Chapter 16: Recycling (Part 1)

Los Santos Customs
Carcer Way
Burton
2 Days Later
6:00 PM

Soon after hearing the news about the possible connection between the Vespucci Beach shootings and the yacht debacle on the Elysian Fields Freeway, Detective Harrison was given a check-up by one of the LSPD's department physicians, during which time he was given a clean bill of health and was therefore permitted to return to work. A lucky find caused him to impulsively purchase a used blue 2006 Dodge Charger SXT, thus ending his seemingly constant need for loaner cars or taxi rides.

Detective Adam Xander exited a taxi and walked up the driveway of the Los Santos Customs shop on Carcer Way in Los Santos' Burton neighborhood. As he reached the end of the driveway, he found Harrison standing there, meticulously applying wax to his very immaculate-looking new car.

"Hey bud!" Xander called out.

Harrison looked up from waxing the Charger's hood, smiling when he saw his partner standing there. "Hey Adam!" he genially greeted back as he went over to him and extended a hand, "Good to see you, bro."

Xander reciprocated the gesture, shaking his partner's hand. "You too, Troy" he replied, "Thanks so much for having my back with Alan Saguaro. You'll be happy to know that Lieutenant Wong took me off of desk duty and put us on night watch tonight."

Harrison shrugged his shoulders. "Fine by me, man" he said.

Xander then motioned to his partner's new Charger with his eyes. "Nice ride", he said.

In response to that, Harrison tentatively patted the car's roof. "Thank you", he replied, "I'm quite proud of it myself. This baby has one-hundred-percent armor, street-level brakes, transmission, and suspension. It also has a Level Four engine upgrade, a CB radio, and a standard police cruiser console. And let me not forget the patented Dune Basher off-road wheels."

"How'd you find this thing?" Xander asked as he eased himself into the Charger's front seat.

Harrison sat down and slid into the driver's seat as he replied. "You know that guy Hao who runs the LS Customs over by the airport?" he asked.

"Yeah", Xander said.

"He advertised this baby as 'Used' on the website", Harrison explained, "So I gave him a call and went to see him the next day. I had to haggle with him somewhat over the price, but he finally let me have it for Twenty-Five-Hundred."

"You paid Two-Thousand-Five-Hundred dollars for a kick-ass vehicle like this?" Xander inquired, his tone implying a substantial amount of skepticism.

A proud Harrison smirked. "Yep", he said, "You got it. But I had to sink some more money into the armor, the radio, the police lights, and the police cruiser console."

Xander patted Harrison on the shoulder as the latter turned over the ignition, after which time Harrison briefly but excitedly revved the Charger's newly modified engine. "Cool, man" Xander commented.

The CB radio, which Harrison had tuned to the LSPD emergency frequency, then chirped to life. "Dispatch to any units in the vicinity of La Puerta", a female dispatcher's voice said from the radio, "Tac-Twenty-One is requesting Ten-Seventy-Eight backup at Rogers Salvage and Scrap, Mutiny Road just off the Greenwich Parkway."

Xander shot a very concerned look to Harrison. "Tac-Twenty-One", he repeated, "That's Dakota's call sign!"

The worried detective then grabbed the radio handset from its cradle and keyed the mic. "Dispatch", Xander said into the radio, "This is Detective Xander, Unit Twelve-B. What was the initial nature of the call that Tac Twenty-One was responding to?"

The voice of the female dispatcher responded a few seconds later. "Twelve-B", she replied in confirmation from the radio, "Be advised, the initial call came out as a reported Ten-Fourteen. The silent alarm was apparently activated at the recycling center, but now Tac-Twenty-One has advised about an active Ten-Seventy-One structure fire on location. LSFD units and EMS are now on the way at this time, over."

The two partners traded looks once again, at which point Harrison nodded affirmatively and Xander keyed the mic again. "Dispatch", he said into the radio, "Be advised, Unit Twelve-A and Unit Twelve-B will be responding to the Recycling Center, Code Three from Carcer Way in Burton, over."

Harrison gunned his new Charger through some very officious evening traffic with the police lights and wailing siren both activated, whizzing past every car between their current location and the Greenwich Parkway.

Rogers Salvage & Scrap
Mutiny Road
La Puerta
5 Minutes Later

Harrison and Xander arrived at Rogers Salvage & Scrap in record time and immediately noted the presence of a black and white LSPD patrol car parked near the rear entrance door of the large brick building.

"That's Dakota's car!" Xander said as the vehicle came to a stop and the two men exited.

As he exited the driver's seat, Harrison anxiously grabbed the portable radio and keyed the mic. "Dispatch", he said into the radio, "This is Detective Harrison, Unit Twelve-A. Be advised, Detective Xander and myself are both on scene at the recycling center on Mutiny Road. Have you heard anything from Tac-Twenty-One?"

"Twelve-A", the female dispatcher responded from the radio, "That's a negative. Tac-Twenty-One is not responding at this time, over."

Harrison growled with frustration and keying the mic once again. "Copy", he said into the radio, "My partner and I are going to make entry into the building now. Advise responding police and fire units that plainclothes officers are on scene and get us some supervisors rolling, over."

Neither Harrison nor Xander had time to wait for the dispatcher's reply as the former clipped his portable radio to the belt loop of his pants. The two detectives then carefully approached the large yellow double doors at the side of the building. Just before reaching for one of the door handles, Xander sniffed the air.

"You smell that?" he quietly asked Harrison.

Harrison followed suit and sniffed the air for himself, at which point he hastily nodded. "Smoke", he said, seemingly confirming his partner's suspicion.

Xander reached down to the rear side of his gun belt and took out his flashlight, turning it on. "Do me a favor", he said, "Place your hand lightly on the door and check to see if there's any heat emanating from it."

