Getting back in my truck and then proceeding to park it in an actual parking spot next to my loaned out 370z, I lean into the backseat and grab my duffle bag then jump out of my truck and catch up to Lucy who is just reaching the front entrance to the station with our struggling collar.
Quickly helping Lucy get our arrest squared away, processed, booked and then our reports filed while she runs off to the women's locker room to get ready, with six minutes left till Roll Call.
As I head to the men's locker room I meet up with Nolan, "Morning Nolan." I greet the older man who turns and gives me an excited smile.
"Morning Silas, are you ready for our first day?" Nolan asks me his everyman vibes oozing out of him regardless of the fact that he looks like the dickhead Nathan Fonni.
"You know it, but are you sure you don't need your walker, gramps?" My joke draws a chuckle out of Nolan, and he begins to say something only to be cut off by Angela Lopez.
"Where are you two Boots going?" Angela Lopez asks in a nonsense way, her commanding presence and attitude making John stand up a little straighter as a confused expression appears on his face.
"Uhh…the locker room, Ma'am…" John Nolan takes a bit too long to respond to her question at least in my book.
"You deaf, Boot? I asked both of you a question!" Angela Lopez glares at me.
"No Ma'am…my ears work just fine. But to offer information to a complete stranger who could just be parading as an officer would compromise my operational security. So unless you wouldn't mind showing me your official credentials and reciting your badge number off for me without looking at it. I design not to answer your question, if you're done playing your petty power game to make yourself feel big and badass I'll be going, Ma'am." Angela looks absolutely floored and pissed off…which makes her look hot as hell.
"All new Rookis have to present themselves to the Captain first, it's a tradition." Officer Bishop cuts in before Angela can respond and grabs her arm leading her away from Nolan and I but Angela doesn't stop glaring at me.
'Well…I sure am glad she's Jackson's T.O. and not mine…because I'm pretty sure she wants me dead now…Harper probably would have gotten wet from my little act just now.'
"Where-" Nolan begins to ask but I cut him off, "Down the hall and up the stairs. That way." I point the way for Nolan who nods and takes the league moving at a fast jog.
Rolling my eyes I head to the men's locker room, finding my locker after a few passes through the rows, putting my spare set of boots, one of my spare uniforms, one set of my spare underwear, then my toiletries into my locker.
I move onto putting on my duty belt and badge, Nolan enters the locker room just as I'm putting my lock on my locker.
"You could have warned me we were being punked." Nolan grumpled good-naturedly as he opens the locker next to mine and begins changing his clothes.
"Where is the fun in that? Besides, the Captain here is a gorgeous badass woman who is more in your age bracket than mine." My joke makes Nolan let out an uncomfortable chuckle.
"You know…about-"
"I do, and I have known since it started…Jackson took a little longer to figure it out. I don't have a problem with what you two do or don't do together…as long as you guys are happy I'm happy for both of you. I'll admit I was a little jealous at first since she and I had all that tension and chemistry when we first met and though it's faded quite a bit it's still there." I explain to Nolan and leave the locker room letting him digest what I just told him.
Heading to the fishbowl where Roll Call takes place I grab a seat at the table across from the one Nolan, Jackson and Lucy sat at in the show.
"That guy is such an ass." I hear Angela Lopez grumble and get a chuckle out of Tim Bradford.
"You're just mad he saw through your bullshit, Lopez." Tim snarks in his cocky arrogant voice that draws a sigh from Bishop and a scoff from Lopez.
My phone vibrates in my pocket and I pull it out to see a message with an image of Riggs attached to it, "Rog, sent a copy of your personal dashcam/cams footage from your truck to your Watch Commander Sergeant Grey. Don't forget dinner at Rog's house tonight, he gets real sensitive if people don't come after he invites them."
"Waiting on you Officer Walker!" Sergeant/Watch Commander Wade Grey's voice booms in the now silent staging room.
"Sir, I was conversing with Detective Riggs from Hollywood station, pertaining to a call for assistance. That I responded to this morning, I meant no disrespect by playing on my phone and holding up the morning Roll Call in your house, Sir." I offer as I stand up from my seat and stand at attention facing the stern Watch Commander.
