Flowers for All Occasions

For more information on the characters in this story, please read the following:

What Mother-in-Law Wants

Badge of Betrayal

Clarissa Gets Served

Grab Life by the Balls

The Ghost of Red River Falls

Darla's Dilemma

Getting Back to Square One

***WARNING*** This is a long story. How do I know? Because I wrote the damned thing. If plot development, character development and dialogue are important to you, then read on. If not, don't waste your time, especially if you are just going to head to the comments and bomb me with 1-star votes. There is sex in this story but if you are looking for some quick jack-shack material, this isn't it! Move on!

***WARNING #2*** This story deals with a couple of heavy topics - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Islamic extremism. If reading these topics makes you feel uncomfortable, then please move on and skip this one. I won't even know so I won't be offended. As always, supportive comments and constructive criticism are always welcome. If you're just gonna throw hand grenades, move along. Go be a jerk on someone else's time. For the rest of you, I hope you enjoy my offering. - SB

Flowers for All Occasions

A Sheriff Pat Quinn Story

I couldn't get to my Expedition fast enough but once there I turned the key, threw it in gear and slammed my foot on the accelerator. I reached down to the center console and flipped on the emergency flashers and siren. We had installed hands-free radio systems with Blue Tooth headsets in all of our department vehicles for just such an event as the one I was now involved in. I hoped it would make it easier for me to get control of the situation as I sped like a bat out of Hell towards the south side of Red River Falls.

"Dispatch, 17-01!"

"17-01, dispatch. Go ahead."

"Dispatch, contact Minnesota Highway Patrol! Have them contact all sheriffs' departments on their side of the border and establish traffic control points on all bridges and roads leading in from this side! Make sure they understand that both subjects are armed and dangerous!"

"10-4, 17-01. I have Minnesota State Patrol on point-to-point. Stand by for confirmation."

I was headed to the location of the suspects' house and hoped like hell I might be able to catch a glimpse of them before they got too far away. If they were already on the Minnesota side of the border, it might be too late. There are a hell of a lot more highways and byways that they could get lost in than there were in our state.

"17-01, dispatch."

"Dispatch, 17-01! Go ahead!"

"Minnesota State Patrol advises they have units in place on all bridges between Red River Falls and Fargo. Also, they advise that all bridges between Red River Falls and Cherokee Flats should be controlled within ten minutes. They are also asking if you want all border crossings manned as far south as Sioux Falls."

"10-4, dispatch! If they've got the personnel to do it, tell them to go ahead and shut it down! Contact the Border Patrol and advise all international crossings to be on the lookout as well, in case they break for Canada! Relay the vehicle info as soon as it comes across!"

"10-4, 17-01. We have the vehicle info now and will send it via the net. Suspect vehicle is a black 2014 Mercedes E-Class sedan. Mason County plates Lincoln-David-Adam-Seven-Six-Five. Registered to Ibrahim Walad-Hammadi, age 28 with D.O.B. of 4-16-87. Secondary suspect is Muchtada Walad-Hammadi, age 26 with D.O.B. of 3-21-89."

"10-4, dispatch."

I turned off Highway 120 and roared west on 25^th Street Southwest towards a fairly affluent section of Red River Falls. The Hammadis lived on Fairway Drive, a long and winding cul-de-sac near the country club. As I pulled up to the front of the Hammadi's McMansion-style house, there were already several Red River Falls PD cars on site as well as Deputy Brian Kelley. Brian ran over to my vehicle as soon as he saw me.

"We just missed 'em, Pat! The father says they were just here, grabbed a couple of duffel bags and took off. He either doesn't know where they're headed or he's refusing to tell us! According to a neighbor, it looked like he was going to go with the sons but they took off as soon as they heard sirens! Red River PD is detaining the old man, for now! "

"What about the mother?"

"She's in the house, screaming and crying for all she's worth! Red River PD is still in the backyard with the girl's body and waiting for BCI!" Even from my Expedition I could smell that putrid odor.

"Which way were they headed?"

"One of the neighbors said they took off and headed east on 25^th Street!"

"Alright, let's get turned around and head towards 120 again!"

"I'm right behind ya!"

I whipped the big Ford into a u-turn and nearly took out several mailboxes. I gunned it back down the cul-de-sac towards 25^th street and turned east towards Hwy 120, which is also Broadway Avenue and the main north-south thoroughfare through Red River Falls. I was frantic, at this point, because I had absolutely no idea where the two men were headed and I was dreading the kind of threat they posed to the public. Fortunately, my luck was about to change.

