The Trainer
Chapter 2
Wolf walked into the police precinct, totally uncertain of what he was supposed to do. He had never been a cop and had no experience in anything even similar. He was aware that the St. Louis Police Department and several other departments across the U.S. had had issues recruiting and retaining officers since the Red Flu and were dependent on the military to help police the communities. He waited at the front desk for the desk sergeant to come back and heard his phone beep. It was a text from Mike Slattery.
"I am going to be out of the office but I still want updates. Andrea is in labor and we just got to the hospital. Don't get killed." Wolf smiled at the text because of how direct Mike was, and then remembered why Mike hadn't wanted Andrea to go into labor on that particular day.
"Best of luck, sir. Please, let me know when Lauren makes her appearance. As much as I would like Captain Garnett to have a fast labor, maybe she'll wait until after midnight?"
"I could hope but I doubt it. Hard to believe, I was doing this exact same thing, exactly twenty two years ago. Willow came at 9:23 pm. I will have a heart attack if Lauren makes her grand entrance then too. Will let you know."
Wolf put his cellphone in his pocket when the sergeant walked up. He explained who he was and why he was there. The desk sergeant gave him a very odd and sympathetic look.
"If you don't have a beneficiary for your life insurance, I will volunteer. Willie is a loose cannon. Her last two partners were killed in the line of duty and she had one that quit two days after becoming her partner. Not just being her partner, but quit the force altogether." The desk sergeant had hit a button and told the Captain that Wolf was there. He was ushered into an office with an older looking man sitting behind a desk who gestured for him to sit.
"Admiral Slattery speaks highly of you. Willie is quite the cop and normally we would have already gotten rid of her but she is well liked in the community and she has the highest arrest record. She is young. Just twenty one…no, twenty two now. The commissioner thinks she has a death wish but I don't think so. She does have a sense of self preservation. Plus, she's responsible for her younger siblings. She takes that responsibility very seriously. I would personally like to see her become a detective but right now; she needs to learn some skills." The Captain told Wolf. He got the feeling that the older man liked the young cop and knew a lot more about her.
"Sir, I have never been a cop. I really know nothing about police work. I respect the job and position but I am not sure I can really teach this cop anything." Wolf was still not sure of himself.
"She needs to learn hand to hand combat and better gun skills. Admiral Slattery was very adamant that you were the person to teach her those things. Willie will be here pretty soon. She had to drop the kids off at the house." Captain Jennings told Wolf firmly and just then a loud voice was heard by the front desk. Captain Jennings pointed towards the door and they both stood up.
"What's her last name? And is Willie a nickname or something?" Wolf asked Captain Jennings.
"Just call her Willie." Captain Jennings led Wolf to a young woman who barely stood five foot tall, with wild brown hair and big blue eyes. There was something familiar about her but Wolf wasn't sure what. He had probably seen her on the news at some point.
"Willie, this is Wolf Taylor. You and I spoke about him last night. You will behave yourself. No heroics. Did you get the kids situated?" Captain Jennings asked the young officer. He had noticed that the man almost seemed fatherly towards her.
"Nice to meet you. Yeah, Hannah is okay. Asthma attack really got her. Then she had a seizure. MJ told me he would call if anything else happened. I am going to stay close to the apartment in case I need to go back if that is okay? I will call you." Willie told Captain Jennings quietly. She had a look of pain on her face and appeared to have the world on her shoulders.
"I'll have Maryann check on them, take dinner over. New medicine isn't working?" Captain Jennings told Willie gently. Wolf felt like he was intruding on the conversation.
"Thank you. Hannah won't let me pay for it. The co-pay is high. I get paid next week and will just get it then. She hit her head too when she had the seizure. Maybe Maryann can convince her to go get stitches? The laceration was pretty deep." Willie told the Captain as she leaned down and cleaned her boots and adjusted her duty belt.
