Diana shrank into her seat as she felt the weight of the room pressing down upon her chest. The cadets stared at her in wide-eyed wonder, Gabe’s expression was an odd blend of surprise and horror, and Lieutenant Griggs stood front and center, pointing at her with a capped marker.
“I, uh… just did what anyone else would have.”
Gabe snorted. Griggs grinned. “No, they wouldn’t have.” He turned to the thick-necked cadet. “Would you?” He turned to the female cadet. “Or you?” He sneered at Gabe. “How about you?”
His queries were met with silent head shakes, or a soft, “No, sir.”
Diana raised her hand. “I’m sorry, but you said those were your fellow officers. Where were you when they died?”
Griggs stiffened up, and paced back and forth, choosing his words carefully. “I was… tasked with an errand. I was on my way back to the command post when the plane crashed.”
The thick-necked cadet’s ears reddened. “You abandoned your post.”
Griggs’s features hardened, and he took three steps forward. “I was following orders, unlike some people. If you want to label anyone a deserter,” he returned to the whiteboard and circled a name in red, “it’s this one.”
Diana gasped. The name he circled was Preston.
Gabe rose to his feet. “How dare you! He died in the line of duty.”
Griggs glared at Gabe. “Yes, something about carjackers, if I recall correctly. But why did he get carjacked? Because he abandoned his post, on some flimsy pretext. Officially, and for the record, he was a fine officer, and his like will never be seen again. But unofficially, he was a good time Charlie and didn’t have what it takes when we all needed him the most. Sit down.”
Diana felt numb. “Oliver.”
Griggs turned to her sharply. “What did you just call me?”
She sat up straight and met his furious gaze. “You’re Oliver. The one who complained about him giving me a ride home.” She addressed her fellow cadets. “That’s right, after I saved all of them from the firebombers.” She thrust an accusing finger at Griggs. “Him included.”
The room buzzed. Neville leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin.
Griggs put his hands on the sides of his head and paced back and forth like a caged tiger. After a few moments of commotion, he threw his arms down in a fit of rage and shouted, “Silence!”
Neville stepped to the front of the room and made a calming gesture. “How about a fifteen-minute break?” He glanced at his watch. “Be back at 10:25.”
The thick-necked cadet snorted. “That’ll happen.”
Neville escorted Griggs from the classroom. Diana’s fellow cadets milled around the room for a moment, then formed a semicircle in front of her. The only other female cadet spoke first. “You really cleared two rooftops by yourself? That wasn’t bullcrap?”
Diana felt her cheeks redden. “Yeah, I did.”
Two more officers entered the room. One was wearing a plastic mask to protect his broken nose. “She did a lot more than that. Give her some air, everybody. This isn’t the circus.”
Diana beamed. “Hey, Milton.”
Gabe looked at them, then at her. “What? I thought you three were directing traffic all night while I was getting patched up.”
Milton nodded. “We did. There was the minor matter of the Stallions gang, but thanks to Pembrook here, that’s one less problem for us to deal with.”
Gabe put his hand to his forehead, and his jaw dropped. He leaned over and fingered her shirt collar. She swatted his hand, but he grasped a silver chain and produced a necklace adorned with a horse’s head, flecked with blood stains.
“Stallions.”
The cadets gasped. Gabe looked at the charm, then up at her. “What, you took out an entire street gang? For the love of God, Diana, are you some kind of killing machine? What is this?”
Officer Patterson stepped forward and pointed to his face mask. “She’s my guardian angel.”
Milton patted his chest. “I owe her my life.”
“Just… doing my job,” she said quietly.
“Tell you what, all of you better buddy up to her. Especially when it comes time for firearms training. I haven’t seen accuracy like that since the Marines, and they were sloppy drive-by shooters compared to her.”
“It’s all just common sense. I’m nothing special.” Diana looked down at her pendant.
Patterson laughed and moaned immediately afterward. “Nothing special. You’re a goddess.”
