Chapter Two: The Police Hero
Josh Hastings sat into the driver seat of his eight year old Ford Fiesta. He breathed a sigh of relief. His eight hour shift had just ended and he was looking forward to being at home with his wife and two children. Before he turned the key in the ignition, Luke Bradshaw a co-worker, whom he knew for almost four years, called out his name. Josh turned around and could see Luke hurrying toward him. Josh paused for a moment to allow Luke to open the passenger door.
“Sorry Josh, my own car is being serviced in Northwood. I was wondering if you would give me a lift? It’s more or less on your way.”
Luke didn’t ask for favours very often.
“Of course, it’s the least I can do. The radio’s out of action anyway and I could do with the company.”
“Thanks,” Luke replied as he sat into the car.
Josh reversed out of the space and drove out of the carpark onto Leavens Avenue.
“How are the wife and kids?” Luke asked.
“They’re fine. Amy is six and Sam will be starting school soon. Jean is as fit and trim as she was on our wedding day.”
There were no high rise buildings in this part of the city. It was a relatively underprivileged area, out of sync with the more affluent areas that surrounded it. Many buildings were abandoned and neglected, others were supporting businesses that struggled to get by. Unemployment was a problem in their district. Despite this the crime wasn’t as bad as one might expect. This was largely due to a number of mature individuals in the community who tried to reach out to the less fortunate. These individuals set up drug and alcohol rehabilitation programmes and helped to re-skill those who were out of work. In general, despite the problems in the locality there was by and large a good community spirit.
“I’ve never met your wife,” Luke replied.
“We should have a barbecue some evening”
Luke had medium length blonde hair, although some of his co-workers questioned whether he dyed it every night. His eyes were light blue and he was in good shape. He made no secret of the fact that he had recently competed in an ironman competition.
“There’s an idea. A barbecue,” Luke replied before pausing briefly. “What do you make of the Captain?”
“He can be difficult at times but overall he’s alright.”
“He lambasted myself and Johansson over our handling of the drugs bust.”
“Yeah, I heard the case collapsed.”
“Well it wasn’t our fault.”
“Didn’t they try to argue that yourself and Johansson planted the drugs.”
“Yeah. Can you believe it and the feckers got off.”
Luke was wearing a red shirt and blue jeans with brown belt. He was of similar age to Josh. Josh did not know Luke well enough to trust him completely. While they worked in the same police station for four years they had never been part of a team.
“I heard you won two bravery awards,” Luke continued.
“I guess I was lucky. They give out a lot of awards these days.”
“What were they for?”
“One was for saving some people from a fire. The other was for chasing down an armed bank robber. I guess those were times when I didn’t have any brains. If it happened again I’d probably think of my own safety first and my wife and kids.”
“Still most cops would be lucky to get one in a lifetime but you’re only 30 or 31.”
“32 actually.”
“Yeah, still.”
“Jacobs seems like a decent sort, doesn’t he?” Luke continued.
Josh wondered if Luke was fishing for a comment, preferably a bad one to pass on at an opportune moment.
“He’s alright really. I don’t have a bad word to say about him.”
The truth was that Josh could think of many faults that Jacobs had but none of them were worth mentioning at this time.
“How’s your family?” Josh asked in an attempt to turn the tables.
“Margaret is in good form and the toddler is about to turn three. He wants to be a policeman like his Father. By the time he gets to five he’ll want to be a professional football player or something.”
“Is this a good place to drop you off?” Josh asked as he pulled in to the side of the road. He knew it was only a short walk to Luke’s home.
“Yes thanks very much.”
No sooner had Josh dropped Luke off than the phone rang. Josh answered via Bluetooth. It was his wife, Jean. They exchanged pleasantries before his wife asked him to collect some milk, butter and salt from the nearest convenience store.
At 6:40pm Josh drove into the car park in front of a convenience store. Josh liked coming to this particular one. It was run by Freddie, a sixty-two year old man, who was very fond of Josh. The two of them often talked sports, politics and family whenever they had time to spare. The store bore Freddie’s name. It was relatively small, at 600 square feet but it packed into its small size pretty much everything you would need in a convenience store.
Josh collected all the items he required and joined the end of a queue of four people. In the background there was some music playing at a relatively low volume. Freddie was a Jazz lover. Even though Josh preferred rock music, he still liked coming here. Besides, he was no lover of the rap music being played in some of the other shops in the area.
Freddie, who was of African American descent and largely bald with a grey beard, was helping a customer pack her groceries. It appeared that part of the reason why his store did so well was because of his friendly demeanour and good nature. Other stores did not place so much emphasis on being warm and helpful.
Almost as soon as he joined the queue Josh saw an armed and masked man approach the shop owner. The assailant was of average height and build but seemed to have an aggressive streak about him. He pointed his sawn off shotgun at the store owner. “Empty the till old man,” he said before gesturing with his weapon for the customers to keep their distance.
The normally cool and calculated police officer did not know what to do. He was eight yards away from the armed man. It was too far to make a lunge for him. The fact that he knew Freddie made it harder to decide what to do. Josh wished that there was a simple solution to save the lives of the customers, the store owner and himself and catch the assailant.
Nervously the shop owner emptied the till into a brown plastic bag. “I don’t want any trouble,” he said fearfully. His hands were shaking as he did so.
