Red Squad Ch. 01

Moynahan quickly came out as Cindy made sure the bedroom closet and under the bed contained no more perps. I moved forward and grabbed the handle of the closet door on the right. I opened it and the Chief pointed his weapon inside.

"Child!" the Chief said. He reached in and grabbed the kid, and handed him off to Cindy, who ran him back to the Sheriff, who ran the kid outside to the Police vehicle.

Meanwhile, I was continuing to the back den, and I saw a shadow move and the back door open. "Someone went outside!" As I advanced, I saw another shadow. "Gun!" I yelled and began spraying the door and room with 'gunfire'. A perp appeared, ready to shoot at us, but the Chief and I were already putting out a barrage of fire, and we 'painted' the perp (literally). He fell down 'dead'.

"They're coming around the sides of the house!" we heard Sheriff Griswold shout. Cindy and I rushed into the back room, finding it empty. We ran out the back door.

The perp that had run away was standing about 50 feet away, his arms raised. "I surrender!" he called out.

"Get on the ground!" Cindy yelled. When the suspect did not comply, she fired at the ground in front of him. "Down! Now!" The suspect complied.

"Watch the corner of the house!" I shouted, running to my right (the house's far side from the bleachers).

Being ambidextrous, I could fire my M-4 left-handed. I looked around the corner, and saw a perp creeping to the front of the house, to ambush the Sheriff. "DROP YOUR WEAPON!" I yelled. The perp turned to fire at me, and he 'died' in a barrage of paint bullets.

Meanwhile, Cindy was looking around the other corner, and a perp had tried to creep up that side of the house. She yelled at him, and he 'died', but courtesy of Sheriff Griswold, using the Police cruiser as a shield with the kid lying in the backseat.

Then I sensed more than saw that the perp lying down had drawn a weapon and was getting up to shoot at Cindy's back. I lit him up.

"Inside!" I said. "You get the woman, I'll clear the other bedroom." As we rushed in, we heard the loud whistle and Teresa calling 'END EX'.

The perps rose to life and began collecting themselves as the four of us walked back towards the bleachers. "Commander Troy, what would you do if this was continuing?" Teresa asked loudly.

"I was going to clear the other bedroom, and then we'd clear the attic and make sure nobody was hiding under any furniture." I said. "Then we'd evaluate the wounded and call for ambulances and backup, as needed."

"Congratulations." Teresa said. "You're the first team to pass the test today." The Officers in the bleachers gave us a round of applause. Sheriff Griswold came around high-fiving us. I did the Marshawn Lynch practice of shaking everyone's hand, as if this was just another day at the office...

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

7:00pm, Thursday, October 24th. We were on the outside deck of the Cop Bar. It was beginning to be too cold to be outdoors, but we had the big fire pot going as we celebrated our win. Teresa was paying for the beef nachos and beer.

The MCD Detectives were there, also, and I noticed them looking over at us a few times. Finally, Julia Rodriguez summoned up the courage and came over to our table. "Ladies, gentlemen," she said, "tell me honestly: did you know in advance what was coming in the test?"

"No." I said. "Unlike the 'Kobayashi Maru' test, we did not rig the test or have any advance knowledge or advantage at all."

"And I actually made their test harder than the standard one I gave the rest of you." said Teresa. "It's not really a no-win test. I make them as damn hard as I can, but it wasn't impossible. The keys to today's test was clearing the closet in the kid's bedroom; almost everyone sees either the mother or the kid in there, and comes on in. The perp is told to come out and shoot both the Officers and the woman or child... who by the way is really eighteen years old, and is just short."

Cindy said "The woman was looking at the closet door all the time, which is why I had Chief Moynahan cover me on it."

Teresa: "I tell the child or mother to look at the closet door again and again, but most people don't see it."

"What was the other key?" Julia asked. By now the Detectives had pulled up chairs to near our table, so they could hear this.

"Covering the flanks outside." said Teresa. "There were four perps: one in the closet, and the other three in the back room. One runs out the back and surrenders, if you get that far. If you shoot him before he draws his weapon, you fail the whole test. Two other perps are outside, and shoot up anyone who comes around back outside. If all four Officers come inside, they'll come into the back room, then back out to circle around and outflank you. Sheriff Griswold was all over that, though, and saw the perps and called out to the rest of you."

