by Laura Acton
Outside Bang Fitness – Command Truck
“Sorry, Boss, no cameras in the building. The owner wants to make sure people don’t feel uncomfortable when working out. Apparently, many people feel self-conscious about video cameras taping them while they sweat. Doubt our Lexa would mind. Know Dantastic wouldn’t—he’d probably go shirtless just to show off his six-pack abs and he-man biceps. He’d hog the camera time,” Loki joked.
Relax Now Across from Bang Fitness
Dan lightly laughed at Loki’s comment. He really liked that guy. Sometimes Loki was over the top, but he made him laugh a lot lately. Laughing was good, it helped heal his soul. “Loki, you’re just jealous I can bench more than you.”
Nick smiled and said, “A little more focus now, boys.”
Dan opened the window to quickly scan the gym across the street with the high-powered scope. “Boss, Jon, I’ve got a good view of the whole gym. No blind spots. Got a twenty on the subject. He’s against the green wall, about mid-way between front and back, near the free weights. He has a gun to the head of the female hostage who is on her knees in front of him. Second hostage, male, also on knees in front of subject, but facing the female hostage. I don’t see anyone else in the gym.”
As Dan lay down on his stomach on the massage table to line up the shot, Nick replied, “Good info, Dan. Let us know if anything changes.”
“Copy that. I’ve got the solution,” Dan informed the team as he settled in to watch and wait as his teammates—no his family, worked their magic. His professional sniper mask slid onto his face, but there was a faint hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth. Something that had never been there in all of his life when readying himself for a shot.
Chapter Seven
July 15
Outside Bang Fitness
“Subject’s name is Clive Parch. He was a personal trainer at the gym until last week. The assistant manager tells me that he was fired and banned from the gym because a woman accused him of unwanted sexual advances and inappropriate touching during training sessions,” Lexa shared.
Loki couldn’t help himself as he responded, “And more innuendos for Bang Fitness. I could sooooo have a field day with this.”
Soft snickers were heard from several teammates.
“Jon, let’s slowly move inside and try to get his attention—see if we can get him talking.” Nick proceeded to enter the gym with Ray and Jon providing cover with the shields. Bram was covering the single rear exit as a precaution.
“Loki, join Bram in the back since we have no techy stuff for you to play with here,” Jon directed.
As he entered the building, Nick quietly asked Lexa, “Do we know who the hostages are yet?”
Lexa chimed in again, “Yeah, Boss, the woman hostage is Lori Plane. She’s the one who lodged the complaint against Clive. The male hostage is Neal Johnson, Lori’s boyfriend. The second witness was also a client of Clive and said that he has been having violent mood swings lately.
“Last time he worked out with Clive, about two weeks ago, Clive got so mad at him for doing nine reps instead of ten that Clive threw a free weight at his head. Missed him, but after that he refused to work with Clive again.
“The third witness said this is out of character for Clive, but he thinks he’s been under stress while preparing for a weight lifting competition. Said Clive’s been bulking up really fast. He thinks the accusations are false and that Clive is upset at being banned from the gym so close to the competition.”
“Why does he think the accusations are false?” Nick asked.
“Says that Clive doesn’t swing that way, and Lori has been hitting on a lot of the guys at the gym to try and make Neal jealous,” Lexa responded.
“The bulking up quickly could present a problem, Boss. Clive’s as big as a freaking house, bigger than Bram, that’s just not normal. Wonder if he’s taking steroids? It might explain the mood swings and anger issues,” Dan suggested.
Bram interjected, “If that’s the case, talking to him will be very difficult. I knew a guy on the force years ago that got into steroids. Messed him up bad. His rage would go from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye. He went off the deep end one day because some guy borrowed a pen from his desk. It took four guys to take him down and three of them ended up injured—one bad enough to require a trip to the emergency room. Watch yourselves.”
“Good to know,” Nick responded then he began negotiations with Clive.
