Chapter 16 (2 of 2)

He placed an index finger and thumb upon his left temple. The constant pulsating ache beating against his skull began to take it’s toll, however he managed to concentrate himself back into a role of professionalism and placidity. Though they do say trouble comes in threes so there’s still room left for a little more, he thought.

“Mrs. Collimore.” he said in an upbeat temperament. “I do hope you’re feeling better. I was meaning to call you and…”

“Where is my son, Detective.” she interjected in a grim tone.

Somewhat taken aback by her unexpected question, he replied. “We’re doing everything we can to locate him, Mrs. Collimore. It’s only a matter of time until…”

“I asked you where my son is?” she said, interrupting him for a second time. With an emphasized malice in her voice to make sure her true feelings were unequivocally understood.

“I’m sorry. We just can’t say with any certainty right now. But again, we’re doing all we can.” he answered; already bracing himself for what he knew was coming next.

“Right. Well, I’m pleased to tell you that I’ve been discharged from the hospital today and have returned home. They say given a few weeks and I’ll be right as rain. The arm may need a little longer though. You know, for the bone to set correctly and all.” The coldness under her breath made him hesitate to console her any further.

“So given that I’ve waited all this time for you to come up with any useful leads or actually find my son, have you anything to show thus far?”

He sighed into the mouthpiece to express his frustration with the situation as a whole, in a feeble attempt to somehow empathize with her. “Sadly, the ones we’ve been chasing up on have lead us back to square one. I completely understand that’s not what you wanted to hear, but I’d rather say that than lie to you.” His voice had diminished into no more than a whisper. All he wanted was for this conversation to wrap up as fast as possible and rid his brain of the barrage of toxins that were invading it. Just a few hours of respite until the events of tomorrow played out, he begged in his mind.

“So what about the gas station?” she asked. “I heard that you had my son’s kidnappers surrounded there. So why did you allow them to escape right in front of your very eyes? I mean, whose side are you really on here?”

”I completely understand how upset you must be feeling, Mrs. Collimore and you have every right to be.” he replied, filled with regret of having given out his private number to her. “But we are dealing with an unprecedented situation and faced events that we were ill-prepared for. Please trust me though, when I say that we are doing the best we can to find little Nathan.” He glanced up into the living room window as the lights turned out. Gwen must have been well aware of him sitting out in the driveway but probably decided to call it a night, he assumed.

“Well, I called your police department this afternoon and was put it touch with your superior, Mr. Wallace. He informed me that the military are now involved, but you will still remain as my first direct line of contact. So you didn’t think to give me this vital piece of information, Detective?” She remained calm and concise in her responses, indicating to Drucker she was a woman who knew how to stand her ground and didn’t let emotions get in the way.

“Mrs. Collimore, I felt that it was irrelevant as to the information you need to know. The bottom line is we are handling this and doing all we can.” he repeated again.

“Well, I just thought I’d let you know that I’m disgusted at the way this case is being handled.” The venom hit home as she sunk her long fangs straight into him. Drucker could only listen and keep silent as the entire failure of the investigation so far was placed squarely on his shoulders. “If anything should happen to my boy in any way, shape or form, I want you to know that I’m holding you personally responsible. You can come up with all the excuses in the book, but the bottom line is that you’re in charge and my boy is missing. Do I make myself clear, Detective?”

“Crystal.” he said.

The receiver slammed down on the other end as his verbal bashing was cut short. Drucker raised his eyebrows in sullen reconciliation to how this evening was playing out. He leaned forward and looked up to check his bedroom window. Sure enough, the curtains were shut all the way but a dull glow filtered through the thin fabric. Still early enough to catch a couple of hours of “away” time, he thought with a heavy head. Drucker continued to grope for the ignition once more to catch the last embers of enjoyment from his local as time pressed on.

His mobile burst back into life, issuing another jolt to his already unnervy disposition. “In God's name, what the hell is happening tonight?” he muttered, expecting a third and final strike to cast it's savage hand. This was turning out to be one memorable night, but for all the wrong reasons.

He checked his phone again which lay on the passenger side seat. A sliver of a grin appeared from the corner of his mouth. It was Doug. He answered the phone in an ecstatic but muted enthusiasm.

“Hey, Doug. Man, I’m so glad to hear your voice?”

”Hey Druck, sorry to call you like this.” he replied back in his usual jovial manner. ”But my sister has been trying to ring me every three or four minutes for the last quarter of an hour. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out why she’s calling me at this time of the evening. You guys have had another bust up. Am I right?”

