March 2012

The siren wails shattered the night air and hope-filled Jordan’s heart as their sound got closer.

He looked down at his partner “Eric! Eric, hang on. You have to hang on, buddy. Help is on the way, you will be taken care of in no time. You don’t get to die on me, man. You hear me?” Jordan said desperately to keep his friend’s eyes open even as the brutal conviction settled in his mind.

He had seen many scenes like this almost a year after he had joined the Baleria Police Department. He could almost feel his friend’s life flow out of him as blood flowed through Jordan’s hand. He had tried to apply the emergency first aid he learnt in the academy on his friend, anything to slow down the cold hand of death that seemed intent to claim this man.

No, not Eric. He thought desperately as he called him again “Eric, please you have to keep your eyes open. You can’t sleep now, man. Don’t you dare sleep. What would you tell Aria? Damn you!” he shouted as he wondered why the siren he seemed to have heard getting closer seemed to be sounding farther than before? What the hell? No way were they going to tell him they went in the wrong direction.

His phone. He thought then he looked around, his phone was lying around Eric’s legs. That meant he would have to remove his prone partner from his lap to get the phone. Damn it! The walkie-talkie had been damaged in the attack they just faced. He made to move Eric gently and it seemed like the blood was pumping more in his battered chest. Damn it. This cannot be happening.

“Eric, Eric. buddy, I might need to move you okay?”

Eric’s eyelids flickered and he moved his index finger like he was asking Jordan to come closer.

“Yeah? Jordan asked as he moved his head closer to him “You should conserve your energy, man”

He leaned closer to Eric, so close that he was able to catch the thready voice of his friend “Tell...Aria…sorry…she…should…leave” then his friend opened his eyes and he seemed to focus fully on Jordan “You…too. Not… worth…worth it”

“We would leave together, Eric. Eric, you have to hold on and we go together. Aria wouldn’t forgive you if you do this, man. She wouldn’t. I wouldn’t forgive you too, so just get your ass up. No, don’t get up. Just hold on. I am not supposed to move you. Hold on, bu…”

Jordan stopped when he realised that he was probably talking to himself, his friend’s breathing had become erratic and with a ghost of his normal affable smile on his face, Eric Bruce breathed his last.

Jordan couldn’t believe his eyes as his body grew cold, cold and colder. He sat in the alleyway and thought of ways he could have prevented this from happening. Ways he could have stopped this affable man from having this kind of ending, the only person he could call a friend in this dog-eat-dog world he found himself. Flashbacks of moments with this great man who had died in an alleyway like a nonentity flew through his mind in a jumble.

Eric swiping his doughnuts when he thought he was not looking. Eric typing on the keyboard with one finger punching each letter at a time as he grumbled that the technology was not complete unless he could just say what he wanted typed to the system and everything would be displayed.

Eric chafing when given a desk job of profiling as he grumbled that he preferred going out to the street where all the actions were. Eric saying that a cop would be less of one without his integrity intact.

Eric with a serious look on his face as he told Jordan that the walls have ears everywhere in Baleria, especially in the force. That had been a few weeks after they had been partners, they had been on a coffee and doughnut run when one corporate-looking man had passed in his car followed by several burly men.

Jordan had wondered why such was allowed on the streets of Baleria when the man was not a dignitary.

“The nooks and crannies of Baleria are filled with his type, Jordan. You have been away for a while so you might not know how much these people have infiltrated everywhere. They are a law unto themselves and they have eyes everywhere”

Jordan had wondered aloud why the police were in existence then. Eric had changed the topic.

Just last week, Eric had been jubilating at the station. His wife just called him from the hospital that they would be having another baby. They had a one-year-old boy together. Eric had been so antsy to get off work that day so he could go see his wife. Eric’s love for his wife was known to all and their colleague did make fun of him most times about it.

As Jordan looked down at his friend on the cold, concrete floor. Huge grief rolled through him in waves as he wondered what he was supposed to tell Aria.

A light flashed on him and he raised his head to see Lance Dickson get down from his service car.

Lance the bastard that had refused to send over the backup with the excuse that everyone was too busy to go on a goose chase. Lance, the celebrity cop. His superior.

Fury mingled with the grief in Jordan as he stood up

“Jordan, what the heck happened here? I had to come out myself since all units are busy. What is….”

Jordan drew back his hand with all his might and let his fist fly. The weak bastard went down.

“You will pay for this! What insolence! You..damn it, my face. You hit a superior. Your ass will be so roasted, the smell will be perceived across town”

Jordan ignored the shouts and threats of the rabid dog behind him as he lifted his partner into his arms and carried him out of the alley.