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| Fandom: | Houston Knights |
| Series: | Other Authors |
| Rating: | PG |
| Archive: | Starwinder's |
| Title: | The Chicago Mountie |
| Author: | JoeyPare |
| Standard Disclaimer: Houston Knights belongs to Jay Bernstein and Michael Butler and Columbia Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended. This is fan fiction, written out of love for the shows. I am making no money off this. I have no money so please don't sue me. Any original characters that may appear in these stories are the property of the author. | |
[Chicago Mounted Patrol Unit... The Mounted Patrol has two basic functions. The first is to patrol parks, lakefront, and other areas of the city in crime prevention efforts. Within this function they also interact with the community and perform many community-oriented tasks.
The second function is that of crowd control. It has been estimated that in crowd control situations, one mounted police officer has the effect of ten to twenty police officers on foot.]... Courtesy of the City of Chicago Home Page.
[This story is written with permission of the author of "Ride 'em, Cowboy" who first made LaFiamma a horseman.]
It had been a week since the discovery that Joseph Anthony LaFiamma not only was an expert rider that could shoot with bulls-eye accuracy from the back of a horse. Joe's partner, Levon Lundy, was still walking around stunned as cops told him of the sight of his partner... *his* partner standing in the stirrups on a parade horse... taking careful aim just as calm as you please, and hitting Hobart square in the shoulder.
"Look Levon... if you'd ever asked me to go riding..." Joey began, trying to break through the icy features of his partner.
"I figured a city slicker wouldn't..."
"Well, think again!" Joe shot back, "just because someone lives in the city doesn't mean they can't ride! Damn, you think you Texans are the only authorities on horses?" LaFiamma growled. The Italian shoved his chair back and stalked from the room.
"Hey, Joe-Bill, you think maybe we could call up Chicago and get some info on his Mountie days?" Esteban Guiterrez said with a smirk.
"Hey... yeah... what do you think Levon? Maybe find out more about your partner?" Joe-Bill quizzed looking at Lundy's hunched back.
"Don't pull me into this... I got to work with the man." Levon groused, though he had to admit he was more than a mite interested.
"But you're interested ..." Esteban teased.
"Yeah, I'm interested." The cowboy reluctantly admitted.
"Now all we have to do is find out who to call," Joe-Bill replied gleefully.
Carol "Legs" O'Brien who was quietly working at her computer said, "How about a phone number for the City of Chicago Archives. Oh wait! Here we go, Special Functions Group... Mounted Patrol. Got a pencil, Esteban?"
************************
Joey pushed open the stairwell door and was all the way down to the basement before he pulled in his anger. Looking around in the unfamiliar area he saw a sign that said 'Exit' and eased himself through the door hoping it didn't have an emergency alarm. It didn't, but to his surprise he came face to face with two of Houston's Mounted Police Officers and another man who he figured might be the department's trainer.
"Hey, LaFiamma!" Lieutenant Stan Turner called. "Hear you made one heck of a shot the other day. We got a couple of officers on sick leave... if you're interested."
"No thanks," Joey mumbled. "Been there, done that." The Chicagoan couldn't resist reaching out and scratching the chin of the quarter horse that stood in front of him.
"Hey! How'd you know he likes that?" Officer Ashley Duncan questioned looking down at the fancy dressed detective.
"Most quarter horses I've met love to have their chins scratched. I think it's in their genes." Joey said with a smirk.
"You sure I can't take you away from Lundy and put you back on a horse," Lieutenant Turner asked watching with interest the way the horse responded to LaFiamma's touch.
"No sir. I haven't ridden since I buried Colter. Don't care to get that attached to an animal again." Joey answered sadness in his voice.
"Colter? Colter? I got a book titled, Colter and Joe ... you wouldn't be ....???" Turner gasped in surprise. The look of dismay on LaFiamma's face told him he was right.
"Son, I saw you and Colter handle a mob of construction workers on the lakefront. You and that horse moved as one. You're an excellent rider, LaFiamma. We could use someone like you."
"As I said before," LaFiamma said with a groan, "Not interested."
Officer Duncan felt her horse relax as Joe's hand continued to stroke its neck. "You said you buried your horse. What happened?"
LaFiamma's hand dropped to his side, his jaw tightened. He looked up at the blonde haired girl and her riding companion. Duncan's horse Rusty stretched his neck and nuzzled LaFiamma's shoulder. Joe's response was automatic. His arm came up and he went back to scratching the horse's chin.