"So the SWAT Team failed, too?" asked Jerome Davis.

"Yes." said Teresa. "They were too aggressive, which is their norm; they usually would not be doing missions of this kind. I told the perps every time to shoot the mother and son if they could, which automatically fails the mission. In your case, Commander Troy, Chief Moynahan shot the perp on the shoulders and in the head area, which threw off his aim. He was shooting at the woman first, then at the Officers, and he fired over her head."

"He lit me up instead of the kid." said Julia. "And those paintballs hurt, too. But you're right; I went straight for the kid. Didn't even think about the closet."

"You were busted, anyway." said Teresa. "Those guys were coming around to ambush you from behind almost immediately."

"It was a good test." I said. "To me the worst of it was that guy who surrendered, then was going to shoot us in the back. We didn't have time to stop the guys circling around to get the Sheriff and the kid -AND- go put cuffs on that guy."

Teresa said "The fact that you're ambidextrous, which I forgot about, worked in your favor, Commander. You blew that guy up while still have cover of the corner of the house. All-right-handed shooters costs some of the teams. But the solution to the guy surrendering is that you let the Sheriff handle the guy Cindy shot down, she handles the backyard perp and gets him alive, and you did what you did left-handed. So you passed, but it wasn't perfect."

"Another thing we did, that I think other units failed to doooo," said Chief Moynahan, "is that if there was a woman on their teams, they had her evacuate the child... but we handed the kid off to the Sheriff. Now the woman is almost mandatory for a woman Officer to handle, but Mr. Davis assigned Ms. Rodriguez to evacuate the kid... and that was a mistake. Ms. Rodriguez has the military experience; she should've run point like Commander Troy did for us."

"I get the feeling we're going to be getting a lot more training in the near future." said Jerome Davis.

"Yes." I said. "Yes you are. The silver lining is that they're going to being remodeling Classrooms 'C' and 'D' to be the new Intel Center, starting this weekend. And you guys are going to get more time in the field. And you gotta be ready. You gotta be ready..."

Part 3 - Budget Battles

Friday, October 25th. Just before 10:00am, Commander Cindy Ross and Chief Sean Moynahan came into the Chamber of the Town Assembly. Also there were Sheriff Griswold, the Sheriff's Chief of Staff, Charles T. Oswald, PHO Beth Paige and her Finance Officer, Assistant EMS Chief Zoe Singer, and Fire Chief Warren Davies and Fire Marshal Roy Easley.

"Hopefully this won't be as bad as last year," said Cindy, "when Eldrick X. Weaver was running for Mayor and tried to use the race card on me." (Author's note: 'The Four Boxes of Liberty', Ch. 03.)

"You are the seasoned veteran this year." said the Chief. "I think the new Fire Department and EMS people are the ones that will take the incoming fire from the Assembly."

The thirty Town Assembly members filed in and took their seats, and the Chairman gaveled the session into order. "Sheriff Griswold is recognized." he said.

Our Sheriff came up to the podium and said "Chief of Staff Oswald will give the Sheriff Department's report, and will also assist the Fire Department and the new EMS in their presentations as needed. The Police and Public Health Departments will be presenting their budgets, as well. I would recommend starting with the Police Force presentation."

"Deputy Chief Ross is recognized." said the Chairman. Cindy got up and plugged her laptop to the projection screen, and went through the line items fairly rapidly. She was not interrupted at all. At the end, she said "What are your questions regarding the Police budget?"

A black Assemblywoman, the same one who had complained the previous year about the Sheriff's Department buying military-grade equipment, asked: "Deputy Chief Ross, there was a ten million dollar grant to the Police Department by a mysterious donor named 'R.C. Christian', is that right?"

"That is correct." said Cindy. "It was granted specifically for the new Intelligence Division, to purchase materials, particularly electronics, servers, and computers, and to remodel and wire the rooms for the Intelligence Division. I've itemized the expenditure of that money in Appendix B of the report----"

"Why can't that money be redistributed?" asked the Assemblywoman. "Why can't it be used to provide more Police Officers for the southside, where gangs are shooting black schoolchildren, while the rich white northern areas have security in their gated subdivisions? Why can't that money be spent on Police outreach programs to the minority communities, like many other cities are doing? You need to have a much better effort that you have right now."

