Badge of Betrayal

The boys were both ecstatic to finally see me after being gone for two weeks. Clarissa was absolutely shocked and looked as though she was going to soil herself when I burst in the front door and shouted, "I'm home!"

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with Clarissa and the boys, trying to act as normal as possible for them. It was clear that Clarissa hadn't explained to them what was going on and for now, it was probably the best. The boys and I spent time assembling the Lego building sets that I had bought for them. They both love Star Wars so I bought Nick a giant Lego Millennium Falcon and I got Jake the Lego Death Star. Both items came with almost 3000 pieces. Assembling the Millennium Falcon alone took us right up until the boys' bed time. The other toy would have to wait until another night to get put together.

I waited until the boys were asleep before leaving. As I was getting ready to leave Clarissa approached me wanting to talk.

"So," she began, "how is this going to work? We can't go on like this forever, Patrick."

"It is going to be like this until I decide it isn't, Clarissa."

"Dammit, Patrick! You know Bud will never accept this and neither will I. You have to think about the boys, Hell, you have to think about yourself and what Bud is capable of."

I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. Before I left I turned once more to Clarissa. "I think, Clarissa, that maybe you better reconsider what you THINK Bud is capable of and focus more on what I know that I am capable of." And I walked out the door.

I showed up at work the next morning precisely at 8:00 am. No one paid much attention to me and I simply made a beeline to my office where my secretary Shirley Cunningham had managed to accumulate a nice pile of paperwork for me to go through while I had been gone. I could quickly tell that this was going to be the part of the job I would hate immensely.

About 10:00 I was summoned into Bud Roberts' office. Sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk was the Mason County Attorney, Marion Lawson. I had seen him plenty over the years but had never been introduced to him personally. My "spidey sense" immediately kicked into high gear.

"Patrick, this is our County Attorney, Marion Lawson. Marion, this is my new Captain and Chief Deputy, Pat Quinn."

Marion rose from his seat. "Pat, it is quite an honor. We are all proud of you beyond words. You are quite the hero." I blushed at the compliment. Marion returned to his seat.

Bud glared at me as he continued on, with a goofy smirk on his face. Marion had the same smirk. All of a sudden, his compliment didn't seem so genuine. "Marion will be working pretty closely with you at times and I thought you two should get acquainted. Oh, if you'll excuse me, I gotta run a quick errand. I'll be back in a sec."

I stood there sheepishly while Marion eyeballed me from his seat. "You know, Patrick," he said with that goofy smirk, "I had the pleasure of getting to know your wife a while back. Bud introduced us during a trails committee meeting." My eyes narrowed as he spoke. "Your wife is an incredibly beautiful woman. You've got quite a handful there. Mmm-hmm. You're a lucky man, Patrick. Yes, sir. A lucky man, indeed!"

"Why are you speaking to me about my wife like that, sir?"

Now Marion sported a full shit-eating grin. "Let's just say, Patrick, that it has been a real pleasure getting to know your wife." The way he had said 'pleasure' told me all I needed to know. So Bud Roberts was sharing my wife with the county attorney. I could feel the blood boiling in my veins. I desperately wanted to gut this man like a fucking deer right now. No sooner had that thought entered my mind than Bud reappeared in the office.

"Did I miss anything exciting while I was gone?" Bud and Marion shared a knowing look and smile. "Uh, that'll be all Patrick. You can return to your desk now," he said as though he had just finished scolding a child. I balled my fists in the most intense anger I had experienced since finding out about the affair. All I could do was just turn and make a beeline for my desk. This was not the place for a confrontation.

I sat and seethed to myself in my office for the rest of the day. Every time I felt like I was getting a handle on this whole situation Bud or Clarissa would do or say something that seemed to set me back. The affair was one thing as long as it stayed between me, Bud and Clarissa. But now there was an outsider involved, Marion Lawson. Clarissa had gone from refusing me sex to having an affair with Bud and was now apparently turning into a whore for Bud and his close friends. Emotionally I was being destroyed one salvo at a time.

