Sons of the City Read Online Free PDF Page B

report of woman screaming inside a house, 5823 Tyler. It was Nick and Steve’s sector, Radio gave them the assignment. Steve clicked on his radio and acknowledged the call. “Twenty-fifteen, OK,” he said, but he made no move toward his car.
    Michelle looked at her brother, puzzled. “Aren’t you going to go?”
    “No rush, it’s just a crackhouse. We get that call every night. There’s nobody screaming, neighbors just want us to show up and scare the druggies away. This is much more important.”
    “Is this what you guys do every night?” Michelle asked.
    “Oh, no,” said Buster. “We can’t come up with ideas this good every night.”
    “But Steve is always the ringleader, right?”
    “Yep,” said Buster. “Steve’s the expert on the fun, and me and Nick are the experts on the women.”
    Donna snorted and turned to Michelle. “The only thing Buster knows about women is from those pipehead hookers on Sixtieth Street.”
    “Don’t knock it,” said Buster.
    “Hey, Buster,” Donna said, “didn’t I hear you trying to bum five bucks from someone, ‘bout an hour ago?” She looked at us. “The hookers charge five bucks, Buster’s asking around for five bucks. Think it’s a coincidence?”
    Michelle smiled at me. “Are they like this all the time?”
    “All the time,” I said, and then thought, why not ask her out now? I’ll just take her aside and ask her.
    Steve reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a couple of nameplates. “Here,” he said to Michelle and Donna, “put these on.”
    Donna laughed when she saw the name and grabbed one immediately, but Michelle hesitated. “This is the captain’s name?” she asked.
    “Yeah,” said Steve. “Isn’t it great?” He saw her expression, then added, “Or are you going to be a sergeant now?”
    Two sets of blue eyes locked onto each other for a moment, and then Michelle walked over to the Plymouth. We all thought she was going to pull open the door and wake up Little Napoleon. But she just looked at all the stickers, then turned to face her brother.
    “You missed a spot,” she said.
    Steve gave a relieved smile and took a look at where she was pointing. “Damn,” he said. “Buster, get me a sticker.”
    “Next time, Steve,” said Michelle, “call me first. That is, if you want it done right.”
    “Hey, I did OK before you came out here.”
    “Really? How do you run down the street with your shoelaces untied?”
    We all looked at Steve’s shoes—the laces of both were actually untied. Steve quickly bent down to tie them, and looked up at Michelle.
    “I was always surprised you became a cop,” he said, still bent down. “Police cars don’t come equipped with lighted makeup mirrors.”
    “At least I answer my calls when they come over the radio,” said Michelle.
    I half wondered whether Little Napoleon was already awake, and was just sitting there listening to this shit.
    Nick asked Steve something, and Buster had turned to Donna, so for the first time Michelle and I were able to talk.
    “I had a good time the other night,” I said. Michelle smiled. “So did I.”
    We took a few steps away from the others, it was like Michelle was thinking the same thing I was. We both just wanted to be together.
    When we turned, though, Steve, Nick, Donna, and Buster were suddenly standing right next to us, with innocent looks on their faces.
    “Ignore them,” I said, and we turned our backs and walked some more. When we stopped again, they were still with us, as if we hadn’t even moved.
    “Where we goin', Sarge?” asked Buster. “Pittsburgh?”
    Another call came over the radio, someone was complaining about a neighbor’s loud music. Donna was assigned to handle it, which meant that Michelle would be going, too.
    “You want to grab a beer after work?” I asked her.
    “Sure,” she said.
    “That sounds great,” said Steve. “We’ll all go.”
    Michelle looked at her brother and shook her head. As she got into the car