"I'll go over with her. Maryann can watch MJ and if she needs stitches, I'll take her. She won't argue with me. Just focus on work." Captain Jennings ordered Willie before he walked back into his own office. Wolf was uncomfortable at having witnessed the conversation. Willie indicated at him to follow her and they made their way out to a patrol car.
"So, how long have you been a cop?" Wolf asked her as they got into the car and Willie started it.
"Two years, almost. So, I guess you are just going to shadow me and see what I do wrong, then what can be fixed, right?" Willie asked him as she drove through the city.
"I suppose. I have never been a cop so this is all new to me. Why did you become a cop?" Wolf wanted to make conversation with the young woman.
"That makes me feel so much better. I become a cop because I needed a good job with decent pay. I like the work and my dad was a cop. Captain Jennings and his wife helped me, my brother and sister after my mom died. It was just natural." Willie informed him like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"What about your dad?" Wolf asked the young woman. He couldn't shake how familiar she seemed.
"He quit being a cop, joined the Navy and probably died. Never could find out for sure. Leaving me to raise my younger sister and brother who my dad didn't know about. End of that story." Willie was becoming increasingly annoyed at something, and Wolf hoped it wasn't him.
"Does your sister have health problems?" It was like a scab that Wolf just had to pick at. He wanted to know more about the young woman because she intrigued him and he wanted to figure out why she was so familiar.
"She has always had asthma but when the Immunes started trying to infect people, one of them hit her upside the head with a rifle butt. She is okay but sometimes she has seizures and migraines. I couldn't get her to a doctor so she hasn't ever gotten better. She was protecting our little brother. Thankfully, they didn't hurt him." Willie told a familiar story and it saddened Wolf. There were too many stories like hers.
"Did they hurt you too?" Wolf couldn't believe he even asked especially after Willie gave him an odd look.
"Yes. On to the next subject." Willie obviously didn't want to talk about it anymore which confirmed Wolf's suspicions. The Immunes had raped a lot of teenage girls and women. Their line had been that they were 'breeding woman to create more Immunes.' It had been sickening.
"Sorry. So, what are we doing?" Wolf asked her.
"Just watching traffic right now. Waiting to get a call. After dark, I check businesses out to make sure they are locked and such." Willie told him as she pulled into a business that allowed her to watch a four way stop that was known to have a lot of accidents.
"I see." Wolf said as he looked around the car.
"So, you aren't from around here, judging by that accent?" Willie asked him.
"Australia. I was training with the US Navy when the virus broke. Didn't get back to Australia for a while and my family was gone. I came back to help the James and been here since. I become a citizen and joined the Navy. When I am not deployed, I help at the training facility here in St. Louis. I like it." Wolf told her and she gave him a brief smile that made her look even more familiar. At that point; her cellphone rang and she immediately answered it.
"MJ, what's wrong? Is it Hannah?"
Wolf could only hear one side of the conversation but knew that something was wrong because within a few moments, they were running lights and sirens and Willie had stopped talking on the cellphone but kept it in her lap while she talked on the radio, telling the dispatcher to send an ambulance to an apartment and Wolf heard Captain Jennings' voice come over the radio, much calmer sounding.
"Is it your sister?" Wolf asked Willie and she simply nodded at him, concentrating on the road.
Within a few minutes they had pulled up to an apartment building and Willie was out of the car before Wolf. He wasn't sure rather to follow her or not, but decided to go ahead. Captain Jennings and an ambulance were already there and Wolf felt really out of place.
They walked into a small apartment. The paramedics were working on a young girl, about seventeen and Willie was holding a crying little boy who was about six. The paramedics were working on the young girl and talking to Willie. The young girl, Hannah was awake but looked dazed and confused. Wolf noticed a pot of water that was starting to boil over and moved to the kitchen to at least try to be of some assistance and to give the family some privacy. The apartment was open concept and as he dealt with the spaghetti sauce and boiled water; he watched Willie. She had seemed completely confident until she was dealing with the young girl and little boy. He was seeing some serious cracks in her façade.