Joe knew Lundy wouldn't understand his reasoning but he knew these officers would. "We rescued Colter from a Chicago glue factory. He was a retired parade horse, was used to the noise and people. My first horse disappeared, sold by some bureaucrat. Then we found Colter and we just sort of bonded. Became a really good team." Joey began, his voice full of sadness. "We'd been partners for two years when we were assigned to a park that had been having a lot of gang violence... drive by shootings... rapes. It was a weekend picnic area for large groups. Had lots of tables and grills. Prime area for gang face-offs too. To this day no one knows who started the ruckus or who fired the first shot... but when it was over... Colter was mortally wounded and two police officers were injured. A hundred witnesses told a hundred different stories... yet all fingered the same man for shooting the police horse. When I got out of the hospital, I went to check on my horse. I turned in my gear when they told me he had been put down. I've been a detective ever since."
"Stan?" Ashley suddenly quipped in surprise, "That book on your desk, "Colter & Joe, Chicago PD, is that...?"
"Yeah," Joey answered, "It is. We did a lot of public relations work, football games, and Cubs games. After Colter's funeral, someone asked if they could put one together and the department agreed... as long as they didn't have to pay for it."
************************
"Hey, you guys!" Esteban bubbled excitedly, after hanging up the phone, "She's sending me a book that was made up about Joey and his horse. It's called "Colter & Joe, Chicago PD."
"C- Colter and Joe?" Levon stammered his head jerking up from his desk. "Lieutenant Stan Turner of Houston's Mounted Patrol has that book on his desk!"
"Where'd LaFiamma go anyway?" Carol asked concerned about Levon's problem with Joe knowing how to ride.
"Why you so hot under the collar about Joe knowin' how to ride?" Sammy Rodriquez asked.
"He should'a tol' me," Lundy mumbled, he'd have to look at that book again to make sure it was his partner and not some other dude.
"You ever ASK him, Levon?" Legs said rising from her chair to look at the notes Esteban had taken while on the phone with the City of Chicago's Archive Librarian.
"Didn't figure he could?" Came the muttered answer.
"What else did she say, Esteban?" Carol asked hovering over the Mexican officer.
"Well, he was a mounted officer for two and a half years. He and his horse were well liked at baseball games, concerts... they did some work with Special Olympic kids... and helped calm riot outbreaks on the lake shore along some controversial construction sites. The City didn't do the book, someone else did, but needed the City's permission and it was given as long as no bills came back to them. She said that the first printing was sold out, mostly to the LaFiamma's themselves, then a second and even a third printing had to be done. She has less than twenty books left but she is sending one to us. She asked if we have Mounted Patrol ... do we, Lundy?" Esteban asked.
"Yeah, yea we do." Levon's head snapped up, the thought that his partner might give up being a detective and go back... [NO! No that can't happen] The cowboy bolted from his chair and was out the door before anyone could say a word.
Levon stood in the hall, debating whether to take the stairs or the elevator. "Hey, Scully," Levon called as the Public Relations man stepped off the elevator. "You seen LaFiamma?"
"Yeah as a matter a fact... he's down in the lower level talking with Stan Turner, he... Lundy?"
Levon was gone; pushing open the doors to the stairs he flew down the stairs, more than once grabbing for the handrail to keep from falling.
************************
"We got a horse we call The Black we bought up in Illinois about three months ago. Can't do a thing with him. He doesn't respond to any commands and has actually tried to nip my officers. Maybe you'd come over and have a look?" Turner said wanting more than anything to have this man on his team if even as a substitute.
"Wouldn't hurt to have a look," Joey replied after a long pause. "Got a couple of uncles north of Chicago that raise Morgans. I've been riding since I was ten. Don't think Beaumont would approve of me going though."
"You leave Beaumont to me. If we can't get someone to handle this horse -- he'll be glue." Turner answered motioning to a black mini-van.
************************
Exhausted Lundy reached the basement and looked around, found an exit and just as LaFiamma before him he stepped right into the head of Duncan's horse, Rusty.
"Levon! Geezzz take it easy! Where you going in such a hurry?" Ashley exclaimed as her startled horse backed up.
"L... looking for LaFiamma. You seen him?" Lundy gasped trying hard to catch his breath.
"Yeah, he was just here, he left with Turner. Stan wants him to look at a horse we bought in Illinois a few months ago."
"You mean that wild thing called The Black!" Levon growled. He was sure his partner wasn't good enough to tame THAT horse.
************************
The ride to the horse barns was not as long as Joe thought it would be. "Who'd you buy this horse from?" Joey asked as they turned into a tree-lined driveway.
"Someone named - ah - Petra. Ah - Patra...." Turner began trying to pronounce the unfamiliar name.