I made a beeline back to the farm after work and spent the evening with the boys again. I could tell that Clarissa desperately wanted to get the hell out of there while I was in the house but even she could see how happy the boys were to spend time with me. She spent most of her time in our bedroom watching TV while the boys and I hung out downstairs. I stayed until the boys went to bed and, again, Clarissa wanted to talk before I left.

"Patrick, we need to talk. Please quit ignoring me."

"I'm not ignoring you, Clare. What is it that you think we need to discuss?"

"We need to figure this out. We can't keep confusing the boys like this. They are old enough to understand what is going on."

"Oh, really?" I asked sarcastically. "So does that mean that you want to explain to them how their own mother betrayed their father by fucking their father's boss for the past two years and is now planning on leaving their father so she can eventually divorce his ass and marry the man she started fucking?"

"Dammit, Patrick! You know what I'm talking about!"

"Oh, oh, oh, I see," I said. "You want them to know what YOU want them to know which is sugar coating and just leaving out all the parts that make you look like a bitch, a whore and a slut."

"Calling me names isn't getting us anywhere, Patrick. Communication will, however."

I let out a frustrated sigh. "Why? Why would you do this to me? How could you do this to our family? What is it about me that made you lose any and all respect for me?"

Clarissa thought for a few moments before answering. "It wasn't about a lack of respect for you. I just fell in love with the power that Bud has. Men respect him. Some people are afraid of him. He would rather be Sheriff than a county supervisor or the mayor of Red River Falls. He has a lot of reach, a lot of influence. He got me my committee position on the trails committee, got me in touch with a lot of movers and shakers. People respect him. And because of him, people are starting to notice me and respect me, too. I couldn't help that I was attracted to that."

"And the whole low testosterone thing was just a ruse to get me to back off sexually so you could save yourself for your lover?"

"No, Patrick. I swear. The condition is very real. Doctor Kiesler prescribed me the cream about the same time I started seeing Bud."

"So, once again, you're willing to do for him what you wouldn't do for me. Nice," I said as I turned to go.

"What about the boys, Patrick? What about this? You can't just keep barging in here every night!"

I walked up to her and looked her straight in the eye. "This is still my house. I will come and go from this house as I damned well please! And I will still be here every night after work and will stay until the boys go to bed. That part is not negotiable, is that clear?"

"Bud is not gonna like this, Patrick. We need to work out a little more separation. The boys aren't going to adjust to this if you won't cooperate!"

"This is gonna continue as-is until I decide otherwise. And fuck Bud and whatever he wants. If he doesn't like it he can kiss my ass. I'll be home tomorrow after work as usual. The rest of the week looks to be about the same!" I slammed the door a little too loudly as I left and hoped the boys didn't wake up. That is, if they were even asleep in the first place.

I dragged my ass into work the next morning and did my best to avoid Bud at all costs. But just after lunch something happened that would change everything and ultimately become a turning point in my life. About 1:30 in the afternoon Bud poked his head in my office and told me to follow him. He seemed genuinely concerned and in a professional way.

"We've got a situation, Patrick," he said as we entered his office. "Red River Falls PD is on the scene of a stand-off at 1830 North McKinley Avenue. A 27 year old male is holed up in his home with his 5 year old daughter. Apparently, he was babysitting his daughter while the mother was at work. The couple is ex-boyfriend and girlfriend and the male involved has been trying to win back the ex-girlfriend. Apparently things have been getting worse and not better and today he snapped and barricaded himself in the house with the little girl. No one has had any contact with anyone in the house for over 30 minutes but PD has reason to believe that both subjects are still in the house and probably still alive."

"Has the SOG (Special Operations Group) team been activated?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's why I called you in here. You were a member of the team as a Deputy. As Chief Deputy you now have tactical command of the team."

"Uh, Bud," I said, "I know our standard tactics and stuff but I've never served as tactical command before."

"I'm aware of that," he replied. "But I need you to do this because if you don't, it will just be an excuse for the PD and Chief Banks to try and take over control of the team."

So, this was a power play, I thought. Bud was going to send me in because he had to and because who ever was in control of the team also controlled the budget. The county and each municipality contributed quite a bit of money to operate the SOG team.

