Detective Joshua Enrique Martinez put his booted feet up on his desk as he checked his electronic mail account. Josh, as he was more commonly known, was a handsome mixture of Mexican and African-American. His skin was a smooth, deep rich mahogany color. Even though he was only twenty-eight, Josh had unwillingly inherited the gene for baldness from his father. Consequently, he started shaving his head but it proved to work very well with the ladies. Josh kept his head clean- but he did keep a goatee the same color as his eyes. He stood about six feet, four inches tall and he kept a muscular physique of two hundred and ten pounds exactly. Being a cop meant he had to stay in shape to chase criminals so Josh worked out a minimum of three days a week, bench pressing well over three hundred pounds and lifting other heavy weights.
Like his father, Eduardo Jesus Martinez, Josh had dreamed of nothing but being a police officer since he was about six years old. He loved the excitement and the adventure of not knowing what awaited him each day at the station. Josh didn’t mind the hard work and the vigor that it took him to complete the training at the Academy. Never earning less than a B in school, his parents weren’t a bit surprised when Josh graduated at the top of his class from the police academy. Josh now worked for the Chicago Police Department as an undercover officer and homicide detective. Although his mother worried when he went into the bowels of the city to chase some criminal, somehow, by the Grace of God, her baby always came home safely. When Joshua had finished at the Academy, Christina Martinez gave her son a gold rosary and told him to keep it beside his heart always. Call his mother superstitious, but Josh never suffered anything more serious than cuts and scrapes and one flesh wound in his shoulder.
The only drawback to police work was the fact that Josh didn’t have a steady girlfriend. Oh, he dated every now and then, when a girl was willing to be with a man who didn’t always have a lot of time or often had to leave her arms in the middle of the night. Josh scratched his bald head as he looked at his messages and couldn’t remember when the last time was that he actually had a date.
“Damn, this is so pitiful,” he said to himself. “A good looking guy like me can’t even keep a lady around.” Josh read the last of his email and was about to sign out when his pager went off, sending a vibrating sensation to his belt. It was his superior, Lieutenant James Walker, a no-nonsense kind of man with five grown children and two grandchildren. He went to his kitchen phone and dialed the station.
“Walker here.”
“Lieutenant, it’s Detective Martinez. What’s up?”
“Joshua, I have a case I need you to get on right away. Are you familiar with Cherren James White?” Josh thought for a minute before he answered.
“Yes, he’s the mid-western bank robber that nobody’s been able to catch. What’s going on? Who did he rob this time?”
“LaSalle Bank down on Wacker Drive. That’s almost the least of our problems. He’s taken a female teller hostage and we’ve received word from her family members that she’s a severe insulin-dependent diabetic. If we don’t find her soon, we’ll have a body recovery on our hands.”
“I’m on my way down.” Josh hung up, shut down his computer and went to get his badge and gun. Before putting on his jacket, he removed his shirt and put on a bulletproof vest with blood bags. It made for a great deterrent for criminals. Then he put his shirt back on and threw his leather jacket on his back. He locked up his apartment and went down to the garage where his ’99 Honda SUV sat waiting for him. He got inside, started the purring engine and drove to the station.
Lieutenant Walker was waiting for Josh when he arrived. He waved the younger officer into his office.
“So what’s the verdict on our situation so far?” Joshua asked, closing the door to the Lieutenant’s office. Walker passed an envelope across the desk. Josh picked it up. Inside was a photograph of Caitlin Ryan. Josh had to bite his tongue to keep his mouth from falling open. She was gorgeous! In the picture, she was sitting with her hands folded across her lap, showing dainty hands and beautifully red polished nails. Her sandy brown hair hung loosely around her chest and her smile was white and perfectly straight. Chocolate brown eyes full of life and sparkling with beauty stared back at him. She’s a beauty! A real African queen! I wonder if she’s got someone. Probably, as pretty as she is.
“This is the girl?”
“Yes, that picture came from her mother a few hours ago. We don’t have much time, Joshua. Her mother said that without food or her insulin, she could be dead in a matter of hours as her brain is starved of glucose. So you see we can’t waste any time in finding this young woman.”
“Any ideas of where White has taken her?” Walker looked through Cherren’s file, which was extremely thick.
“He’s been known to stake out abandoned warehouses and buildings.”
“Well shit! The city is full of abandoned buildings! That could take hours!”
“Wait, let me finish. We’ve narrowed the area down to some of the biggest groups of abandoned warehouses and buildings, only two. We’ve got the stockyards on Pershing Road and some further south. I’m sending you to the Pershing Road stockyards. Captain Michaelson and his team will cover the south area.”
“All right, Lieutenant. I’ve already got a vest on underneath here.” Josh patted his chest, indicating the hardness of the body armor.