"First of all," said Cindy, "I reject your premise of gangs shooting children. This is the Town & County, not the Chicago southside, and the last attempt to kill a child I know of was at the Weather Station in the northwest corner of the County." (Author's note: 'Little Red Haired Girl', Ch. 04-05.)

"Second," continued Cindy, "as I said, the grant money was specifically to set up the new Intelligence Branch. In accepting the grant money, we had to sign a binding contract to that effect. Neither we nor you can spend that money for anything else."

Another black Assemblyman, who had replaced Eldrick X. Weaver on the Assembly after Weaver had run for Mayor, spoke slowly with pauses as he asked: "Commander Ross, it would seem... that efforts to increase the number of Police precincts... has been stonewalled... which has the effect... of denying the minority areas... the Police protection we so desperately need. I would like for you... you specifically, Commander Ross, to address this situation."

Cindy said "We could have the current two Precincts or twenty Precincts, and it wouldn't make a difference at all in the protection of our Citizens, no matter their ethnicity or sexual orientation."

That was Cindy's shot across the bow, reminding the Assembly of what had happened the year before, and her lack of tolerance of getting into the weeds of Identity Politics.

"The key," Cindy continued, "is the number of Officers we have overall, able to respond to emergencies and crimes being committed. You want better protection of any area of our County? Give me more Police Officers and the equipment they need to do their jobs, no matter what Precinct they're in." The Assemblyman was clearly displeased by that answer, but said no more.

One of the Republicans on the Assembly, a middle-aged white man, said "Commander Ross, my colleague's comments about three precincts being, and I quote, 'stonewalled', suggests that a policy of three precincts is largely supported but being held up. Would you say that view is the norm? Or was the situation mischaracterized?"

"Both. Neither." said Cindy. "There is no appetite to return to three precincts, which was tried before and had no positive effects. There are efforts to push for three precincts, but those are mostly by a few politicians who are ginning that up for their own political... reasons." She was about to say 'gains', but stopped herself in time.

"So you are saying the Police will never consider three precincts?" said the black Assemblyman.

"No, sir, I never said nor implied that." replied Cindy. "Indeed, in the writing of the new Charter, Commission Chairman Donald Troy, who is also our Police Commander, made it clear that more Police precincts will be welcome... if and when the Town & County grows sufficiently to warrant them. He has told me the County population needs to reach 150,000 before a third Precinct is truly needed. Right now, even counting the University students, we're barely touching 100,000. So it's not even an issue..."

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

After her presentation, Cindy left the Assembly meeting, while Chief Moynahan stayed behind. Getting back to the Station, Cindy came into my office and made a point to collapse upon the sofa, curl up into a fetal position, and rest her head on her hands.

"Yayyyyy..." she said weakly as she pretended to sleep, "it's overrrrr..."

I chuckled. "How did it go?" I asked.

Cindy pulled herself up to a sitting position, then pointed at my coffeemaker. "May I?" she said. I extended my hand towards it, and Cindy poured herself a mug of coffee, then came and sat down in the hot chair she normally sat in for Angels Meetings, the one nearest the door.

"I think it went well." Cindy said. "The Chief and Sheriff will give me my grade when they next see me. I actually got all the way through the presentation without being interrupted with questions. As you predicted to me, someone did ask about diverting those grant funds for the Intel Branch to other things. And three Precincts was brought up again. Honestly, Don, what is the frickin' bee in people's bonnets about three precincts? We had them once. They didn't work."

"Kind of like Socialism." I said. "It hasn't worked yet, but some think it'll work next time, or it'll work if they try it in a new way, or if they force 100% commitment to it. I'll bet the people asking about three precincts are Democrats, am I right?"

"Yes you are." Cindy said. "And kudos to you for not bringing up that they're also black."

"Hell," I said, "the only colors that matter in Socialism are Environmentalist Green and Communist Red. Everyone else, regardless of skin color, are meant to be serfs serving the Intellectual Elites. So, what else?"

"The Assemblywoman who wanted to divert the grant funds," Cindy said, "wanted us to spend the money on Police outreach to minority communities. Hey, I have nothing against that, but we can't spend the grant money on anything else but Perlman's Project."

That was what Cindy and Teresa had dubbed the Intel Branch behind Tanya's back. I was not exactly amused at that, but I didn't outrank Cindy. I still glared at her.

