Allegiances

He knew it wouldn’t be long before they would be after him. Nobody crossed Joey Mengetti and got away with it. He had been a fool for even trying, but the temptation of all that money had proven to be stronger than his feeble willpower. Now he was running for his life, from the police and his former boss, with no idea of the implications his actions would cause.
                                                                                        ***                           
Daniel Gray, one of the most respected detectives in the district, had had a trying day to say the least. He had been following up on dead-end leads for most of the day, and then some man had come in pleading for protection from his boss.         
As it turned out, the man was none other than Michael Kirk, an investor turned scamster, who ensured Joey Mengetti’s horde of stolen wealth remained safely hidden from the world.
This was a huge break for Gray, who had been assigned to the seemingly impossible task of bringing the country’s biggest criminal to justice. All previous attempts at catching the elusive Joey Mengetti had been complete failures, but this time he had a real chance.

Daniel had to stop on the way home to buy a peace offering for his wife, who was becoming fed up with him coming home late every night. All he managed to find was a miserable bunch of flowers and some chocolates, but they would have to do.     
His optimism was quickly shot down when stepped through the door. There was no delicious aroma of a home-cooked meal awaiting him, and worse than that, no grumpy wife on the couch either.                                                                     
Daniel sighed, and called out to his wife, “Lisa? I’m really sorry I’m late again, but things have been really hectic lately. I know it doesn’t make up for it, but I brought you something.”
The lack of an answer proved he would most probably be sleeping on the couch tonight. As he slowly walked to their bedroom, he began readying an apology suitable for his crimes. It was the crunch underfoot that made Daniel take a proper look around. He looked down, and saw the broken picture frame from their wedding day. Ahead, the bedroom door had been kicked in.                                 
His blood ran cold, and screaming his wife’s name, he ran into the room. He was met with a scene of chaos, ornaments smashed on the floor, clothes strewn around, cupboards ransacked, but what caught his attention the most was the pool of blood on the far side of the bed. He slowly walked around the bed, afraid of what he might find there.                    
A small wave of relief washed over him when he didn’t see Lisa’s body there, but this was short lived once he read the note lying on the floor.          

Gray was in stark contrast to his usual neat appearance. He hadn’t got a second of sleep. It was pure torture to sit at home, doing nothing, constantly thinking of all the things that could have happened to his wife. He couldn’t have gone to the station the night before, lest people ask why he was back so soon, and the note clearly explained what would become of Lisa if anyone’s suspicion was raised.   
“Hell, you’re a sight for sore eyes. Everything ok with you and the missus?” enquired Chief Hodges.          
“Yes yes, we’re fine.” Gray hastily replied. He couldn’t risk telling him about Lisa. He knew many of the officers were on Mengetti’s payroll, that’s how he had always avoided arrest. He trusted Hodges, but the Chief would try and do things the official way, which would only get Lisa killed, if she wasn’t already.                       
‘“I don’t think Kirk is safe here. We should move him to a safe-house as soon as possible,” explained Gray,” It’s best if only a few of us know his location.”       
“Relax, he is due to be moved later today. You sure you alright? You can talk to me Daniel, you know that.”
“I’m fine. Just have a few more questions to ask Kirk before he leaves.”

There was only one person Daniel knew he could completely trust. His high school friend and best-man, Eric Simmonds. He was a lab analyst at the station.               
“I need you to tell me everything you can about this note,” said Gray, handing over the kidnapper’s demands, “And I need you to keep this quiet. I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”                         
“Ok, what’s all the secrecy about though?”          
“Just read it. I’ll be back in an hour,” and with that he left to prepare Michael Kirk, his wife’s only lifeline.