"You have fifteen minutes to get your gear and get down to the scene. The armored vehicles are already on their way and all of the team members have been paged."

"Okay," I said. "I'm on my way." And I turned to leave.

"Just one more thing, Pat," he said walking up to me eye-to-eye. "In case the thought is crossing your mind about how you can blow this operation just to embarrass me in order to get back at me for everything else going on in our lives, don't. If you screw this up, so help me God, I will BURY you for it. You will be finished immediately. You got me?

I chuckled. "As bad as I wanna screw you over, Bud, I'm not going to gamble with the life of a little girl to do it. I'm gonna get that little girl out of there and I'm going to take down her asshole father and I'm going to smile nice and big for the cameras when it is all over with and take all the credit." Bud's jaw just about dropped when I said that last statement but I took off out the door before he could finish.

I quickly changed into my tactical uniform and grabbed my bag of gear. My weapons of choice for S.W.A.T. operations such as this were my Beretta 9mm, my Mossberg tactical shotgun and a Hoeckler and Koch MP5 9mm assault weapon. I preferred the MP5 for the close-quarters fighting rather than my AR-15.

The command center was established one block south and one block west of the target house. Officers were stationed to provide eyes on the house from all sides and angles to ensure nobody entered or left the premises.

Pete Sturgeon, a captain with RRFPD, was waiting at the command center along with the Chief of Police, Clayton Banks. In total, all of the area homes were evacuated in a nine block area centered on the target house. Fifteen officers from the PD, as well as eight additional deputies and five State Troopers, were currently staffing the perimeter. A total of six additional officers besides me and Pete Sturgeon had responded for tactical ops, three deputies and three city officers.

We had two refurbished Vietnam-era Dodge Power Wagons that had been converted to armored vehicles with half-inch steel plating replacing the body panels. We also had a variety of technical gadgetry in addition to our weapons. Powerful speakers and amplifiers were at our disposal for psychological effects or in case we need a diversion.

"No luck getting anyone on the phone?" I asked Pete as I arrived at the command center.

"No. We're tried repeatedly but no such luck."

"Any signs of activity at all?"

"Nope. Not even so much as peeking out the curtains."

"Okay. Let's get started, then," I said looking at a computer laptop with a map of the area.

"Actually, Pat," Pete Sturgeon started, "I know that this is the first special ops event since you became captain. Chief Banks and I were thinking maybe I should take the lead on this one."

"Well, Pete, I'm not going to start a turf war. I have my instructions from the Sheriff and he wants this event handled within the confines of the agreement," I informed them. The agreement was a "28E" agreement between the county and the city of Red River Falls establishing the tactical team. The agreement stated that the Sheriff's department had overall authority regarding the team, its activation and operations involving the team.

"Now look, Pat, I - " I cut him off.

"Pete, Chief, I'm not gonna get into this. This is how Bud wants it handled. If the Chief wants to butt heads with Bud over this, that's fine. I'm not gonna do it. Now let's figure out how we're gonna get this little girl back. We need to start gathering intel on the house. What do we know?"

Sturgeon and Chief Banks looked at each other and realized they weren't going to win. They both knew that the last thing they wanted was the wrath of Sheriff Bud Roberts breathing down their necks. It was probably the only good thing from Bud that I had in my favor right now.

Pete sighed. "Well, we don't really know much right now. According to the girlfriend, she left the daughter in the home with the boyfriend while she went to work. Actually," he corrected himself, "they are ex-boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Go on," I said.

"Apparently there was some altercation between them after she dropped the daughter off this morning before she went to work. She became concerned, called the boyfriend, another verbal altercation occurred over the phone and the boyfriend threatened to harm himself and the little girl. The girlfriend returned to the address and found that all of the doors and windows had been barricaded. She could still hear the TV playing but no one would answer the phone or come to the door. We're playing this like a standoff since all of the doors and windows have been secured from the inside."

