Red Squad Ch 03

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.

***

Part 13 - Lasagna and LGBTQ (continued)

The Duty Desk Sergeant reached under the desk and pressed a button.

*BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!* *BUZZ!*

It was the 'intruder alert' klaxon. The Duty Desk Sergeant said into his radio microphone, clipped onto the shoulder of his armored vest: "Armed intruders pointing weapons at the Police in the front lobby. Potential hostage situation."

One security man lowered his weapon, but the other did not. "You turn that alarm off right now!" he ordered. "And put your hands where I can see 'em!"

The Sergeant made no move to turn off the alarm, but he and the Patrolman raised their hands to show they were not holding their weapons.

"I'd advise you to lower your weapon and surrender." said the Duty Desk Sergeant.

But it was too late. The SWAT Team was already pouring out of the side entrance where arrested suspects were brought in for booking, going around towards the front doors. Others were getting into position behind the metal door that connected the lobby to the booking areas.

"Take out the Press camera first." Teresa Croyle ordered on Channel 5 encrypted radio. "You are weapons free, and you are 'go' on Kalsu's order."

"Execute! Execute! Execute!" ordered SWAT leader Kalsu.

The SWAT Team rushed in the front door behind the cameraman and tackled him hard to the ground. His camera went flying. Others rushed Lester Holder and tackled him hard to the ground, one of them jamming Holder's head into the floor and holding it there.

As the security men whirled around, another contingent of SWAT burst through the door to the booking areas. TASERs were fired into the security men and the voltage applied, rendering them helpless. SWAT Officers converged upon them, taking their weapons. Others had thrown Assemblywoman Scott and her aide against the wall.

Teresa Croyle came out of the door leading to the hallway. She frisked Assemblywoman Scott for weapons, then said "Full booking for those domestic terrorists.", meaning the security men. "Take the Assemblywoman and her aide to the Main Conference Room, under guard. Take this worthless reporter and his equally worthless cameraman to I-A and I-B..."

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

Coretta K. Scott and her aide were escorted to the Main Conference Room, where they were rather roughly forced to sit down in chairs.

On the far side of the room, her back to them as she looked out the window, was Deputy Chief Cindy Ross. "Commander Croyle can stay and guard the prisoners." she said. "Sergeant, you can go." The Sergeant left.

Cindy finally turned around to face Scott. "It wasn't even a good try." she said.

"What are you talking about, Cracker?" Scott said, pure hatred in her voice.

"That little stunt you tried to pull up front." Cindy said. "You come in here with the most racist reporter in the State and his cameraman. Then your so-called security men, who are actually wanted fugitives, pull guns on my Police Officers. Did you really think that was going to work?"

"Yes." said Assemblywoman Scott. "And it still will, when that camera footage of your

white

cops using excessive force against us hits the airwaves."

"What camera footage is that?" Cindy asked. For the first time, Assemblywoman Scott's eyes showed something other than hatred and arrogance, as she realized that something might be wrong.

"I came down here," said the Assemblywoman, "to give you a message after that crap you said at that Press conference this morning."

"At the point of a gun?" Cindy said. "Or were your henchmen going to shoot me like that rogue FBI Agent shot the Iron Crowbar the other day? Is that what it's come to? Silencing the voices of truth with violence?"

"The

truth

is that after the Assembly hears of the tactics you used today, both this morning and in the lobby a few minutes ago," said Scott, "they're going to defund you of at least that ten million dollars the grant money could replace... and maybe a whole lot more."

"I know you're hard of hearing." Cindy said. "You've been told several times that grant money can't replace the shortfall. And what I said this morning is true: you're just using that as an excuse to

defund the Police

, and to harm the Citizens of the Town & County."

"It's not an 'excuse'." said Scott. "It's the proper response to Police brutality against People of Color. And I came to tell you that after what you said this morning, it's war. You're not only a filthy Pig, you're a racist!"

"Again, you're hard of hearing, and you have a bad memory." Cindy said. "You don't remember last year's Budget meeting, when your racist buddy Eldrick X. Weaver attacked me, because I'm a lesbian? That might even have cost him the election for Mayor, when the LGBTQ community voted for the

rightful

winner, Daniel Allgood."