Gabe sat back in his seat. “Yeah, sounds about right.”
Officer Neville stood at the front of the class. Everyone had returned to their seats but had taken new positions in the classroom. Everyone clustered around Diana and gave her sidelong looks. She slipped her pendant back under her shirt and tried to ignore the attention.
“Lieutenant Griggs has been called away on official police business. I am Officer Neville, and I’ll be your instructor for the remainder of the day. Open your orientation packets, and let’s begin on page one.”
The cadets complied, and Neville went over the lunch and break schedule for the day, the class schedule for the week, and barracks assignments. Diana and the other female cadet, whose name was Lyssa, she learned, would share a room. The men were grouped into larger bunk rooms.
Gabe leaned over and muttered, “Sounds kinda like the army, or something.”
Diana shrugged. She wasn’t sure what to expect regarding housing, and if anything, she thought she might be paired up with Gabe. A small part of her was relieved she was not.
As their first break was unplanned, Neville made them get back on track by waiting for lunch before pausing the orientation. Diana felt lightheaded and was grateful to be standing in line at the cafeteria, receiving a plate of food over a stainless-steel counter. Meals were provided free of charge to cadets in good standing. However, there was a per-meal limit, and extras were paid for out of pocket. Diana didn’t have any money and stuck to her daily rations.
She had hoped for a respite from the scrutiny of her fellow cadets at lunchtime, but the table filled up with students, with Gabe seated beside her. Lyssa sat across from her and scrunched up her face at her meal of pasta with meat sauce.
“Ewww, what mystery meat do you think this is?”
Another cadet listlessly picked at his plate. “Looks better than this so-called chicken parmesan.”
Diana took a bite of her pasta and shrugged. “It is what it is.”
“Yeah,” groaned the others.
Gabe nudged her. “You know, you say that a lot.”
“Huh? Say what?”
“It is what it is. It’s almost like you don’t know what else to say, so that’s your go-to.”
Diana set her fork down and huffed. “Fine, smarty, you get what you pay for, how’s that?” Mabel said that about anyone who complained about the food at Stickler’s.
Gabe patted her thigh. “Hey, relax. Just making an observation.”
Lyssa looked at the two of them, and enlightenment spread across her face. She made a head-bob in Gabe’s direction and raised her eyebrows at Diana, who nodded curtly in response while taking another bite of pasta.
“So… um, I never thought I’d get into law enforcement. I was working as a billing clerk when Arbor went down.” Lyssa twirled her pasta and stared at her plate wistfully.
“Yeah, me neither. I thought about it, but I ended up working at a junior college. I worked in the bookstore.” The unidentified male cadet beside Lyssa smiled at Diana and cut up his chicken.
Diana looked at him. “What’s your name?”
“Lee Harper.”
“Lyssa Delaney.”
Lee and Lyssa shook hands, then reached across the table to formally greet Diana and Gabe.
Lee took another bite of chicken and washed it down with a can of water. He looked across the table at Gabe. “What’s your story?”
He shrugged and set down his tuna sandwich. “Not much to tell, really.
NYC born and raised, moved to Jersey, then all hell broke loose. Here I am.”
Lyssa cleared her throat. “Yes, but why be a cop?”
“I kinda got roped into it.” He gestured to Diana. “Because of her.”
Diana set her fork down again. “I’m not making you do this.”
“Yeah, I know. We took an oath, and I’m upholding it.”
“I don’t think it was a real oath, Gabe. There wasn’t any Bible. Don’t you have to swear on something?”
Gabe swallowed a bite of sandwich. “We swore on our honor, as I recall. Which is good enough for me, and it was good enough for Officer Milton when he made us do it.”
“He didn’t make us.”
“Well, anyway,” Gabe sniffed, “I swore an oath, and unless I get kicked off the force, I’m part of this now.”
