Falcon
Lamedale Police department
“Hey, Falcon. I hear you punched the golden boy,” Detective Jones shouted the moment Zanine walked in.
That suspended everything everyone was doing, all the attention turning to the detectives as usual.
“Yep, broke his nose,” Zanine replied carelessly. She was used to that. Her personality and line of work got her at odds with a lot of powerful bigots.
“You just keep pissing off powerful men, don’t you?” Detective Williams asked, amused. There truly was no dull day with their daring co-detective around.
“Correction, Idiot, they just keep pissing me off,” she hissed at him.
“Careful, Dan. She might just break your nose,” Detective Reed warned before they burst out into laugher while she made a face at them.
She was the only female detective in the department and found all of them immature and irritating at times. She knew most of them from the academy. Besides growing older, becoming senior officers and detectives together, she still found them as irritating as she did back then.
“What did he do?” Rookie officer Carter asked, surprising everyone. Rookies hardly spoke or asked questions when the detectives were having their usual bickering.
Zanine was taken aback by the rookie’s question. Most of her collogues, even her captain, believed that she was always looking for trouble.
“He probably greeted her and Her Highness here was not impressed with his bow,” Detective Jones suggested and got nodding from the group, but the rookie officer pressed on. She needed to hear the answer from Zanine.
“Detective Falcon?”
“He touched my butt,” she responded while the other detectives cursed under their breaths, feeling like real idiots.
The mayor’s son was notorious for doing that. He made headlines once, but that quickly died down like all the several harassments claims against him.
“You should have castrated him,” the rookie hissed, sounding a lot like Zanine, who was taking in her every expression.
“Thanks, Jan. I might just take you along when I do.”
Janet could not hide her smile, while the other rookies exchanged envious looks. Detective Falcon and her mentor, Senior Detective Cooper were always in trouble with the captain, but they handled and closed most of the high-profile cases. They also took crap from no one, kicked ass and criminals were terrified of them.
The captain did not attach any rookie to them because of fear of them getting hurt, but they were secretly their fans.
The group were still at that when the human resource officer Cook walked out of the captain’s office and approached them.
“Trouble coming,” one of the detectives whispered.
“Detective Falcon, the Cap wants you in his office ASAP,”
“Why?”
The old woman shook her head at her. She was getting swamped by all the complaints against her. While a dream come true in terms of closing cases, she was also a nightmare for them.
“The mayor is in there. Looking pissed,” she told her.
“Question, Ma’am…”
“No, you cannot assault the mayor, or anyone for that matter,” the human resources officer interjected.
“I was not going to ask that!” Zanine cried while everyone gave her that look. That was her famous question when meeting powerful men.
She had only taken two steps towards the captain’s office when a broadcast about a bank robbery came up.
“Five people have been killed so far. These guys are armed, dangerous…”
“It is them,” Zanine said with her hands clenched. “The bastards have come to our town,” she added right when her mentor rushed out of his office and threw a bullet proof vest to her.
“Later, Dudes,” Zanine saluted her collogues and ran towards the door.
“The captain,” Detective Jones reminded her.
“I have robbers to catch. You can punch the mayor for me,” she shouted back exactly when the captain’s door opened. She cursed under her breath and ran out, leaving the captain and mayor fuming.
“This is the Asher gang signature. I don’t have to tell you how dangerous they are. We need all units on board. Rookies can tag along but arm up and stay back,” the captain briefed his team, while the television cameras started broadcasting Detective Falcon and Cooper’s arrival at the scene.
“So, we have a serial killer, kids snatcher and now the notorious gang?” the mayor asked the captain who nodded and embraced himself for taking the blame.
“What exactly are you doing about it?”
“All our resources are on this, Sir. Believe me, we are trying.”
“Trying is not enough!” the mayor yelled. “Your so-called detectives have so much time on their hands, they even assault citizens in night clubs,” he added angrily while the officers’ exchanged looks. They all knew whom the detective the mayor was referring to, but they were more curious about the location of the so-called assault. They all knew how Detective Falcon hated night clubs. She only went there when investigating something important or she would have sent other officers or rookies.
“I am addressing the press in one hour. Do you want me to go out there and tell the victims that you are trying?” he added.
The captain had no words. It did not matter what his response will be, the mayor needed a scape goat and he and his department will be that.
“Do your damn job. Start by suspending Detective Falcon,” the mayor demanded.
“That will not help your mayor elections, Sir.”
It was Janet who spoke. She could not understand why everyone was just taking all the orders and abuse from the mayor. Listening to politicians was against everything she learned at the academy, yet it seemed normal to most of her seniors.
“Excuse me?” the mayor asked sharply.
“Your son touched Detective Falcon’s butt. It was harassment and she punched him. There is footage of it, Sir. She is one of the best detectives. You will lose your political standing if you suspend her,” the Rookie explained while the mayor cursed under his breath.
“Who is this?” the mayor asked the captain, annoyed.
“Rookie Officer Carter, Sir.”
“Punish her.”
“Yes, Sir,” the captain agreed before turning to the Janet. “You are on file duties for a week, Officer.”
Janet looked at the captain in disbelief before storming away.
“No wonder Falcon whips these bigots!” she mumbled to herself while watching everyone go to the robbery scene. She cursed inside when she found the captain behind her.
“You think you know everything, you don’t. Falcon and Cooper are the best, but they will not get us the funding we require for us to do our job. Politicians allocate budgets. We, whether we like it or not, must play nice with them. It will help for you to do your damn job and leave the addressing of politicians to me,” the captain scolded before leaving her letting out a sigh.
Meanwhile at the bank robbery scene, the police and detectives were in a crossfire with the robbers.
Despite them staying behind the experienced officers, one Rookie was shot dead, the other injured. Two senior officers were also shot dead with at least six others severely injured.
“They have massive power, but we will not retreat. We hit them with everything we got. Under no circumstances will we let them out of here. This is our standoff. They stay here. This war must end today,” Zanine shouted her orders to the fuming officers. The robbers had killed their own, not just that day, but in all the towns they have attacked before. It was now personal.
They were all ready to die fighting when the bank door opened and the robbers walked out holding the deputy mayor at gunpoint.
Zanine cursed under her breath, furry consuming her. They had the robbers in one place, it was an opportunity to end their reign, but protocol demanded that they priorities hostages in every situation. The robbers knew it too.
“Everyone stand back or we will shoot him.”
“The damn politicians again,” she mumbled before lifting her hands. She could feel their smugs as all the officers made a way for them to get into their sports cars.
She could not believe her luck when they shoved the deputy mayor away before taking off. They obviously knew that their cars would not be able to match their speeds, but she had something to level the ground.
“I guess they win this round,” one Rookie said with a melancholic voice, but Zanine was suddenly thrilled.
“Not this time, Kid. Not this time.”
All the officer’s jaws dropped when she ran to her boot, taking out the famous, most talked about firepower in their circle.
“Nano five,” Detective Jones mumbled in disbelief while she beamed.
“Thanks to the seventh street donation, we get to reign again,” she declared before opening fire at the row of cars a distance away…
