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Being on the other end of a gun shouldn’t be anything new to Isabel, I mean she was a retired cop and all but it does startle a person to be in the middle of a hostage situation while trying to grocery shop. There she was, one second grazing the produce aisle, and the next the whole store had been put on lockdown due to two masked gunmen demanding the cashier to empty their drawers. Amongst all of the chaos, she heard a hushed voice that she thought she recognized to be her ex-husband Tim Bradford’s rookie.
“Don’t worry, I’m a cop. It will be okay.” These are the words Isabel overhears Lucy, she thinks her name is, telling a young boy grasping onto her. “We’re going to find your mom. Do you think you can let go of me for a moment? I’ve got to call this in.” But just as those words leave her mouth, the two men are standing over Lucy yanking her up. “An off-duty cop, huh? Here’s our ticket out of here,” says one of the masked men. “You’re going to get us out of here.”
“What makes you think I’ll help low-lifes like you two?” Lucy says with a smirk which earns her a smack with the back of the gun. “Assaulting a police officer? There’s another charge you’re adding to your rap sheet. You’re just making this worse for yourselves.”
“Get your ass up. Last I checked, I’m the one with the gun. Now shut your mouth and get up. You can do this the easy way or I’ll make you.” Says one of the gunmen. “I’d like to see you try.” Which earns Lucy a strong punch knocking her to the ground.
“What are you doing?” Isabel thinks but just as she’s beginning to worry about the officer’s safety, she recognizes a look coming from Lucy’s eyes towards the cashier. She’s distracting the assailants so that she can trip the silent alarm alerting the LAPD of their current situation.
“When my husband gets here, he is going to be so pissed.”
“Your husband can’t save you now, sweetheart.”
“Oh, yeah? You wanna bet?” That earns Lucy a kick to the stomach. But it’s enough time for the alarm to be tripped, now it’s just a matter of waiting on the calvary to arrive.
“Come on, we’re getting out of here.” But just as the two men are forcing Lucy to her feet and towards the door, the familiar sound of police sirens begins ringing in the air and it doesn’t take long for the lights to follow illuminating the entire frontside of the store.
“This is the LAPD. We’ve got the building surrounded. Surrender now. Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.” And that voice is enough to send chills down Isabel’s spine. It’s none other than her ex-husband.
“Shit. Shit. Shit. Man, what are we going to do? They’ve got this whole area covered.” But just as those words permeate the air, the phone starts ringing. Isabel knows it’s the hostage negotiators.
“You answer it.” Says one of the men. “Nah, man. This was your idea. Take it away.” Says the other.
“Fine.” Grumbles the first man. “Hello.” Says the man as he answers the phone, putting it on speaker.
“This is Tim Bradford with the METRO division. I need you to put down your weapons and release all the hostages or I’m sending my team in and we’ll force you out.”
“Yeah, man. See, the thing is I would, if I believed you’d come in here all guns blazing but not only are there kids in here, there’s one of your own in here. We’ve got a cop of yours. Tell him your name, sweetheart.” He says with the gun aimed at Lucy.”
“Officer Lucy.” And Isabel swears that she can hear Tim intake a sharp breath but she brushes it off because of course, he’s worried. It’s quite literally one of LAPD’s own. He trained her.
‘What exactly do you want?” Says Tim on the other end of the line.
“We want to walk out of here alive with the money we stole and you’re going to let us. You want to know how I know that?”
“Sure, go ahead.” Tim says and Isabel can literally hear him rolling his eyes as he does.
“Because we’re taking the hot cop as our bodyguard and one of the kids as leverage. Her in the front protecting us, the boy behind us. There’s nowhere for you or your team to safely shoot without risking injury to your coworker or a child and you wouldn’t want that would you?”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Tim says through gritted teeth. “How about this? I’ll come in and trade places with the cop. I’m a sergeant, I’m worth more. No one will risk hurting me, especially not my team.”