"17-01, dispatch."

"Dispatch, 17-01. Go!"

"We just received multiple 9-1-1 calls of a black four-door sedan traveling southbound on Highway 120 at a high rate of speed. Vehicle matches the description."

Yes! They were still on this side of the border!

"Good copy, dispatch! All units! All units! Converge on Highway 120 and prepare to stop! Be advised suspects are armed and extremely dangerous! Be prepared to use deadly force if necessary!"

I looked in my rear view mirror, just for good measure, to make sure Brian Kelley was still behind me as we turned south from 25^th onto Highway 120. We both floored it with lights flashing and sirens wailing as we flew by the Auto Mile and headed south out of town. I had no idea what the specs were on a Mercedes E-Class but I knew enough about the quality of Mercedes in general to know that it was a fine brand of automobile.

Both Brian and I quickly kicked it up to 120 miles per hour as we headed south. I was driving my 2014 Ford Expedition while Brian was operating a 2015 Ford Taurus Police Interceptor Sedan, which had effectively replaced the venerable Ford Crown Victoria as the police cruiser of choice for many departments. Each shift lieutenant also drove an Expedition while each shift sergeant drove a Ford Explorer Police Interceptor SUV. The shift deputies all drove the Taurus sedans. The purpose was to ensure, given the variety of terrain we cover, that we would have at least one 4-wheel drive vehicle available per shift.

"17-01 from 17-03," called Lieutenant Deputy Chris Hayes.

"17-03, go!"

"Pat, I have 17-04 and 17-19 both following me. We're gonna head west on State Highway 5 towards Royal Fork! That way we can cut down either county roads T-65, T-40 or T-15, if we have to, and hopefully stay ahead of them if they cut west."

"Stand by, 17-03. All units, all units! Are there any available deputies or state patrol south of county road Y-29?"

"10-4, 17-01! This is 17-15! I'm just pulling up to the intersection of Y-29 and Highway 120 along with State Patrol 83! State Patrol 95 is northbound about a mile behind us! We're setting up a TCP now!" A TCP is a Traffic Control Point, or road block in layman's terms.

"Do any of you have stop sticks you can deploy?"

"We do, 17-01, but they may not be effective. We can keep the subjects from going south on 120, pretty easily, but that gravel lot on the northwest corner of the intersection gives them a lot of room to bypass us!"

Fuck! I'd forgotten about that. Years ago the state Department of Transportation had set up a flat gravel area at that intersection. They often stockpiled road construction materials there, such as base rock for paved roads and gravel for the rural roads, and also sand during the winter.

The other problem was that Highway 120 was now four lanes wide. The junction of Y-29 was an at-grade intersection, meaning that the two roads met directly at a T-intersection. It had been a complete waste of money to widen the road to four lanes. But our state's lone congressman, Republican Representative Ben Reynolds, had been able to get an entire barrel of pork money to get it done. It was completely unnecessary to have the interstate linking Fargo, Red River Falls, Cherokee Flats and Sioux Falls along with a now four-lane US Highway 120.

Deputy Billy Shoemaker, 17-15, along with the two State Troopers could effectively block the road going south but there was no way they could cut them off with only three squad cars if the bad guys headed west. They could also jump the median and try to bypass the road block also. Hopefully, they would take Y-29 west if they did anything at all. Otherwise, we could be in for a long and dangerous chase. So "herding" the bad guys west on a narrow two-lane road could be our best bet. I cursed Congressman Reynolds under my breath for widening the damned road just because he could!

The good news was that Lieutenant Hayes (17-03), Lieutenant Angel Ryerson (17-04) and Deputy Amanda Comstock (17-19) were westbound on Highway 5 and had a good shot at cutting them off, provided the bad guys took the bait and headed west on Y-29. If there was a good time for any of this awful shit to happen, at least it happened near afternoon shift change when we had more deputies available.

"17-01 from 17-10, I have State Patrol 67 with me now and we are headed east on Y-29! We can easily cut 'em off at the junction of T-15, 40 or 65!"

Yes! Thank you, Sergeant Danny Larson! It was almost 45 miles from Highway 120 to Royal Fork but at least we had good options for an intercept!

"10-4, Danny! Be advised, these guys might be coming right for you!"

