.”
Craig’s hair was tousled and damp with sweat, his karategi disheveled from the match. But he didn’t feel tired; rather, he felt empowered.
“That did seem to go pretty well,” a woman’s voice said from across the room.
Jason and Craig both turned to locate the speaker. The gym was nearly empty except for the two of them and one other pair sparring on the far side of the mat. Samantha was seated on a bench and had evidently been watching their encounter unfold.
“Oh, you again?” Craig said, his tone light and mocking. He felt confident, emboldened by the success of his sparring session. He stood and walked toward her. She tossed him a towel as he approached.
As he caught it, she said, “I know it’s Craig. But Craig who?”
“Henriksen. Craig Henriksen.” He sat down beside her.
“Fancy college guy’s got a fancy name.”
“And yours is Samantha . . . ?”
“Wall. And it’s Sam. Sam Wall.”
“Good name for a stubborn girl who likes to put up—”
“Walls,” Sam interrupted. “Cute. I get it.”
She seemed genuinely interested in getting acquainted and willing to play along. Craig noticed how easy their banter was today, not as tense as conversations had recently been with Lauren, especially after their evening at Santori’s. His interaction with Sam was refreshing.
With no trace of shyness or hesitation, Craig went on. “Going to get in some groundwork today?” he asked, referring to the term that described the sparring done while wrestling on the mat.
Sam pointed to her jeans, T-shirt, and jacket. “Nah. Got a few things to take care of before my shift in a few hours. Thought I’d catch up with you.”
“Oh? Think maybe I’m not done peeling back your layers?”
“Ha! Let’s just say I might have learned you’ve got a few layers yourself.” She cocked one eyebrow, as if to remind him of the strange things she’d noticed in their last encounter.
“Let’s not get carried away,” Craig said modestly.
Sam maintained the slightly furrowed brow and direct stare she had leveled at him before, but it appeared to soften. “I just—it’s just not easy to find people who give a shit about things. Someone who will take an interest. You seemed interested in the fact that I can sense it when people want to do harm to others.”
“I think you’ll find that I give a shit about a lot of things,” Craig said as he smiled.
They spent the next several minutes in lighthearted conversation, sometimes pausing as they watched the other students come and go. They discussed their schedules, how long they’d been practicing martial arts, and current events. Craig had several commitments to keep during the day, but their free-flowing conversation had pushed them to the back burner.
Then Craig’s phone rang in his gym bag. “Sorry,” he said as he retrieved it. It was Danny. “I need to take this,” he told Sam, then answered the phone. “Danny, what’s up?” Craig said.
“What’s up?” Danny repeated. “What’s up is that I’ve been trying to get ahold of you.”
Sam turned her attention to the matches taking place on the mats.
“I know,” said Craig. “I haven’t been avoiding you. Just trying to smooth things over.”
At that, Sam cast a puzzled look in Craig’s direction.
“Right,” Danny acknowledged. “But listen, I really need to bring you up to speed on that guy I’ve been talking to.”
“What guy?”
“At the church.”
“Oh, right. We didn’t get around to it before Lauren showed up at dinner—”
Danny kept talking, but Craig stopped short as he looked past Sam toward the door.
Lauren had entered the gym, her eyes fixed on Craig and Sam. Sam returned the stare. Anxiety flooded through him, but he wasn’t sure why; he wasn’t doing anything wrong. But Lauren had never shown up at one of his sessions before. Something must be up.
“Uh, Danny, I’ve got to go,” he said.
“Why? Dude, we have to talk, and soon.”
“I hear you, but I’ve got a little situation here.”
“Lauren again? By the way, how did the other night turn out?”
“Going now,” Craig said, singsong. As he hung up the phone, he could hear Danny say, “Call me back.”
Lauren walked confidently toward them. Craig glanced from Sam to Lauren as he hastily introduced the two. Sam seemed completely at peace in the situation. For her part, Lauren didn’t seem jealous exactly—not angry—but she definitely looked curious.
“What brings you here?” Craig asked his girlfriend.
“I was just in the area and thought I’d swing by before you head off to meet with Madison.”
Craig knew that reason didn’t add up, but he wasn’t about to question her, not with this tenuous interaction underway.
“Right, Madison,” Craig said. Now he remembered that he promised Lauren he would make good on his commitment to meet her friend.
“And also to remind you that we have dinner tonight with my folks—”
“At seven. I remember,” he said. Had Lauren slipped that in for Sam’s benefit?
“I should leave you two to your planning,” Sam said.
Without taking her eyes off Craig, Lauren responded, “No, you’re fine right here. No worries.”
“Actually, we probably should get going,” Craig said to Lauren.
“You should get going, Craig. You do have a busy afternoon planned. We’ll be fine here without you,” Lauren demurred.
“Um . . .” Craig started. Then the light bulb went on: Lauren wanted to talk to Sam alone. He quickly resigned himself to the inevitability of a conversation between the two of them.