"Enough of that." I said. "Congrats on getting the Budget done! And for your reward, take the weekend off... Sunday to mourn the Bulldogs beatdown at the hands of the Wildcats."

Cindy tried to glare at me, but couldn't hold it. She broke down laughing, and that made me laugh with her for a long minute.

"So, party at your house to watch it?" Cindy asked.

"At The Cabin." I said. "Todd and Teresa are bringing their boys, Marie will be there, and Tasha, so bring Betsy if you like."

"What's Laura going to do?" Cindy asked.

"She'll be at the Mountain Nest." I said. "With my mom and your mom. Now that she's getting around more, she prefers to be there with her computer room."

"And the relative peace and quiet." Cindy said. "By the way, are Tanya and Pete going to be at The Cabin?"

"I invited them, but they sent regrets." I said. "I also told them that I'd come get Pete to watch the game with the other boys, but he's not coming either."

Cindy nodded. "You heard about the fight Pete got into with little Jack Burke at Teresa'a house?"

"I sure did." I said, unable to keep myself from smiling. "Pete stood up to the bully. I'm proud of him."

"Well," said Cindy, "telling tales out of school: some time ago Melina told a friend, who told a friend, who told me, that you whipped little Jack's father's ass in School, and you were the only person not afraid of him. Is that true?"

I semi-shrugged. "We did have a little altercation, once." I then paused before saying "At the time, I didn't worry about it, and Jack seemed to take it in stride. But looking back, I may have been lucky I didn't get my throat slit while I was asleep."

Cindy nodded. "Both Teresa and Tanya are hoping that there won't be any more problems between little Jack and little Pete. But they're going to minimize the contact between them."

"Tell them that as long as Carole is there, there are no problems to worry about." I replied. "Carole will whip both their asses if they get out of line. And I mean that seriously..."

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

Two hours later, Cindy and I were invited to meet Chief Moynahan for lunch at the Cop Bar, and of course we accepted.

"Lunch is on me todayyyy." drawled the Chief as we sat down in the back room. "You did an outstanding job, Ms. Ross."

"Thank you, Chief." Cindy said. "May I ask how the rest of it went?"

"It was a mixed bag." said the Chief. "And it's not over yet. They took a break for lunch."

"What went wrong?" I asked.

"It would seeeeeem," drawled the Chief, "that some Assemblypersons believe the Fire Department and EMS budgets should be com-biiiiiined. Others believe it should be a 'zero-sum' game; the more the EMS gets, the less the Fire Department gets, and vice versa."

Chief Moynahan: "EMS Assistant Chief Zoe Singer was the only one there with previous experience dealing with the Assembly. She pushed back, but was ultimately forced to take the EMS side, or some of the Assembly that hates the new EMS like they hated the old one might have stripped the EMS budget to the bone."

Chief Moynahan: "Sooooo, the Sheriff got up, and did what the Sheriff does when he gets irritated... he delivered a very strong one-way message to the Assembly." I chuckled at that, seeing in my mind exactly what had happened, though I hadn't been there.

"So that's going to continue after lunch." said the Chief. "I will not be returning to watch it, unless the Sheriff calls me to come back."

"I'm on call, too." Cindy said. "But I'm hoping that my day there is done." I nodded vigorously in agreement.

"Meanwhile," said the Chief, "there was an issue with the Public Health budget. You will remember that last year, Eldrick X. Weaver made a lot of noise about more Public Health clinics in minority areas, and Beth Paige pushed back on the political posturing. But this year, several of our minority friends on the Assembly brought it up. Assistant PHO Gupta, who is a very good doctor and a decent man, handled it very well. He told them that he would love to have more clinics in 'majority-minority' areas... if the Assembly budgeted him the money to have them."

Cindy asked "Is there really a problem with enough clinics in the minority areas?"

I replied "There's plenty on the southside of Town, but not up north nor further south. The northern suburbs are predominately wealthy citizens, who have their own doctors. University Hospital also provides a lot of health care to all citizens, rich or poor. So it's mostly political posturing, and the Press tries to create an image that the minority areas are forced to suffer, when that's not the case."

"Still," said the Chief, "Assistant PHO Gupta is working hard to improve things in the minority areas, and he's doing a good job with it. If they budget him more money, maybe he can make a big difference with County Government re-lay-shunnns with minorities." Cindy and I nodded vigorously in agreement...