"Just under a year, and I didn't get the chance to smell the various chemicals because my training officer forbade that"

"How much is just under a year?"

"Four months training and another two months on my own"

"So six months overall and thus not a lot of time to get chemical exposure since I know the investigation rules"

"Investigation rules?"

"One arson investigation at a time, period, the only exceptions are if two cases start looking like they're one and an emergency situation where there's no other option but to take on two cases"

"Like doing an arson investigation and then suddenly an airplane crash, or another jurisdiction has no investigators"

"Exactly"

"How long until John can get here then?"

"Tomorrow's the earliest, got a call from him before shift today and he said something about doctor's orders about driving due to a wrenched shoulder"

"So we're going to lose time then"

"Nope, we'll do what we can without his nose but I don't think chemical analysis will work, worth a shot though and faster in any case, we'll also do other arson investigation things until he can get here"

Five hours later and the chemical analysis stated that the chemical that Allison had smelled was an unknown compound, there had also been kerosene, butane, and diesel fuel added to the mix

"Well it's a start at least"

"Agreed, we now know that future cases have those chemicals in this exact mixture or near exact, might want to start looking into other recent cases too just in case what wasn't originally thought of as arson might actually turn out to be"

"For now we need to identify this unknown compound before we go any further, too dangerous otherwise and you guys know it"

"She's right, pictures will help give us an idea of what was where but otherwise we're stuck until we get the answers for the unknown compound"

The next day John had finally arrived

"You asked for me?"

"Yes John, smell this and tell me if you recognize the smell"

John smells the wood several times and then his eyebrows go up in surprise

"I recognize this smell alright, I'm surprised that you haven't"

"Oh I thought I recognized it, but needed confirmation, where do you recognize the smell so that I know just how dangerous it is?"

"It's a mixture Allison, a very dangerous mixture"

"What's the mixture?"

"Gunpowder and lamp oil"

"Gunpowder and...I remember that mixture alright"

"Thought you would, do you remember the incident that gave you exposure to the mixture?"

"Only too well John, only too well"

Past

Allison and her group had gone to a fort to meet with the Lone Ranger and co because they were going to Chief Thundercloud's camp for a visit and to ask for help with some Indian trouble but when they got to the fort they saw chaos and major destruction

"What happened?"

"We're not sure"

Ultimately when Allison smelled the boards she got really confused about what she was smelling but eventually with the Lone Ranger's help it was identified as a mixture of gunpowder and lamp oil, partly because the oil spilled where the army kept their supply of gunpowder but it was also partly deliberate

"This is going to get complicated in regards to getting answers on who is doing this stuff"

"And figuring out why because more than likely a soldier is doing this"

"Right, this is going to be a delicate job"

Eventually they find out that a soldier who was angry with the military for multiple reasons was behind the multiple fires and he was executed after a court martial

"Now that we've got that resolved time to visit Chief Thundercloud's camp since the trouble we were originally going to ask him for help for has gotten worse"

"Agreed"

And so that's exactly what they do and eventually they get the Indian trouble resolved as well

Present

"Right, now that I know what's going on we're going to need to warn people, especially firefighters because gunpowder is dangerous, and there are going to be big explosions as well, think fireworks except bigger, much, much bigger"

"And certain locations are inherently even more dangerous with what they store"

"Oh this is going to end badly if we don't catch the arsonist soon"

"Agreed, for now all we can do is send out that warning to the firefighters, but let's hope that we find the arsonist before there's too much property damage"

"We're working on nothing right now, unless this isn't the first fire because while it's great that we have a general chemical pattern unless the pattern itself or the buildings become a pattern that's all we've got right now"

"Hate to admit it but you're right, we need more cases to develop a profile, and I hate letting things develop if I can prevent it"

"We'll do what we can to minimize the damage Kerenai, for now though this task force is staying here 24/7, certain people will be on call during certain hours so that we have that coverage, if you need clothing and shower supplies go home and get them quick, John you're going to need to go to the store if you didn't think about this possibility"

"I thought about the possibility, I packed for a week away from home"

"Okay, now then all that's left is getting sleeping supplies"

(Sighs) "I'll go get the cots, due to being both an EDC kid and part of the military I'm always prepared for such a situation, as such I made arrangements with the EDC already that if my police work needs cots for any reason all I have to do is call and tell them how many cots are needed and they'll get them to us within the hour, however this time since there's only six of us we can use two vehicles to get our cots back here"

"And if needed you can get more because the task force might expand depending on what happens"

"Exactly"

"When did you make these arrangements anyways?"