The four of them ate in silence, which was interrupted by Officer Neville and the female officer Diana and Gabe encountered when they arrived at the academy. He waved her over and gestured for her to bring her tray. After establishing that he was signaling to her, Diana excused herself from the table. She felt the envious gaze of her fellow cadets upon her back as she crossed the cafeteria.
“Have a seat,” said Neville, affably. Diana sat across from them, and Neville gestured to his companion. “This is Officer Sorrellis.”
“We’ve met,” Sorrellis said, rolling her eyes.
“Hello, um, officially.” Diana looked at the two of them and wondered why Neville called her over.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. “The lieutenant is… well… let’s just say we’re waiting for things to blow over.”
“Oh?”
Neville leaned forward and spoke in a hushed, conspiratorial tone. “He seems like a hard case, but between us, he’s been really down on himself for not dying with the rest of them.”
Diana sat back, stunned. “I don’t understand. He wants to be dead?”
“Well not ‘wants to’, as such, but yeah, guilt is a funny thing in this line of work. And when you gave him grief about Preston, well, wow, he’s pissed.”
“At who, me?”
Neville waved his hands. “No, at himself. You were right. Preston died repaying you for what you did for the precinct.” Sorrellis glared at her, then returned to her chicken. “Griggs tried to get him busted for leaving his post, but nobody, not even the chief was going to have his badge for it. And the sad truth is… Griggs volunteered to get everybody coffee and donuts just so he could drive around and get away from the post.”
Diana’s shoulders drooped. “Huh.”
“Anyway, I’m not telling you this just to gossip behind his back. We need you two to fix this and bury the hatchet. For the team.” He adjusted his glasses.
Diana picked at the last of her pasta and considered his offer. Griggs was a weak man, she concluded, and therefore unworthy of her trust. But she had larger goals to consider, and if making up with Griggs helped her achieve them, she was willing to put their spat behind them.
“I can do that,” she said.
CHAPTER 24
The following morning, the cadets filed into their classroom under the watchful eye of Officer Neville. Once they were all seated, he leaned out the door and said, “They’re ready for you.” The cadets groaned and slumped in their seats as Lieutenant Griggs strode to the front of the classroom.
Neville nodded to Diana, then turned to Griggs. “Welcome back. We missed you yesterday. And now, I believe Miss Pembrook has something to say to you, and the class.”
Griggs nodded and crossed his arms in front of him. Diana walked slowly toward him and fought the urge to roll her eyes. It is what it is, she thought to herself. No matter what Gabe said, it explained the situation perfectly, in her opinion.
She took a deep breath. “Lieutenant Griggs, I apologize for giving the impression that you did anything wrong during Arbor Day.” She tried to recite the words as Neville suggested, without sounding forced.
Griggs nodded appreciatively, and shook her hand, angling her body to show the class that they made up, and any further discussion on the matter was closed.
“We’re all on the same side, Miss Pembrook. I’m sure that from now on, we can function as a team, correct?”
Diana swallowed hard and forced a smile. “Yes, yes of course. Same team, all the way.”
After breaking off the handshake, Griggs waved her back to her seat. As she approached it, the thick-necked cadet leaned over and muttered, “Sellout.” Gabe didn’t say anything at all, and Diana glared at him. He made an apologetic gesture and pointed to the front of the room. Griggs had a pencil mustache that formed a dark line across his face as he grinned.
“Now, then. We will follow the Day Two schedule. I will take this moment to remind all of you that we have seven training days before you take your final exam and then, depending on your performance, you’ll either receive your patrol assignment, or be asked to leave, and make payment arrangements for your tuition, room, and meals.”
The room buzzed. Lyssa’s hand shot up. Griggs called on her, and she looked around the room with an air of grave concern. “Um, seven days for police academy? My uncle said it takes months, and that’s the accelerated program.”
“I’m afraid this is the advanced accelerated program, which is why I put so much effort into discouraging everybody from joining the force. It’s not just your own time you’re wasting if you’re not fully committed to being here.”