Relax Now Across from Bang Fitness
As Dan watched through the scope, he could see that Clive was all over the place emotionally. He had a bad feeling how this was going to end. Clive was going from red to yellow and back to red with amazing speed. Nothing the Boss said seemed to be working.
The woman, Lori, looked so scared. She had tears running down her face as she gazed helplessly at her boyfriend in front of her. Dan couldn’t see Neal’s face, but he could empathize with what the guy might be feeling.
Sometimes people were just in a situation they had no control over and needed someone to help. That’s why there was the TRF. Dan smiled again, slipping slightly out of sniper mode. Not because of this situation, but because he was here with Alpha Team and they would help as best they could. They’d do everything in their power to get Lori, Neal, and even Clive out of this mess unharmed. He hoped the Boss would be successful with talking Clive down.
Sadly, right after that thought, Dan saw Clive escalate again, hitting Lori on the head with the back of his hand and shoving her down while lunging forward and pointing the gun straight at the Boss’ head.
“PapaGolf,” Jon called.
Dan instantly took the shot. No hesitation. Hesitation could cost an innocent or teammate their life. Dan had the quickest reaction time of all the snipers in TRF. Hell, he was the fastest shooter in all of Special Forces during his time with them. That was because the General had started training him when he was only six. Hours upon hours spent at the gun range when most kids were playing sports, video games, watching TV, or just hanging out having fun. By the time he was eleven, punishment was brutal if he failed to hit the targets where and when the General demanded.
It was a direct hit, leaving no chance of a twitch of a finger on the gun. Clive crashed to the ground—dead. Dan rarely missed. In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he missed. However, Dan remembered very clearly the day when he wished with every fiber in his being that he had missed. All traces of the smile vanished from Dan’s face as memories of Brody flooded into his mind.
“Subject neutralized,” Jon softly called into the headset.
Dan lay completely still, his breath held, as the pain of taking another life and remembrance of Brody washed over and through him, carving another line in his soul. He hated taking a life, but logically knew that it was necessary sometimes. But that didn’t make it any easier. He had taken so many lives. Death was familiar—all too familiar to him—but it was never ever easy.
The General was a cruel bastard who had ordered him into mission after mission. Other members in his unit got downtime, but not Dan. While they were taking a break from the horrors of fighting terrorism, he was forced to join other active units. Always put into missions with high death counts.
Sometimes Dan wondered how many lives he could end without completely losing his soul. He knew exactly how many people he had killed, though he would never share that number with anyone. It was too painful to let others know how much blood there actually was on his hands. It would color their perception of him and the person he desperately wanted to be.
Breathe, remember to breathe, Dan reminded himself. He sucked in a shuddering deep breath then harshly blew it out.
“Dan, you okay?” Jon queried hearing the ragged breaths over the headset. Jon knew what it was like to take the shot. The first breaths afterwards always burned. It took some time to clear his head too, even if the shot was to save an innocent. Jon had been amazed, and frankly a little scared, at how quickly Dan could right himsel
f after taking a shot.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Be right out,” Dan managed to reply smoothly. That was his standard reply ‘I’m fine’. It was true, Dan didn’t like to lie. Fine was an absolutely true statement, but he had a different definition for fine. Instead of the simple word fine, his FINE meant Fucked up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. Who wouldn’t be FINE after ending a life?
His post shoot mask slipped firmly in place as Dan pushed the pain and the image of Clive’s eyes down, down deep, into the dark place he built to keep those things firmly locked away. He grabbed his kit and Remi then headed out to the Nonpartisan Review Board Agent that would be waiting for him. He hated the interviews with a passion. They required him to relive the shot over and over in excruciating detail.
Dan understood the legal and ethical need for the NRB interviews. It kept the police force accountable and ferreted out inappropriate use of lethal force, but the process could be brutal and it was sometimes hard to keep his mask firmly in place. Some NRB Agents were compassionate—at least that was what he’d heard. Dan hadn’t experienced that so far. He’d only been interviewed by Agent Thornbuckle and Agent Donner.