Coretta K. Scott began standing up. Teresa moved to push her back into her seat, but Scott brushed her off. "I'll stand up if I want to, you God-damned Cracker!" she hissed. Teresa let her stand, but her hand was on her service weapon, ready to draw it and shoot.

Turning to Cindy, Scott said: "The Black Community doesn't give a damn about faggots and dykes like you. What they do care about is white Pigs exercising Police brutality against innocent People of Color. And as long as you continue to abuse my People, I will do everything I can to destroy you, beginning with defunding you." She turned to her aide and said "Let's get out of here."

Teresa was blocking their path, but Cindy just nodded to her and Teresa got out of the way. "Where are my security people?" Scott hissed.

"They're under arrest." Teresa said coldly. "And they will remain so. They're headed to prison."

"They were doing their jobs---" started Scott, but Cindy's ice-cold voice cut her off.

"Like I said," Deputy Chief Ross said acidly, "it was not a good try. They assaulted Police Officers. With guns. Consider yourselves lucky I don't throw you in jail with them." Scott stared hatefully at Cindy, then turned and left.

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

I'd heard the radio chatter on may way back from lunch. When I got back to Headquarters, I was admitted into the employees's parking lot. Once I got to the employees's entrance, I was told that the situation was in hand, and that Assemblywoman Scott had left.

As Teresa and Tanya sat in my office with me, Teresa said "These two so-called 'security' men are anything but... well, in the legal sense, anyway." She said their names, then said "They have pretty long rap sheets for petty thefts, possession of stolen property, fencing of said stolen property, and such. I remember hearing their names when I was in Vice. They were believed to be working for The Teacher, as his security."

"Makes sense, with records like those." I said. "They earned their way up The Teacher's ladder of trust. Okay, what about Penis Holder and his cameraman?"

"The camera was badly damaged when the cameraman was taken down, so sorry." said Teresa. "As we examined it, everything on it was erased by accident, again so sorry. It did have a transmitter to send what it was recording to the van in the parking lot, but... so sorry... it only recorded static. We do have the disassembled and pretty much destroyed camera in a bag. Should we return it?"

"Make sure the lenses are returned in a condition more like sand than glass." I said. "I'll be glad to personally take my crowbar to it and reduce it to shards of worthless material, if need be."

Tanya said "Penis Holder and the cameraman are in I-A and I-B. I would imagine that KXTC will be sending attorneys soon, so if you want to talk to either of them, do it soon."

"I don't." I said. "But charge them with being accessories to the hostage crisis. That will give us legal cover for destroying the camera. KXTC's lawyers should have them out of there by suppertime; but if not, we'll hold them overnight and send them to Nance's Court in the morning."

"If you'll excuse me, I'll go do that now." said Teresa. I excused her and she moved out smartly.

"Where's Cindy?" I asked.

"Discharging her Press Relations duties." Tanya said cryptically.

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

"Thank you for coming." said Town Assemblywoman Coretta K. Scott to the throng of Press on the portico outside the front of City Hall. "I have called this Press Conference to report on the Police brutality against myself, my aide, and my security earlier today----"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" shouted a voice, a male voice. Captain Damien Thompson, looking 'GQ' as ever in his uniform, came striding up. "Assemblywoman Scott is lying about what happened! We have the proof of what really happened!"

"

That's right

, Captain Thompson!" said Commander Cindy Ross as she waded into the reporters. "These jump drives are from Police cameras in the lobby of Headquarters! They show that Assemblywoman Scott's security men assaulted Police Officers and held two of them hostage at gunpoint! They were neutralized and taken down in a proper, humane, and non-lethal manner by TCPD Officers."

Cindy was handing out jump drives. The first went to Keith Madden of the

Town & County Examiner.

The next one went to Priya Ajmani. "No need to grab at them!" Cindy warned when other reporters tried to get Priya's jump drive. "We have plenty! And we even have one for Bettina Wurtzburg!" As Cindy handed Bettina a jump drive, she said "I'm sure I can trust her to report

honestly

on what happened?"