Gabe squirmed in his seat, and Lyssa continued her line of inquiry. “But, sir, I was in training for an inbound contact center for three weeks, before I came here. I thought they cut it two weeks short as it was. How are we supposed to be successful cops with only one week of training?”
Griggs smirked. “You’re not.” The room buzzed again, and he raised his hand to signal for quiet. “The best anybody can hope for is to become merely adequate police officers.”
The room erupted in protests. Gabe rose from his seat and signaled to Diana to join him. “Come on, this isn’t worth it. There’s no point in going into debt over this scam, or worse.”
Diana remained seated and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m staying.”
The thick-necked cadet shook his head. “You do whatever you want, ass-kisser. I’m going to go work in my uncle’s auto body shop.” He collected up his things and stormed out of the room.
Griggs beamed and signaled that the entire class was free to depart, at their discretion.
Two more cadets left in a huff, leaving seven remaining. Gabe waved to Diana to stand, and she remained resolute. “Fine,” he sniffed. “I’ll catch up with you later.” He collected up his belongings and marched out of the classroom without looking back.
Tears welled up in Diana’s eyes, but she worked through her mental state, and determined that she wasn’t sad he was leaving, she was angry that he didn’t say a word to stick up for her when the thick-necked cadet spoke ill against her, for starters. She should have followed the Good Book. She had put her faith in another weak man.
Griggs was visibly enjoying the rapid reduction of his training class. He held his arms out to his sides, and asked, “Any more dropouts?”
Diana wiped her eyes with her knuckle and glared at Griggs. “How about you start teaching us something for a change? This is the advanced accelerated class, isn’t it?”
Griggs turned ashen, and Neville closed the door. Griggs uncapped a marker and returned Diana’s gaze. “Fine. Who can tell me three things to do when approaching a suspect? Anyone?”
Diana raised her hand. He was playing dirty, asking a question from the Day Five material, but she was ready for him. Griggs called on her with a whiff of hostility, and she said, “Keep one hand on your sidearm.”
“Wron—I mean, yes, Miss Pembrook, that’s correct.” He wrote the first response on the whiteboard in block lettering. “What else?”
Diana looked around the room, and the other cadets ruffled papers or looked around the r
oom in search of someone else who knew the answer. Diana assumed they all had read their packet in advance like she had the night before.
Diana raised her hand again, and Griggs nodded. “Observe your surroundings and detect any threats.”
The marker banged against the whiteboard, and he wrote out the second response. “And number three? I don’t want to hear another word out of Miss Pembrook.”
Diana turned to the page that contained the answers, just in case. After a flurry of page turning, Lee finally raised his hand. “Threat detection?”
Griggs frowned and tapped the whiteboard. “Speaking of observing one’s surroundings.”
Lyssa took a stab at the answer. “Miranda rights?”
Griggs gave her a withering stare. “What about them, Miss…”
“Delaney,” Neville said.
“Read the suspect his Miranda rights?”
“Is the suspect being interrogated?”
“No, but we have to read them to everyone we arrest, don’t we?”
Griggs scrunched up his face and ran his hand through his oily hair. “Yes, as a matter of fact, we do, Miss Delaney. If this were thirty years ago, and we were characters in a police drama.”
Diana raised her hand, and Griggs let out a huff. “Fine, let’s hear it, Pembrook.”
“Miranda rights are only read to suspects before interrogation, and that was suspended indefinitely right after Arbor Day.” She took pains to recite the explanation as she had memorized it from a TV news program.
“Thank you for the history lesson from weeks ago. I’m still waiting for item number three.”
“You’re teaching a lesson from the future, so what’s the difference?” Diana glared at him defiantly.
Griggs turned beet red and contorted his face into a ball of seething rage. Neville stepped to the front of the class and pulled the lieutenant aside. “How about a five-minute break, everybody?”
The cadets filed out of the classroom, and Lyssa was at Diana’s elbow once they got clear of the room. “Thanks for doing that. I was totally lost.”
“Hey, we’re teammates. We stick up for each other, don’t we?”
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