The other thing we had going in our favor was that, of all the roads we were dealing with, only Highway 120 and County Road T-40 were paved roads leading to the county south of Mason County. It was highly unlikely that the subjects would try their luck with the local dirt and gravel roads that could land them, quite literally, in the middle of nowhere. Both T-15 and T-65 dead ended at County Road Y-29.

"Dispatch, 17-01!"

"17-01, go ahead."

"Dispatch, activate the statewide alert system. Send out a notification that law enforcement is involved in a high speed chase with suspects who are armed and dangerous. Advise them that the chase is in progress near Highway 120 and Y-29. Give a vehicle description and be sure to tell the public not to approach or interfere in any way!"

"10-4, 17-01. The message will go out shortly."

Thank God for Liz Harrison, our lead dispatcher. She was cool as ice under the most extreme circumstances. A lot of people think it is easy for the dispatchers who are sitting in a nice air-conditioned office in front of a bank of computer screens and radios and just sit and listen to the action. But most dispatchers will tell you the anxiety of listening is almost as nerve-wracking as being there - only they have no way to help us other than to relay information. It can be very hard on them. For that reason we always make sure to invite them to attend any time we have a Critical Incident Stress Debriefing. Liz Harrison always makes sure her dispatchers attend if they are involved in a particularly bad call. They don't have to talk but just being there often helps a great deal.

The Statewide Emergency Notification System, or SENS, is a coordinated system that sends out emergency messages - either statewide or in a specific county or region. This is how we send out Amber Alerts, weather alerts or any other necessary emergency notifications. It has been very popular and the state has over 80% voluntary participation amongst all cell phone users and 100% automatic notification of all landline phones. The legislature passed a law this spring that will soon include mandatory participation amongst all cell phone providers. Liz would send out both an electronic message and recorded voice message, depending on the receiver.

WARNING! LAW ENFORCEMENT IN MASON COUNTY ARE CURRENTLY ENGAGED IN AN ACTIVE HIGH-SPEED PURSUIT! THIS PURSUIT IS OCCURRING IN THE VICINITY OF THE JUNCTION OF US HIGHWAY 120 AND COUNTY ROAD Y-29. SUSPECTS ARE DRIVING A BLACK 2014 MERCEDES SEDAN WITH LICENSE PLATE L-D-A-7-6-5. SUSPECTS ARE TO BE CONSIDERED ARMED AND EXTREMELY DANGEROUS! ALL CITIZENS IN THE AREA SHOULD IMMEDIATELY EXIT THE ROADWAY AND AVOID THE PURSUIT! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO AID LAW ENFORCEMENT IN ANY MANNER! FOR YOUR SAFETY, AVOID OR LEAVE THE AREA IMMEDIATELY!

We began to crest a small hill. Once at the top, we could look far enough ahead to see the intersection of Highway 120 and Y-29. Even in the daylight, I could easily make out the flashing strobes of a deputy cruiser and two state patrol cruisers. A small dark shape was rapidly approaching the intersection, which I estimated was less than a half-mile front of me, with Brian and me rapidly closing. The Mercedes wasn't running as fast as I thought.

"17-01, 17-15! Subjects are approaching the intersection!"

"10-4, Billy! Be safe!"

I continued to rapidly close the distance, my gaze fixed less than the half mile ahead. As I descended the hill towards the intersection, it appeared the black sedan slowed way down. HOLY SHIT!! The unmistakable site of rapid puffs of light gray smoke and sparks indicated the sustained firing of automatic weapons! The sedan then sped off obviously squealing the tires and headed, sure enough, westbound on Y-29.

"All units, all units! This is 17-15! Shots fired! Multiple shots fired!"

"Billy, this is Quinn! Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, Pat, I'm okay!"

"What about the troopers?"

"Uh...I uh...I think they're okay, too! But I think all of our vehicles have been shot to hell, Pat!"

"Hang tight, Billy! I'll be there in a second!"

I already had the accelerator buried to the floor but the last quarter mile seemed to take forever to cross. I slowed rapidly and locked up the brakes, screeching to a halt. Billy sprinted to the passenger side of the Expedition and hopped in the front seat, clearly out of breath, his face nearly white as a sheet. As soon as he was in, I stomped the gas and sped off after the black Mercedes.

"Jesus-H-Christ! Those goddamned, rotten, raghead mother fuckers!!" Billy shouted, slamming a fresh magazine into his AR-15.