"Petracelli!" LaFiamma growled loudly. "Budget man for Chicago PD! Doesn't know a thing about horseflesh, but thought he could buy and sell them as he pleased. The City fired him a few years back after he sold the wrong horse. Seems the Mayor's daughter boarded her jumper at the City barns. Whenever Petracelli came around the horse was never out on patrol, so one day he sold it without asking anyone about it. He was fired the next day. Took a deal with the devil to get the girl's horse back."
"You think we bought a black market horse? He's beautiful! The man said he was in Chicago's Mounted Patrol," Turner replied knowing now that LaFiamma would be worth the fight to get the man to be a substitute rider for the Patrol.
"Yeah, well, we've had some horses that are now cat food ... and that's a step up," Joey remarked sheepishly.
"Here we are," Turner chuckled, looking with interest at the look on LaFiamma's face. "That's the main barn. The Black's about halfway down. I'll call Beaumont while you go have a look."
************************
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LAFIAMMA LEFT WITH TURNER!"? Levon shouted into the two officer's faces. "He's a detective, not a... a... He don't ride anymore."
"Take it easy, Lundy. Turner's not talking him into moving over here," Ashley Duncan said calmly. "Course if he can handle The Black...."
"Well, Beaumont won't stand for losing one of her best detectives --- " Lundy stopped, the rest of the words caught in his throat. He'd just admitted his partner was a good cop, something he'd never said in public before.
The other mounted officer hadn't said a word yet and finally broke his silence. "Lundy, it seems to me that you're about the only one around this place that doesn't know that LaFiamma is a good cop. Just because he's different from you doesn't mean he ain't good. If he's still half as good as that book said he was, you can bet Turner will try to get him - if nothing else but for a sub when we've on sick leave. Right now we're minus two officers - one's on pregnancy leave and one's broke an arm water skiing."
Levon muttered some unspeakable words, turned on his heel and walked back into the building. "Got to get to them stables before LaFiamma gets on that horse," the blonde murmured to himself as he ascended the stairs to the first floor and the parking garage.
************************
A couple of people working inside the barn looked up at Joey as he walked in. Their nods to each other told them that this guy was definitely in the wrong place. LaFiamma started down the aisle making a clicking sound with his tongue. Just as he approached The Black's stall the horse's head came out the open Dutch door whinnying and shaking his head up and down.
"HEY WATCH IT! HE BITES BIG TIME!" One of the men shouted racing down to pull Joey out of the way.
Instead, LaFiamma held up his hand and stopped the man in his tracks. "Got a pair of size ten boots I could borrow?" Then the Italian took off his suit jacket, shucked off his shoulder holster, slipped off his silk shirt. Laying the jacket and shirt on a square stool outside the stall, Joe slipped his holsters back over his bare shoulders.
"Well, do you? GET em!" Joe roared loudly. Turning his attention back to The Black, Joey whispered, "How you doing Smoke? Bet Petracelli put you through hell, huh?"
"Here!" The man said, reaching at arm's length to hand boots to Joe. They watched as LaFiamma kicked off his expensive loafers and stepped into the boots, tucking his trousers inside.
"You got an arena - or some place I can take him out?" Joey questioned straightening.
"You gonna ride em?" the young man gasped.
"I didn't ask you for boots so I could stand here and look at him! Yeah, I'm gonna ride him. Turner brought me here to ride 'em!" Joey replied, shaking his head at the stupidity of this man.
"Oh. Guess you need saddle and stuff..."
"Don't need anything. Just open a door and head me in the right direction," LaFiamma replied with a grin into the surprised stable man's face.
As Joey opened the stall door, Smoke stretched his nose to the man's mid-section.
"HE'S GONNA BITE! SEE I TOLD YOU!" The man shouted as Turner entered the barn.
"What you got in your pockets?" Joe asked calmly.
"TicTacs."
"He was raised with sugar treats. That's what he's after. Give him one."
"A TicTac?"
"Yeah."
The man nervously reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic container of TicTacs. As he started to pour one out, Smoke nudged his hand and they all tumbled out onto the floor where the horse unashamedly gobbled them all up.
"He hasn't been trying to bite you," LaFiamma continued in a calming voice, "He's been trying to get treats that were given to him as he was being trained."
Grabbing a handful of mane, LaFiamma did a small jump and was up and on Smoke's back before anyone could blink. "Open the door so we can stretch his legs."
"Terry, open the doors to the outside area," Turner remarked from behind LaFiamma.
************************
"I gotta get there before LaFiamma gets on that horse. I gotta!" Lundy groused speeding through traffic to get to the barns. He'd already made one wrong turn because he wasn't paying attention, if he didn't hurry he would be too late.
