Red Squad Ch. 01

This story is part of an ongoing series. The chronological order of my stories is listed in WifeWatchman's biography.

Feedback and constructive criticism is very much appreciated, and I encourage feedback for ideas.

This story contains graphic scenes, language and actions that might be extremely offensive to some people. These scenes, words and actions are used only for the literary purposes of this story. The author does not condone murder, racial language, violence, rape or violence against women, and any depictions of any of these in this story should not be construed as acceptance of the above.

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Part 1 - Prologue

"This is Bettina Wurtzburg, KXTC Channel Two News!" shouted the redheaded MILF reporterette at 7:00am, Thursday, October 24th, from the rooftop of the building on Riverside and College, at the southwest corner of Courthouse Square. "Election excitement is building up, as well as election rancor!"

Bettina began: "The hottest race is for Inspector General, and the winner will lead the newly independent Inspector General's Office and have the power of Boards of Inquest over the Police. Commissioner Finneran has a solid 52-48% lead over current Inspector General Horace S. Wellman, according to the highly reliable Public Policy Polling."

Bettina: "All of the elections for new positions are officially non-partisan, but a PAC that calls itself 'The Friends of the Town & County' have been running ads pointing out that several candidates are Democrats, even though they don't say that in their ads nor on their websites. Several of those candidates have filed complaints with the FEC over those ads."

Bettina: "And there will be a new policy regarding the awarding of medals in the Public Safety Department after complaints by some Council members in last Tuesdays meeting. The new Charter removed the requirement to have the Town & County Council approve medals for the Public Safety Department, except for the very highest ones such as the Medal of Valor. "

Bettina: "However, Article V of the new Charter allows for 'tweaks', and one of them was approved by the Council Tuesday night. Medals from Achievement Medals to the Legion of Excellence will now be approved by a Public Safety Department Panel, which will consist of the highest ranking Officers of the Police, Fire, Public Health, EMS, and Sheriff's Department. As Sheriff Griswold said in a statement: 'Those with stars on their shoulders will be members of the Panel'. If the Town Assembly ratifies the tweak, it'll become part of the new Charter beginning in January."

Bettina: "And political experts were stunned by deeply unpopular Governor Val Jared's choice of Judge Lorraine Karla McGill to fill the unexpired term of the late U.S. Senator Samuel Russell. Both Republicans and Democrats blasted the appointment, and urged Judge McGill to turn it down..."

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

*CLICK!*

As we drank coffee in the Chief's Conference Room, Deputy Chief Cindy Ross expertly used the remote to change over to KFXU's broadcast in progress.

"... and in the non-partisan local elections," said Meredith Peller, "Inspector General Horace Wellman holds a 52-48% lead over Commissioner Finneran, per the highly accurate Crystal Clear Polling. Finneran's membership in the North American Man-boy Love Association, or NAMbLA, doesn't appear to be hurting him with his core constituencies. Mr. Finneran has threatened lawsuits against the PAC 'The Friends of the Town & County', for discrimination against his sexual orientation, but as of this broadcast he has not followed through with the apparently empty threat."

Meredith: "Mrs. Myrtle L. James, spokeswoman for The Friends of the Town & County defended the ads, saying they are accurate, and she hopes Finneran will sue the PAC so that more truth about Finneran's disgusting behavior with regard to underage boys will come out in the discovery phase of the trial."

Meredith: "And politicians around the State were shocked by Governor Val Jared's appointment of Judge Lorraine McGill to the U.S. Senate, to fill the unexpired term of Samuel Russell, who the FBI and Federal Marshals say committed suicide by jumping out of a top-floor window of the Cannon Building in the City. Senator Russell's daughter, Ruby Russell, called the choice, quote, 'a flat-out insult to my late father's legacy as well as the Republican Party in this State', unquote..."

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

"So what's the deal with this new Panel to approve medals and promotions?" Teresa Croyle asked.

"Just medals." said Sheriff Griswold. "Promotions to Lieutenant and above are still approved by the Council, and those below Lieutenant are approved by the Chiefs and Executive Officers of the Departments.

"So why the change for the medals?" I asked. "I worked so hard to get that out of the Council's hands."

"And you succeeded." replied the Sheriff. "But you know that Susan Weston hates giving out medals, saying we give them out 'like candy'. She did make a decent point, agreed upon by almost every Council Member, that there should be some sort of review for medals. So now there is a Public Safety Review Panel, and Bettina actually got it right in reporting that I said those with stars on their shoulders are the people on the Panel."