"I was made aware of this morning's events…and your actions Officer Walker." Sergeant Grey says to me and motions for me to sit back down. I do so and put my phone back in my pocket.
"I got some disturbing footage sent to me a few minutes ago, that I'd like to play for everyone."
What follows is a recording of me in my truck eating my breakfast sandwich, then hearing Murtaugh's call for assistance over the radio and my responding.
Before leading into the whole thing that went down and watching it from the cameras installed in my truck I saw just how close, Riggs, Murtaugh and I came to dying. Well I wouldn't die…not having the healing factor that I'm supposed to have but yeah it was a close thing.
There are dozens of mutters and expressions of awe and disbelief amongst the Officers here in the fishbowl as the recording comes to an end.
"All right, all right…settle down, settle down. Can anyone tell me what Officer Walker did wrong?" Sergeant Grey asks and I wait for someone to say something but no one does.
"Right…people, there are procedures for everything that we do here…but when one of our own's life is on the line we help them. That does not mean I encourage or find your cowboy like antics endearing officer Walker. What you did was reckless and could have gotten you and two highly decorated officers of the L.A.P.D killed not to mention the risk of civilian casualties." Sergeant Grey says and the threat lingers in his voice that if I do anything else he considers cowboy-like I'm done here.
"Now it's time to get on with things. As you all can see we've got some new blood here this morning…some of it's pushing its own expiration date." Sergeant Grey jokes getting a lot of laughs from those in attendance while he motions to me and the other Boots to stand up.
"Get Up!" Sergeant Grey makes it so we face the other officers, while facing him in the fishbowl.
"After six months together in the Academy, you four have earned the right to be here. But you'll have to prove yourselves to stay." Sergeant Grey expresses while waving his arms around to make his point stick.
"The way we do things here matters. Protocols and traditions are the fires from which every cop in this city is forged." Sergeant Grey looks at me hard when he says the words protocols.
Mentally sighing, 'I sure hope not everyone in this world speaks as though they're reading from a screenplay.' The intense look in Sergeant Grey's eyes tells me he truly believes his well rehearsed speech.
"Understand?" For some reason I feel like Sergeant Grey is zeroing me out as he asks us if we understand.
The four of us "Boots" promptly say, "Yes, Sir!" While standing at attention.
"Good, now sit back down!" Sergeant Grey commands and I try to move just a little bit slower than I usually move as my petulant resistance, already chaffing under the leash of authority.
Sergeant Grey stands behind a small podium, "Today is one of my favorite days as it allows me to play my favorite game, can anyone here tell me what that is?"
"The Training Officer and Trainee matching game, Sir…I hear venerably aged people and children love to play matching games just like they like to play Where's Waldo?" I get a couple of surprised snorts and full on laughs from the other Officers in the room.
"That is correct, Officer Walker…I'm sure given your cowboy antics this morning you also enjoy child-like activities, I'm sure you wouldn't mind playing the game of being the rectal examiner and performing cavity searches for your first month on the job." Sergeant Grey offers with a bit of heat in his voice.
"Ehh, I'm sure with your guidance sir, I'll become an expert at being a pain in the ass-I mean a pro rectal examiner…with your high skill in the profession." My barb is sharp and this time no one lets out a sound of amusement. In fact I'm starting to feel like everyone except Nolan, Lucy and Jackson are looking at me like I'm an enemy right now and with the mounting pressure I'm starting to feel behind my eyes. Which is a symptom? of my danger sense let's me know that I may just be pushing Sergeant Grey's buttons enough that he'd attempt to shoot me.
"If you're done holding us up, I'll continue with assigning your T.O.'s."
"Yes Sir, you'll have no more interruptions on my end." I offer with an uncaring shrug of my shoulders.
"Good, now that we've got that taken care of, it's time to play the Training Officer/Rookie match game."
"Our contestants are...Silas Walker, a hotshot-cowboy and self-made millionaire whose father was a weapon and drug trafficker who not only provided aid to two officers in need this morning before clocking in made five arrests and assisted our runner up for the position of hotshot Lucy Chen who made her first arrest before clocking in for work."
