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Staring out of the windshield of this snow plow, I’m getting nauseous. It’s like having a forcefield of stars coming straight at you with blinders on and you can’t look away. Winters back in Jersey are cold and snowy, but they are nothing compared to the blizzard I’m currently enduring in the upper peninsula of Michigan. I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes shut as I fight down the urge to hurl. The howling of the wind around us combined with the heavy snowfall are wreaking havoc on my already anxious nerves. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a front row seat to a blizzard in the making.
“I hate him,” I mutter under my breath as I tighten my death grip on the edge of the seat, my right hand finding something to grab hold of on the door frame. The snow plow hits a pothole and I let out a curse as my stomach plummets into regions unknown. “I hate him so much.”
The snow plow driver, Edward as we were introduced earlier, chuckles and smacks my thigh with the back of his hand. I turn my head and glare at him with one eye half open. “This is nothing, pal. You should see it up here in the middle of January. Although, this here storm was a surprise to everyone. Mother Nature does her own thing you know, regardless of what the weatherman tells us.”
“It’s the middle of March. Isn’t it supposed to be spring-time?” I ask as I try to find a blade of grass protruding somewhere in a field to my right. Except I can’t see anything beyond the rapidly accumulating drifts of white. “I feel like I’m in a Star Wars movie right now; Hans Solo flying through space. That’s what this feels like.”
Ed cocks his head at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“You know, you can’t see anything in the dark with the headlights on except the snowflakes and they look like stars coming at you at a rate of a million miles an hour and it makes your eyes all goofy and your stomach lurch and did you really just flip on the high beams?”
He chuckles and I groan and he flips the headlights back to normal. Guy has a sense of humor, I’ll give him that.
“You know my partner is back home enjoying the warm sunshine in Hawaii and probably laughing his ass off when they told him there was a spur of the moment blizzard up here.”
“Haven’t you ever seen snow?”
“Yes,” I reply, my voice dripping with sarcasm. “I’ve seen snow.” I’m sure I make some sort of face that offends him in some way but at this particular juncture, I don’t care. “I’m from Jersey you know. We get lots of snow.”
“Not like this you don’t.”
“No, not like this.” I glance from one side of the road to the other and all I see are walls of piled up snow or plowed through snow, I can’t really tell anymore. All I know is there’s a lot of it and it’s accumulating fast. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen this much white shit. I’ve been in Hawaii the last 8 years. I even had to buy a winter coat for this man-hunt.”
Somehow, I drew the short end of the stick and ended up hopping a flight to follow our murder suspect to Northern Michigan, way Northern, so far north it’s not even part of the mitten anymore. Just about the time my flight landed and we had a tail on our suspect again, the blizzard hit and all roads had been shut down. Using my quick thinking, I got ahold of the Michigan Highway department and had them hook me up with one of their snow plow drivers to clear the way to my suspect that was holed up in a cabin that we could no longer get to by car.
Backup was in the plow behind us. Ed and I had a headstart on them and I’m beginning to think he was going extra slow so our backup could catch up. Unless they found a ditch and if that was the case, I was in trouble. It’s been known to happen, snow plows ending up in the ditches while trying to clear the roads. Although in this case, we were basically boxed in by walls of snow. If you went off the road, a snowdrift would swallow you whole and you probably wouldn’t be found until early summer. I was starting to rethink our plan of going after this guy. What the hell was I going to do with him once we caught up with him? Ask Ed to wait for me?
“How long have you been doing this?” I ask as I try to relax in my seat, re-adjusting the seatbelt across my chest.
“Plowing the highways?” he asks, not taking his eyes off the road. “Oh longer than you’ve been alive, young man.”
It was my turn to snicker. “I’m not exactly a spring chicken anymore.”
He gives me the once over before returning his eyes to the road. “Compared to me you are.”
Knowing that he had been doing this job for as long as I’ve been alive seemed to help me relax a bit more as I found comfort in his experience.
