He gives her no reply.
She reaches into her briefcase, pulls out a business card and hands it to him. “Just in case you’re passing out free samples.” She leers at Gina.
“Guaranteed to satisfy,” Gina meets her tit with a tat.
“A pleasure, as always.” Dr. Ryan nods at each of them before walking away.
Tony shrugs his shoulders throwing his hands out to his sides. “Now you’re my pimp?”
Gina grabs his arm pulling him down the steps toward their ride as the crowd around them continues to rally. “Oh, don’t act like you’re not flattered. I gave you high marks. Besides, isn’t it every man’s fantasy to have two women fighting over him?”
Tony thinks a moment. “Depends on the women.” He continues thoughtfully as they take the steps swiftly to the squad car. “A pillow fight, that’s sexy. Maybe a little hair pulling. A little scratching. But you two? That would be a knock-down, drag-out fisticuff.”
“I can only hope,” Gina scoffs as she makes her way to the driver’s side.
“Hey,” Tony calls, standing by the passenger side door looking over the hood at her. “What was that? Back there?” he references Gina’s momentary suspended state. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Blanked out for a bit. Bad dream, I guess.” She slips into the driver’s seat, firing up the Hemi, a pleasant sound to her ears as the RPMs settle into a formidable purr.
Tony shuts himself inside. “She gets under your skin…Dr. Ryan.”
“You could say that,” Gina confirms, heading for the police station at a rather urgent rate of speed.
“Do you believe me now?” Tony slaps his hand on the dashboard. “She’s in this up to her eyeballs, Gina. I can feel it.”
“Feel this,” she hands him the radio. “You better give Chief a heads-up. After the news hits, the station phones are going to be on fire.”
VANGUARD POLICE DEPARTMENT. Tony and Gina walk through the front entrance, making a beeline for Chief Burns’ office. The station is busy. Phones are ringing, people moving to and fro.
“I’m the Vigilare,” says a portly man in a black wrestling suit adorned with a matching black cape.
A perfectly physically fit woman wearing a tight black leather bodysuit from head-to-toe, her long jet black hair coiffed into a polished ponytail, her features stunning, stands across from the man challengingly. “I’m the Vigilare.”
“Ha! The Vigilare can’t be a woman,” the man scoffs.
She spins in a large circular motion, executing a flawless martial arts butterfly kick, essentially a slanted aerial cartwheel. Her feet replant firmly in the space where she first left the floor, standing across from the man. She reaches out to him, pulling the black face mask away from his eyes and cheekbones. The rubber band stretches. She lets go, causing the mask to snap back against his face. “Let’s see you do that, chubs.” She smirks, folding her arms over her chest.
Officers Marks and Torres approach.
“I’ll take Batgirl. You take Butterball,” Marks orders.
“Flip you for it,” Torres wagers.
“I called it first.” Marks smiles, continuing under his breath, as the woman becomes clearer to his vision, “Hello, Batgirl.”
“You suck, man,” Torres whispers out the side of his mouth.
“We got another Vigilare on line three,” a dispatcher yells out from her cubicle.
“What the hell is going on?” Gronkowski mumbles as he and Gina walk through all the commotion, approaching Chief Burns’ office.
“Everybody wants to be a hero,” Gina sighs.
She and Tony stand at Chief’s open door. He preps in front of a mirror, unsuccessful in his attempt at assembling his necktie. “Goddammit,” he sputters.
Gina and Tony elbow one another, holding back the urge to chuckle. Tony knocks on the door casing. Chief’s neck swivels to them, he motions them in urgently, while holding the call button down on his phone.
“Yes, Chief?” Bonnie’s sweet sultry voice answers.
“I could use some assistance,” he admits self-consciously.
“Be right there, Chief.”
“What the hell is going on down at City Hall?” he asks, continuing his attempt to make his tie cooperate. “The department Media Relations Manager called me, all in a panic. Said we need to beat this story to press. She said they’re about to riot down there.” He rips the tie from around his neck, slapping it down on his desk. “And what the hell is a Vigilare? Everybody and their mother wants to be the Vigilare.”
“And their brother,” Tony speaks absentmindedly. “Everybody and their brother.”
“You say brother, I say mother,” Chief sputters. “That’s not the point, Gronkowski. What the hell is happening to this city?”
“It’s Italian Chief. Derived from Latin. Means to look out for, to watch over,” Gina says. “You know, like a superhero.”