"I always do, bitch." Bettina snarled back.

"Pul-eeze." Cindy muttered quietly. Then she turned around and said "Oh, Assemblywoman Scott. I believe I've interrupted your fake news narrative trying to justify your

defunding the Police

. What were you about to say?." Coretta K. Scott looked at Cindy with pure hatred in her eyes...

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

4:00pm, Tuesday, October 29th. The Sheriff and the Police Leadership were meeting in the Chief's Conference Room.

"I thought you all handled everything extremely well today." growled Griswold. "But what the hell did those people think they were doing?"

I said "It's obvious, Sheriff. They were trying to gin up something. They brought in a KXTC camera along with the racist Lester Holder to film it. They literally pulled guns on the Duty Desk people. I believe Assemblywoman Scott's hope was that we the TCPD would respond more violently than we did, maybe even shoot the security men, then Penis Holder would be chanting Police brutality by white Officers against a black Assemblywoman and her people."

Teresa said "Sir, I believe they were hoping and expecting that Commander Troy would be here and would lead the TCPD's retaliatory response. I also believe they didn't realize we'd take out the cameraman first; they really thought he'd get footage that they could edit however they like to smear us."

"Soooooo," drawled the Chief, "without the Iron Crowbar there, it didn't escalate, eh?" He got withering looks from more than one person for that statement.

"Chief," said Teresa, "if the Iron Crowbar had been there, they might not've had the guts to try that. After Commander Troy was shot by FBI Agent Ellis at the Hospital and got right back up when anyone else would've been incapacitated, everyone is scared to death of him. All he needs now is a 'Batman' emblem on his chest."

"That's true." said Cindy. "I've gotten word from my 'sources' that that story went around the criminal community several times. But did Penis Holder and Assemblywoman Scott know Don wasn't at the Station?" All eyes went to me.

"It's possible." I said slowly, the implication being that I was being watched. "But I'd think Penis Holder would really want me to be the one they bring their racist hatred to bear against."

"But Ms. Scott wouldn't." replied Cindy. "It's me that she hates. And I really can't believe she would gin up an armed standoff at Police Headquarters like that over this Budget issue."

"I can." I said. "But that's because I believe that incident is about a lot more than just the Budget. I think it's a lot larger than that, and just a part of something bigger that is being planned out. As I've said before, the Swamp Frogs and the Leftists are constantly working on new ways to attack us, and someone has seen this Budget issue and then this incident at Headquarters as a means of attack."

I continued: "And I'll point out

the collusion with the Press on this

. Don't even try to tell me they just called a random journalist to go in there with them. No, they went to KXTC, and specifically to Penis Holder."

"Which is waving a red cape in your face, too." Teresa said astutely.

"Well," said the Sheriff, "the good news is that whatever they were doing failed once our video of what really happened was put out there. But if Crowbar is right about the scope of this, and I believe he is, we need to disseminate the word to the entire Police Force to be careful not to be set up nor caught up in an incident the Haters can use against us..."

Part 14 - Political Shenanigans

"Gotta admit," Teresa said as she and I watched the Council meeting in progress, "Cindy was all over it about Assemblywoman Scott today. And giving out those jump drives of our Police camera video was a thing of beauty. By the way, how did those things record what happened? My device was killing the KXTC camera's transmission to their van."

"The TCPD cameras are hardwired." I said. "Our ink-pen devices don't affect them. I have a more powerful device that will, but it will leave them damaged." Teresa nodded.

It was 7:35pm, Tuesday, October 29th, and we were watching the public Council meeting. To our surprise, there were almost no people attending; just a few 'cub' reporters and some people who were suing the County, watching their subpoenas be accepted and referred to the City Attorney.

"I move we go into Executive Session." said J.P. Goldman.

"I second." said Edward Steele.

"Why?" snarled Kelly Carnes. "Why can't whatever you want to do be done here, in front of the Public?"

"Because it involves personnel issues." said Goldman. The vote to go into Executive Session was 5-5, and the Mayor joined the Republicans in voting in the affirmative. The Mayor then said "I'd like to ask Commanders Troy and Croyle to attend the Executive Session, along with the Sergeant-At-Arms..."

