Black and Blue Ch. 05

*BLAM!* *BLAM!* *BLAM!*

Two bullet holes appeared side-by-side in the center of Jocelyn Moran's chest. A third appeared in the dead middle of her forehead, just above her eyes, as she was falling. She was dead before she hit the ground.

"STOP!" yelled FBI EAD Owen Lange, who was not wearing head protection, as the Federal Marshals were raising their weapons. "Lower your weapons! All of you! Now!" Amazingly, with Moran dead, everyone complied...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I had fallen to the ground, and Cindy had rushed up to me as Melina stood over me and watched the Enemy. "Don!" Cindy cried out. "Are you okay?"

"I've felt better." I gasped as Cindy pulled me behind a wall of TCPD Officers that had come up to protect me. She saw the two bullets flattened into the front of my first layer of armor. She tore at the velcro straps to remove it, then opened my shirt, to find the innermost layer of armor undamaged.

"Double layer." Cindy sighed. "Thank God!"

"Thank Your Iron Crowbar... and my tailor." I quipped. "It's actually a triple layer, and the girdle helped absorb the impact of the second shot." And I needed it; Moran had fired illegal cop-killer bullets for maximum lethality.

Under TCPD and FBI questioning, the Marshals with Moran told their stories that they'd been ordered to attend Moran to arrest Commander Troy, and had been assured that she had a legitimate warrant. EAD Lange said "The warrant was illegally obtained, and was rescinded. It's possible none of you were told that. But you've still got a lot of questions to answer..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"We were lucky again, Crowbar." said Sheriff Griswold as he and Cindy helped me back to Headquarters. I had my arms around their shoulders, like an injured football player being helped off the field.

"Yes sir." I said. "Better lucky than good. And that's why we have 'TCPD' in large letters on the front of the armor... can't armor-plate my head." Actually, I was wearing a Police helmet, but the face shield wasn't crap for stopping bullets. It could've been bad, but it wasn't.

Yes, lucky. Lucky Iron Crowbar.

The Press had heard the shots and had come running to investigate. They found a LOT of Federal Agents and TCPD Officers blocking their progress. And that allowed us, and Daniel and Melina, to get inside the Headquarters building before the Haters (i.e. the worthless Press) realized what had happened.

I was escorted to the Infirmary room, where my favorite doctor was waiting. Melina assured her big sister that she was okay, and recounted the story that I'd intercepted the bullets. Laura said to me "Chivalry is not dead, I see. Lucky you aren't, either, Don."

"Better lucky than good." I said agreeably as Laura helped me take my armor off. Melina inspected the armor while Laura inspected me. There was a big bruise forming where the first round had impacted my upper chest, and another purple band on my lower left ribcage. Breathing deeply was a bit painful, but not impossible.

"If you start coughing," Laura said, "and especially if you cough up so much as one drop of blood, we will go directly to the E.R. at University Hospital, do not pass 'Go', do not collect $200. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am." I said, not arguing with my Boss..

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

1:00pm, Friday, May 13th. Owen Lange came into the Main Conference Room to brief us.

"We have the names of the Federal Marshals," said Owen Lange, "and we'll be following up with them. But it looks like they were just following orders, and thought it was a legit mission. Ten of the 12 Marshals were black, hand-chosen by Moran, and they were pretty pissed at first, but once I explained the deception, as well as the fact we have evidence that Moran intended to shoot Commander Troy, not arrest him, they quietened down. They're beginning to realize that discretion is the better part of valor where their careers are concerned. They were taken to the Federal Building, and will be released once we check them out further."

"What about the shoo-ting?" asked Chief Moynahan.

"It's my finding that Jocelyn Moran fired the first shot, and was not provoked into doing so." said Lange. "As I just said, Moran had no intention of arresting anyone; she meant to shoot Don, and damn the consequences. Melina fired back in self-defense, and the defense of her husband and the rest of us. And she already has some people well above my pay grade working in Washington to make that story stick."

"So it's Federal on Federal," Lange continued, "and since the Iron Crowbar is technically a Federal Agent with that special ID he has, I'm sure you'll have no problem with letting us handle this at the Federal level."

The Chief glanced at me and I nodded. "As you said, Mr. Lannnge... noooo problemooooo." the Chief said agreeably.

"So where is Ava Hinds?" Melina asked.