“Tim, no. I can handle this” Lucy cries out. That earns her yet another slap which causes her to let out a startled whimper leading Tim to yell on the other side of the line, “Hey, man! This only works out in your favor if Lucy is alive and out of harms way.”
“Okay, deal. You can come in but no weapons or the lady cop dies.” The line disconnects.
It’s less than 2 minutes later that the door opens and Tim’s frantic eyes begin searching the room for Lucy. He grimaces as his eyes rake over her injuries and he sees the purplish bruise beginning to form along her cheek.
“When and I mean when this is over. I’ll make your life hell for hurting her.”
“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the fierce protector. You cops sure do stick together.”
“You’re right, we do but this is about more than her just being a cop. Did you happen to catch her last name?”
“Well, yeah, man. She said it on the phone with you earlier. It’s Lucy.”
“That’s her first name you, dipshit. Her last name is Bradford. Lucy Bradford. That’s my wife.” This is almost as shocking to Isabel as the situation she’s in currently. Tim Bradford, Mr. Rule-follower, married his subordinate? Someone directly in his chain of command. Wow, he really has changed and like a slap in the face, Isabel realizes that she doesn’t know him anymore. Her Tim was long gone. He’s different now, but in a good way and she knows it’s all because of Lucy. She knew from their first meeting that Lucy was kind and compassionate. It no surprise it would rub off on Tim after spending god knows how long together. Isabel notices as Tim’s body language grows more and more enraged the longer he searches Lucy for injuries. So do the criminals apparently because one of them chimes in and says, “so, this is what you meant by your husband would be pissed?” Said the man smirking. “Too bad he can’t save you like you thought.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Lucy replied. “You see while you were busy sizing my husband up, METRO and SWAT have managed to move into position and should be making their way in any second now. In 3, 2, 1. As if Lucy was there, right on cue, the door’s bust open and SWAT is yelling for the gunmen to get down, which they do, and just as quick as the situation started, it’s over.
“Hey baby. How you feeling? Did they hurt you?” Tim inquires.
“Nothing I can’t handle, I knew you’d come and save me.” “Always. I love you, Luce. I made a vow to protect you everyday for the rest of our lives. That’s a vow I intend on keeping. Now, if you could, please, make sure the rest of our lives don’t end soon, I’d really appreciate it. I need you to stay safe.” Tim kisses Lucy as hard as he can without hurting her until they’re forced apart by a familiar voice over the radio.
“Sergeant Bradford, Officer Bradford. Are you both alright?” Says Grey. “Yes, sir. But if you don’t mind, after Lucy’s statement, we’d both like to go home.” Tim responds. “Of course, take all the time you need. Officer Bradford will need to be medically cleared before she can return to work anyways. I’m sure we won’t be seeing you at the station until then Sergeant.” “Correct, sir. If she’s off duty, so am I. I have to take care of her.”
Once their conversation had died down a little, Isabel decides to go and speak to the Bradford’s.
“Lucy, Tim.” Isabel says with a small wave. “Hi. I hope this isn’t too weird for you. But Lucy, I just had to say what a bad ass you were. You took those beatings like a champ so that the rest of us could get out of here. That’s the second time you’ve saved my life.”
“The second time?” Lucy inquired. “Yes, the first was when you told me about Tim being shot. That’s when I realized how deep into my addiction was. I didn’t even know my husband had been injured, much less, that he almost died. That’s when I knew I had to get clean.”
‘Oh, well, thank you.” Lucy blushed. “I had a good teacher.” She said looking up at Tim.
Tim couldn’t help but beam at his wife when she said that. “Well if you’ll excuse us, we really must be going. Lucy has to give her statement and then go to the hospital so they can assess her injuries. No arguments.” He said without even looking at Lucy who had opened her mouth to object. “It was good to see you again, Isabel. You look good.”
“Thank you, Tim. So do you. Happiness looks good on you, the both of you. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye.” Said both of the Bradford’s and Isabel was surprised by how a situation so stressful could lead her to so much peace.