Chapter 4

“Don’t do that, Teddy. Let’s just keep our opinions to ourselves and do our fucking job. A minor is missing, and we should find her. That is exactly our job,” Smith stated and went back to staring at the picture.

“Whatever you say,” Teddy replied, throwing up his hands in mock surrender and going back to focusing all his attention on his phone.

“We should be leaving as soon as possible, though. I have a feeling this may turn out to be a very long wait.”

“Tell me about it. I know for a fact that we will be chasing a girl that doesn’t want to be chased, probably in some frat party with two or three boys,” Teddy added.

“Or has been killed by some serial killer/psychopath, and her body is floating in a lake in Amsterdam,” Smith replied.

Teddy gave him a look and then shrugged.

“Exactly; I’m sure her scared parents are making a lot of predictions and assumptions at this point. Trust me; we do not want to join in. The whole point is for us to be more objective and actually find out what is happening,” he added and then rose.

“Where are you going?”

“Well, if we’re heading out, then there's no better time than now. We’re on the assignment as it is,” he said, tossing Teddy the envelope. See you in the van,” he added, leaving the office and closing the door softly behind him.

***

It was pouring; the August rain wasn’t a flood, just a mere drizzle, but annoying nonetheless, or so Teddy thought because he had been fuming since the downpour began, and his mood hadn’t changed yet.

Smith and Theodore parked just a few feet from the apartment building in the east of the city. There was a parking lot by the side of the building and another behind it, but they were smart enough to know that if anyone saw a police car creeping up into that parking lot, they could kiss their chances goodbye.

The information would spread, and everyone would begin to think they were suspects or that the cops were after them. The innocent ones would think so, and the guilty ones would think so too, until eventually, the most guilty would figure out why the police would be onto them and then find their way out of that place ASAP.

So it was always safer and easier not to dress up in police uniforms and most definitely not be the big van with the siren. Unless you planned on scaring a few high school kids into behaving properly or you wanted to impress your preschool daughter, then the van was one terrible idea.

But they were still stuffed in a large cream-colored van with all manner of Chinese writing on it. One day, Smith was bored enough to find out the writing meant “duty call.” Since then, he didn’t mind the car anymore; after all, he was working, and it was only fitting that his van said “duty call.”

Theodore was not talkative, at least not when he was with other men. The women, though, brought out the worst in him, and he couldn’t always help being argumentative with them. To him, that made perfect sense since women always wanted to be right and have the last word.

He dedicated his time to making sure no woman in his life ever out-talked or outsmarted him. In fact, he would rather lose money than lose a fight with any woman. That wasn’t something he could do, and he promised himself he would not start anytime in the near future.

Teddy flipped open the glove compartment and took out his pack of cigarettes. He flipped open a few more boxes in the car before finally recalling where he had stored his favorite lighter right there in his breast pocket. Teddy took it out and lit his cigar without a second thought before taking a drag and exhaling like a man starved for ages.

“Could you take down the windscreen at least?” Smith muttered and then rolled down his side by punching the button under it.

“I don’t see how this bothers a grown-ass man.”

“I don’t see how a grown-ass man needs a stick of smoke to function, period,” Smith retorted and looked outside. Frankly, he didn’t know why most men and women did half the things they did, but then, he wasn’t one to dish out judgments to them. One way or the other, their bad habits and addictions would always come back, take a turn, and bite them in the rear. That, to him, was enough judgment.

“It’s cold, man. Haven’t you seen that? I’m freezing in here,” Teddy replied, and he did look cold, even with a thick layer of coat covering his uniform.

“Car heater then,” Smith replied and turned it on from the dashboard.

“Haaa… Like that ever works,” Teddy snorted and continued his smoke.

Smith didn’t have a problem; he just needed a heads-up just in case he didn’t want to be near the nicotine today. It was like that sometimes with him. One second, he was fine with one bad habit or addiction, and the next, he couldn’t stand it at all and wanted to be as far away from it as he could possibly get.

Not with Teddy, though. Through the eight years they had been together and the three years in that cubicle side by side, Smith could scarcely remember the day Teddy ever was in his business. It didn’t matter what on earth his business was; the giant of a man kept his opinion and advice to himself unless he was explicitly asked, and even when he was asked for his opinion, he always had a way of not saying enough or too much.

So, if not for anything, for his quietness and ability to be in his space and not crowd or be all over another’s—despite how small the cubicle was—Smith respected Theodore and accorded him that respect openly. Added to that, the man had a size that was difficult not to respect; he was a hunk, six feet plus, with broad shoulders, a lean waist, and thick legs. Even his fingers were large. If you took a long look at him, you would see a man you shouldn’t mess with, a man who looked capable of taking three guys out at a time.

And Smith knew he had the balls to do just that. He wasn’t a sissy; once or twice on a mission, Teddy had gone rogue and did the unimaginable and came back with positive results. He had his way most of the time, and he had the guts to back up his skin. So, all in all, Teddy was a big man with big balls, and that was enough to let Smith respect him.

“Are we gonna keep sitting here in this rain, or is there a plan somewhere in that fine head of yours?” Teddy asked after another twenty minutes had passed. That totaled sixty-four minutes since they had arrived at the apartment building that afternoon, which was fast turning into an evening.

“That’s the scariest part of the job, man, waiting,” he replied with a chuckle and pulled his coat on tighter.

“I may as well get a joint to wait it out,” Teddy said.

Smith shrugged and tipped his head back on the headrest, trying to move his legs and stretch a bit. He could feel his muscles beginning to tense, his back felt stiff, and his waist needed to be straight.

They’d been cooped up in that van for over an hour, and although Smith was a grown-ass man and refused to acknowledge the claustrophobia he had as a kid, it was apparent that he hadn’t entirely grown out of it. It was evident in how many times he had to take a walk while at the office or simply move around. Small spaces still got to him, but then nobody had to know about that; he managed it quite well if he could say so himself.

“That’s it,” Teddy said and opened the car door.

“What? Seen them?” Smith asked and sat up abruptly, nearly knocking his head on the rearview mirror.