"At the Federal Building." said Jack Muscone. "And in fairness to her, she was totally shocked by what Moran tried to do, if I don't miss my guess. I also gave her a copy of the information the TCPD provided us, showing Lester Holder working with both white and black agitators, and she's realized that we have a lot of ammunition, pun not intended, to fight back against any civil rights charges."

"It's a good think she didn't show up." I said.

"You got that right." Melina said. "I have one question: why was Moran targeting Don? I thought my husband was her lodestone, and Don was Ava Hinds's target." All eyes went to me.

"Moran hated me as much as Hinds does, maybe even more after we arrested her at that Council Meeting." I said. (Author's note; 'Casting Aspersions', Ch. 02.) "And it also occurs to me that they need Daniel alive, so they can keep pressuring the Town & County through him. But I'm intractable, and they know I'll never permit the TCPD to enter into a Consent Decree. So I'm the one Jocelyn Moran marked for death..."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

3:00pm, Friday, May 15th. EAD Owen Lange had allowed the Federal Marshals to leave, and had also had Jocelyn Moran's body removed from our morgue and sent out of State.

Teresa reported that a group of mostly young black persons had marched from T-Square's club 'Rhythms & Rap' to his club 'Jasmine' along MLK Jr. Drive. The march had been peaceful, and the Police had not only been unobtrusive, they'd helped block traffic as the demonstrators marched along the street.

Teresa also reported that there had been almost as many reporters as there were marchers, recording the event, and the only trouble that occurred was when the Media tried to get close-ups of the Police, particularly our Officers's faces. That was stopped with strong force being applied, authorized and encouraged by a Police Commander that utterly despises the Press.

Jack Muscone and Karina White took me, Cindy, and Melina to the Cop Bar for lunch. To absolutely no one's surprise, double cheeseburgers and baskets of fries were brought out before we'd even ordered. And Pops, the owner of the establishment, said this one was on the House after the Police actions of the night before.

"How do you feel, Don?" Karina asked as we sat down.

"Sore." I said. "But I only had one layer of armor when Dominic Ellis shot me. That hurt much worse." (Author's note: 'Only Time', Ch. 04.)

"Still, they were cop-killer bullets." Melina said. "I only had one layer of armor on, and they might well have gone through it. So you are officially credited with saving my life, and I'm grateful to you for it."

I fist-bumped Melina and said "Yeah, I take care of people who own dogs that are descendants of Bowser." Everyone chuckled, then I asked "So how is Dorothy doing?"

"The kids love her." Melina said. "Joanne Warner and I have been coordinating dog-walking times, so that Dorothy and Leo can inspect their domains together. And speaking of Joanne, how is she doing in the Police Boxing Matches?"

"She's still in it." said Cindy. "But she faces Kalsu next, and he's been running through the field. I think he'll win it all. What say you, Don?"

I said "I think Joan Laurer may meet him in the Finals. She's ripping through everyone, too. I get the feeling that she did some training with the Green Crowbar." Cindy shrugged her eyebrows a couple of times in acknowledgement as I said "Laurer has Inga Gunddottar tomorrow."

After lunch, Melina asked to ride with me in my Police SUV. Cindy drove the Federal Agents to the Federal Building in her Police SUV. I suggested we take the 'scenic' view, around the Bypass, as I wanted to observe what any demonstrators might be doing.

Melina glanced over at me, then said "Pull over." I pulled my vehicle to the side of the road and turned on the lightbar. Melina took what looked like a cellphone out of her purse, and pressed a button on the side. Not only did my radio get knocked out, but the entire car shut down!

"This is no-shit anti-bugging power." Melina said. "I rarely use it. It's knocked out the electronics in your car's computer, which is why the car just shut down, but you can crank it back up when I turn this off."

"I have got to get me one of those!" I said jovially. "So what do you want to tell me?"

"I really do appreciate you stepping in front of me, Don." Melina said. "Jocelyn Moran had told some people in Washington that she intended to kill you, not arrest you, and I won't tell you how we recorded that. But the fact we did, and that Moran is posthumously being charged with attempted murder in the first degree of Federal Agents, is causing the Swamp Frogs to back off." I nodded.

Melina: "So we knew she wanted to kill you, and probably Daniel, and maybe the rest of us. The only thing we did not expect was that Moran was using cop-killer bullets. So your triple-layer of protection saved both our asses."

I said: "After you and Jack told me what was going down, I suited up for her. I was fully expecting for Moran to do something active. As were you."