************************
Smoke and Joe literally bound through the open barn door into a riding area that included jumps and a large corral. Four off-duty officers who were working their horses moved out of the way at the sight of an armed, bare-chested Italian riding bareback. The four heard LaFiamma making strange sounds with his mouth and watched the horse under him respond.
Leaning forward as he petted Smoke's neck, Joey whispered, "Let's show these rednecks what you can do Smoke."
************************
The red GMC Jimmy came to a flying dusty halt a few hundred yards away from the corral that LaFiamma was in. Gaping open-mouthed at the sight of his bare-chested partner riding a horse without a saddle or bridle brought the Jimmy to such a quick stop the motor stalled and died. Wide-eyed Levon watched his 'city slicker' partner put the horse that no one could ride through some amazing paces.
First Smoke just walked around the corral. Then he started in a slow lope, almost like he was in slow motion. Then he did a 180 turn on one rear hoof, and then back again on the other.
Then ... my god ... like a parade step ... high stepping ... then a rear so high Levon thought for sure Joe would fall but he didn't, he just blended himself into the horse.
His mouth still open, hanging to the floor, Levon watched Smoke cross his front legs and take a bow.
Joe slid down the horse's neck to the ground. With a jump he turned and faced his mount. Smoke knowingly began to whinny and shake his head. Then as Joe gave hand signals, the horse's head came down and boosted Joey back onto his back.
"God damn he's good." Levon muttered as he opened the driver's door to get out. "Turner's gonna fight for him, for sure."
Lundy joined the crowd huddled at the end of the corral as Joey continued to work Smoke, letting the horse run and jump and get the kinks out from being cooped up for so long.
"Damn, Lundy, you should have told us how good he was," Turner groused, as the cowboy detective joined them.
"Didn't know. Never asked," Levon replied somewhat ashamed now that he hadn't asked his partner more about himself.
Suddenly one of the female officers shouted, "Oh my god LOOK!"
The band of onlookers stared in amazement as Smoke did a fast spin, throwing LaFiamma into the air. Much to everyone's surprise, though, the Italian landed on his feet, and horse and rider bowed to each other. Then Smoke nuzzled Joey's pockets looking for a treat. "Sorry, Smoke, don't have any sugar for you today."
From out of nowhere five hands came, all holding small lumps of sugar. "One!" Joey yelled as Smoke moved from hand to hand. Reaching the horse he helped train, Joey patted his belly and chuckled, "You keep eating like that and you'll be fat as Miz Maybelle."
Looking LaFiamma directly in the eye, Lieutenant Turner said, "Looks like you know this horse pretty well, LaFiamma."
"Guess you could say that," Joey answered with a wide grin. "Helped train him. He was my first horse at CPD. The one that got ousted."
An officer standing next to Lundy asked, "With that kind of talent ... why'd they get rid of him?"
Joe felt the nuzzle of Smoke on his bare back, turning, the Italian said quietly, "Suppose we gotta tell 'em, huh, Smoke."
Joe looked down the line of officers leaning on the fence rail and then his eyes stopped on Lundy's face. Blinking, his gaze went back to Turner. "Smoke and I, and two other Mounted units were on crowd control for the opening of a new shopping center... celebrities... baseball players... it was a big deal. Out of the blue ... the mayor asked if one of us would dismount and allow this celebrity's kids to have a ride on a police horse. We all said, 'No it's against regulations.' Petracelli -- stepped out of the crowd... pointed to me and ordered me down. He outranked all of us and I was down. The kids got their ride but ... one of the kids ... about four was wearing a cast on one leg. When she was lifted down her cast hit something making a noise and she started crying. I watched the video replay a hundred times and still couldn't believe what Smoke did. Ten thousand letters went into the City when people found out Petracelli had sold Smoke without even telling his own bosses, me or anyone else."
"Well... LaFiamma.?" Lundy groused, "What the hell did the horse do?"
"The whole thing was a live broadcast... Smoke's ear perked as the child began to cry... he turned and looked at the person he thought was causing it. He reached down... grabbed the man by the back of his belt and tossed him just as neat as you please into a brand new fountain that was being filled with water. Then he brought his head back and the kid hugged his nose. Petracelli was fired over it. We had Interpol looking for Smoke even... he'd disappeared without a trace. Only God knows what's happened to him if Petracelli's had him all this time."
"Well, he's got a home here!" Turner declared, "and YOU Sergeant LaFiamma are going to be on mounted patrol duty for the next week!"
"NOW WAIT JUST A DANG MINUTE!" Lundy hollered moving toward Turner. "Don't you think we have a say in the matter? Beaumont ain't gonna..."
"I've just had a conference call with Beaumont and the Chief. I'm minus two riders... here is one rider already trained ... and his horse as well."
