Agents and Angels Ch. 01

Afterwards, Tanya said "Well, I guess I better be getting back home."

"Why don't you stay here?" I offered. "The sofas become beds or futons."

"I could," said Tanya, "but my house is set up for me, and it's easier to get around."

"I understand." I said. "Are you taking Pete, or letting him stay for the slumber party?"

"He's staying." said Tanya. "I told him I'd be back in the morning, and to behave himself."

I chuckled. "Okay. But I'll bring him to your house tomorrow... and that'll give us a chance to talk more privately." Tanya nodded.

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

2:00am, Sunday, February 18th. The Iron Crowbar's supply of firewood would have to be replenished; Cindy and Teresa were still out on deck, keeping warm by the fire.

"She could've stayed." Teresa said.

"Tanya?" Cindy said. "Yeah. But I think she was feeling down, and she never wants to let us see her down."

Teresa nodded. Cindy looked over and saw the tears running down her friend's face. "You okay?" she asked.

"It's..." Teresa started, then said "God! it must be so hard for her!"

"I know." Cindy replied. "And on top of the paralysis, she's separated from us and the job she truly loved."

"That's what I was thinking." Teresa said. "Don tries to keep her in the loop, says she's still one of his Angels, but it's not the same thing and she feels that."

After a pause of a few moments, Teresa said "How was it between you and Tanya in your early days... before Don got here?"

"Tanya was the smart one, and I was the plodding one." said Cindy. "Kind of like Joanne and Theo are now. Sometimes Tanya and I had differing theories of what was going on in a case. She usually was right, and she was as good as Chief Griswold at crime scenes. What about you?"

"I was on the other side." said Teresa. "In Vice, in pain, and in trouble all the time. I never said anything, but I loved it when she cut Ikea down to size."

"Hell," Cindy said, "I didn't have time to argue with Tanya... I was always butting heads with you."

Teresa gave what was a chuckle for her. "Yeah, we had some knock-down dragouts. People thought we really hated each other. I hated everyone, so you weren't anything special, there." Cindy laughed out loud, then Teresa said: "But I think I knew, deep down, that you were different, like me, and that we were really bestest buddies in disguise."

"Yeah..." Cindy said. "You know... I didn't know what it was at the time, but I think my first 'vibe' was that underneath all your anger, you really cared. And of course Don saw that right away when he got here."

"About both of us." Teresa said. "And because he came here, we both got to grow into our wonderful selves... and Tanya was coming along, too, until she lost Pete and almost lost her son."

"Well," said Cindy, "we'll just have to make sure she knows she's still important to us.s"

"Speaking of important people, there's something I need to ask you." Teresa said. "Will you be my Maid of Honor at my wedding?"

It was Cindy's turn to have tears in her eyes...

Part 4 - Psychology

6:00am, Monday, February 19th. It was President's Day, a Federal Holiday, but the Town & County Police Force was at work serving the Citizens. On this morning, Captain Teresa Croyle and Lieutenant Hugh Hewitt had scheduled mandatory training for the SpecOps personnel, and had invited other Officers to participate on a voluntary basis.

They were assembled in the gym at Police Headquarters, which seemed half-lit, as not all the lights were on. There were some large boxes in the center of the gym, which looked like some kind of training obstacles.

"All right, guys!" said the Police Boxing Matches Champion, Teresa Croyle, who was in the white plastic armor from that competition, with more armor on underneath, and carrying a Police billy stick. The SpecOps people were fully attired in their gear, and everyone in the room had on either their Police helmet or a football helmet. "Today is the first lesson in advanced personal combat. In this lesson, we will teach you---"

*PLOOMP!*

"DEFEND YOURSELF, CROYLE!"

Teresa whirled to see an international orange crowbar at her feet... and then she looked up to see the tall, broad-shouldered man in black and red armor worn by motorcycle riders and a football helmet... and wielding a red crowbar. I'd come out from under one of those boxes in the center of the gym. And I was running to the attack.

Teresa quickly picked up the international orange crowbar, and she parried my first blow. I continued to press the attack. And I went into full "R. Lee Ermey" mode, as seen in the movie Full Metal Jacket.

"Is this the best you've got, Captain Croyle?" I yelled. "You gotta bet shittin' me!" I began attacking her left side, so that she would have to use her right arm to defend herself. I was doing this for a reason: to test how well her right arm, and the nerves that controlled it, were healed.

