Disclaimer: I do not own "Public Enemies" or its characters. They are property of Universal Studios and its affiliates.
"The Fall of Agent Harold Reinecke"
By TwilightSparkle3562
Agent Harold Reinecke felt like he was doing his job. For the past day, he had been interrogating Billie Frechette for the whereabouts of Public Enemy number 1, John Dillinger. However, his methods had gone too far, but he didn't seem to believe it. Now, he was standing in the office of Sheriff Charles Winstead, who gave him nothing more than a hard stare, a stare of disappointment, a stare of anger, a stare of anything.
"Miss Frechette is being tended to, Charles," said Agent Melvin Purvis, the young agent assigned to the case.
"Good," replied the elder lawman, relieved to hear that the young girl was being treated for her injuries. Then, he turned his attention back to his thuggish agent. "I don't know what the hell was going on in there, Reinecke, but you downright went too far."
"Why?" protested Harold, who felt insulted. "She was lying to me the entire time, Charlie! I was simply following the orders of Hoover, all right? Take off the white gloves!"
"Even so, we have damn standards to follow, Harold!" cried Charles, slamming his hands down on the desk. "Do you realize what you have done here? Because of your behavior, we may have compromised our mission to get Dillinger!"
"Well, I felt like I was doing my damn job, all right? Do you want to see Dillinger rob another bank and perhaps take innocent people for a ride, huh? Is that it? I did what I had to do!"
"No, Harold," remarked Melvin in a low tone. "We have standards to follow and you completely ignored them. I don't know what is going on in that big head of yours, but you seem like you want to ignore any sense of decorum in order to complete the mission assigned to you."
Reinecke couldn't believe what he was hearing and in a fit of anger, punched his fist through a wall with a loud yell. Neither Winstead nor Purvis were flinched by it.
"That's coming out of your paycheck," said Winstead.
"Oh really?" remarked Reinecke, panting heavily. "What are you going to do next, huh? Tell me that I should just play nice to every damn criminal we hunt down? Is that it? Or maybe perhaps I should go to Washington and tell Hoover that we should keep the white gloves on. Maybe that would make you happy, huh? You know what I see? I don't see a damn bone in your bodies."
Still, the two men were unfazed by their equal's actions.
"We do have bones in our bodies, Harold. But we also have dignity. Something you clearly don't have. Tell me something, do you do this to your own wife? Your own kids?"
This made Harold even crosser still.
"Don't you dare, Melvin!" snarled Harold, pointing at him. "Don't you dare!"
"Why? I'm just trying to make a point here. Miss Frechette is Dillinger's boyfriend and you know what happens to bullies who beat up a man's girlfriend or wife? They suffer the consequences of their actions. Why, I wouldn't even be surprised if Dillinger hunts you down and treats you the same way you treated his girlfriend."
"This…this is absurd," shouted Harold, kicking over the chair that stood in front of his superior's desk. "I don't need to listen to this. You are just a bunch of goddamn pussies, you know that? Just because I beat up a woman, you think that I am breaking the rules here."
"Either way, you compromised this investigation and have given a poor representation of the FBI," said Winstead. "In doing so, you have only made yourself look stupid, Harold. And I have reached a decision."
"Oh, what's that?"
"Give me your badge and your gun."
"What?"
"I'm terminating your employment."
Harold couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was being fired for his actions, actions he felt were justified in his mind.
"This…this isn't right, sir," Harold protested again. "I was doing my job, okay?"
"Not from what we saw," replied Melvin. "Hand them over."
But Harold didn't move. He wanted to stay on the force.
"The gun and the badge now," Winstead said again, extending his hand out. "Give them to me."
Growling, Harold pulled out his gun and badge but he didn't give them to Winstead. Instead, he threw his badge on the floor and taking out his gun, removed the bullets and also threw them on the floor.
"I hope you clowns are happy," snarled Harold. "You just cost yourselves a chance to get Dillinger. If the next person dies at his hand, you only have yourselves to blame because you didn't take off the white gloves."
And with those words, he turned around and left the office, slamming the door behind him and letting a loud yell of frustration.
"I can't believe him," sighed Winstead, letting some of his guard down. "How were we to know he would do this to us, Purvis?"
"Just because Harold is the law, doesn't mean he is above it, Charlie," remarked Melvin. "He broke the rules of this office and in doing so, cost him his job here. What do we do now?"
"We keep going, Purvis," sighed Winstead. "But, we keep going with standards that we must follow. Harold could have beaten someone to death and that could have costed us more than stopping Dillinger. We could have all been fired or worse, charged with premediated murder. No, I won't allow thugs on my force, Purvis. Let that be known."
And the two men looked down at the discarded badge and gun that was once held by one of their own: a man who felt like he had the power to be above the law, when in reality, he was abusing the law.
The FBI had standards to follow and Harold Reinecke lacked those standards…
THE END