Chapter
12: On the Telephone Line
Sara’s cell phone began to
ring as she entered the apartment. She pulled it out of her pocket and answered,
“What?”
“Whoa, Pez, sorry I called.
Is this a bad time?” came a familiar voice over the line.
‘Oh, shit!’ Sara thought
when she realized it was her good friend Gabriel Bowman, one of the few people
who knew she had the Witchblade and her confidant. He also helped her gain
useful information about the weapon. Why she hadn’t called him to tell him she
was in LA baffled her. It was probably the fact that everything happened so
fast, she reasoned.
“Gabriel, hi,” Sara
replied as cheerfully as she could this early in the morning. She threw her keys
on the table in front of the door and sat down on the closest couch in the
living room.
“You sound tired. It’s
almost ten, did I wake you?” he questioned politely.
‘Not around here,’ she
thought, but said, “No, actually. I’ve been awake all night. I really need
to tell you something, so just shut up and listen.”
“Okay, Chief, I’m all
ears,” Gabriel answered.
“Dante transferred me to LA
to work on the Gallo case three days ago,” Sara said. “I know I should have
called you, but it all happened so fast that I didn’t really tell anyone where
I was going. I’m so sorry, Gabe.”
“You’re in LA?” Gabriel
squeaked.
“Yeah, and so far, the
experience has been less than perfect,” she replied, then explained the
night’s events, including how she thought Van was being a total self centered
ass hole that she didn’t want to deal with him at the moment. She conveniently
left out the whole reason why she had Dante transfer her to LA, knowing that one
of these days she’d tell him, just not now.
“That really sucks, Pez. So
sorry to hear you partner is such a dick. At least Dante isn’t your boss
anymore,” Gabriel reasoned.
“So, why’d you call,
Gabe?” Sara finally asked, knowing there was a reason behind this
conversation.
“Actually, I called because
I was getting worried about you. Your home phone was disconnected, and I
didn’t reach you on your cell until today. At least now I know why,” he
replied.
“How sweet, but really,
Gabe, why did you call?” she rephrased. “New information about the
Witchblade?”
“Actually, not at the
moment. I just needed someone to talk to.”
Sara could tell from his
depressed tone that something was wrong. “Gabe, are you okay? Did something
happen to you? Are you in trouble?”
“None of the above,”
Gabriel answered. “My girlfriend is pissed at me, and I don’t know how to
apologize.” Sara snorted. This was definitely going to be an interesting
conversation. “I thought I’d give you a call and ask you what you thought
was the best way for a guy to apologize.”
Sara rolled the thought
around in her mind. “Hmm…. The best way for a guy to apologize, that’s a
tough one. If I had a boyfriend who just really pissed me off, I’d say the
best way for him to apologize to me was come over to my house with a big bouquet
of red roses, get down on his knees, and beg for my forgiveness, then he’d
take me out for an expensive dinner at the best restaurant in town. That’s how
I’d want my boyfriend to apologize to me.”
“Okay, so flowers, begging,
and dinner,” Gabriel repeated. “I got it. Thanks, Chief. I owe you one.”
“Yeah, you do,” Sara
replied, ready to hang up after hearing another call coming in on the other
line. “Call me and tell me how it went, okay? I got another call. Talk to ya
later.”
“Bye, Sara,” Gabriel
replied as he hung up the phone so Sara could answer her other call.
“Pezzini, go,” she said
in her usual greeting.
“Hey, partner!”
“Danny!” Sara was
delighted to finally hear from her partner after spending three long days alone
on the road and one horrible night at the office.
“You sound happy to hear my
voice. Is your new crew treating you fairly?” Danny asked, getting the
conversation rolling.
“Deaq is a very nice guy.
Billie is cool. But Van, don’t get me started on that boy,” Sara began.
“He’s the biggest ass hole I’ve ever had the privilege meeting. He’s
worse that McCarty.”
“Speaking of the
devil…” Danny trailed off to make sure Jake wasn’t around. “He’s been
asking about you constantly. He won’t leave me alone. He’s like a lost, sick
puppy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him act this pathetic before in all the
time we’ve known him. What should I do about him, jerk his chain around a
little more before I tell him what you’ve done?”
“Please, be my guest. Have
all the fun you want with the little bastard. Just make sure you give me a
detailed account of everything you do to him,” she said, the devilish smile
coming across her lips.
“Jeez, Pez. He really hurt
you, didn’t he?”
“Danny, you’ll never know
how much pain I’ve been through, especially now with one dumb retard for a
partner. Oh, wait, I already had that with Jake. This is my entire life
happening all over again, just in a different city. Will I ever get any
peace?” Sara was beginning to wonder why she had even bothered to ask for a
transfer if she was going to have to put up with this. She laid her head down on
the couch and closed her eyes, rubbing them with the back of her hand to keep
herself from falling asleep as she waited for Danny’s reply.
“I don’t know, Pez. Give
it some time. Maybe he’ll warm up to you,” he replied finally. “So,
how’s the case going?”
“Down the shit hole,” she
answered. “Gallo blew our cover so we had to recruit someone else to help us
with the case. Because of him, we got ever further than we expected. We’ve now
got Gallo on conspiracy of murder charges because he’s put a hit out on me.”
“Then you’d better lay
low for a few days, Pez, at least until he’s behind bars,” Danny suggested.
“I’ve got nothing to
worry about,” Sara replied. “The guy who’s gathering evidence for us is
the hit man.”
“Well, doesn’t that throw
a wrench into Gallo’s plan?”
“Big time.” Sara yawned
loud enough for even Danny to hear her.
“Nap time?” he asked.
“Yeah, it’s barely past
six and I’ve been up for twenty-four hours now. I think I’m gonna take a
little nap before I head back to the Candy Store and see what progress has been
made since I left,” she replied, yawning once more. “I’ll talk to ya
later, Danny. And don’t forget to give McCarty hell for me.”
“I won’t,” he said.
“Get some sleep, Pez. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.” Sara gripped the phone for a minute while everything sunk in. Sara was on the verge of sleep as she made herself comfortable on the couch. Slowly her mind began to wander and her eyes to droop. Her last coherent thought was simply "Van.”
Before she knew it, Sara was on the couch with someone. He was running his hands through her long golden locks and whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Slowly, softly, gently, their lips met in a sensual overtaking kiss. As she pulled back she noticed those familiar clear blue eyes and that gorgeous smile. Just as they were about to really go further, the phone peeled in an obnoxious ring.
Sara's eyes flew open, her heart pounding and short of breath. "What the hell do you want?!" she yelled into the
receiver.