Thornbuckle tended to treat it as a formality to validate the auto-scripter account. He could stick to just facts with Thornbuckle, no emotions dredged up. However, as in all professions, some people were just assholes. Agent Richard Donner was one and he relished in making the process as painful as possible. Unfortunately, Donner was the NRB agent Dan got most often. Dan didn’t like the guy and truly felt that Richard was a real Dick.
As Dan slowly walked down the stairs, he wondered if today would be a Dick day again. Thoughts of his first lethal force experience with TRF came to mind. He’d been assigned Agent Dick Donner that day. At the time, he and Jon were still butting heads and not communicating. He’d only been with the team for three weeks and Jon hadn’t explained the process. He’d had no prep or guidance on what to expect.
Dan didn’t realize he was allowed a lawyer. No one told him—certainly not Dick. Agent Dick told him to strip to his boxers and had actually sneered at his shocked expression. He hadn’t expected to have to strip, let alone in front of someone. He was so very glad he hadn’t gone commando that day. Now that he knew that part of the process, he never went commando at work.
He’d sat in only his boxers, shivering in the ice-cold room, answering the same questions repeatedly for what seemed like hours. Dan decided that Dick got his jollies by hearing the sickening details. He kept asking for more and more descriptive words to ‘paint the picture’. Questions that couldn’t possibly relate to determining if it was a justified, legal use of lethal force.
His lawyer, Dale Gibbson, had stormed into the room three hours later and unleashed a tirade on Donner. Gibbson also lodged a formal complaint against Dick when he found out that Donner hadn’t followed basic protocol. Gibbson had been appalled that he was forced to participate in the interview in only his boxers. The session ended quickly after Gibbson arrived.
Dale was a good guy and Dan had Dale’s number in his phone contacts now. He always called him on the way to NRB and the lawyer never failed to be there when he arrived. Dan wasn’t sure how Dale always got to NRB before him, but it made him feel good to know someone would do that for him.
Outside Bang Fitness
As he exited Relax Now, Dan chuckled slightly as he recalled how Gibbson made it clear that he thought it was cruel and unusual to force Dan to be interviewed in only boxers. What Dan never shared with Dale, or anyone else for that matter, was that he wished all the cruel interrogations he’d been subjected to were that cozy.
The faded scars on his torso were a visual testament to interrogations that were actually cruel. Dan sighed when he saw it was Agent Donner waiting. Damn, he had to deal with Dick again. As he headed for the NRB vehicle, Dan began to prepare himself mentally for dealing with Dick. Most people would think that his worst scars were the visible ones inflicted by the terrorists, but Dan knew that his worst scars were the ones not visible to human eyes. They were the scars on his heart and soul and they were much, much worse.
“Aw crap, my head’s all over the place today,” Dan spoke his private thought aloud as he approached Donner to hand over his Remi.
“What was that, Dano?” Jon asked hoping he hadn’t heard what he thought he did as he glanced over at Dan who was at the NRB vehicle. Damn, he got Agent Donner again—Dan always seemed to get that damned guy. Jon cringed as he recalled Dan’s first interview—he’d failed his rookie. He hadn’t prepared him for the process and as a result Dan had been mistreated by the agent.
Dan didn’t realize he’d voiced that aloud until then. To cover up, he flippantly said with a hint of sarcasm, “Said nothing, Jon. You hearing things? And hey, you know you’re not supposed to talk to the subject officer.”
“Okay, I see you’re following protocol today, Danny boy. Good boy,” Jon glibly retorted trying to lighten Dan’s mood.
“Jon, told you not to call me Danny boy,” laughed Dan.
“Oh, so boy is okay, but Danny boy isn’t. I’ll make note of that, Dantastic,” Loki interjected.
“Lexa’s the only one that’s allowed to call him Danny boy. Something about her Irish heritage,” joked Bram.