'Well there goes any credibility I might have had with anyone here who didn't know from my Uncle's trials.'
"Sir, apologies for the interruption but my father was only suspected of trafficking but was never convicted of any crimes, the man didn't even have a speeding ticket. Also, I crested into the Billionaire category since my last interview, just don't want you operating on out of date information." Sergeant Grey ignores my interruption but carries on while all eyes in the fishbowl are squarely on me.
"Next up we have our overachiever Legacy Jackson West, who broke all his dad's records at the Academy. And finally we have John Nolan, who was born before disco died." Sergeant Grey jokes getting laughs from everyone not distracted by my admission of wealth of familial connection to a criminal element, while I idly think.
'Bragging about being rich probably wasn't my best way to endear myself to my fellow officers.'
"Officer Bradford, you get our runner up." The way Sergeant Grey says Tim gets Lucy makes it seem like he believes then man just got the best Rookie.
"Officer Bishop, you get to ride with the 40‐year‐old rookie." The way his voice sounds when talks about Nolan grates on my nerves, I mean sure he has a good reason to dislike Nolan being here but to openly haze and harass the man opens him and the department to a lawsuit over ageism.
"Officer Lopez, I was going to give you our legacy and assign our Cowboy to Officer Wrigley…until the transfer we're getting from the special operations unit in a couple of days goes through but after meeting him. I feel like you're the only Officer we have right now who can keep him on a tight leash. So Wrigley you have our legacy until Officer Lopez gets freed up."
"A transfer…from spec-ops, sir?" Tim Bradford speaks up the question in his voice clear for everyone to hear.
"I don't have any information beyond the fact that she is a she and that she has a golden ticket and chose to become a T.O. here at Wilshire."
"Now, listen up and listen good because I'm about to tell you to do something that contradicts the programming you've gotten your entire lives, and that is to do things the way you were taught at school. Now I want you four to forget what you learned at the Academy while keeping the skills and muscle memories honed within you by your time at the academy. The real world is not the controlled environment of the academy. Listen to your Training Officers. They'll teach you the way being a Police Officer should be done out here in the real world. All right, that's it from me…just be safe out there people." At the end of Sergeant Grey's speech everyone starts standing up.
"Before everyone goes off to do their jobs, I do have something I want to bring up. As you all know, now I am very rich. What you don't know is that I have many many businesses all researching and developing new ideas. One of which is uniforms for patrol officers that are made from a blend of Kevlar and spider silk which are rated to stop sharp objects, along with the standard jacket 9mm, 38 cal, and up to 45 caliber bullets without the department's standard issue body armor.
The program/products are still in their beta testing phase, due to a lack of police departments and local administrations willing to subsidize the cost of untested equipment.
Now if any of you are interested in taking part in the current testing phase alongside me I'll give you my assistant's business card. Just call and tell her Si has added you to project Apex Aegis…you'll have to go and get fitted because it's not yet as simple as going and buying something off of a rack yet. But if I get enough people to participate and give their reviews on these fly threads I'm currently wearing, we may just get to a place where these protective garments are as accessible to law enforcement as a T-shirt on a rack at Walmart." I pitch to everyone still in the fishbowl and am surprised by the genuine interested look on Sergeant Grey's face.
"What would the cost to participate in this study be?" Sergeant Grey asks me at his interest I notice more officers stopping to hear more about my protective clothing.
"For anyone willing to participate in the beta phase, it is completely free to them…in fact anyone who signs up will get a fifty dollar iTunes gift card. As for the cost of each individual garment it varies by size due to material costs but the average is around 1,500 dollars per article of clothing." There were more than a couple spit takes at the cost per article of clothing and the fact that it would be free.
"If we signed up for this testing phase, would we get to keep the clothes after the testing phase ends and what if the stitch work starts coming undone will there be a repair program?" An Asian woman asks me directly.
