THE IRON SHIELD

Chapter III

III

One of the other detectives, Roland Powell, showed John around the precinct. There were 210 precincts in the city and the one that John was at number 148. On the first and second floor were the desks or offices of the detectives and officers. John's was on the second floor. The third floor was the armory and shooting range. The fourth and fifth floors were the rest of the desks and offices. The sixth floor was where the holding cells were. In case of an escape, the inmate would have to get through six floors or jump out of the window, but the windows were bulletproof and were caged.

Powell took Detective Eckhart to the third floor to show him the armory. He showed him the shooting range. "Let's see how good you are." Powell and Eckhart put on ear muffs and approached their respectable stands. Powell was an inch shorter than Eckhart, had dark short hair like Eckhart, and was a little stockier. At the IPD each officer was allowed to carry their own service weapon that they were comfortable with as long as there was ammo in the armory that supported their weapon. Most of their weapons did. Powell carried a Smith and Wesson M&P, just like the one Eckhart had as a spare back at his place. Powell was in the U.S. Marines before he became a detective. Powell fired all the rounds in his weapon hitting the target near the center all in a two-inch diameter. Very good. "See if you can beat that," said Powell with a snicker.

"I'll do my best."

Eckhart raised his weapon, looked down the sights, and stared at the target shaped of a head and body. The first shot hit the side of the neck on the left. The remaining fourteen hit in sync of the first making a straight line across the neck resulting in the body falling off and the head hanging. Eckhart reloaded and holstered his weapon. Powell's mouth dropped. "That was uh-very good. How about a rematch?" Eckhart laughed. "Maybe next time. You did well though, very accurate."

"Thanks. All right then, on with the tour."

Eckhart and Powell put away the ear muffs and continued the tour as Powell called it. On the third floor was not only the Commissioners office, but it was also the fitness area. They headed to the fitness center.

Powell headed to the weight lifting machine. He laid down and lifted the bar off of the supports. He raised and lowered the 250 pounds ten times. Eckhart got on the treadmill. The max speed that treadmill could run at was twelve miles per hour. Eckhart ran track in high school and ran in the army. Of course that has been several years ago, but he still thought he could run that fast for a decent amount of time.

Eckhart hopped on the treadmill and turned it on to twelve miles per hour. The treadmill began to hum as it warmed up and increased speed. As he started off at a slow walk, then a walk, then a speed walk, then a jog, and finally a run. The humming got louder and louder as the speed increased. Once it steadied, Eckhart was running as fast as the treadmill was running. Other officers in the room noticed Eckhart and were astonished. Powell thought to himself that Eckhart was breaking himself in real good and that he was really excited to be working with him. Eckhart ran at that speed for the next ten minutes. He slowed down and cooled down until a complete stop. It was as if his legs were jelly, but Eckhart barely noticed it. "Nice. When was the last time you ran?" Powell asked.

"Oh it's been nearly ten years. I'm a little out of shape, but I'll be back in shape in no time."

"Well that was impressive. You'll fit in just fine here."

Eckhart went home that afternoon after a tour of the precinct and meeting several people. Powell would end being Eckhart's partner in the department. Eckhart ate a foot long sub sandwich from Subway for dinner. It was a meatball and marinara sauce sandwich. He also grabbed a can of Coca-Cola out his refrigerator and drank it along with his sandwich. That evening he decided he needed to go grocery shopping since he had no food. He looked in the electronic Yellow Pages and found a Kroger five blocks away.