Jon interjected, “Bram, don’t you dare start singing ‘Oh, Danny Boy.’ Leave the singing to Lexa—at least she can carry a tune.”
“Don’t bring me into this, boys,” Lexa laughed with extra emphasis on the word ‘boys’. “I’m over here just minding my own business and packing up. And I won’t be singing for anyone of you boys.” Lexa glanced over at Dan and smiled. She’d like to sing to him—maybe someday.
“Easy children, settle down. Dan, we’ll see you for debrief back at HQ when you’re done with NRB. You did good,” Nick said as he took off his hat and rubbed his hand over his head. He was still trying to figure out how he’d lost Clive, Nick replaced his hat and moved towards the command truck.
The good-natured banter brought the smile back to Dan’s face. It was nice to belong. He was about to respond when Tia’s voice came over the headset.
“Alpha Team, critical call, shots fired, alarms triggered, Central Bank in mid-town,” Tia reported.
During that exchange, Jon had walked to where Dan stood with the NRB agent. They would need Dan for the critical call. Jon adopted his sternest face and addressed Agent Donner. “My officer is needed in the field. Bag his rifle and gloves for now. When we’re finished, you can have him back.”
It was rare, but there was precedent for this course of action. Critical calls and team safety in the field trumped NRB interviews. Richard Donner was none too happy, but took the Remi and gloves only, leaving Dan with his unused side arm. Donner glared at Broderick’s back as he and the rest of Alpha Team ran to the SUVs to head to the next call.
Chapter Eight
July 15
En Route to Central Bank – 9:30 a.m.
Alpha Team was speeding toward Central Bank in mid-town. Cross talk via the headsets was minimal. Everyone was mentally stowing the last call away to put full focus and energy into the current call. They’d done this a lot. Sometimes on a bad day they would have three or four critical calls in a row.
They each had their own method to process and prepare. Some were quicker than others although they were all pretty fast at it. Lexa glanced over at Dan in the passenger seat and silently wondered how he was able to change gears so quickly. To her, it seemed like his process was as simple and quick as closing one door and opening another simultaneously.
She had started covertly studying Dan shortly after the team had had the serious heart-to-heart discussion regarding Dan back in October. Lexa couldn’t believe that nine months had passed since that painful meeting. Everyone except Dan had shown up at the Boss’ home at eight a.m. as instructed. When asked why Dan wasn’t there, the Boss simply stated that Dan was exempt. And to this day, none of them had shared with Dan that they’d met and discussed him.
The Boss started the meeting by eyeing each of them and then stated, ‘We have a serious problem with team dynamics’. After taking responsibility for the problem and for letting it go on so long, the Boss pointed to several boxes and stated they would be going through call transcripts. He wanted them to pinpoint their mistakes with Dan and make a plan to resolve the issues.
That had been the beginning of a painful discussion that highlighted how dreadfully they’d treated Dan. It had become a serious and complex problem and it took them five days to analyze the issues, process their feelings, and to figure out how to start fixing it. Loki, with his twisted sense of humor, had dubbed it ‘The Proper Care and Feeding of Dantastic’ discussion.
Lexa still recalled the Boss’ words, ‘Listen closely. We are human and we make mistakes, but we help strangers every single day. Let’s do what we do best and save one of our own. We can salvage this. It won’t be quick and it won’t be easy, but I believe in all of you. We are more than a team, we are family. Our family needs to support our newest member through his time of grief and help him realize that he belongs. Because if we don’t, we will lose an amazing person’.
The Boss was right. Dan was an amazing person. He was also right that it wouldn’t be easy or quick. It had taken nine months. But Dan’s smile in the gym this morning told her that something had changed. Lexa hoped it wasn’t just the mind-blowing sex they shared last night—although to be honest, it probably played a role in this. She was still confused—should last night be a one-off experience or could she allow herself to see where this might lead?
Her little devil corrected her, “A two-time occurrence. Go for it. What do you have to lose?”
Lexa breathed out, “Everything.”
