This went through several edits. Leary's birth year is listed as 1912, therefore he would have been alive during the epidemic. Title was taken from the tale of Hercules and the hydra.
Prompt: Treachery (can be used as theme or wording)
Words: 485
Leary could be called many things, but "fool" wasn't one of them.
The "War to End All Wars" was only one war to precede another, the armistice champagne popping just before the epidemic hit. At the age of six, Gordon had been in for the fight of his life. Crying for Mama and Papa, he was attended by nurses, their mouths obscured from him by masks. Through his fever, he hallucinated his parents by his side, their whispered reassurances giving him something to grasp hold of until the heat and stomach pains receded at last. He was free to return to a life other little boys and girls eventually took for granted, his mother cooking his favorite food on the stove, and his father patting him on the head upon returning home from work.
To protect that little happiness his family, and others like them, enjoyed, he joined the LAPD. As a newly-minted captain, he saw the corruption within his own department, and decided that if no one was going to handle it, he would. Hush money was only the tip of it. As the years passed, however, Leary admitted to himself that despite his best efforts, the corruption pervaded. The perpetrators had just gotten better at hiding it from him.
Patting Gordon's shoulder, Donnelly declared, "You're a good man, Leary, but you're in over your head."
Watching Phelps's mistress scream at Roy Earle served to remind Leary just how deep underwater he was. He hadn't expected such treachery out of Phelps as to have an affair. Dying in the line of duty may have wiped Phelps's slate clean, but it had taken away his ability to set the record straight. Perhaps that was what Cole had wanted, determined to bring the truth to light as he always had been. Leary hung onto the thought out of sentimentality, despite cynicism demanding otherwise. Let the fallen man have his peace.
In the churchyard, smoke coiled into the air from Stefan's cigarette. Pulling his own from the pack in his inner jacket pocket, Leary joined him.
The tapping of high heels sounded, and Leary turned to see the former Mrs. Phelps. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but shut it just as soon, and hurried her children away.
"So, what now?" Stefan asked.
Leary looked back over his shoulder at the new DA, who was speaking with the chief. "Petersen's been wanting to sort out the LAPD for a while, but I'll believe it when it actually happens. If he does, watch your back. The chief will be looking for scapegoats."
Genuine concern entered Stefan's voice. "You should be giving yourself that advice."
"What's a dope like me know outside of cars?"
Stefan grinned. "Better go wake the old man up so I can get out of here. Drinks tonight?"
"Somebody's gotta drive you home," Leary teased, "The first drink will be to Phelps."