JR SWAT 2: Two, Taken

Chapter 7: Angel

A few minutes later, HQ...

"I see you got the letter" Tan whispered, as he bumped into Street in the hallway.

"Yeah. All confidential and stuff." Street said annoyed holding the white envelop in his hand.

"Sucks that we gotta come in early tomorrow. I had the whole day planned!" Tan said frustrated.

"I don't get why they can't just email the information."

"From what I heard, Chief's office is working on something big."

"Really?"

"So much hush hush...you think we're in trouble?" Tan asked, walking side by side with the young officer.

"I hope not!" Street said holding the white envelope in front of him. He stopped when he noticed Tan had suddenly halted his walk and was staring straight away. 

"Wow! That's... not something you see every day!" Tan said gesturing towards the armory room. Hondo was dismantling a huge weapon, taking it apart and cleaning even piece, one by one.

Sigh. Street stopped, feeling horrible. He shook his head quietly. "I'll talk to you later."

"Ok." Tan said, heading out.

Street placed the envelope in his back pocket and approached the lightened room. Deep breath.

"Hey!" he greeted shyly, standing by the front gate.

Hondo didn't look up, just shot a look at him. He nodded once and continued on. The table was filled with all kinds of tools, as the older officer cleaned and counted.

"Hondo, I just...I wanna apologize. I'm sorry my kid got you in trouble with-"

"Don't sweat it, Street. It's all good." Hondo interrupted annoyed, waving a greasy hand at him.

Street felt even worse. It was bad enough his kid almost blew up the whole operation, but to have Hicks go off on Hondo and then reprimand him was just awful. Hicks said that Lieutenant Morales and other members of DEA were watching, as well as other delegates sent by his superior. They were watching SWAT's every move, something to do with compliance, which Street was convinced had something to do with tomorrow's meeting.

"It's not! It's not ok!" Sigh. "I actually talked with Hicks. Got him to split the punishment. Told him what really happened and that I should do the sentence. He said I could do half, so...I will." Street said, as he went around the table, grabbed a pair of gloves from the box in the corner and began putting them on. 

Hondo stopped, and stared at Street. He wiped his hands on the dirty rag, then placed it on the table. He took a sip of water from a nearby water bottle and observed Street gearing up. Hondo  leaned back on the counter and placed the bottle down. He crossed his arms on his chest, then took a deep breath. "Listen, kid, I know where he coming from. He's scared of losing the one thing that's good in his life right now." he paused, "I 'on't know what it's like to be homeless, let alone all the crap he's been through....and I can't deny, I was mad as hell. But, the more I thought about it, the more I kinda understood the kid. Listen" he paused, uncrossing his arms, "I don't do nothing with resentment, that only hardens my heart....but you've got to work on your kid's trust issues, man! They deep!"

"I know...and we're working on them. We are." Street said, nodding his head. "Therapies and sessions and all of that."

"It's not just shrinks, Street. He needs to work it out with both of y'all. I think this distance thing, it's impacting him too. Negatively. I mean, it ain't my business, but the fact that y'all are winging it, especially you. I mean...this kid, Street, he's not something you program and walk away. He a person."