"I don't mind riding for you Lieutenant, but I really think Smoke and I need some days together to see if he can still perform. What we did here ..." Joey said gesturing with his hand, "we usually did for groups like Special Olympic kids. I mean, this horse vanished! No city or state cop could find out what happened to him. We don't know if he's been abused, or was just put out to pasture for the last five years. We need a couple of days under saddle ... under fire to see if he can still perform."
"LaFiamma - since I was fifteen, I've been a good judge of horseflesh. And believe me, with you on him... this horse will perform." Lieutenant Turner remarked.
"Okay... then I need a couple of days to get back in the saddle."
Turner burst out laughing, "You ain't gonna win, son. I see you run every morning. You're in better shape than more 'en half the cops in this town. One day is all I'll give you. Tomorrow riding here and out on the trail with Lundy and couple of off-duty cops. Then you're on duty for me - for a week. And if Patti Murphy isn't back from maternity leave by that time ... well, it might be longer."
Suddenly it occurred to Lundy that Joe needed a uniform. "Two days? It takes a week or more just to get a uniform!"
Turner just smiled and turned his attention back to LaFiamma who had started walking his horse around the corral for a cool down. Then Smoke stopped, his head started moving up and down, and he snorted. Joey turned and looked at him.
<<SNORT>>
"We're NOT going to do that!" Joe said loudly shaking fingers at his horse.
<<SNORT!!>>
"You going to make a spectacle of yourself? I'm supposed to be working."
<<SNOORT>>... and a hoof pawing the dirt...
"OH SHIT!" Turning the Italian asked, "He wants to be saddled up."
Within seconds, the young man who had the TicTacs brought a bridle, saddle blanket, and saddle to LaFiamma. This time the man was ready, when Smoke's nose started forward a small sugar lump appeared and disappeared.
Slipping the bridle over Smoke's ears Joey felt a lump, like a long scar. Reaching up he parted the mane and saw that some of the hair was gone. In fact, a half inch wide strip was gone behind both ears.
"Lieutenant? You had a Vet look at this horse?" LaFiamma called, anxious now to completely check the horse before he got back on.
Disturbed by the look on LaFiamma's face, Turner climbed through the fence and walked to the man and his horse.
Joey continued to run his hands over every inch of Smoke, frowning he found some disturbing scars.
"What have you found?" Turner asked looking at the frown on Joe's face.
Instead of answering him, Joe stood and looked directly at his partner. "Lundy! Get Anne Marie Robinson and her people over here... RIGHT NOW! And have them bring a warrant!"
"A warrant? Now wait just a minute...."
"Not for you Lieutenant. For Petracelli. He'll be here today to pick up this horse."
"Today! How do you know that?"
The words were no sooner out of Stan's mouth than a young girl came running from the barns yelling, "LIEUTENANT! SHIRLEY'S BACK FROM VACATION.... SHE BOOTED UP HER COMPUTER AND FOUND AN ALARM THAT SAID WE NEEDED TO CALL SOME GUY IN ILLINOIS BY LAST MONDAY THAT WE WERE KEEPING THE BLACK OR.... OR THEY'D BE HERE TODAY TO GET HIM!"
"Have one of your cops call Chicago. See if the warrant out on Petracelli is still current. He's wanted for embezzlement, among other things. I have a feeling the flyer I saw at Anne Marie's clinic about someone using a rogue horse... is this man and this horse. She'll need a warrant to look in Petracelli's trailer."
"Smoke needs to be completely checked out... x-rayed even, to make sure that bastard hasn't done anything to make him pull up lame."
LaFiamma finished saddling the horse, gave his little spring of a jump and was onboard. He looked around, asking if the track he saw was used for horses. When told in a unison chorus that it was, he asked if he could fire a weapon? Grinning at the answer, Joe and Smoke moved toward the gate that was being opened for them.
Levon watched his partner and marveled at how at ease LaFiamma was in the saddle. Almost liked he'd been born to ride. If Joe hadn't been born into a mafia family, Lundy bet Joe would have a whole different life now. Still, it was because of what he was born into, that gave him the opportunity to learn to ride.
It took but the slightest nudge for Smoke to respond to the familiar rider on his back. If horses can show joy those watching saw Smoke stretch and run... and whinny.
LaFiamma let Smoke run at his own pace... full out... one time around the quarter mile track, and then Joe reined him in to a lope. Silently Joe slipped one of his guns out and laid it lightly on the horse's shoulder. The next few seconds happened so fast, the Italian wasn't sure what happened. Smoke let out an agonizing scream, whirled on his hind feet and did everything he could to get rid of the pain he felt. Seconds later Joe was somersaulting through the air, and it was pure luck that LaFiamma landed on his feet.