"Early in my police career, way early in my police career for reasons that you're not cleared for"

"Fine, at least we know that we have more cots available if necessary, for now you and John get those cots and then come back here"

"Right"

Three hours later and the group was finishing setting up their base of operations for the current situation

"If anyone needs to make phone calls make them now"

"Right, I definitely need to do so, because I'm also in the Reserves and have weekend training once a month, if I don't report in and don't have orders that allow me to skip training I'm in trouble"

"Allison you need a secure phone?"

"Yes I do because someone was an idiot and not only took my cell phone but smashed it beyond repair, Perceptor isn't going to be happy about that by the way"

"No kidding, beta phone?"

"Nope, it's been available to military and EDC personnel for three years now, thinking about allowing police access but he's not sure yet due to...technical issues that I can't understand"

"Right, you can borrow my phone then, Optimus gave it to me and Dan a year ago after that one fiasco that nearly got us killed"

"Right, thanks, I'll just go to a private area while I make the phone call"

Fifteen minutes later she had explained the situation to the President who promised to do something when the time came for her to do her Reserve training for the month, but that she needed to make arrangements with the task force the rest of the time

"Okay, he's covering this month's training but we need to figure something out for next month and every month afterwords until we get this issue dealt with"

"Understood Kerenai, if we add more members to the task force you leaving for the weekend won't make much of a difference to the investigation but we need to keep things small initially for the simple fact that I don't want to use a lot of manpower on something that we currently have no real leads on"

"That's reasonable in all reality, but as we get more information we can add resources which will definitely help me with the fact I need to do Reserve training regularly"

"For now like you said we've got nothing to work with which is bad, it means more damage needs to be caused before we can get better clues besides the chemicals used in the fire and their exact proportions"

"Like already stated earlier I hate letting damage get done but we need damage to get done to establish a pattern of some sorts"

"Catch-22 if I ever knew one"

"Yep, for now it's night time and thus time for sleep, who has first watch?"

"As leader of the task force I do"

"Right"

"I claim second then"

"Uh Kerenai, only one person on call during the night"

(Sighs) "Okay I forget that most of you aren't military, when I say first watch I mean guarding the location from hostiles because yes we're in the city which is safer, we still need to protect ourselves since we're not actually at the police station"

"Hey you know full well that I would have volunteered except for what happened the last time I volunteered to take first watch"

"That's exactly why you've been forbidden from ever taking first watch again John, that was way too dangerous and emotional for the group"

"Well in any case for the security watch we'll start a rotation and since John is apparently not allowed to take first watch and I am not letting Kerenai take first watch either tonight for reasons I'm not getting into we'll need to decide who does"

"Except I know why at least tonight I'm not allowed first watch and I respect your decisions and reasoning's behind those decisions"

"Good, you and John need to talk it out about who takes other watches, and you have an additional decision to make as well Kerenai"

"Two decisions, if I should use my bow and arrows and if I should use...special equipment and something secret that not everyone is cleared to know as civilian's"

"Kerenai, we calling headquarters about what we're going to do until further notice?"

"Nope, primarily because on the way back from the EDC base I reported things to the Captain in person explaining why we need the task force in the first place and also why we're sleeping together in one building until the case is resolved"

"Does Austin know they've lost John?"

"Our Captain was calling his Captain as we were leaving"

"Okay, just making sure everyone and everything is accounted for in regards to our jobs"

"That's all well and good, but did you call your significant other Andrew?"

"Called, apologized and made promises for once this investigation is dealt with, what about that situation regarding your family?"

"That was dealt with while getting the cots"

"Understood"

Fortunately in one aspect and unfortunately in another the arsonist was a very prolific arsonist and only two months after the task force was formed they caught the suspect who was ultimately tried, convicted, and sentenced to natural life sentence in a military prison due to the fact that the arsonist was actually a dishonorably discharged soldier who had been imprisoned already for another crime and had escaped a month before the task force had formed, and the ironic thing about the criminal was that he was set to get a parole right before his escape for good behavior