Rangers Apprentice AU-Police Force

New Rookie in Town pt 3

The rest of the day was routine. Will shadowed Halt like he was stuck to his side, and asked so many questions. It annoyed him slightly, but he noticed that the kid was extremely observant. He also worked on a thread of intuition that most cadets had scoured out of themselves by the time they got through training. In spite of himself, Halt wondered where this young officer would go, when he quit. He'd probably be partnered up with Myers, the older cop reflected. Not a bad man, but somehow the thought of him taking this bloodhound in hand seemed to wrankle.

  They were just about to roll in when the call came through. "Adam1, respond to 8th and Linden, officer down and shots fired."

 "Adam1 in route," Halt set the mike back and flipped on the siren bar. As they sped along, Will shifted in his seat. "Where is this section of town?"

"It's a park. We aren't too far from it, hang tight." They made it just as the Chief's car rolled in. Exciting the car, the officers heard the snap of a rifle some distance away. Crowley came alongside and greeted them. "Seems a couple of youngsters having a turf war. All was fair until one brought a gun. When the officers tried to break it up, they banded together in a makeshift barricade." He led them a ways farther in and Halt flinched as the whine of a bullet overhead landed on his ear.

 "We can't get close without being targets," he muttered. Dusk was deepening but it was still too risky. Crowley nodded. "I need you men to guard this side, while some of the boys try to flush them from the other side."

 "Roger that." They watched him leave, and Halt waved to another tree a little to his left. "Take that one, Kid. Just stay out of sight."

 "Yessir." Will scrambled to the tree he had been designated, and Halt gave his attention back to the problem at hand. He didn't believe it was impenetrable. Every fort has a weakness. The problem was whether it was waiting until they thought the kids were out of bullets and then try to flush, or to do it now.. Sliding his eyes over to see how the Rookie was doing, Halt froze. He was gone. The tree was completely empty.

 "Will!" He called out in a low voice. There was no reply. "Will!" a little louder. Several gunshots went off, and Halt felt his hands start to sweat on the gunstock of his rifle. Somewhere out there was the greenest Rookie and a couple of maniacs. 

 "Where are you?!" It was a muted, angry snarl. "I can't believe this." Hesitantly, Halt ducked and ran for a closer tree, while another gunshot went off. This one sounded slightly louder somehow. Or was it his extremely panicked imagination.

 He crawled to the next tree. As he readied for the next, wondering why he didn't hear shots anymore, a voice called out from the falling darkness. "Hold your fire!"

 There was the sound of feet swishing through grass, and several officers in blue came into sight, escorting the young hoodlums'. Will was in the middle, alive as alive could be. He wouldn't be after Halt finished with him. "Good work men, take them on in." Crowley came by and nodded as Will stopped in front of Halt. He seemed to be realizing Halt's feelings toward the situation, and stiffened at attention.

 "Who do you think you are, some Sargent York? I gave you a specific order!" Halt shouted in the kid's face now.

 Will looked slightly crestfallen, but tried to explain. "Sir, I realize but I saw a better way in from where I was at, and thought-"

 "You're not supposed to think yet, Kid, you're a Probationer! Now I want to see you guard that tree and don't move from it until I give you the order! Is that understood?"

 "Yes, sir." Meekly walking to the tree, Will stood at attention like someone had jabbed a poker down his back.

 Still fuming, Halt went in search of Crowley. The Chief was having a word with one of his men, but he stopped as the stocky officer came striding up. "Good man, isn't he?" Crowley asked. " I think he shows potential."

 "If he can stay alive long enough and listen to orders, " Halt replied sarcastically. "He's got as much grace as a flamingo on skates, he asks a million questions and his radio talk is purely horrible. He works on intuition sometimes which, can be good, but also can be detrimental to my mental health. Overall, if he learns to listen to me, and doesn't jump into the first fight he finds, he might do."

 "Listens to you?" Crowley started to smile then thought better of it. "I take it then , that you won't leave the force?"

 Realizing how he had worded the sentence, Halt stopped. It had somehow come from down inside of him-he couldn't leave now, and leave this kid with someone else who might not train him as satisfactorily. For some reason, Halt wanted to train him, and see what he became. The pain of losing a friend was still there, but now his brain was moving on to watching this Rookie grow.

 "Yes." As Crowley started to smile again, he shook his finger in his face. "But don't you dare smirk. I'm just not willing to turn this kid loose on the streets, without giving him a fair chance."

 Turning around briskly, Officer O'Carrick missed hearing the chuckle and sigh of relief from Crowley. "I think this day turned out well, on the whole," He said to the sky.