"MY GOD... THE HORSE IS GOING WILD!" Levon shouted making a dash for his partner who was flying through the air.
Turner grabbed his arm, "Lundy, no."
"He's my partner, damn it!" The blond growled angrily shaking loose.
"You'd never reach him in time... and right now... his partner is that horse."
Joey watched Smoke come at him, total fear in his eyes. He jumped from his crouched position straight up in front of the charging horse and said one nasty German swear word that brought the animal to a skidding halt. Smoke stretched out his nose and sniffed, then shamefully hung his head.
"Excuse me," a sweet female voice asked from behind the group of officers watching Joe. "I'm looking for Joe LaFiamma."
Stan Turner turned, "Doctor Robinson."
"Lieutenant? I hope this warrant they asked me to bring isn't for you."
"No ma'am. Joe's over there," he said pointing to where Joe and Smoke stood facing each other.
"Joe said Smoke was a good looking horse. My gosh, he's beautiful... so black he almost looks blue."
"You know about Joe's horse?" Lundy asked taking his eyes off his partner momentarily.
"Of course. Joe and I have discussed horses quite a lot. He's gone out on some calls with us when we've checked on complaints about abused horses. He's been looking for this horse for years. What are they doing out there?"
It was a free-for-all, everyone starting talking at once, then the stable boy explained what happened in the barn, and someone explained what happened in the corral, and Turner explained what they all had just witnessed.
"All the veterinarians in the area have gotten flyers lately on a horse being used in a scam for mounted patrol units. The City buys the horse, and then finds they can't work with it. The seller comes along and takes the horse back, and the city loses all their invested money."
"Lieutenant, looks like LaFiamma's going to fire his weapon!"
Joe slowly raised his left hand and let Smoke smell the gun. Slowly the Italian raised that arm above his head, and then slowly lowered it to shoulder level. Never taking his eyes off his horse, Joey pumped two shots into the ground to his left. Smoke's ear flicked back and forth but he stood firm. Changing hands Joe did the same thing into the ground on his right. Still there was no reaction from the horse. Taking the reins in his hands LaFiamma sauntered back to the left side of the horse, as his hand moved lightly over Smoke. Just as his hand touched the spot on the shoulder that Joe had earlier laid his gun against, the horse tightened up.
"Easy, Smoke. No one's going to hurt you. Easy, boy," Joey cooed over and over again. Deftly working the hairs apart, LaFiamma found a burn, a bad burn, probably from a cattle prod or some other electrical shock device.
"That bastard! You're dead Petracelli. Dead!" The Italian muttered angrily. "And I know just the right horse people who will be glad to do it too."
Joey holstered his gun and remounted. Looking at the group in the corral, he was the only one who saw the battered horse trailer being pulled by a shiny red pickup truck drive into the loading area of Houston's Mounted Patrol farm.
"What did we find out about this Petracelli? Any warrants on him?" Turner asked, turning to the officers mingling around him.
"Yes Sir. Chicago has two outstanding warrants. St. Louis has a fraud warrant on him. And the IRS is looking for him. ...and sir,... I think he just drove up," Randy Dover replied nodding toward the vehicles parking a short distance away.
"Reckon that warrant is for that trailer," Lundy offered turning with the rest of group to face the two men who were getting out of the pickup.
"So, Lieutenant Turner, we meet again. You didn't call, so here I am. Be glad to take the horse off your hands. Know how busy things can get, don't want a horse around that doesn't work out." The greasy Italian remarked with a smirk.
"Who says the horse didn't work out?" Lundy asked, hating the slime ball just from the tone of his voice.
Petracelli ignored the remark, and continued his quest for the horse. "According to the contract the City of Houston signed when you bought this horse, you were to call me by the 15th if you decided to keep the horse, you didn't so we're here to pick up the horse."
Out of the corner of his eye, Turner saw LaFiamma approaching, Petracelli didn't seem to even notice that the horse coming toward him was the horse he was to pick up.
"Our secretary's been on vacation, otherwise we would've made the call," Turner answered.
"Well, according to the fine print at the bottom of the contract you ...."
"This like the fine print on the bottom of the contract of the Mayor's horse you sold?" LaFiamma growled loudly, reining Smoke in directly behind Doctor Robinson. "This like that fine print that when blown up by the judge in court turned out to be just little dashes and periods. You're done Petracelli! You've never getting' your hands on this horse again. Never!"
The slime ball blinked, stared up at LaFiamma, bare-chested, sweating, wearing dual holsters, his mouth opened then closed. Finally he muttered, "LaFiamma? What the hell you doing here?"