"Hey!" said Tanya, "what about us Captains?" She was grinning as she said it, so I knew we were being teased.

"Well," said the Sheriff, "the Panel is me, my Chief of Staff, all the Chiefs, and the Assistant Chiefs, and that includes Crowbar and Ms. Ross here. That's thirteen at dinner, so to speak. So it's reasonable. I might add that this Panel can and will serve as a sort of Appeals Court for disciplinary actions within any branch of the Public Safety Department, as well."

"It's actually a good idea. And I'm not just saying that to kiss ass, Sheriff." I said. The Sheriff's mustaches twitched with merriment as I continued: "In writing the Charter, I was so focused on getting the medals process out of Kelly Carnes's hands and Boards of Inquiry that I didn't think that through, and the rest of the Charter Commission was blissfully unaware of those issues."

"You know," said Teresa Croyle, "we may have to preserve this mornings newscasts to DVR. Neither of the mentioned Commander Troy at all. Wonder what that's about."

"Ever since Laura was injured in the attack on the Hospital," Tanya said, "the Press has not gone after Don nearly as much."

"And KXTC is too busy trying to get that pedophile Finneran elected to spend energy overtly attacking me." I said.

"Does that disgusting bastard have any chance to win?" asked Teresa, with 'Teresa Cunt' disgust in her voice.

"I noticed the two networks had o-poh-sing viewwwwws on who's winning that race." said Chief Moynahan. "So what's the truth, Sheriff?"

"My people's polling showed it's pretty much tied at 48% apiece." growled Griswold. "My gut tells me that Horace Wellman will win, though. I just wish he was a better campaigner. He's got a face made for radio and a voice made for newsprint." We all chuckled at that.

Cindy said "My sources tell me that Horace Wellman doesn't like campaigning, that he was fine with the IG job when it wasn't an elected position, but if he wins this special election, he very likely will announce he's not going to run again next year..."

Part 2 - Kobayashi Maru

2:00pm, Thursday, October 24th. The Police cruiser came up to the modest home in the middle of the field. The front was fairly narrow but the house ran deep. Rows of corn and other garden vegetables on either side of the house made walking around to the back difficult if not impossible.

There were four Police Detectives in the car, wearing armor and with weapons ranging from M-4s to their service weapons. They were Lt. Jerome Davis, Sr. Detectives Theo Washington and Teddy Parker, and Detective Sergeant Julia Rodriguez.

"We're serving an arrest warrant to a potential narcotics distributor." said Lt. Davis as they pulled up. "He has a wife and child, who are considered to be in danger and could possibly be used as hostages... and with public perception of the Police deteriorating due to a barrage of negative Press reporting, the wife and especially the child cannot be harmed in any way. There may be other perps in the house, and all of them armed and dangerous; they will not hesitate to shoot at us rather than surrender peacefully. And we've got about five minutes to get this done, or this guy might warn other perps our people are going after."

"Do we have backup?" Julia Rodriguez asked.

"It'll be thirty minutes at the least, as a lot of the other guys are hitting other places." said Jerome. "Okay, Julia, you'll run point. Theo, you'll use the battering ram and be the rearguard. I'll follow Julia in, and you're behind me, Teddy."

The four got out of their vehicle and slowly approached the door. "No one visible inside." said Parker, looking into the window to the door's left.

"No one on the right." said Julia. They lined up. Theo knocked hard on the door and said loudly "Town & County Police! Open up!" No answer. Theo repeated the hail, again receiving no answer.

"Take it down." said Jerome. Theo slammed the battering ram against the door, and it flew open. Julia went in first. Jerome and Parker went in, Parker going right as Jerome cleared the room to the left. Theo had dropped the ram and was now carrying his service weapon. He came up behind Jerome, and Parker fell in behind him as they went down the hall behind Julia.

The kitchen to the right was cleared. When they got to the first bedroom on the left, Julia went in. "Kid!" she shouted, seeing the child on the bed.

"Rodriguez, evacuate him." called out Jerome.

Julia went into the room. "Hey, I'm with the Police." she told the boy, whose eyes were moving all around the room, especially at the closet door. "Come with me."

"No!" said the child, who huddled up on the bed...