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

"What's this about?" Kelly Carnes demanded to know. "And why are

they

here?" she sneeringly asked as she pointed her thumb at me and Teresa, sitting in our chairs against the wall.

"They're here because I want hem there for security purposes." replied the Mayor. "Okay, let's come to order. Mr. Goldman has the floor to make a motion."

J. P. Goldman stood up and said "As you know, the Town & County Assembly is set to pass a budget later this week that will include stripping the Police Force budget of ten million dollars. This is not money that can be replaced with privately donated funds, and we should call it what it is:

defunding the Police

."

"So what?" Kelly Carnes said.

*tap tap tap tap tap tap tap*

"Mr. Goldman has the floor; do not interrupt him again, Mrs. Carnes." warned the Mayor. "Mr. Goldman?"

"Yes, as I was about to say before I was rudely interrupted," growled J.P. Goldman, "the Council is required to ratify the Assembly's budget. That's usually done as a matter of routine. However, I am making a motion to be a resolution informing the Assembly that if they cut that ten million dollars from the Police budget, we will vote against ratification of the Budget, which will put the Assembly in a condition of failing to pass a Budget by Election Day."

Goldman: "We are not meeting next Tuesday night, which is Election Day. Unless we meet in special session, the Budget won't be ratified in time---"

"Point of order." said Sheila Sorrells. The Mayor recognized her to speak, and she said "If the Assembly passes their budget before Election Day, they will have fulfilled their requirement as stated by the current Charter, even if we have not ratified it. Having said that, I am not sure what happens if we don't ratify it. Does the Assembly have to try again? Or is the issue dead?"

"Commission Chairman Troy," said the Mayor, "any light you can shed on that?"

I said "The new Charter allows for something similar to the State: if a Budget is not passed in a correct and timely manner, the spending levels are set at the last-passed Budget's levels. It also allows the Assembly to be held in Contempt for not passing a Budget. The old Charter is silent on the issue, but any changes to the Budget next year, including passing one, would require a 2/3 Council majority to approve instead of a simple majority."

J.P. Goldman took it back up: "I move that this Council informs the Assembly via a resolution, which will not require a second reading, that we will not approve a Budget that

defunds the Police

by ten million dollars."

"I second the motion." said John Colby.

"Debate?" asked the Mayor.

Kelly Carnes said "I believe the Police

should

be defunded as long as they continue to employ Donald Troy. I support Assemblywoman Scott's efforts to stop Police brutality against People of Color."

Malinda Adams said "I also believe that the paramilitary aspects of the Police budget should be cut out. Our Peace Officers should not be engaging in the military-style tactics like those used today against peaceful members of the Press." Neither Teresa nor I batted an eyelash at her words.

Ian McGhillie said "The criminals are well-armed and have every desire to murder our Police Officers, yet some of you would have our Officers be unable to fight back and just be target practice for those criminals. Our Officers are not armed for peaceful events, but for the violence that evil people would do upon the peaceful people."

Dagmar Schoen said "I wonder what the Democrats and their allies of the biased Media will say when the Police are defunded and unable to respond to criminal actions. They'll probably blame the Police for that too, not unlike putting a farmer on a plot of land of solid rock, then demanding that farmer grow crops to feed them. But make no mistake about it, the desire to

defund the Police

is not about Police brutality. It is about stripping away any defense against the Anarchists that want to destroy our Constitution and our individual Freedoms.

"

In the silence that followed, the Mayor said "Any more comments? Mr. Lewis?"

Lewis had no comment, other than saying simply "Let's vote."

The vote was 8-2 to pass the Resolution, with only Carnes and Adams voting against. Kelly Carnes looked at Reginald B.F. Lewis as if he were a turd in the punchbowl. The Mayor entertained a motion to adjourn, which was second and passed in speedy order.

"How could you?" snarled Carnes at Lewis as we all got up to go.

"You're a sneaky Councilman, Mr. Lewis." I said behind him. "Verrrry sneaky." Lewis guffawed, understanding that I knew what he was doing, as well as my play on his own words about me in the past. Kelly Carnes looked at us with daggers in her eyes.