Harrison did as his partner had asked, nimbly placing the palm of his left hand against the large yellow metal door for a brief moment before taking it away. "No heat", he said, "Do you have firefighting training or something?"

Xander nodded. "Believe it or not", he replied, "I'm actually a volunteer firefighter on weekends out in Sandy Shores."

Despite the evidently grave circumstances, Harrison managed a smirk. "No kidding, bro" he said, "Then let's do this, Mister Fireman."

Harrison then opened the door, holding it open for a moment while his partner came in behind him. They didn't have to go far before finding Officer Dakota Michaels laid out face up across the stairs to the second floor with his feet up on the landing.

"Oh shit!" Xander exclaimed as he went to his friend's side while Harrison checked his pulse, "Dakota! Dakota! It's Adam and Troy! Can you hear me?"

With that, Michaels opened his eyes and began coughing violently. "A…Adam", he said softly in between coughs.

"Hey buddy", a now relieved Xander replied, "Are you okay?"

Still coughing, Michaels shook his head. "No", he said, "I lost track of Steve." He was apparently referring to his patrol partner, Officer Steve Gwendolyn.

"Where'd you see him last?" A now apprehensive Harrison asked.

Michaels pointed to a set of yellow double door right across from the landing where the trio now sat. "In there", he hoarsely said, "He said that he smelled smoke. There's some sort of warehouse type room in there. I went in there behind him for a few minutes, but our visibility was wicked poor, so I backed out and got really dizzy."

"You must've inhaled some smoke, bud" Xander very pointedly said, "LSFD's on their way right now." He then turned his attention to Harrison. "You should go in and look for Steve", he said to Harrison, "I'll stay here with Dakota and wait for the firefighters."

"We shouldn't split up, Adam" Michaels cut in.

Though he felt very hesitant, Harrison knew that the life and safety of Officer Gwendolyn were much more important. "No", he said, "Adam's right. Steve could really be in trouble. I'll go."

Harrison pulled the top of his shirt up over his mouth to tentatively protect his breathing from the smoke, turned on his flashlight, and very carefully entered the large room.

As Michaels had indicated, visibility inside the large warehouse-like room was substantially meager. The heavy amount of greyish white smoke made the sizeable room look like the world's biggest sauna chamber, even with the bright beam of Harrison's flashlight providing some amount of illumination.

"STEVE!" he managed to shout out, even through the fabric of the shirt covering his mouth.

"HERE!" a male voice said from roughly twenty feet away.

Harrison followed the sound of the responsive yell and pointed his flashlight upward accordingly. It was then that he saw Officer Steve Gwendolyn somewhat crumpled on the very edge of the upper-level steel catwalk overlooking the large room. In response to these very ominous conditions, Harrison carefully but hurriedly ran to his distressed fellow officer.

"Holy shit!" Harrison exclaimed as he knelt to Gwendolyn's side, "Steve! It's me, Detective Harrison! Can you walk?"

Coughing from the smoke, Gwendolyn shook his head. "No", he said between coughs, "I tripped and fell as I came through the double doors. I think I fucked up my ankle or something, man!"

Though he knew that they both needed to imperatively get out of the smoke-filled room, the responsible part of Harrison's mind took over. He briefly palpated Officer's Gwendolyn's ankles, and finding nothing wrong with his left, he switched his attention to the right. Gwendolyn then groaned in response to Harrison's cautious touch.

"Okay", Harrison said as he went over directly behind Gwendolyn, "I think you twisted your right ankle, Steve. I'm going to have to body-drag you out of here. Xander and Michaels are right outside, and LSFD are on the way with the paramedics."

Gwendolyn briefly gave Harrison an affirmative look while still letting out a series of deep, bronchial coughs. Harrison then lifted his wounded colleague with both hands and very meticulously turned him around. He then hustled backwards out the double doors through which he had just came, bringing Gwendolyn out head-first and feet-last. They were then met by Xander and Michaels.

"We've got to get out of here, fellas!" A now very fearful Harrison said in a very instructive tone, "That room in there is on fire and full of smoke!"

"No shit, Sherlock!" A hoarse-voiced Gwendolyn chimed in.

Xander then pitched in with helping get the wounded Officer Gwendolyn out safely, grabbing the man's legs and carefully starting backwards down the stairs with Harrison following suit with the same precise, gradual rhythm. Though he himself was a bit dazed from his exposure to all the smoke blanketing the building's interior, Michaels was able to hold the double-doored exit open for his fellow officers.

With the welcome sound of approaching police and fire department sirens starting to approach their location, the four officers all collectively took a moment to inhale the fresh, smoke-free air before all beginning to cough the inhaled smoke out of their systems.

"Goddamn!" Harrison exclaimed as he continued to catch his breath, "Are you guys okay?"

Michaels nodded. "Yeah", he said as he panted like an overheated dog in the summer, "But I think Adam's right. I sucked in some smoke back there. I'm going to go sit down." He then started retreating back in the direction of his and Gwendolyn's still-parked patrol car.

"Alright", Harrison replied before turning to his partner, "You good, Adam?"

Xander nodded before patting Harrison's shoulder with gratitude. "I'm good, bud" he confidently replied, "Thanks. Nice work back in there, man."

Harrison nodded in response before once again kneeling beside Officer Gwendolyn. "Hey Steve", he said, "You hang in there, buddy, okay? I can hear everybody coming right now."

Still laid out on the ground, Gwendolyn nodded. "Thanks, man" he hoarsely replied, "I think you may have just earned yourself another medal, Detective."

A now flattered Harrison chuckled. "Group effort, brother" he humbly said, "Group effort."