"Yes, you all can keep the clothes and yes not only will there be a warranty on the clothing once the product goes live. Those who participate in the beta will have a lifetime warranty on their clothing, also those in patrol who participate will receive nine full sets of blues, seven for a seven day work week and two pairs for spares, in case you get put on a shit assignment or some drunk pukes on you." Many of the more seasoned officers wince at the drunk puking on your part but the ladies have a relieved expression on their faces.
"Are they machine washable or do they have to be dry cleaned?" Jackson West asks.
"Either or, but dry cleaning is the preferred method to clean them, also if any of the clothes are stained so badly a good dry cleaner can't remove the stains, you can use the warranty to replace them. This project isn't meant to make me any richer, it's meant to make Law Enforcement personnel just a little bit safer."
"I'll talk to the captain and see if we can't get the entire day shift enrolled in your testing phase…and if the clothes hold up against the day to day abuse we put our uniforms through we'll see about making your product mandatory safety equipment for every patrol officer…that is if you can provide a steep discount for Wilshire." Sergeant Grey looks like he just tasted something sour as he gives me a nod of respect.
I can't help the laugh that bubbles out of me, "Damn Sergeant you sure are one hell of a haggler. But sure...I can use the expenditure as a tax write off. If I take the average cost per uniform set we're looking at twenty seven million to outfit every officer in L.A. with one set...I spent more than that on my private jet." At my confession everyone in the room looks at me in one of two ways disgust at my obscene wealth and lust... walking up to the whiteboard I grab an easy erase marker and write my assistant's business phone number on the whiteboard.
"Those who want to partake in the testing phase, call this number ask for Friday, then tell her that Si said to enroll you in Apex Aegis testing phase...oh and if any of you piss my girl Friday off, or hit on her she'll probably break your nose...if you stare at her tits...she'll definitely break your nose." As I finish speak the clicking of high heels comes to a stop behind me and the smell of expensive perfume makes memories play out in my head.
"Friday...what are you doing here?" My curious question of the Bryce Dallas Howard but with Christina Hendricks tits look-alike draws shocked noises from almost everyone in the fishbowl.
"I came to pitch the ageis line of protective clothing to your Watch Commander, as I figured you'd be too busy playing at being a cop to do it yourself." Friday offers her reason for being here snarkily.
"Sheesh, to think I keep such a snarky and bossy woman around to boss me around and tell me how bad of a boss and business man I am...I must be insane." My quip draws some giggles from the women in the room as I turn around to face my assistant who is in a figure hugging maroon dress that offer a near criminal view of her cleavage.
"Oh no you're an excellent boss, but a horrible business man. How much money are you planning to give away this time...wait don't tell me I'd rather not attempt to kill you in front of a room full of police officers when it's some ridiculous amount-"
"Total about thirty mil-" I answer her unwisely and danger sense starts blaring in my mind and the pressure behind my eyes is nearly blinding.
Friday grabs a Lucy's sidearm who, Lucy having moved closer to us in an attempt to put herself between Friday and me, landing three rounds in my center mass as I move forwards wrapping my right arm around Friday's waist.
"No kill shots, you're slipping Friday." I tease playfully and get a huff in reply.
"No I just didn't wanted to show how effective our products are...At least we can use the expense as a write off for the profits from the mass cryptocurrency sale, when the price hit 120,000 per coin." Friday mutters and pushes away from me.
I look around and every officer who isn't stunned have their weapons drawn but held at a down angle since I'm too close to Friday for them to get a clean shot.
"Friday, I really wish you didn't do that here..." I mutter and take Lucy's sidearm from her then turn her around and begin putting her in handcuffs. "Friday Ann Dearing you are under arrest for discharging a weapon in a public place, aggravated assault, attempted murder of a peace officer, and disarming a peace officer." The tinkling laughter that leaves Friday makes my dick hard as a rock.
"Your Lawyers will have me out of here before your shift ends, Si!" The sheer enjoyment Friday is experiencing right now is clear in her voice.
"Officer Ling, Officer Mills please take Miss Dearing to processing and process her on the charges stated by Officer Walker." Sergeant Grey commands two women, one of them being the Asian woman who asked about the clothes and the other is a black woman who looks like Bonnie from the vampire diaries.