About five minutes later; Captain Jennings took the little boy out of Willie's arms and walked towards Wolf. Another woman, closer to Captain Jennings age walked in and MJ immediately jumped out of Captain's hold and ran to her, hugging her tightly.
"Maryann is going to stay with MJ and Willie is going to follow the ambulance to the hospital. I'll take you back to your car and then pick up another officer to grab her patrol car from the hospital. She needs to take the rest of the night off. Poor girl." Captain Jennings told him sadly. He was obviously referring to Hannah but looked just as sad for Willie.
"What happened?" Wolf asked him.
"Years ago, Hannah was hit on the head by the Immunes. She was trying to protect MJ who was just a baby while Willie was attacked pretty brutally by them. You may be familiar with those stories. Willie shut down and didn't get Hannah to a doctor. Her brain swelled. I found the kids on a patrol. Got Hannah to the hospital but there was a lot of damage done. Because of that Hannah has severe seizures and migraines. She tries really hard but she just can't quite get past it. Willie blames herself for it. Feels very responsible for Hannah's issues. And Hannah hates Willie feeling so responsible. They won't let me try to find their father either. They think he's dead. I think they are scared to find out for sure." Captain Jennings was talking to Wolf but was watching Willie and Hannah. The two sisters were sitting on the couch and Willie was holding Hannah close as the paramedic started an IV.
"She mentioned he had been in the Navy. If I had a name, I might be able to do some checking." Wolf told Captain Jennings quietly.
"Mike Slattery." Captain Jennings told Wolf as he walked away, towards the two young women. Wolf felt like he had been kicked in the gut and Maryann walked up to and was watching him, suspiciously.
"You went pale when my husband said that name. Someone you know? My name is Maryann Jennings by the way. Let me put this spaghetti sauce in a container. We won't worry about the water." Maryann told him as she got a container out of the cabinet.
"I…their…their father is my commanding officer. I definitely know him. Wolf Taylor, ma'am." Wolf shook her hand as he said it. He just had to figure out what to say to Mike.
"You should call him. Is he a good person?" Maryann asked him as she finished putting the spaghetti sauce in the container and as the paramedic got Hannah settled onto a stretcher.
"He is but I am not sure this is the right time." Wolf told her as he processed it.
"Why not? I am sure he has missed his children terribly." Maryann was persistent and Wolf didn't want to let the cat out of the bag that Mike had remarried and was currently waiting on the birth of his third child with that woman. It was a very complicated feeling.
"He has, ma'am. I will take care of it." Wolf just prayed for wisdom and decided to draw Mike's best friend into the situation. Tom would know exactly how to handle the very complicated situation.
Within just a few moments, Captain Jennings and Wolf were headed back to the precinct. Wolf come clean about knowing Mike but explained why exactly he couldn't call Mike. Captain Jennings seemed relieved that the long lost father had been found but agreed it needed to wait until Lauren Slattery was born and he would keep it quiet until the appropriate time. As soon as Wolf got into his own car, he called Tom Chandler.
"Hey, Wolf, are you headed to the hospital because that crazy officer has gotten you hurt? Mike is kind of out of pocket right now."
"Sir, about that. Ummm…so the officer's name is Willow Slattery…she's…" Wolf was struggling telling even Tom, he couldn't imagine having to tell Mike.
"Mike's daughter. Oh, my God. Hannah? Do you know anything about her?" Tom was rustling around in the background and Wolf could hear Tommy and Annika Slattery in the background. Obviously Tom and Sasha were caring for the twins while Mike and Andrea were waiting for their third child's birth.
"She is alive too, Sir. That's where it gets a little complicated. There is also a little boy, named MJ. Willie, that's what she goes by now, she said her dad didn't know anything about him…"
Wolf told the story what he had been told. Tom wisely decided to meet Wolf at the hospital where Mike and Andrea were which incidentally was the same hospital that Hannah was in. Wolf just hoped that the two families didn't meet up before Wolf and Tom could arrange a better meeting.
I know it seems like I am hurrying this along but I have a plan! Please review. I love reading them.