“Yeah, Doug.” responded Drucker in a resigned tone. “I tell you, I’ve had a horror of a night so far. First of all, as you already guessed, Gwen and I had an argument. A big one, at that. I just don’t know what’s happening to us. She’s become almost a shadow of the woman I met all those years ago. It’s killing me to see her deteriorate like that, Doug.”* Forgetting himself for a minute, it dawned on him that he was in fact confiding in the brother of his aforementioned unsettled wife. An awkward pause ensued, which was to be cut short by Doug.

“Look, I know you guys are going through a rough patch, but it’ll work itself out. She loves you but just feels you’re not there enough for her. She's going through a phase, that's all. A long one, I grant you that, but it'll pass. Now, I know first-hand how tough our job can be at the best of times. So whenever she rings me, I explain to her that’s just the life of a cop. It comes with the territory, so to speak. It’s nothing personal.”*

Drucker couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of jealousy in the knowledge that she had to go crying to Doug about her marital problems, but hid his feelings well. “Well, I guess I have no choice but to put all family related issues on hold for now. I’ve got no choice, right? I mean, look at the case we’re on. Or unofficially on, more like. I gotta put my priorities first and as much as I love her, I can’t deal with having the blood of that child on my hands. Especially after the incident at the gas station. I’m taking the full brunt of the blame for that. Look at what we have to put up with at the station. And now with this new character, General Pactor. It's like one massive chain reaction. I feel I gotta prove myself more than ever now. You understand what I mean, right?”

He knew only too well Doug could have gone either way on this. “Sure, I hear you.” he chirped back over the earpiece. “Following this afternoon’s events with Rob and all, I guess you got no choice in matter now. Don’t worry, let’s just stay focused on tomorrow and I'll help you deal with everything else later.”*

”Thanks for understanding, partner.” said Drucker. ”Though the dumbass you can be at times, you’re a great colleague and brother-in-law. A real friend.” He could feel the smile on the other end of the line.

”Glad to know and the feelings mutual. I’ll always have your back, you know that. Look, I didn’t even speak to my sister before I spoke to you first. How’s that for loyalty. She’ll kill me if she found that out. I kept trying to ring you but all I got was an engaged tone. I was doing to you what she was doing to me.” he chuckled in his cheery, familiar manner. Sounds Drucker absolutely needed to hear at this time.

”The reason you couldn’t get through to me was because I was on the phone with Mrs. Collimore. She rang me soon after I left the house to go downtown for a drink.”

“Really?” Doug answered, somewhat shocked. “What did she want? As in, what did she want to say to you?”

“She just laid all her cards out in front of me. If I don’t solve this case, she’ll throw a suit at the precinct and me.”

“What!” he exclaimed. “Doesn’t she understand we’re just doing our job? Out there busting our asses, trying to get her boy back and not a shred of gratitude to show for it. What a bitch.” he mumbled under his breath.

“Don’t say that.” Drucker intervened. “Can you imagine the hell she must be going through?. You gotta see that everyone deals with problems in their own unique way and Mrs. Collimore is no different. Let’s just concentrate on the main objective which is getting the boy back. So, you all set for tomorrow?”

“What choice do I have? I gotta be!” Doug explained. ” Though I’m still panicking about going behind Wallace's back like this. We got a bit of credibility to gain but a hell of a lot more to lose if this all goes wrong. But hey, I see exactly what you see and already told you I’m on board.”

”And don’t think I’ll ever forget it." said Drucker. "Remember, you can pull out of this any time you want and I’ll never think any differently of you. We’ll always be family, regardless.”

”It’s my life and my decisions. I know full well what I'm doing and we're too far into with this case to give up now. Let’s just get it out of the way and move on with our careers. Agreed?”

The integrity and reliable brotherly love Doug had for him was a treasured gift. He never took that for granted, not for one moment. He was Drucker’s support structure in life, whether Doug knew it himself or not. A match made in heaven and at present , the best thing to come out of his marriage to Gwen. A bitter pill for him to swallow, but also the plain truth of the matter.

”Agreed, Doug.” he replied, in a complete reversal of mood. ”Thank you for everything. Now, let’s get ready to take down those damn machines once and for all.”

---

Hope you enjoyed this chapter of my novel, please look out for more on the way... (author: @ezzy)

The Symbiotic Protocol - Prologue
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 1
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 2
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 3
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 4
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 5
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 6
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 7
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 8
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 9
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 10
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 11
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 12
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 13
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 14 (1 of 2)
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 14 (2 of 2)
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 15 (1 of 2)
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 15 (2 of 2)
The Symbiotic Protocol - Chapter 16 (1 of 2)