"Are you taking it easy on me, Captain Croyle?" I yelled. "Are you getting soft, Captain Croyle? Have you been eating too many jelly doughnuts, Captain Croyle?!" I could see that Teresa was getting angry. She lunged at me, swinging her orange crowbar, and missed. And I let her have it.

*THWACK!*

My crowbar swung hard, and I got her right in the middle of the back. The plastic armor held up, but the blow sent Teresa reeling and pitching forward to the floor. I went forward to deliver more punishment, but Teresa was already back on her feet, and she managed to parry my next hard swing.

*WHANG!*

I heard her grunt, and I yelled "Were you about to call me an asshole, Captain Croyle?!?!"

"That, and a few more things." Teresa finally retorted. The Officers watching, and with great interest, laughed at her reply. I rained a series of blows down on her, moving left and right and swinging hard blows right at her.

"Are you getting weak, Captain Croyle? Are you out of shape?" I yelled out. But I could see that Teresa was starting to get her head back in the game, and get her wits about her. She was no longer overreacting to my potty mouth comments, and it became a fighting stalemate.

And I was wondering how I was going to stop this thing. We were both tiring, and Teresa was not going to quit...

*TWEEET!*

The police whistle blasted through the gym. Teresa and I stopped, and I backed off. We bowed to each other, then I glanced over to see Chief Moynahan watching us. And he looked like he was none too pleased that his Police Commander was fighting a crowbar battle with the Police Boxing Matches Champion.

"Okay, everyone." I said, addressing the watching assembly. "We learned a couple of things, there. First, personal combat is not as much about the physical game as the mental game. It's about psychology. You may have noticed that my potty mouth got Captain Croyle upset for a moment, and she got whacked on the back for it. Then she started calming down, getting her head back, and from that point on it was a stalemate."

"Remember Mr. Rudistan here in last year's Boxing Matches." I said, pointing at Rudistan, who was sitting in the front row. "This guy nearly made the finals last year, but not because of his physical abilities, which are 'okay' at best." I made air quotes at the 'okay', and many Officers chuckled. "He won a lot of matches because his potty mouth is worse than mine, and he made his opponents make mistakes. So keep your heads in the game, don't let the perp get to you. And always---"

*CLANG!*

Crowbar met crowbar as I intercepted Teresa's powerful blow. She'd come up behind me and was taking the sucker-punch shot. I finished my sentence: "... always be aware of what's coming up behind you!" The group began laughing as I looked back at Teresa, who was looking a bit sheepish.

"Okay, ladies and gentlemen," said the Chief, "you guys train, and remember what you were taught today. Mr. Crowbar, my office, please..."

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

"I am still worried about your back." said the Chief as I sat in front of his desk, and he sat behind it. "I've a mind to tell you you cannot participate in the Police Boxing Matches. You know you can't wear the 'girdle' or any other armor under the plastic suit, and one bad blow like the one you gave Captain Croyle this morning could cripple you." That was a rule of the Boxing Matches: no armor other than the plastic protection.

"Sir, I'm fine." I said. "I've been training, I've been building up the strength in my back, and my flexibility. Everything's good; even Dr. Morgan said so."

"Okay, okay." said the Chief. "So... the important part... how's Teresa?" I knew what he meant; we'd discussed this situation, and the Chief knew I was going to engage Teresa in personal crowbar combat this morning.

"Her right arm is slow." I said. "She can get it around, but not as fast as she could before her nerves were damaged on Christmas Eve. She did fine with her left side, but the right side isn't quite caught up yet."

"And how did you come to notice this was a problem in the first place?" asked the Chief.

"I noticed she was signing paperwork left-handed." I said. "It was chicken scratch at first, but she's getting better writing with her left hand now. But for her to make that change meant that she's having trouble with her right hand. And I noticed at dinners we've had together that she's eating with her left hand now."

The Chief nodded his head. "Well, she's a Captain, and she qualified with her gun left-handed, so there's no problem with her duty status. But I'm going to talk to her and tell her we know about it, and that I want her to address it and get some rehab on it..."

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

At 8:00am, Teresa came into my office for the Angels meeting. Cindy was already in her hot seat.

"How you feelin'?" Cindy asked jovially.