Well, the first thing that I needed was a look inside the premises. After trying to make phone contact once myself, I decided that my first tactical decision was going to be to plant optics to try and get a look inside the house itself. I requested that the city engineer bring me any specs and renderings of the layout of the interior of the house.

The house itself was a single-story two-bedroom bungalow that was built in the late 40's. It had an open front porch that led to the living room as you walked in the front door and to the right. To the left inside the front door was a small formal dining room and a single hallway led to the rear of the home. A bedroom, bathroom and second bedroom were on the right of the hallway and the kitchen took up the remainder of the left side of the home as you entered. All-in-all, the house had a fairly simple floor plan that shouldn't take too much effort to wire for sound and video.

The tools we would use for this were a series of small fiber optic cables that would be introduced into the home via high-speed drills. We would need no more than a 1/8 inch drill bit to introduce the cables. The cables would then give us an eighty degree view of any room we introduced them into. The video feed was not broadcast quality, to be sure, but was more than adequate for our purposes. Hopefully, it would give us a solid fix on the location of the little girl and her father and identify whether they were even alive and well since no one had spoken to them for over two hours.

In order to place the cables, I would need an effective diversion. I ordered my three deputies on the SOG team - Danny Larson, Chris Hayes and Alex Landau - to take control of the drills and place the cables. One of the police officers on the team, Kirk Hofeldt, would take charge of connecting the cables to a multi-splitter, which would then feed the video to our command center. Everyone would need to work fast but in our training exercises these men had previously been able to cable a similar sized house in under two minutes.

The diversion would come in the form of high intensity sound being blasted from the speakers of the armored tactical vehicles. The speakers on the vehicles could blast sound or music as high as 150 decibels, which was just shy of waking the dead. At a distance of 100 meters, a jet engine only tops out around 140 decibels.

I assigned two other SOG team members, Michael Garcia and Dick Lobeck, from the PD, to handle driving the armored vehicles. My plan was for them to literally drive the vehicles up to the front porch and then immediately start blasting the house with sound waves in an attempt to draw the perp toward the front of the house. The sound would be more than adequate to drown out the sound of the drilling while the other team members were engaged in cabling the house. Hopefully the overwhelming sound would be enough to draw the subject towards the front of the house to see what was going on, probably expecting a breech.

The subject was one Colton Allen Rigby, age 25. His ex-girlfriend and baby mama was Cheyenne Marie Teasdale, age 23. The daughter was five year old Amber Leanne Rigby.

Pete Sturgeon voiced concerns about my plan, saying that he was worried a fake breech could lead to an all-out fight with Rigby. I countered by saying that a fake breech at this point would give us the intel we need as well as lull Rigby into a sense of complacency as he would not be expecting a real breech if the situation eventually deteriorated to that point. I was nervous because it seemed as though some of the other team members were latching on to Pete's concerns. I didn't want an all-out mutiny on my hands at this point. I was annoyed with the fact that Bud wasn't here to keep Chief Banks in line and back me up in case Sturgeon really got in my way. But I also couldn't guarantee that Bud would actually do that, regardless. So it was John Wayne time for me and I needed to act fast and deliberately to keep the team in my corner and keep Pete Sturgeon off my ass.

I placed Pete at the command post so he could monitor the computer and notify me when the cameras were up and running. The armored vehicle was in place and the speakers and sound system were operating on standby. The placement team was ready and everyone had radioed in their status. We were all "go" for the mission. I gave the order to execute.

The big power wagons screeched as they took off from their positions and charged down from opposite ends of the street. The placement team was in position at the rear of the adjacent house. The armored vehicles were equipped with a dazzling array of emergency flashers which came on simultaneously. The vehicles stopped with their noses literally touching the front porch steps and the sound systems blasted to life with 150 decibels of fury with a high-pitched continuous sound pulse designed to disorient a subject.

Immediately I spotted the front window curtain pull to the side slightly from behind whatever was blocking it. The armored vehicles and the intense sound was having its effect. The cable team was doing their job and finished right about the one-minute and forty-five second mark. The team retreated and I called back the armored vehicles. As suddenly as it had started, the neighborhood was quiet again.