"Haven't you heard? I got banished for killing a mob figure in Chicago. Can go anywhere I want... except back to Illinois. You though... you've been one busy bastard since you stole this horse!"
Anne Marie could hear the hostility in Joey's voice and knew if these cops weren't around Petracelli would be dead by now. Stepping forward, she motioned the two men who had come toward the trailer.
The man who had gotten out of the truck with Petracelli moved off his position against the front fender of the pickup as Robinson's two men walked toward the battered trailer.
"HEY! Where do you think you're going?" The dark-skinned man shouted.
"Just having a look see," one man offered, nodding to the other who moved toward Petracelli's rough looking partner.
"Ain't nobody lookin' in MY trailer! HEY BOSS!" Silas Venture hollered. "What's this?" He asked staring dumbfounded at the paper being handed him.
"It's a warrant! Gives us authority to look in this trailer, that pickup and everything you're wearing."
A moan was heard from the back of the trailer. Cody Napa had seen some torture chambers, but this one... "ANNE MARIE .... BETTER COME TAKE A LOOK AT THIS!"
"WHAT THE HELL'S THAT MAN DOING THERE?" Petracelli roared moving in the direction of the trailer.
Joe urged Smoke forward cutting off Petracelli's route to the trailer. Joey held his gun at waist level, "Come on you bastard make my day. There ain't one cop here who would mind if I wasted you right now."
The slimy Italian fell back and found himself suddenly surrounded. The words book'em were lost in the words that LaFiamma muttered into his face. "When I make my calls to Dominique and Francisco... ain't no place you're going to be able to hide. You'd just best hope they don't do to you want you did to their horses and to Smoke. You're dead, Petracelli. Dead."
Doctor Robinson stared into the trailer, quietly telling Cody not to let LaFiamma see what was here. "He sees this, that man will die right here." Anne Marie cautiously stepped into the trailer and looked at the metal mesh in the shape of a horse's head. She cringed to think of Smoke's beautiful head being enclosed in something so gruesome. Kicking at the straw, she uncovered some metal hobbles and other straps. Examining the inside walls, she discovered they were solidly built and probably were sound proof. The outside may look like the trailer was ready to fall apart but the inside was solid.
As Cody left, Paul Evans entered, and together he and Anne Marie began opening doors alongside one side of the trailer.
"Doc... we got, cattle prods, straps, some kind of harness, electrical wire." Paul gasped, barely touching the items he found.
"This looks like just clothes... wait a minute! Pictures... of horses! Here's a photo of the one we found last most month. The one Joey said belonged to his friend Francisco. Here's Smoke and a couple of others. These guys are going down big time, big time!"
Cody moved out of the trailer and quickly assessed the situation with Petracelli. "Hey Joe! What do you say we walk Smoke down? He looks pretty warm."
LaFiamma glanced down, then up at Cody. [Divert me away from the trailer, huh, I'm ahead of you. If I looked in there, I'd be up for murder one.]
"Sure thing," LaFiamma responded, kicking his boots out of the stirrups, he eased himself out of the saddle and slid to the ground. Someone handed him a sugar cube, and he flattened his hand and grinned as Smoke wolfed it down.
Joe walked with Cody back to the corral, Smoke's reins held tightly in his hands. As the two approached Lundy, Joe asked Cody, "They won't get him, will they?"
"You're horse is safe, Joe. This man, and everyone who works for him will be arrested in the next few hours. You can call your friend Francisco and tell him we found the man who killed his horse."
"Yeah, thanks," Joe answered absentmindedly, as Lundy opened the corral gate, and another officer uncinched Smoke's saddle, lifting it off his back.
"Aren't you supposed to be working?" LaFiamma asked his partner as Cody dropped back and Lundy began walking shoulder to shoulder with his partner around the corral.
"Can't do much without a partner. Kind of get use to things, you know."
"Yeah, I know," came the quiet answer. "I got a real problem here Lundy. It was great being back up on Smoke, but I don't want to give up being a detective either."
"Well, if Turner has his way... you might get both."
"Can't do both, Lundy. You know that. Be in the middle of a case and be pulled out for traffic duty or parade coverage. It just doesn't work that way... and what about Smoke? Who knows what kind of hell he's been through all these years."
"Joe, he looked pretty damn good under you today. He's beautiful, man."
"Yeah, but what's going to happen to him if he can't be used..."
Levon stopped, causing Joe to stumble slightly, before Lundy could reach out and catch his partner, Smoke high stepped around them both so instead of falling, LaFiamma's face hit the horse's belly.
"If the City don't want him... we'll buy him. I'd be proud to have him at the ranch." Levon offered as Joe straightened up.