Meanwhile, Davis and Parker turned their weapons on the small door on the right, believed to be a closet. Davis opened it and Parker looked in.

"Civilian! Female!" said Parker.

'What are y'all doing in my house?" the woman, who was black, began yelling as Parker reached in and violently pulled her out of the closet. "Get out of my house!"

"Quiet, ma'am!" Jerome hissed. "We're serving a warrant."

"You get out of my house, Pig!" the woman yelled.

As Parker was affixing cuffs, Theo saw movement in the den in back. "TCPD!" he yelled. "Put your hands up and come out slowly!" The shadowy figure did not comply.

"Gun!" yelled Theo, seeing another shadow appear, holding an AK-47.

*RATTA-TATTA-TATTA!*

With a sickening feeling in his stomach, Jerome Davis realized the fire had not come from the back room, but the child's bedroom. He turned to see that a perp had come out of the closet that had not been cleared, and the perp was firing rounds from his M-4 into Julia.

*RATTA-TATTA-TATTA!*

"Retreat!" Jerome called out as the armed perp from the back den fired down the hallway at the Officers. As they turned back to the front door, they saw two perps standing in front of the door, all armed with military-grade weaponry. The perps lit 'em up, filling the air with projectiles that struck the doomed Officers...

*TWEEEEET!* blew a whistle.

"END EX! END EX! END EX!" a voice called out.

Neon yellow paint coated the persons and equipment of the Police Officers, the woman and child, and the walls of the house as everyone stood down. The 'perps' were almost completely clean. Julia came out of the bedroom and looked back towards the front door.

"Suggestions, Commander?" Julia asked.

"Prayer, Detective." said Lt. Commander Teresa Croyle as the line of OPFOR perps parted to reveal her. "The Cartel does not take prisoners. Let's take it outside."

Everyone filed out. To the left of the front door (as one faced the front door from outside) was a row of bleachers under a metal awning, with many TCPD Officers and TCSD Deputies sitting there. The house was built on part of the TCPD firing range north of Town. To the right was the base of the mountain finger that dominated the northeastern and eastern view of the Citizens of the Town.

"I'm not going to break it down here." said Commander Croyle. She lowered her voice and said "It was so bad that I'm not going to add to it by humiliating you in front of the entire Police Force. But make no mistake about it: that was as God-awful as I've ever seen on this course.

"Don't feel bad." said the leader of the SWAT Team, Senior Sergeant Daniel Patrick. "We failed it, too. No one's passed it.

"It's a 'Kobayashi Maru'." muttered Julia Rodriguez, referring to the 'no-win' test in the Star Trek movies. The dejected team of Detectives headed back to the classroom shed as the OPFOR prepared for the next team...

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

"Dammit!" spat Theo Washington as he slammed his gear down on a classroom desk in the shed.

"Commander Croyle was right." said Jerome Davis. "We got our asses kicked in there."

"Yeah we did." said Julia Rodriguez, who had Army experience.

"I should've sent two people around back from outside." said Jerome.

"That's what we did." said Sr. Sergeant Patrick. "They had two guys around back, and the soil of those gardens by the house is very soft. They shot us up coming up the sides of the house, and then all hell broke loose inside."

"So I'm right." said Julia Rodriguez. "It's a 'Kobayashi Maru'. A no-win situation."

"Oh really?" asked a voice behind them. Everyone turned to see Your Iron Crowbar glaring down at them.

"With respect, sir," Julia Rodriguez said fearlessly, "yes sir. It's a no-win."

"Pshaw! Hardly." I grunted, then said loudly: "Sheriff Griswold! Are you up to showing these 'young whippersnappers' what good Police work is?" The Detectives saw the Sheriff, Police Chief, and Deputy Chief come into the room behind me.

"Har. I sure am." said Sheriff Griswold. "Chief Moynahan, Commander Ross, care to join me and Crowbar in a 'teachable moment'?" A number of chuckles went up. The Detectives's eyes were wide with surprise, or maybe outright shock.

"Roger that, Sheriff." said Cindy Ross. "We'll do to the perps what the Bulldogs are going to do to the Wildcats Saturday."

"In that case, it really is a Kobayashi Maru." I replied. "Just like the Bulldogs entering Wildcat Stadium. No. Way. Out. Except being carried out on their shields, of course."

Chief Moynahan was ignoring the banter, and was on the phone. A moment later, Teresa came in.

