So LOUD A silence

Kilogram's invisible footprint

Back at the police headquarters Pola, visibly shaken and still a prisoner of shock, sat on her work- station gnashing teeth. The Police Chief stood adjacent to her by the window with both hands in his pockets. He could not hide his disappointment and straight away jumped into making his anger known, “Let me get this straight. You went to make an arrest without back-up? Your partner is shot... you still couldn't call for back-up?

“Everything happened so fast.” Pola reported. “My bad.”

The Chief countered glaring at Pola, “Your bad? You risked people's lives, you almost got the suspect killed, your partner is battling for his dear life and you risked your own life, and all you can say is, 'My bad'?!

Pola took a deep breath and looked straight into the eyes of the Police Chief, “With all due respect, sir, What was I supposed to do? The gun- man was not our target. We didn’t know he would be there. Note also that we were after the clergy man. As expected, he was not armed nor resistant. On a normal day, the operation was supposed to be smooth.”

“Call for back- up! That’s what you do! That's what you were supposed to do.” The Police Chief angrily exploded and in an instance toned down, driving the point home. “Do you know why I had to pair you with that knucklehead? Checks and balances. For control! But what do I get, another knucklehead. You don't assume that an operation would be safe. Treat every fucking case as dangerous with the posibility of losing lives.”

“I had lives to protect,” countered calmly.

The Police Chief bent over Pola’s table, “Did you protect them? Are you even listening to yourself?”

Pola made a quick reply, “I tried.”

 “You tried?” The Police Chief chuckled. “Next time, do the right thing. Don't try.”

Pola nodded in submission, “Yes, sir.”

"And anything about the lunatic who was shooting?", The Police Chief inquiired.

"No sir," Pola shook her head.

"Get hang of this and bring the lunatic to book. We can't afford to lose any more ground from the shooter," The Police Chief placed emphasis on the matter. "Do you understand?" 

Pola gave nod and said, "Yes sir."

The Police Chief stomped out of the room still burning with anger.

Pola held her head in both hands. An exhalation escaped her mouth. It was a terrible day at the office but the day was far from been spent. So, after a while she picked herself up and walked out of the office.

An hour ticked away before Pola visited the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in which Ian was admitted. Despite the passage of time from the shooting, she still looked disturbed and far below her sanity levels. Her clothes were still blemish with the blood that oozed from Ian’s veins. Her hair was still locked in a push- back but it was not as neat as she would have loved it to be. In spite of this, she stood at the door of the side- ward looking through a window thereon. Seeing Ian lie unconscious on the other side only made her eyes well. She was a top notched cop, tough and professional but that moment got the best of her. She melted. She broke down.

As the DOCTOR and NURSE attended to Ian, she could hear the life machines beep at regular intervals. A sure sign that there was still life and hope after all. After a moment, the door opened and the Doctor and Nurse walked out of the ICU side- ward.

Pola stepped aside to give way to the exiting medical pair.

The nurse softly gave Pola a reminder, “We do not allow visitors here.”

“I know.” Pola exhaled heavily. “I just wanted to know how he is doing?”

“He’s stable. We managed to remove the bullet. The spine was not damaged,” The Doctor announced calmly.

Pola sought assurance, “He will pull through, right?”

Doctor smiled and held Pola’s left shoulder, “We're doing our best. Now if you may excuse us, we have a few more patients to attend to.”

Pola nodded with half a smile, “Alright. Thank you.”

The Doctor and Nurse walked to the next room to attend to other patients.

Pola took her place at the door and resumed looking at Ian through the small window on the door.

A few moments later, after leaving the hospital, Pola drove to the Parish and parked right at the spot where Kilogram had shot Ian. She scanned the area carefully before stepping out of the car. She gazed at the old abandoned building where Kilogram had taken the shoot. And without thinking twice, she took a walk to the foot of the staircase thereof. 

A step after the other, she ascended the building, weaving her way through the cobwebs and the darkness that was fast engulfing the concrete vertical maze. For safety, she  drew her gun and she kept vigil, paying attention to every sound and the surface on which she trod. At the roof- top, Pola stood by the edge and looked down at her car. She replayed the earlier shooting scene in her head and envisIoned where Kilogram took aim and shot Ian. After a careful and deligent scan with the aid of a flashlight, her attention was arrested by the two bullet casings a few inches from the edge of the building. She slipped out a pair of gloves from her pocket and wore them before picking the two brass articles for a closer look. Thereafter, she fetched her phone from the pocket. Her fingers quickly raced on the key pad of the phone before she glued it to her ear. The phone rang two times before her target audience was sought. "Wizard, Hi. I need a favour. I need a run on some bullet casings. I will send them to the lab tonight."

"Not a problem," Wizard remarked over the phone. "You owe me a beer."

Pola smiled involuntarily, "Roger that boss."

"Cool," Wizard sharpily acknowledged. 

"Cheers," Pola nodded and hang up. She slowly yet carefully made her way down to the foot of the building - then to her car, and drove back to the Police headquarters.