“He was fast,” I said, thinking of the evening before. “Sands is a slippery motherfucker.”
“No.” Ricardo frowned and pointed at Sean. “How the hell did hotshot there end up in the middle of a park, gun aimed at civilians, and no damn cover?”
“That’s something I’ll be rattling his cage about.” My anger bloomed. Sean had been reckless and he’d put himself at risk. Not to mention he’d forced my blood pressure through the damn roof.
Sean marched back over to us, still panting, his cheeks red. “There you are,” he said, frowning at Ricardo, Jonathan and Balko. “What took you so long, kids?”
“Don’t give them shit.” I stepped up to him and jabbed his vest with my finger. “You’re the one being an asshole here.”
“What?” He raised his eyebrows and looked down at me. He slid his shades on. “I was the only one anywhere near him.”
“Exactly. What the fuck were you thinking running out into the open? No cover. You in a hurry to get yourself killed?”
“I’m wearing.” He slapped his vest.
“Never rely on that,” I said. “And never, ever aim your gun at a group of civilians, not on my watch.”
He gritted his teeth and his nostrils flared.
I was on a roll. “In SWAT we’re team players. No one breaks off, we stick together, and we will live together. We run as a fluid team, not stray dogs on their own mission.”
He glanced over his right shoulder, as if distancing himself from me by still watching out for Sands.
I stepped around, got closer—got in his face. “I mean it, Sean, this is your first damn day on the job and you’re making me nervous. I don’t want to go and tell the chief, your mother, your girlfriend, that you’ve taken a bullet.”
He turned back to me. “I don’t have a mother or a girlfriend.”
I paused.
“So don’t give me that shit, boss,” he went on, “because you haven’t got to worry about it and neither do I.” He paused. “I’m alone.”
“No! No you’re not. You’re here in Miami now. With us. We’re your people and I willnotsit back and watch you get yourself shot.”
“I have no intention of getting shot.” He scowled down at me.
I saw my reflection in his shades, but despite the shock at seeing the fury in my own face I continued, “The problem with your attitude is it’s more than goddamn likely it’ll be the officer standing next to you that gets killed. So it stops…now.”
He pressed his lips tight together and turned away.
We’d drawn a bit of a crowd. Uniformed cops were at the location now, their vehicles lighting up the road in front of us.
I spun my gaze to the other three officers. They stood in a row, thumbs hooked in their belts and wearing grim expressions.
“We should get out of here,” I said. “No point hanging around and these guys have it.” I gestured to the cops swarming the park.
“Yes, boss,” Ricardo said with a nod.
“Get your buddy,” I said to Balko. “And keep him away from me for a while.”
Balko nodded then stepped past me and clasped Sean’s shoulder. He didn’t say anything.
I wondered how close they were—wondered if maybe Sean at least considered Balko to be one of the people on this Earth who cared about him and meant he wasn’t completely alone.
We made our way back to base.
The chief was pacing in front of a large wall-mounted TV screen, as I’d known he would be.
Some smartass at the park had recorded Sean getting shot at and uploaded the video to social media. The local news team had picked up on it and were making a meal out of Sean swinging his firearm in the direction of civilians. To make matters worse, it really did look as if he was completely on his own and with no backup. I was out of sight, out of range, as I should have been.