"Like I got the shit beat out of me this morning." Teresa said as she sat down at my hand-gesture invitation.

"Captain Ross," I asked, "where were you? I thought for sure you'd want to have some fun with us."

"Chief Moynahan told me to not go in there." Cindy replied. "I'm not sure why, though." I did not let my face show that I knew the reasons, and there were two of them: one, to make sure Cindy could not observe my tactics and Teresa'a tactics prior to the Boxing Matches; and two, so Cindy wouldn't observe that Teresa was not 100%.

"Okay." I said. "So what's going on in the TCPD?"

"Briggs is acting up again." said Teresa. "He told Irwin to cover for him at my Operations meeting this morning. I didn't send another email so that Briggs wouldn't figure out Irwin is dropping dime on him, but if he doesn't show up, I might take some formal action."

"Before you do," I said, "tell you what. I'm going to attend your meeting this morning, just as an observer. If he doesn't show up, we'll have some fun with him." Teresa nodded. "Okay, Cindy, what's new in MCD?"

"The coffee was really good this morning." Cindy said. "Jerome Davis made it. Said something about his father having been in the Navy."

"So it was strong, eh?" I asked.

"It was 'just right'." said Cindy. "The world would be shocked to learn that the hardcore, tough Iron Crowbar makes the coffee... weak." Teresa began giggling at that. A red crowbar was waved in the general direction of both my Angels.

"Tell Jerome he's the official coffee-maker from now on." I said. "And tell him that's an honor that should be entrusted only to Navy personnel and their sons. Okay, what else?"

Cindy said "Mary is still kicking ass at Police Academy Advanced Course. The only way she won't finish No. 1 in her class is to have her baby before graduation. And that segues neatly into my Vice report: we're starting to gather and put together serious intel on this drug operation that's been trying to come in. They're establishing service with University students right now, and we expect they'll branch out to the clubs soon. We're getting the evidence squared away so we can take them down."

"Good." I said. "Anything in MCD?"

"No." said Cindy. "Teddy Parker may be finding a cold case soon."

"Good." I said. "And feel free to call my mother in, if necessary. Okay, I need to tell you guys something, and I've already talked to the Chief about it. I've been sneaking a peak into this Richard Brookstein case. He's the serial killer known as 'Red Brooke', and he's a bad, bad seed."

I noticed a look on Cindy's face. "What?" I asked.

"Just that I was going to start looking into him." she said. "But you've obviously read my mind and beat me to it."

I smiled. "No, I didn't read your mind, but great minds think alike. And maybe we had the same vibe, eh?" Cindy smiled and nodded.

I continued: "Okay, so Brooke escaped from Supermax several months ago. He was first reported being in Boston, and has moved across and down the country, leaving dead bodies in his wake. He was last reported in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where the deaths of two co-eds are attributed to him."

"Jack Muscone busted Brooke ten years or so ago," I continued, "and he's been trying to get on Brooke's scent again. But Brooke is a nasty man. He is well-versed in the martial arts, with two black belts like our own Captain Ross here. But he also has military personal combat training, and he is reported to be a master of psychology. So if you think you got a beating this morning, Captain Croyle, it is nothing compared to what this man can allegedly deliver."

"Harrumph." said Cindy Ross, her ice blue eyes becoming jet, as if she took Brooke's skills as a personal affront and a challenge to her.

"Yes, I'd suggest you both up your games in the event Red shows stupidity and comes to our County." I said. "But seriously, the FBI thinks he's still in the Carolinas. Wherever he is, when we get any kind of track on him, I'm going to go there and track him down myself."

"Why?" asked Cindy.

"I was studying up on him this weekend." I said. "Let me first point out to both of you that escaping from a Supermax prison is virtually impossible. The only way that happens is with the help of an organization like Westboro's, with the mind of someone like Westboro behind it... or else the Government running the prison is behind it themselves."

"Second," I said, "the timing of Brooke's escape is coincident to the Wheeler murder in Polk County, and the subsequent beating of Professor Marvin Milton." (Author's note: 'Whistleblower', 'Falsely Accused' Ch. 03.) "You know what Dame Agatha Christie and I think about coincidences."

"Related to that," I continued, "I'm finding it difficult to get information on Brooke through the FBI's resources. They're not overtly denying me the information, but it's just not quite where it's supposed to be. In addition, people at high levels in the FBI have told Jack Muscone, his team, and his immediate bosses to not involve me, your friendly neighborhood Iron Crowbar, in the Red Brooke case."