“Superhero?” Chief paces, running his thumbs around the inside of the waist of his pants, hitching them up. “When did we become the bad guys? You know how many calls we’ve had this morning from irate citizens, cussing out my officers, swearing up a storm, demanding we leave this
Vigilare
alone? The system is a joke, they say.” He flops down into his chair, his arms overhead, hands intertwined against the back of his neck. “If the system is a joke, we’re a joke boys and girls. DeLuca, why do you do this job?”
She looks at him quizzically, quickly providing an answer with the rise of his eyebrows. “Help people. Put away the bad guys. Maybe a little personal anger management, too,” she admits.
Chief nods his head. “Gronkowski, when you were growing up, who were your heroes?”
He answers with his head held high. “Soldiers, Firefighters, Police Officers.”
“Exactly!” Chief slaps his hand down on his desk. “Why did you become a police officer?”
“I wanted to be a hero,” Tony systematically deduces.
Chief leans forward across his desk, his hands uniting intensely over a stack of files. “Then how in the hell did we get here? Protecting rapists and pedophiles.” Deafening silence rings through the room as the three of them look to one another and at the floor beneath them.
The clicking of heels outside in the hallway interrupts the stillness. “What’s up, Chief?” Bonnie asks sashaying into his office, carrying a suit coat with her. She smells divine, her scent filling the lungs of Gina and Tony as she passes by them to Chief’s desk. She wears a chic sailor inspired navy blue and white silk jumpsuit with red accessories. The image uplifting and pleasing, suitable for mass production—a regular pinup girl.
Gina and Tony subconsciously perk up in their chairs against the wall. If they were canines, their ears would have certainly given away their curiosity. Chief is the only one oblivious to her charms.
“I hate to call you in here for something so trivial,” Chief says, embarrassed. “I can’t get this damn thing tied.” He holds his necktie in his hand.
Bonnie smiles, sitting on the edge of his desk, taking the tie from his hand. “Well now, that’s an easy fix.” She flips the collar of his shirt up and begins assembling the necktie. “You have to address this Vigilare thing, huh?” Chief nods disapprovingly. “I think it’s kind of exciting.”
“Not you, too.” He scowls.
“Oh come on, Chief. You have to admit, it gets the imagination stirring.” She tidies her strict execution of the knot, flipping his collar down into place. “All set. Now put this on.” She hands him his suit jacket.
“The only thing it stirs in me is my blood pressure.” He pats the beads of sweat from his forehead with his handkerchief.
“I just think it’s captivating. The possibility that superheroes really do exist.”
“Heroes exist. Not superheroes,” Chief says firmly.
She shrugs her shoulders, standing from his desk. “Makes for great people watching. Did you see that girl in the black leather outfit? She was doing flips and kicks, and everything.” Her voice on the rise with excitement, falls back to its low soothing tone. “Until they drug her off in handcuffs.” She smiles at Gina and Tony. They smile back simultaneously, both fully entertained with her presence. “Oh geez, what happened?” she exclaims, walking to Gina. Kneeling before her, Bonnie inspects her eye and her neck.
“Burglary arrest,” Gina answers quietly, pointing to her eye. “And Krav Maga training,” she continues, uncharacteristically smitten.
Bonnie’s eyes light up with admiration. “You know how to do that stuff? That’s so cool!” Her hand falls onto Gina’s knee. “Wouldn’t that be awesome if the Vigilare was a woman? Can you imagine?”
“That’s enough Vigilare talk,” Chief reprimands, while reading over his approved and prepared statement to the public. “I don’t want to hear anymore about that damn Vigilare.” He slaps the paperwork down on his desk. “This doesn’t even sound like me. Political mumbo jumbo.”
Bonnie winks at Gina. “Maybe you could show me some moves sometime.” Gina nods, quickly confirming her willing participation in such an event.
Tony’s eyes are luminous, locked in on the two women and their interplay, assessing their body language. They’re already
sparring
in his mind.
“Let me run and get my makeup bag. I’ve got something that will cover that right up.” She glances at Tony, a grin gracing her full pouty lips, eyeing the hickey on his neck. “I’ll get some for you, too!” She giggles, exiting the room.
“What was that?” Tony teases.
“What?” Gina defends.
“You know what. All that touchy-feely, ogling stuff. Did you two just have a moment?” He wishes.
“You’re about to have a moment, Gronkowski.” Gina eyes him. “Pull it together.” She looks down the hallway as a herd of footsteps and simmering voices call her attention. “Chief, you ready? The cavalry’s coming.” She and Tony rise.
He walks from behind his desk, pulling at the tails of his suit jacket. “The sooner this dog and horse show starts, the sooner it ends.”