“I plow the highways in the winter, take care of the potholes in the spring and summer, collect the roadkill in the fall.” He made an adjustment with the plow and continued on. “It’s beautiful up here. I get to see lots of wildlife. Deer, elk, black bears and their cubs, turkeys, and on special occasions naked drunk guys hitchhiking.”
I raise an eyebrow bewildered. “I can neither confirm nor deny from my current vantage point. Nobody bothered to check the weather before they shoved me on that plane back in Hawaii.”
“Weather can be tricky up here. Mother Nature has a mind of her own.”
“It rains everyday back home.”
He looked confused. “Jersey?”
“Huh? No, Hawaii.” Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. For the first time, I had referred to Hawaii as my home without realizing it. The words just rolled off my tongue like they are a part of my everyday language.
“You got family there? In Hawaii? Weather has to be a lot better than this.”
Family? Yeah I got family… an entire Ohana. “My 16-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son. And a crazy partner who’s entire life mission has been to try and get me to relax or killed, I haven’t decided which one yet. I hate him and love him all in the same moment.”
“Sounds like an interesting guy.”
“You have no idea. He’s a Neanderthal animal on most days who invades my personal space, drives my car and has control issues. What about you? Family?”
“Nah. Most my family has either passed on or moved away to better weather. Winters are harsh up here, not a lot of jobs unless you work for the state and then there’s only a handful of those available.”
“Must be lonely.”
“It can be. But I’ve got friends here. We look out for each other. In fact, the guy behind us is Larry. He’s always got my back. We tag team this part of the state highway.”
“We call those friends ‘Ohana’ back home.” And dammit if I didn’t just do it again.
Ed looks at me and smiles. “Sounds like a special place.”
I nod my head in agreeance. “Very much so. I bet you’ve seen a lot driving road trucks for the state, huh?”
“I’ve seen my fair share. Crazy-ass drivers who think they own the road and then wrap their hundred thousand dollar sports car around a pine tree that wouldn’t budge.”
“I’ve seen a few of those as well being a cop. Not pine trees, mind you. Back in Jersey it’s maple trees. Very solid.”
“I’ve seen some of the worst pile-ups on these roads in the winter. People think snow plows are miracle workers and get every last snowflake off the road. It just can’t be done. And in conditions like this, there is little control. We do our best but people are still stupid and don’t use the brains in their heads that God gave them. You get that one person that panics and hits their brakes and it turns into a chain reaction. Scary shit to see, even scarier to be one of the cars that gets collected in the chaos.”
“That’s one thing I don’t miss about Jersey, is driving in the snow. I couldn’t do this for a living. This is scary shit. Not being able to see where you’re going or what’s coming at you.
“Can’t be much scarier than chasing after criminals. I mean the snow doesn’t shoot back at you.”
“No, you’ve got me there.”
“How long you been a cop?” he asks me as he makes another adjustment to the plow. He checks his mirrors and I instinctively do the same. Larry is still behind us with my backup. Thank God.
“Twenty years.”
He blows out a long whistle and I can’t tell if he thinks I’m bluffing or if he’s impressed. “You don’t look like you’ve been a cop for twenty years.”
“Yeah well, I have. I’m thinking about hanging it up soon though. Been working on opening a restaurant but that’s been more of a nightmare than my day job so I don’t know.”
“Hell, if you’re good at it, the day job. Why hang it up?”
“Because, the day job is dangerous and I have kids that worry and a partner that gets me into all these crazy situations and I really don’t like being shot at on a regular basis.”
“You ever been hit?”
I think back over my twenty year career as a cop and detective and member of Five-0 and yeah, I’ve been hit a few times. I grow silent as I think about this last time and how it was almost my last. And then something strange happened inside my head. Yeah, I’ve been hit a few times… but I’ve been missed a whole lot more. Is that the power of positive thinking Steve is always preaching about? Or just the way my head is swimming from staring into this blizzard for the better part of an hour.
“You alright over there, Detective? Not making you sick with my driving am I? Be thankful you got me and not Larry. He’s my pal and all and I love him, but he’s a little reckless.”