"So why inject yourself now?" asked Cindy. "Especially when a good number of FBI Agents still hate your guts, even though Dana Fox turned himself in and confessed to his crimes."

"Because of Jack Muscone." I said. "Even though he won't talk to me, he's put himself, his job, and his reputation on the line for me several times. At the least, I owe him this. Beyond that, I want to take this Red Brooke down, and try to understand what was truly behind his so-called escape from prison. I don't know why... but I think there's something important about that..."

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

Teresa's meeting was scheduled to be in the Main Conference Room at 9:30am. Present were Precinct Captain Thompson, Precinct Lieutenant Carswell, Precinct Lieutenant Irwin, Captain Croyle herself, and today a special guest was also there... Your Iron Crowbar.

Not present was Precinct Captain Holsom 'Hal' Briggs. Teresa dialed his Police cell number on the speaker phone. There was no answer. She tried on her Police iPhone, no answer. Then Irwin tried. No answer.

Then I got my Police iPhone out and dialed his cell number. When there was no answer, I said to the voicemail "Captain Briggs, this is Commander Troy. It is 9:33am, and you are not present at the Operations meeting, which I am personally hosting today. If I don't hear from you within five minutes, and if I have to come find you, then I'd suggest you get a hold of your Union Rep."

Two minutes later, Briggs called me back on my cellphone. "I'm on the way, sir. I'm stuck in traffic!"

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Briggs." I said. "But this meeting will not start until you arrive, and I'm not exactly a patient man." I then disconnected.

Briggs arrived ten minutes later, gasping for air and his face flush, as if he'd run on foot all the way to Headquarters. He was also in civilian clothes, though a uniform would've been more appropriate. "Sorry for the delay, sir." he said as he took his seat.

"See me after the meeting." I said. "Captain Croyle, its your Operations world, and I just live in it. Go ahead." Teresa began running the meeting. I was glad she didn't ask me any questions, as she was peppering everyone else with answers requiring some knowledge. But everyone was prepared, even Briggs...

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

After the meeting, Briggs was all but shoved into my office. I sat down in my 'Command Chair', and Teresa was told to sit on the sofa. Briggs was invited to remain standing.

"All right, Mr. Briggs." I said. "What happened this morning is inexcusable. You did not attend a meeting you were explicitly and in writing told to be at. I know that because I have a copy of the email and of your receipt of that email. You did not respond to phone calls until my phone call was made. If this had been an actual emergency and you weren't responding, it would be much, much worse. So what is going on?"

"I had other, important things to attend to." drawled Briggs in his laconic voice. "I sent Irwin in my place. He lets me know what went on in the meetings."

"That doesn't matter." I said. "You were under orders to appear at the meeting. It was not your decision to determine what's important. Captain Croyle has spoken to you of this several times, and some of those times have been followed up with written reprimands... which don't seem to have been effective. Are you trying to get fired, Mr. Briggs?"

"No sir." said Briggs.

"Then what is your explanation?" I asked.

"I have no further explanation beyond what I've given you already, sir." Briggs said.

I looked over at Teresa, then finally said "Captain, would you give me a moment with Briggs alone, please?"

"Yes sir." said Teresa. "But it's my duty to remind you that without a witness, nothing said can be used in any proceedings against Precinct Captain Briggs."

"Yes, thank you." I said. Teresa left.

"Okay, it's just us." I said. "Off the record. Still within protocol, but nobody else here to hear it. What the fuck is your major malfunction, Briggs?"

"Like I said, sir, what's the point of me being at that meeting?" said Briggs. "It's a waste of my time."

"Your time on the clock with this Police Force belongs to the Chief of Police, Briggs," I said, "and is delegated down to me, and then to my Captain of Operations. It is not for you to decide what is a waste of your time. It is Captain Croyle's time you are wasting, and today it was my time you wasted. And again... you're nearing retirement time, but keep this up and you will be fired, and not get one penny of pension."

"Well, why haven't I been made Captain in this Police Force, Commander?" snarled Briggs, finally getting to the truth. "No disrespect to you intended, sir, but I've been here three times longer than you have, and I'm still stuck in a Lieutenant-grade position, with duties that are non-existant and practically worthless."