Gina and Tony share a bewildered glance at yet another botched expression. Gina grabs Chief’s handkerchief from his suit for one last brow dab, clearing his forehead of any residual sweat beads. She neatly tucks the square back into his pocket.
“Thanks, DeLuca.”
“Go get ’em Chief.” She winks.
Tony pokes his head out the office door, unable to contain himself. “Hey Chief.”
Chief turns his attention back to Tony.
“Pony...dog and
pony
show,” he says sporting a super-sized smile.
“Chief Burns, Pamela Ward from KTEN News.” His attention pulled back to the crowd and microphones barraging him as he makes his way down the hall.
“The man is preparing to address the city, and you’re correcting him on his idioms,” Gina rags Tony as they walk from Chief’s office headed in the other direction.
Tony chuckles. “Ah, just helping him relax.”
“I thought I’d follow up with Aubrey Raines,” Gina gets back to business. “Find out what her motivation is.”
“She’s motivational alright. Did you see the way she got that crowd fired up this morning?”
“Gronkowski, you got a visitor,” Officer Marks calls to him in passing, moving at mach speed.
“What’s your hurry, Marks?” Tony smiles knowingly. “You got another Vigilare?”
“Ah…yeah. This one’s wearing a Wonder Woman costume.” He slaps his hands together, generating friction between his palms. “And to think, I almost called in this morning. Thank you, Jesus!” Muffled laughter is heard throughout the station.
“Make sure you take pictures,” Tony calls after him.
Gina grins inquisitively. “What are you so happy about?”
“I saw
Wonder Woman
.”
She wrinkles up her nose. “That bad?”
“Worse.” Tony cracks up laughing.
As they approach their work space, Randall Barnes sits at the desk in Gina’s chair, wringing his hands nervously.
“What the hell is he doing here?” Tony growls.
“Who?” Gina is confused.
“Officer,” Randall calls to Tony upon seeing him, standing from the chair.
“Detective,” Tony sharply corrects.
“I need to talk to you. To someone. Last night. In the elevator. They’re after me,” Randall rambles incoherently, his eyes shifty, fearful. “Who’s this?” he asks, referring to Gina, quickly extending his hand, a hint of interest in his expression.
Tony slaps his hand down. “Don’t worry about it.” His anger rising as he remembers his run-in with Randall in Dr. Ryan’s office a few days ago. The thought of him ever having contact with Gina causes his stomach to knot up instantly. He lunges in Randall’s direction, grabs him forcefully by the collar of his shirt and slams his back into the wall. “You touch her, you’re a dead man,” Tony seethes.
“Gronkowski,” Gina scolds.
Her voice causes Randall’s eyes to track in her direction. Tony slaps his face away from her. “Don’t even look at her, man.” His body fully amped, he stands nose to nose with Randall, his voice low and profane, “Keep your fucking eyes off her, if you wanna keep ’em in your head.”
Randall nods vigorously in full agreement.
“You want to talk to me, you sit down in that chair and turn your back to her.” Tony hastily assists Randall into the chair, who, of course, doesn’t turn around fast enough for Tony. “Turn around!” Randall scurries his feet, winging the chair in a semicircle, his back to Gina.
Gina looks to Tony and throws her hands in the air, as if to say,
What the hell was that?
Tony gently takes her by the arm leading her in the opposite direction. “Not so much as a peep, Randall,” Tony reiterates as he walks with Gina. “That’s the guy I caught in Dr. Ryan’s office. The other day. When she wouldn’t press charges.”
“Oh,” Gina connects the dots. “Why'd you go all crazy back there? I’m your partner, Gronkowski. You don’t have dibs on me. I’m not yours to protect.” She stops in the middle of the hallway, annoyed. “What does he want? I think I should be in on this conversation. If someone’s after him, maybe it’s our Vigilare. You don’t think that concerns me?” She crosses her arms over her chest, the toe of her shoe agitatedly tapping against the tile floor. “You spend one night with me, and now you’re my keeper? It was sex, Gronkowski. SEX. And it’s not happening again,” she clarifies.
He smiles, knowing his best move to diffuse this situation is humor. He speaks slowly and sultry, exaggerating every enunciation, “Mind-blowing, toe-curling, make you wanna slap yo’ mama SEX.” He nudges her affectionately, looking around for eavesdroppers, keeping his voice low, “How many times did we do it? I lost count after three. Didn’t know you had it in ya, DeLuca. You have to feed an appetite like that.”