Melina said "Yes. And I know nothing gets past you, so I'll say this to you and no one else. You know how I feel about... blacks. And I make no apologies for it. The violence you're seeing now is ginned up for political purposes, and blacks are being agitated on purpose for the politicians's and especially the Media's agenda. Jocelyn Moran was part of that. And just like I exterminated Jasmine Nix with extreme prejudice, pun intended, I went out there with the purpose and intent of exterminating Jocelyn Moran. And I admit: I enjoyed removing that racist nigger bitch from the face of this earth."

I nodded. "I understand. But you're right: not much is getting past me, here. You are not acting alone in what you are doing."

Melina said "No, I'm not. Look, we are not like Superior Bloodlines and White Roots. We are simply pushing back against the politicians and the Media that are using identity politics and race to destroy our Constitution and our country. And I'm telling you this because I know how good you are, and that you're not in lockstep with me on some of this. All I want is for you to cut me some slack and let us do what we have to do."

"All I can say is 'keep it out of my County'." I replied. "So... how do you feel about Tasha?"

"She's a sweet little girl." Melina said. "And to that point, I don't hate people for the sake of hating them. I just have no tolerance for blacks that use race for political or other gain, and hypocritically hate whites for being white."

I was not fooled by that, but I had nothing to say; after all, Jocelyn Moran had attempted to murder me. I wordlessly pointed to Melina's device and she turned it off, and I cranked the car and pulled onto the road...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When I got home to The Cabin that evening, I had Carole help me take the dogs out.

"Okayyyy, Fussbudget." I said after we'd sat down together on the metal mesh loveseat. "Let's talk about your bust of Shawn Redmond for stealing Sidney's baseball and framing Jameis for it."

"What about, Daddy?" Carole said, not looking at me, but observing the train coming out of the western horizon.

"Carole," I said, "you didn't actually see Shawn steal that ball, did you?"

Carole's face fell. "Am I in trouble, Daddy?"

"No." I said. "No, you are not. Especially since it's a school matter... and you were right."

"I did see Shawn do it." Carole said. "In my mind. And I could tell he was guilty. He was thinking it."

I nodded. "I understand. And you did the right thing, bringing it up. But when you get to be an adult, and a full Police Officer, there's something called 'due process' we have to follow. Part of that is something called 'probable cause'. At school, students don't have a lot of protection from their desks being searched. In the adult world, we can't just search people's belongings without that probable cause."

"Is this a 'teachable moment?" Carole asked astutely.

"Yes, it certainly is." I replied. "When you get to be an adult, you have to actually see the crime to be a witness to it. Juries don't understand what you can do. So you have to see it with your eyes, or find another way to show how you found out something."

"Oh." Carole said. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." I said. "You did the right thing. Shawn was very, very bad to do what he did, and I suspect we'll be tangling with him when we're adult Police Officers and he's grown to to be... whatever he's going to be. And you saved Jameis from getting in trouble. You did the right thing, Carole, and I'm very proud of you for speaking up when you needed to. I'm just telling you this now so you can learn from it, when you become an adult."

"Part of being an Iron Crow-bar?" Carole asked.

"Yep." I said.

"Mommy doesn't want me to be an Iron Crowbar, though she doesn't say it out loud." Carole said.

"What does she want you to be?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I think she wants me to be a normal lady." Carole said. "But that ain't gonna happen. I'm going to be like you, Daddy. A Po-leece Off-i-cer, and a great De-tec-tive. It's a dunnnnn deal."

"I'll take your word for it." I said, inwardly pleased, as Bowser and Buddy came up. "But before that happens, let's take these outstanding dogs inside, and start getting ready for bed. Daddy's tired, even if you aren't..."

Part 30 - Chatter and Gossip

Saturday, May 16th. I came into the gym at Police Headquarters, which was pretty full of Police Officers. They were watching the Freestyle Division Police Boxing Matches going on. I came up to Lieutenants Rudistan and Davis.

"Congratulations on your win this morning, Mr. Rudistan." I said. Rudistan had won his (Boxing Division) boxing match earlier.

"Thank you, sir." Rudistan said happily. "You know, sir, these matches just aren't the same without you and Commander Ross."

"See Jerome?" I said. "Sheriff Griswold has taught Rudistan very well about kissing ass."

"Yes sir." said Jerome with a grin.