“Report to Captain Jenkins down at 39th and Pershing Road. He’s expecting you. Good luck, Detective.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant.” Josh jumped in his car and headed for the Dan Ryan Expressway to go north towards 39th Street. He could only hope and pray that they would find Caitlin Ryan in time to save her life. He clutched the rosary that was in the pocket of his jacket, over his heart. Please God let us find this girl alive. Let me rescue my African princess.
“Damn it, don’t you die on me!” Cherren worked quickly to release the bonds on Caitlin’s thin body. He removed his blazer and covered her shivering torso, pulling her into his arms.
“I’m so cold….” She said, her teeth chattering.
“It’s okay baby, I’ll keep you nice and warm.” Cherren stared down at the young woman, feeling excitement radiate up from his loins, but knowing that rape was the last thing on his mind. He brushed a few loose hairs out of her face.
“Jesus, you’re beautiful.” Without realizing what he was doing, Cherren bent down and ever so gently, planted a soft kiss on Caitlin’s mouth. He felt her body tense with fear and then she relaxed as he kissed her again.
“What….what are you doing?”
“Trying to keep you warm. I promise I won’t hurt you, Miss Ryan.”
“Caitlin…” her teeth continued to chatter.
“Your sugar is very low, isn’t it?”
“Yes….I can’t get warm….” She sneezed.
“Shit! I’m going to have to get you something to eat. I know it might drive your sugar up, but you’re not doing so hot with it dropping out from under you either.”
“I’ll get worse….need my medicine…”
“I’ll get you something to drink. At least it will get you out this awful state. Will you be all right by yourself?”
“I think so.” Cherren lay her down on the mattress and covered her with his blazer firmly, wrapping it around her shoulders. Caitlin drew her knees into her chest to conserve more body heat.
“I’ll be right back baby, don’t worry.” Cherren let himself out of the tiny room and went to find his men. He started up the metal stair case and almost collided with Dave.
“So, have you jumped on her yet, Boss? Is she ready for the rest of us?”
“Plans have changed, David, I need to get her some soda or something.”
“For what?”
“She’s sick! She’s a damn diabetic, you know that!”
“Since when do you care about our captives?” Cherren grabbed David by the collar and pulled him so close their noses touched.
“Did you just question me? Did you just question Cherren James White?” Dave’s face turned purple with fear, knowing he’d made a horrible mistake. He’d broken their most important rule, never, never, question their leader.
“No Boss….I just….” Cherren didn’t give him a chance to answer. He threw Dave against a rusty gear, tearing the back of his blazer and almost breaking his collarbone. Dave fell into the dust, holding his shoulder.
“I’m sorry Boss…”
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear any excuses. You get your punk ass up off that floor and go and find me a soda with sugar! If it takes you more than three minutes, I’ll hang your punk ass from one of these meat hooks! Do you understand?”
“Yes, Cherren.” Dave struggled to get his balance.
“Go! The clock is running!” Cherren stood at the bottom of the steps, watching his watch’s second hand tick. Dave was back in less than sixty seconds. He handed Cherren a can of Pepsi.
“Good! Now, I want you to see something! Get in there!” With an angry shove, Cherren pushed Dave through the door. Dave looked and saw Caitlin on the floor, wrapped in Cherren’s blazer, her face pale and skin flushed. She shivered and sneezed twice.
“What’s the matter with her?” Dave asked, obviously puzzled.
“She’s sick, fool! What do you think?” Cherren pushed past Dave and knelt beside Caitlin.
“Here baby, try and drink this down.” Cherren opened the can and held it to her mouth as she sipped. As she drank, her color began to return and she stopped trembling. Slowly, she started to get stronger, until she was able to hold the can without his help.
“Feel better now?” She nodded. Dave couldn’t believe his eyes or his ears. Cherren was taking care of a captive? Why didn’t he use the opportunity of her illness to jump on the girl? Was Cherren losing his touch? Rather than risk questioning him again, he turned and left the room. Cherren slammed the door shut behind him and bolted it firmly. Caitlin slowly pulled herself into a kneeling position, holding the can in her small hands.
“Why are you helping me? Why didn’t you just kill me when you had the chance?”
“That’s what you’d expect, isn’t it?” Cherren knelt down beside her, taking the empty can and setting it aside.
“Well…I thought you were going to rape me.” Cherren smiled, cupped her chin in his hand and kissed her once more.
“Caitlin….I can’t. I don’t know why exactly, but I can’t bring myself to harm you. You’re so beautiful and so gentle. You remind me so much of my mother.”
“Where is she now?”
“She died of diabetes, when I was much younger.”
“So that’s why you haven’t….hurt me?” Cherren nodded slowly. Caitlin looked into his ebony eyes and saw not a monster, but a man aching for love and compassion. She kissed his cheek and put her arms around him.