"Thanks, Levon, know it took a lot for you to offer that."
"JOEY?"
The two detectives looked up to see Anne Marie Robinson standing a few feet away. "Bad guys have been arrested and taken away, Joe. Think we can get Smoke into my trailer so we can take him to the Clinic to be checked out?"
"We can try. Can't promise you anything. Lay a trail of sugar... that might do it."
LaFiamma backing up with cubes of sugar in his hand eased the Black into the dual horse trailer with no problem. The test came when Anne Marie took the bridle off and attempted to put a halter on. LaFiamma took the leather and brass halter into his hands and rubbed on Smoke's nose then draped it across his own shoulder. Smoke immediately nudged it, grabbed it with his teeth and shook it, then dropped it into Joe's outstretched hands. Soon the horse stood quietly munching hay barely aware of the lines being attached to his halter to keep him from falling.
Joe watched Paul and Cody drive away with his horse. "Damn, I hate to just let him go."
"You're not letting him go, Joe," Anne Marie replied, "You're coming with me to help unload him and then you're going to stick around him until I know that Cody and I can handle him. Don't worry - I'll let you know whatever we find. If he can't be used for patrol...."
"If he can't be used for patrol he's coming out to the ranch to keep Fooler company," Lundy stated matter-of-factly. "Joe ain't losing this horse again!"
Two days later the book was delivered to Esteban who eagerly opened and read passages aloud to anyone interested in listening. Which was most everyone in the Major Crimes Unit. The detective in question... LaFiamma hadn't been seen for a couple of days. Nor had Lundy for that matter.
"Hey, listen to this... Joe and Colter chased a bank robbery suspect who just robbed a neighborhood and escaped on a bicycle!" Esteban exclaimed.
Out of the blue, the group heard LaFiamma say, "Actually he was riding a ten-speed mountain bike at about twenty miles an hour down a narrow alley. I cut him off at the pass, and arrested him."
Joe-Bill, Esteban and Carol stared at the Chicagoan. He stood next to Lundy wearing black jeans, black boots to his knees and a black leather jacket. "LaFiamma, is that you?" Legs O'Brien asked in disbelief.
"Looks cool, doesn't he?" Lundy quipped with a grin. "We just came from the SPCA Clinic. Looks like his horse is fine. Joe's going to be on mounted patrol for the rest of the week, until one of their officers gets back from maternity leave."
"You happy about this Lundy?" Joe-Bill questioned, "That means you got no partner for a week or more."
"Means I got me a riding partner now!" The Texan bragged proudly.
Joey laughed, "You always had one, just never asked"
"Well, I been asking now haven't I?"
"Yeah... now you are one nosey Texan! Think I liked you better before."
"Man... you guys will never be satisfied!" Esteban quipped tossing the book on Lundy's desk.
"Don't need to read that," Levon said picking up the book on Joe and Colter, and handing it back to Esteban. "Already seen how the boy can ride. Don't need no book to tell me what he can do."
"Levon ain't you worried about him being out there on his own?" Joe-Bill chortled as Joe turned to leave.
"Nope, I saw first hand how his four-legged partner protects him. Nothing to worry about," the blond quipped taking off his Stetson.
"You be careful out there, Levon," Joey said quietly as Lieutenant Beaumont walked into the room.
"Don't worry about Levon, Joe," Beaumont said cheerfully. "While you're riding around on horseback, he's going to be in the conference room working on those files you two have put off doing."
Lundy rolled his eyes and looked at his partner's sheepish grin. "See you tonight, Joe."
"The farm or the ranch?" Joey asked not remembering what his partner had told him. Too much had happened in the last few days for him to remember everything. He did call Francisco and tell him Petracelli had been captured. Frank told him the man would never live to be tried, but Joe didn't pass that information onto anyone else. He and Anne Marie had gotten to know each other a lot better with him spending practically two days and two nights at her Clinic. Something he planned to continue to nurture. And hell, having Smokey back was as great as finding the Cobra. Maybe even better, for he thought for sure his horse had long ago been killed.
"The farm, LaFiamma, the farm!"
"Right. Just wanted to make sure you knew," came the answer with a lop-sided grin and a shrug.
[Hell, a whole week, maybe two stuck in the conference room with file folders. Still... it's better than being on the street without my partner. And he IS my partner. He told Turner he wasn't interested in giving up being a detective, so they get him only when they really, really need him. Which, I got a feeling is going to be more often than any of us wants him to be. Still, he has the choice to say no. But since Joe is the only one, so far, who can ride Smoke... hell, why worry about it. The City said if they decide not to keep Smoke he'll be turned over to Joe. Never seen a man so happy in my life.]
THE END