“What did you find?” Gray demanded barely forty minutes later.                 
“Seriously Daniel, what is going on? What’s happened to Lisa?”                             
“I don’t have time! Just tell me what you found!”
“Ok, ok. The only unusual thing I found was trace elements of pine needles, nothing else. What is going o…?          
But Daniel left before he could finish. He knew Lisa would be kept somewhere secluded, and there were fishing cabins at a lake just outside of town, with nothing but pine trees. A quick phone call to the manager confirmed that there was only one cabin currently rented out. He knew his wife was there, and he was going to get her back.                                               
                                                                                              ***
He knew better than to feel safe, but he couldn’t help it. He had stolen all of Joey Mengetti’s money, and hidden it in a bank account where it would never be found. He was being taken to a safe house, would get a reduced sentence for testifying against the most wanted man in the country, and then he was free to live the rest of his life in absolute luxury. He couldn’t hold back a smile while thinking of how to spend his new-found wealth. Life was definitely beginning to look up for Michael Kirk, right up until the moment when a van collided with the unmarked patrol car.
                                                                                            ***
Daniel had found the cabin where Lisa was being kept. He had been watching it for some time, long enough to see that there were only two men watching over her.  The only thing that had kept Daniel from going and saving his wife was the fact that she didn’t need to be rescued. She wasn’t bound to a chair, gagged and on the brink of death as he had expected. Instead, she was busy making coffee, casually talking, and even laughing, with the two men. 
Daniel Gray had been a detective for nearly ten years, and he was good at what he did, the best, but all his years of training and experience couldn’t have prepared him for this. He had put countless criminals behind bars, but never had he imagined that he was married to one.
Daniel made his way down to the logwood cabin, using the trees and surrounding brush to remain undetected. He knew he should have called for back-up, but he had to speak to Lisa first. Maybe everything was just one big misunderstanding?     
No. He knew it wasn’t. He pushed the last of his doubts to the recesses of his mind, took aim, and fired two rounds in quick succession through the window, instantly ending the lives of the two men. Before Lisa had a chance to react, he was through the door, his gun aimed straight at his wife.                                       
“What the hell is going on Lisa? I thought you were dead! I thought I was going to find your body dumped in some room! But instead you’re making coffee!”               
“I can explain Daniel, please, it’s not wha…”                                                         
“It’s not what it seems? What else could it be Lisa? You lied to me! Everything we ever had was a lie! I thought you actually loved me Lisa, but you were just…” 
“Danny I’m pregnant.”                                                                                   
Hearing those words was like a physical blow. Daniel slowly lowered his weapon, at a total loss for words, which is exactly how Lisa predicted he would react. She reached behind her, pulled out her own gun, took aim, and before Daniel had time to register what was happening, two bullets tore through his left shoulder.       
Lisa used this time to make her escape. Daniels anger and adrenalin kept most of his shoulder pain at bay, but what really hurt him was that the woman he had been married to for twelve years, and loved unconditionally all that time, had never really loved him at all. She had just been using him, finding out how much the police knew about her boss, making sure the infamous Joey Mengetti remained a threat to millions of people.          
Daniel let out a scream, a mixture of pain and anger. He had just sacrificed everything, everything, for someone who had sacrificed him, without so much as a second thought. But he wasn’t prepared to let it end this way. This time he was one step ahead of Mengetti.          
The note had forced him to place a tracking device on Michael Kirk, so he could be abducted en route to the safe-house, but Daniel had also placed a tracker of his own. He had slipped a nano-tracker into Kirk’s coffee, who had unsuspectingly drunk it. It would be undetectable, and although the acid in Kirk’s stomach would soon destroy it, it would transmit long enough to know where he was being kept. It was time to call Chief Hodges. It was time to end Joey Mengetti.
                                                                                          ***
“So, you thought you could steal from me Michael? You are a fool to have thought I would let you get away with this. I thought you were smarter than that. You know nobody crosses me and gets away with it. Now where is my money?” demanded Joey.
“Please Joey, just let me explain!” Michael pleaded.
“I don’t believe that is the answer to my question. The longer you take to answer me, the shorter your lifespan becomes.”          
“You’re just gonna kill me when I tell you. You need me alive Joey.”
“Five, four, three…two…”
“Switzerland! Ok, it’s all in Switzerland. There is a safety deposit box with all the account details in it.” 
“That wasn’t so hard, now was it? Where is the safety deposit box Michael?”       
It was at that moment that the Task Force waiting outside the abandoned factory decided to make their assault. They had the building completely surrounded, but Mengetti’s men still opened fire.  The gunfight was over in seconds, the Task Force easily eliminating the armed thugs. Joey managed to get off one shot himself, but it wasn’t aimed at the police.                    
Michael Kirk lay slumped on the floor, a pool of blood spreading around his head from a single shot. With him silenced, the world would never know all the atrocities Joey Mengetti had committed.
                                                                                          ***
It had been over a month since Daniel’s life had been turned upside down. He had been put on suspension until further notice. It was because of him that the one man who could testify against against Joey Mengetti, and put him away for life, was dead. Chief Hodges had defended Daniel, pleading extenuating circumstances, but the fact that Lisa worked for Mengetti over-ruled this.                    
Daniel had since moved into a small apartment. He couldn’t bear to live in the house where he had done nothing but make false memories for twelve years. It was while he was sitting alone, contemplating his future, that he heard the rasp of something being pushed underneath the door.          
He ignored it for as long as possible, but his boredom and curiosity eventually got the better of him. There was a brown envelope from some medical facility he had never heard of. He ripped it open, and found a single photograph inside. A photograph taken from a sonar scan. There were three words written on the back, three words which made his whole body go weak: ‘It’s a girl’.