"Oh, you guys want to go through it?" Teresa said, intentionally making her voice as derisive as she possibly could. When we nodded, she said: "Okay, I'll go set it up with the OPFOR. One note: the OPFOR is wearing olive green equipment, adult civilians are wearing blue, and children are wearing red. Suit up, and I'll give you the assignment when you're ready. And lock up your service weapons in your vehicles; we'll provide paintball shooters."

The 'paintball shooters' looked and acted like real weapons, and the paintballs were smaller and more dart-like than regular ones. They could hurt, so we all were required to wear goggles and helmets. The armor, ours being Police dark blue, had sensors in them that would start beeping if we were hit in vital areas, not unlike Army MILES equipment but without the lasers.

"It's your mission, Crowbar." said the Sheriff as we left the room and went outside, followed by the Detectives, wearing their goggles like everyone in the stands. The team that had just gone in, Uniformed guys from 2nd Precinct, had a lot of neon yellow paint on them. They looked defeated, as they had indeed just been routed.

"Okay, who's in charge of this group of slugs?" yelled Teresa in front of everyone in the bleachers as we came up.. Yeah, she was enjoying this. It was my job to make sure she didn't enjoy it a lot more by watching us fail.

"Commander," said Teresa, "you are serving an arrest warrant for a known narcotics distributor. This will be his third strike, so it's life in prison for him if he is arrested, and he might prefer death to that dishonor. His wife and son may be in the house with him, and he will have no regard for their lives. He rarely has members of his gang in his home, and we don't know if he has visitors today."

Teresa: "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to arrest the perp and any associates, safely extract the child if the child is in the home, and do so with none of you being killed. This arrest is part of a larger operation to arrest narcotics distributors all over the tri-county area, so you will only have five minutes from the time you drive up to taking total control of the situation, so as not to give the perps time to warn others. I might add that with the Media's desire to smear the Police, the child and his mother must be extracted safely and unharmed. What are your questions?"

"How much briefing time do I have?" I asked.

"From the time you get in that Police cruiser and drive up to the front door." Teresa said.

We got into the car, and I put it in gear and drove forward as I told them the mission. I ended with: "Sheriff, you'll breach first, then stay in the front rooms as rearguard. Chief, you'll ram the door and I'll be behind the Sheriff, and Cindy behind me. If we find the child, and we probably will in his bedroom or a closet, Cindy you'll get him back to the Sheriff, who will get him out and to the safety of this vehicle. We'll clear the house front to back, left to right. If the wife is there, she may not be armed, but Cindy you'll put cuffs on her and get her to the front rooms. Any questions?"

"Which two of us will go around back?" asked Cindy.

"None of us." I said. "We're going in with all four, front to back... time is of the essence and we need to clear the house. Besides, I get the feeling that going around outside is a trap."

I parked the vehicle facing the house. "Leave the doors open." growled Griswold. "They'll be a little bit of protection."

We got out and rapidly but carefully approached the house. "No one in the front rooms." said Cindy as she and the Sheriff looked in the windows; he had shook his head indicating it was clear.

"Ram it." I told the Chief. He rammed the door open and the Sheriff charged in. I followed, and as he peeled to the right, I went straight into the mouth of the hallway.

"Clear!" Cindy said, indicating the left room.

"Clear!" growled the Sheriff, indicating the right. Chief Moynahan got behind me, his hand on my shoulder, and Cindy's hand was on his shoulder as we advanced. We cleared the kitchen to the right, and I motioned for Cindy to come up to the bedroom on the left while I looked forward towards the back room, not taking my eyes off the hallway path.

"Female!" Cindy said as she saw the woman in a blue vest and goggles on the bed. Moynahan covered her as she went forward and said "Hands up! Get on the floor!"

"What are y'all doing here?" the woman said loudly, her eyes looking to the closet door then back and forth. "Get out of my house, Pigs!"

"On the floor!" Cindy growled, bodily pulling the woman onto the floor and cuffing her hands. "Chief! Closet!" Cindy yelled, having seen the woman's looks... and she also had the Power of the Vibe. Moynahan used the chest of drawers as a shield. As Cindy finished the cuffing of the woman, she was about to open the closet door when it burst open!

*BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!*

It was the Chief's gun making the eloquent arguments that crime does not pay. He lit up the perp with paint as Cindy had dived to the floor by the bed. The perp's beeper began beeping, and he lay down 'dead'.