“Empty it,” the armed man ordered him aggressively.
There were four other customers in the queue. A young pregnant woman of Mexican origin appeared to be the most nervous of them. She was there with her partner, a tall, slim African American in his mid twenties. The other two customers, Josh had seen before. Both were in their fifties and were dressed casually. They had no interest in playing the hero.
Eventually, the old man was finished clearing out the till. He handed the bag to the thug with the gun. “No cops old man,” he said before taking the bag and quickly belting the shop owner with the butt of his weapon.
Outraged, the African American customer, made two steps forward and was about to say something before he was shot in the hip. He collapsed to the ground as his partner screamed hysterically.
As the assailant ran out of the store, Josh instantly thought of his wife and kids. Don’t do anything stupid, he thought to himself. But then Freddie, who held a hand to his wounded head, looked at him in an angry tone. “Get that f****r,” he said in frustration.
Without giving the matter further thought, Josh ran out of the store in pursuit of the thug.
The man in the balaclava had escaped on foot. His pursuer’s fitness levels were not what they should have been. Part of the detective hoped that the armed man would jump into a car and escape so that Josh would not have to sprint very far. By the time the police detective left the premises, he was almost thirty yards behind the assailant. The thief ran through the car park as if his life depended on it. He had at least one more shot left in his shotgun and the decorated police detective was afraid the thug might use it on him. The store robber ran across a busy road, in front of several cars and into a small park. The park had several children playing in it. The ground was uneven, but largely covered in green grass with a sprinkling of shrubs here and there. The Father of two was still about thirty yards behind when the thief turned around and took aim. Almost as soon as the shot was fired Josh dived onto the ground. Thankfully the gunman missed his target. Josh was sure now that he had him. The Police Detective climbed to his feet and kept running. The thief threw away the gun but held onto the money bag. Eventually, out of breath, the thug stopped and confronted his pursuer. The Police officer was suffering from similar levels of fatigue. It was an even match between two men of similar height and build and both of whom were now unarmed.
“I’ll kill you,” the criminal shouted aggressively.
The store robber lunged first, with a punch but Josh managed to avoid being hit. The Police detective grabbed the assailant’s arm and wrestled him to the ground. The criminal was incredibly angry and aggressive in appearance with gritted teeth and hateful eyes, but the police officer was just strong enough to win the battle. Josh was able to pin the thief down on his stomach. The Father of two removed a pair of handcuffs from his jacket and cuffed him.
What followed was a barrage of abusive language. “I’ll remember you, f….r. You think you’re safe. I’ll find you and I’ll make sure you pay for this you fat F…” Josh removed the balaclava. The criminal had red hair and was unshaven. He had hatred in his blue eyes and repeatedly attempted to spit at his captor.
The prisoner did not stop talking the entire time that Josh escorted him towards the nearest squad car. The experienced police officer could never understand what could make someone so hateful and insolent.
The police detective then returned the money to the store and gave a statement to the investigating police officer. Sargent Bragg was known to Josh, although they were not on first name terms. The customer who was shot was fighting for his life in hospital, Josh was informed. It was something that Josh hated to see. He always hoped that there would be no casualties or no suffering but for one reason or another it never worked out that way.
To Josh’s horror some local journalists had arrived on the scene. The last thing Josh wanted to happen was for his wife to see or read about what had just happened. The Police Detective had a fear of doing any interviews. He didn’t want him or his family becoming a target for any psychotic criminals. Once his name and face were in the public domain he was afraid that he would become the focus of unwanted attention.
The store owner was incredibly grateful to Josh for capturing the gunman and returning the money. Freddie offered to not charge him for the groceries he needed. The store owner was in no mood to talk about Football. He was visibly shaken. It was the first time in three years that he had been robbed but it was also the first time that there had been an injury. He was clearly having doubts about whether he should continue to operate the small supermarket.
Forty minutes later, Josh thankfully, was able to turn the key in the front door of his house. At least, that was before the barrage of questions from Jean.
“Where were you?” She asked.
“There was a robbery at the store.”
“Was he armed?”
“No.”
“Did you chase him?”
“No.”
“Good, so, you’re alright then?”
“Yes,” Josh said as he breathed a sigh of relief, in the hope that the interrogation was over.
“That’s strange, because it came up on the news that there was a shooting at the store. I was worried sick, but you said there was no weapon, nobody got shot, and you didn’t chase him.”
“I’m starved. Is dinner ready?”
“Dinner will have to wait. I want to know what happened.”
“The robbery was at a different store.”
“But your shopping bag has Freddies written on it and the bulletin on the news mentioned, Freddies. It also would explain why it took you over an hour to make a journey that should have only taken twenty minutes. Am I missing something?”
“This probably explains why I’m a Police Detective and you’re a teacher. Can we just dispense with the twenty questions? I’m home. I’m safe. There is nothing to worry about.”
At this stage Josh’s two young children were pulling out of his trousers and calling him “Daddy”. He looked down at them with affection, hoping that they could interrupt the interrogation.
“I’m not through with you just yet,” Jean replied. “Just you wait until I put these kids to bed tonight.”
Josh breathed a deep breath. Round one was over and he was still standing.