“Okay. Well, I’ll catch you next time, Sam?”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
Trying one last time, Craig said, “Lauren? You sure?”
“You go on ahead, Craig. I’ll be fine.”
Craig snatched his gym bag and headed for the door. This was a strange feeling; he’d never been the focus of two women’s attention before.
Turning back as he pushed the door, he said, “Okay, I’ll see you at the apartment later.”
“Yup, before we head to dinner,” Lauren confirmed.
Craig started down the stairwell, apprehensive about how their conversation might go down.
Lauren turned to survey Sam, who stood silently under her gaze, unfazed.
“Actually, I need to leave soon too,” Lauren said. She eyed Sam up and down and cocked her head to the side. “I just wanted to meet the mystery woman that Craig spoke of. You don’t look like you came here to work out.”
“Nah. Just wanted to catch up with Craig again,” she said unabashedly. “We had a misunderstanding in one of our sessions, and I wanted to make sure things were good.”
“And were they?” Lauren asked, offering nothing further, instead watching for Sam’s reaction.
“Yeah, they were,” Sam responded, still looking at ease. “So, you just popped in today to see who the heck I was?”
“Something like that,” Lauren responded coldly.
As if to reassure her, Sam said, “Craig’s a good guy. I’m starting to find that out about him. But I’m sure you already know that.”
“He is an extremely good guy,” Lauren agreed.
An awkward silence extended between the two women. Sam appeared like she was about to advance the conversation when Lauren broke it off.
“I’m sure we’ll cross paths again. But until then, I’ll ask that you be careful.”
Sam flashed a puzzled look. But before she could speak, Lauren spun on her heel and pushed her way through the door and out of the gym.
Danny exhaled sharply and glared across the squad room from his desk, oblivious to the bustle of the precinct office. Craig had just hung up on him. He needed to sit his cousin down and finally come clean about his conversations with Michael and his new depth of understanding about Craig’s abilities. And the situation it put them both in.
“Sounds like you’re a man on a mission to tell someone something.” Lieutenant Mason had walked up behind him. Danny twisted around to look up at him. He wasn’t in a mood to ingratiate himself with his boss and his greeting reflected that.
“What’s up?” he said tersely.
Mason walked around to the front of Danny’s desk. “Just wanted to let you know I’ve been trying to see things a little more from your perspective.”
“Oh?” Now the lieutenant had Danny’s full attention.
“Yeah. I don’t think I’ve given you enough credit for what you’ve gone through and how difficult it’s been to get back to this point.”
“Really? That’s what you’ve been thinking? Huh. Well, this shit hasn’t been easy, that’s for sure. What made you come around to seeing things from my perspective?”
“Funny you should ask that,” Mason said. He pulled a chair from a neighboring desk, spun it around backward, and sat down to join Danny. “When I first read your file, I thought it curious that our paths hadn’t crossed since I joined the force.”
Danny knew Mason had only been with Chicago PD for a few years after leaving the military, so it didn’t seem altogether implausible that they hadn’t met.
“I got to know Eric Hammond pretty well when I joined. We were both in the same branch of service, so we got connected through an informal buddy network the force makes available to vets.”
Hammond is a veteran? “I didn’t know he served,” Danny said. “So you got to know Hammond.”
“Yeah, and he was a real help to me early on. When I took over here, I thought it would be a good idea for him and me to catch up because he was your CO when things went down a couple of years ago.”
“You’ve talked with him recently?” Danny kept it to himself, but he was annoyed by this, given how difficult it had been for him to connect with Hammond lately.
“Sure. Had lunch with him last week. He’s been in and out a lot lately, with his mother recently passing and all. But we finally connected.”
“Hammond’s mother died?” Danny was stunned. He hadn’t known.
Mason nodded, compassion plain on his face. “Yes, and his mom was a huge influence on him. Raised him by herself—you know that? Ever since she took ill a couple of years ago, it’s been hard on him.”
Danny shook his head, then gazed out the window. He regretted not having known something so important about a man he considered a friend.
“I . . . I didn’t know,” Danny admitted, turning back to look at Mason.
“Ah, it’s okay. Eric was pretty private about it. Anyway, he gave me a pretty good perspective on you. And your cousin.”
The last statement caught Danny by surprise and made him suspicious.
“It must have been a lot for you to shoulder at the time, a lot for both of you. I appreciate that more now that Eric has walked me through it.”
“How so?”
As if ticking off a laundry list, Mason said, “Well, you were becoming the shit with your investigative work when that serial killer landed on the scene.”
Danny couldn’t keep a slight smile from crossing his face as he reflected on it. What Mason said was true.
“But then things got difficult—at least, that’s what Eric shared.”
“What exactly did he tell you?”