“Sounds like my Steve. He’s always reckless. Those are our biggest fights. He doesn’t get it that there are people that care about him and need him to stay alive.”
Ed checks his side mirror. “I get what you’re saying. I keep trying to tell Larry the same thing.”
I glance into my own mirror and all I see are swirls of snow illuminated by the headlights. “You and Larry? Are you together?”
He shrugs. “For about fifteen years now. Only one brave enough to come out here with me to help law officials catch a criminal. I guess his recklessness comes in handy on occasion.”
“Yeah, Steve’s too. I gave him half my liver you know, just so he’d be around a little longer. Then I get a little pissy when he doesn’t take care of it.”
“That’s a very noble sacrifice on your behalf.”
“Yeah well, I kinda like having the Neanderthal around.”
“He do anything special in return? I mean, how do you thank someone for that kind of thing?”
“Well, he cut me open and stuck his finger in my chest cavity. I guess you could say we are fully vested in each other’s well being.”
“You love him don’t you?”
“Just a little bit, yeah.” And suddenly I wish it was Steve back there with Larry as my backup because Steve knows how to read me and I know how to read him and when together we move as if we are one.
Ed slows the truck to a stop and kills the lights. “This is as far as we can take you without alerting your guy. You’re going to have to hoof it the rest of the way. The cabin is just over that hill.”
“Good thing I brought my boots.” I pull my hat down snuggly over my ears and check my gun before clicking on the flashlight.
“I’ll be here waiting for you. We aren’t going anywhere, Detective Williams.”
“You’re my ride back, you better not be going anywhere.”
“Stay safe.”
“Copy that.” I nod my head as I open the door against the wind and snow, the cold taking my breath away. I step into the deep snow and adjust the flashlight to find my footing.
“Danno!”
I swirl around and come face to face with the only person besides my kids who is allowed to call me that. I’m speechless as Steve plants a kiss to my already frozen lips.
“What the hell are you doing here? How did you…?” he cuts me off with a gloved finger to my lips.
“Not now, Danno. We’ve got a bad guy to catch. Come on.” He steps around me and takes the lead.
“You’ve got some explaining to do!” I yell at his retreating form. My words are all but lost in the howling wind. Leave it to Steve to take control. Off we go, moving as one.
~*~ After the Chill ~*~
“Danno, you’re freezing.” Steve rubbed his hands up and down Danny’s arms trying to restore some warmth to his partner.
“It’s freezing outside in case you haven’t noticed.” Danny wiped his nose on the edge of the blanket covering his body. “The idiot could have stayed in the cabin and surrendered instead of running out into the fucking blizzard.”
“We followed him all the way from Hawaii, you really think he would just throw in the towel and give up after he ran this far?”
“One can hope, right?”
“Yeah, Danno, one can hope.”
Danny eyed Steve carefully. “Why didn’t you tell me you were coming as well?”
“Originally, that wasn’t the plan. You were to meet up with the local officials to go after this guy, but then after your plane took off, we got word about the change in the weather and I wasn’t going to send you in without back-up you didn’t know or trust in that kind of situation. By the way, good call on getting with the highway department and getting a snowplow to clear the way. Good work.”
“We got our guy.”
“Yes we did. And after this storm clears, we can haul his ass back to Hawaii.”
“In the meantime, he can spend the night with the local police and you and I can spend the night warming each other up in a hotel somewhere.”
Steve brushed his nose against Danny’s. “God, you’re still so cold.”
Danny’s body shivered even though he was wrapped up tightly in a blanket. “You’re just going to have to warm me up,” he replied, his teeth chattering as he spoke.
“I think Hawaii has made you soft.” Steve rubbed his thumbs across Danny’s pink cheeks.
“I think you better find me a hotel room before I die of hypothermia.”
"Copy that, babe." Steve slung his arm over Danny's shoulder and pulled him close. Ed had already pointed him in the direction of the nearest hotel and was waiting by his plow to clear the way for them.