"How's Inga doing?" I asked, seeing Corporal Gunddottar boxing with Detective Joan Laurer. Cindy Ross was the referee. The Chief had 'hinted' that he wanted those of us that were denied participation to referee matches. Cindy and Rudistan had agreed. Teresa and I had outright refused; we were still pissed that we couldn't participate.

"She's getting her ass beat." Jerome said quietly. Indeed, though Inga had trained hard and was defending herself well, Joan Laurer was delivering strong punishment to Inga every time the Icelandic blonde tried any offensive maneuvers. Laurer was not just good, she was damn good. PBM Champion kind of good, if I didn't miss my guess.

Sure enough, a moment later Inga overpressed, and Laurer took her down with a simple judo throw, and dropped on top of her. Inga yielded before Cindy could get down to three-count the match.

The combatants man-hugged... well 'woman-hugged', and complimented each other on the match. Then they climbed out of the ring and down to the floor.

"Nice job, Laurer." I said. "My disappointment that I won't get a chance to go against you cannot be overstated."

"I'll see you after I win the title, sir." Joan said. I said that we were 'AWN!' if she won the whole thing, and we fist-bumped.

Meanwhile, Jerome was 'consoling' Inga. "Want to go to lunch?:" he asked

"Oh, I'm going to lunch with Detective Laurer." said Inga. "We had a bet; loser buys the winner lunch."

I said "Jerome, why don't I take you and Rudistan to lunch while the ladies have lunch and talk about us guys." Rudistan laughed jovially at that...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We sat in the back 'Command Room' at the Cop Bar, whose main rooms were full of Public Safety personnel, Police, Fire, and some EMTs.

"You guys did a great job the other night." I said. Rudistan had led the 'Commander Troy Protection Detail', implementing Our Sheriff's orders that a certain redhead with a red crowbar not extend himself or walk into anything dangerous. (Who, me? ME?) Meanwhile, Jerome had been at the Old Mill, working with Captain Thompson as a liaison to the Intel Branch, getting and working on the data that we used to effectively shut down the 'Police-free zone'.

"Thank you, sir." said Jerome. Rudistan nodded vigorously in agreement.

"I do have one question for you both, but especially you, Jerome, as a black man." I said. "And I want you both to speak freely on this. How did you feel during that time, as a black man and also a Police Officer?"

"I'm a Police Officer first, sir." said Jerome. "And I can't speak for anyone else, but almost all the black Officers on this Police Force feel the same way. We know you, and Chief Moynahan and Sheriff Griswold, are very fair to the Black Community and don't tolerate assholes like McCombs."

I nodded, then Jerome unexpectedly continued: "I do have to say this, sir. My father doesn't feel the same way I do about some of it. He told me that as fair as the TCPD's leadership may be, blacks have been abused by the Police, and especially white Police Officers, far too long to just suddenly have a basis of trust."

"That's a good point," I said, "and leads to another question I wanted to ask both of you: how do we get to that level of trust? What can we do to get past the hatreds, to address the frustrations of blacks while being fair to all the other ethnicities out there?"

Rudistan spoke first: "Sir, I grew up in the Projects, with mostly black kids. A lot of it is money, economic conditions. My dad was no-shit tough with me; he made me go to school and study. I ran away from home, and almost joined a gang. And then I watched some people I grew up with get blown away in a gang-related drug shooting, and I knew that I had to find ways to make money that didn't get me killed. And that's when I started realizing my dad was right to make me go to school and study."

Jerome said "As a Navy brat, I didn't see a lot of what Micah saw, and nothing was ever a question for me. My dad wasn't happy I became a Police Officer, but he accepted it a little better once he saw that I was working with good people. But to your question about race, sure I've been subjected to racism by whites, and I'm hated by Blacks for wearing blue. I just drive on with it."

I said "That's good, but to my question: what can we do, what can I do, to help all sides come together?"

Jerome said "I'm not sure, sir. Not all whites are racist, nor are all blacks. But like Micah said, a lot of it is economic. Some blacks will go to work, make money, participate in the American Dream. Other Blacks either don't think the American Dream is attainable, that whites are preventing them from attaining it, or they hate America from the get-go, and don't want to be a part of it."

Jerome: "And some think they're owed something by others, which helps fuel the divisions. That's why you see Maxine Watts talking about slavery reparations all the time... to gin up that hatred, envy, and sense of entitlement. Unfortunately, there are too many who accept and believe that."