Behind me, it appeared that Brian Kelley had picked up one of the two troopers. Both Billy's cruiser and one of the State Patrol cruisers had been shot up bad with fluids leaking all over the place. The other State Patrol cruiser still appeared to be operating and followed behind Brian as we continued the chase.

"Are you okay? Are you hit, Billy?"

"No, not hit! I'm okay! Just seriously pissed-the-fuck-off! Those worthless, motherfucking camel humpers! Fucking fully automatic AK and an SKS!! How the fucking shit did they sneak those in here???"

"That's a helluva question, Billy, and one the BCI is gonna wanna find out, along with the ATF and FBI, I'd imagine!"

"Oh, my God, Pat! I swear to God I'm gonna put a fucking slug in both of their Haji skulls!!"

Normally, I probably would have found that funny. But I was too tense. The shit was real and it wasn't over yet. Not by a long shot.

"How'd your windshield hold up?"

"My what?" Billy shouted.

"The windshield! How'd your damned windshield hold up?"

"Oh! Right! Fine! Really good, actually," Billy said, still trying to catch his breath.

"That's terrific to hear! Thank God! Money well spent, huh?"

"Damned right it is, Sheriff! You probably saved my life and both of those troopers' lives! They took cover behind my cruiser when those fucking camel jockeys showed up!"

I briefly pondered the thought while keeping my eyes on the sedan in front of me. Every frontline interceptor in our fleet had been retrofitted with thick, heavy bullet-resistant glass. It was an essential addition that I strongly felt would ultimately save the lives of my Deputies. Shortly after I became Sheriff, we had a very large seizure of methamphetamine worth over $1 million on the streets. Along with that seizure was approximately $630,000 in cash.

Once the trial was over, which went fairly quickly as one dealer after another rolled over on their superiors, we petitioned the US Attorney for a share of the seized and forfeited funds. The majority of the time in a federal case, the seized money just goes into the government coffers. But surprisingly, US Attorney Lane Danielsen was in a generous mood and granted my department $410,000. Since we were the petitioner for the funds, it went directly into my department accounts and bypassed the County Supervisors and the County Treasurer.

And so, I immediately pressed the funds into service by ordering replacement of the front windshields and both the front driver and passenger side door windows with ballistic glass that could withstand multiple impacts from rifles ranging from .22 caliber all the way to .308 caliber, and from pistols ranging from .22 caliber all the way up to .45 caliber.

We were closing quickly on the Mercedes and I wasn't sure why. Surely an E-Class sedan could hold a respectable high speed.

"One of those cocksuckers is in the back seat, Pat!" Billy exclaimed. "That way he can shoot from whatever side of the car he wants and doesn't have to shoot past his brother! That's why the little butt fucker was able to empty sixty goddamned rounds from both of those weapons!"

The good old Kalashnikov AK-47, the most mass-produced weapon in the world. The SKS was a cheaper Chinese variant but equally as deadly. They both fired the standard 7.62 X 39mm round that packed one hell of a wallop.

"17-01 from State Patrol 35."

"35 this is 17-01, go ahead!"

"Sheriff, I'm just about to the intersection of T-40 right now! I'm gonna plan like they're heading this way and I'll get stop sticks out right now!"

"Good copy, 35! Thanks for the assist!"

"No problem, Sheriff! We'll get these suns-a-bitches stopped!"

Stop sticks at the intersection of T-40 would definitely give them something to think about. We were quickly approaching the intersection of T-65. I could see lights flashing coming down from the north. It was a white SUV and a white cruiser, which meant that they had to be mine.

"Units southbound on T-65, identify!"

"This is 17-02, Pat! I've got 17-11 with me! We're gonna try to cut 'em off or at least join in!"

"You're not gonna make it! Stop where you are or they'll fire on you for sure! State patrol 35 is gonna throw out stop sticks! Just block the road so they see they can't get around you but stay the hell back!"

"Good copy, Pat! We'll stay put!"

Captain Ben Villanueva (17-02) and Deputy Chad Goodburn (17-11) were the two deputies on T-65.

"Shit! They're shooting at 'em, Pat!"

Sure enough, more rapid puffs of smoke burst from the passenger side of the sedan as they flew past the intersection of T-65.

"17-02! Are you guys okay?"

"10-4, Pat! The passenger side of my windshield took a hit but we're both operable and falling in behind you!"

"Good copy!"