“It would’ve been a tall order for anybody,” Mason repeated. “Not only was the Tourist taunting you with notes, but he kept getting closer and closer to you, hitting home, first with your informants and ultimately, well . . .” He hesitated.
“Go on,” Danny said.
“Finally reaching your girl. That had to be hard to bear.”
Danny took a deep breath but said nothing. His first thought was about Maggie, an older lady he had gotten to know on his beat who was killed by the Tourist. Then his mind went to Emma, whom Mason was referencing. She had added much to his life in a short period, and her death had left an emotional hole larger than he sometimes realized.
“I’m not one to bitch about it,” Danny finally said, “but unless they have most of the picture, like Hammond does, it’s hard to get people to understand.”
“About your cousin,” Mason went on. “Craig.”
Danny perked up.
“I know I gave you grief about wanting to pull him into crime scenes,” Mason said.
“You gave me grief, all right.”
“Well, Hammond had high praise, not just for you. He told me to ask you how Craig was doing. He knew Craig was reluctant to get pulled into cases, but that he didn’t shy away from them when push came to shove. He said you wouldn’t even be here today if not for Craig.”
“That’s absolutely true,” Danny said.
“And he told me your cousin had scars left over from when he was growing up.”
“Hammond shared all that with you?” Danny was surprised by the extent of it.
“Yeah, he did. I think Eric felt like he had left you both hanging when he opted for the administrative role downtown. When I went to meet with him—and I’ll admit now that I was skeptical about you both—he set me straight.”
“Eric’s been about as stand-up a guy as I’ve met since I’ve been on the force. What’s it been . . . ten years?” Danny reflected.
“That’s a good call, stand-up guy.” Mason paused. “Eric also told me you and he have been playing tag recently, haven’t had a chance to meet up. But he did tell me he’s been keeping an eye out for you from a distance.”
Mason eyed Danny’s weaponized cane, which was leaning against his desk. Sensing where his gaze had drifted, Danny absently reached out and grabbed the handle. A knowing smile spread across Mason’s face. So Mason knows about this too, Danny thought.
“Anyway, what he’s told me about you two carries a ton of weight. I want to make sure you know that. I’m coming to understand your situation—and Craig’s—a little better.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant. I appreciate you making the effort to do that.”
Mason placed his forearms on the back of the chair and leaned forward. “So how can I help, Walsh?”
Taken aback by the unexpected offer, Danny had to think for a minute. Finally, he said, “Let me do my thing. Trust me when I tell you I can get things done like I used to. I can be ‘the shit’ again if you give me the chance.” The two men locked eyes and Mason nodded while he thought it over.
An officer from the dispatch desk approached Mason to brief him on some recent disturbances in the industrial area known as the Stockyards, where an increasing amount of criminal activity had been occurring. It was the same area Danny had questioned his twitchy informant about. His mind wandered to that encounter as Mason and the desk officer talked.
When the officer left, Mason turned to Danny and said, “Let me check this out first, but if you’re gonna be available, I might want you to dig into it further. With so many of our resources getting siphoned off to terrorism, I feel like we’ve been going too light on the usual characters.”
“Sure, makes sense,” Danny agreed. He hoped this was the opening he’d been waiting for.
“Good. I got a feeling that things are building up with the gangs there, and the mob of course, while we’re off chasing the feds around. If we can learn more about what’s going on down there, it might help us to head off further trouble.” He paused briefly, his thoughts returning to Danny’s request from a few moments before. “I had read up on you, Walsh, before Hammond gave me this latest intel, and one thing I remember is that you were a damn good detective.”
“I don’t believe that’s changed, Lieutenant. So yeah, I’m game. Let me grab a couple of uniforms and get on over there.”
“Agreed,” Mason said.
The desk officer returned and asked Mason to take care of some issues that had cropped up in the intake area to triage.
Before he left, Mason said, “Walsh, I want you to know that I’m okay with it if you look into what’s going down there and see the need to involve that friend of yours.” Though Mason had coded the message in the officer’s presence, Danny heard it loud and clear: thanks to Hammond, Mason had come to terms with the fact that Danny and Craig had been a team, an effective one—and that Danny might need to use him again.
The question that remained was how much Mason knew about what Craig had actually done on their team. Did he know about Craig’s supernatural powers? Was he deliberately trying to create an opening for Craig? He needed to meet with Hammond sometime soon to find out exactly how much he had spilled to Mason. But until then, he intended to take full advantage of his newfound investigative freedom.
He stood and looked across the squad room, then walked over and looked out the window. It had been a surprising turn of events, and he felt invigorated. The cell phone on his desk buzzed and started dancing toward the edge. Danny snatched it up, hoping to hear Craig’s voice. But the display number was blocked.
Danny answered, his suspicions aroused.
“Is this Detective Daniel Walsh?”
“Who is this?”
“Of course. My apologies, Detective. This is Colonel Matthew Bishop. We met at the precinct. You gave me your card.”
