Chapter 6
A few weeks later, John and James were on patrol when a shot rang out towards their vehicle. Grabbing his car radio, John keyed up as James pulled the car into an alleyway and stopped.
"7-Adam-15, shots fired at my vehicle. Request backup." he said, giving his location.
"7-Adam-15, I copy shots fired. Any available units, back up 7-Adam-15."
They exited the vehicle and quietly made their way to where the shots had come from. Looking up, they saw a woman with a gun standing in the window of a nearby apartment complex. James pointed up to her and John nodded, indicating that he saw her as well.
"7-Adam-15, suspect is on the fourth floor of an apartment complex on the east side of the road. White female, mid-twenties, appears to be armed, use caution."
"7-Adam-15, 10-4. 7-Adam-100, do you copy?"
"7-Adam-100, 10-4." came Sergeant Grey's voice.
Sirens filled the air as more police cars rounded the corner. Another two shots rang out and the woman began yelling.
"7-Adam-15, two additional shots fired. Making entry into the apartment complex."
John and James pushed the door open and made their way towards the stairs. Running up to the fourth floor, they heard another shot fire from down the hall. James took the lead and they ran to apartment 411 and knocked on the door.
"LAPD! Drop the gun and come out with your hands up." James called out.
"Never!" came a woman's voice from inside.
"Do your thing, Nolan." James said.
"Ma'am, this is Officer John Nolan. What's your name?"
"I'm not telling you anything!" came a voice from inside.
More shots rang out and John looked over to James, making sure he was ok and to see what he wanted to do now. James put a finger to his lips, pointed to the door, and then held up three fingers. Slowly he counted down to one and then kicked in the door. Guns raised, they entered the apartment, shouting at the woman to put the gun down. Seeing she had no choice, she put the gun down and kicked it towards them. Her brown hair was flowing in the Los Angeles wind coming through the window.
"Good choice," John said, maintaining eye contact with the lady. "What's your name?"
"Jeanette."
"Hi, Jeanette. I'm John."
While John continued to try to talk her down, James quickly picked up the gun on the ground. Jeanette saw this and lunged at him. John quickly leapt forward, grabbing Jeanette, and the two fell to the ground. In an instant he had his handcuffs ready and was putting them on the lady's wrists. When that was done, he took out his reference card and began to read her her Miranda rights. James radioed in that they were Code 4 and they led the woman downstairs to the waiting patrol car. They drove her to the jail and booked her on multiple counts of aggravated assault. Now back on patrol, they responded to more calls, some higher priority than others. By the end of shift, they were exhausted. As they were leaving, Sergeant Grey stopped them long enough to tell them he was proud of them and how they had handled themselves.
"You both did the city proud today." he said.
"Thank you, Sergeant." they replied.
They went out to their respective cars and drove home. John grabbed a bite to eat on the way home and was done by the time he got home. He took his things inside, locking the car behind him, and got a glass of water. When that was done, he locked the front door and set the alarm before turning on the television. He watched an episode of his favorite show and then went to bed. Sleep didn't come easy for him that night and in the end, he had to take a tablet of melatonin to fall asleep. When he woke up, he made himself some breakfast and checked his phone. A quick glance told him that he had a voice message. It was from Lucy...something about Jackson being in the hospital. That was all he needed to know. He quickly shoveled some food into his mouth while he got dressed and burst out the door, breath mint in mouth and the last of his breakfast sandwich in his hand. Taking his keys out of his pocket, he shoved the last bite of sandwich into his mouth and unlocked the car. As safely as he could, he drove through town to the hospital Jackson was at. Grace was there, a comforting hand on Lucy's shoulder.
"What happened?" he asked as he approached.
"We...we were on patrol when someone rammed into our shop. Stupid drunk wasn't even watching where he was going. Jackson's side took most of the impact." Lucy replied, her voice slightly breaking, but clearly trying to stay strong for everyone.
John looked around and saw a few more officers waiting for any news. This, in John's opinion, was the best and hardest part of being a police officer-knowing that you could be hurt or killed at any moment, but that when it happened, your buddies had your back. He knew these officers wouldn't leave until time to clock on unless they were forced to. Grace gave John a quick hug and explained that Jackson was in surgery and they wouldn't know anything for a few hours. John promised Lucy that he'd stay as long as he could and took a seat next to her.
Two hours later, a doctor came and every officer in the room stood up.
"Officer West made it through surgery. But the next few hours will be critical," the doctor explained. "He's still asleep, so there's nothing more to be done on your part. Go ahead and do what you need to get done. We'll let you know when there's a change."
The officers nodded, thanked the doctor, and headed towards the door. Sergeant Grey let Lucy ride with him for the day since their shift was nearly over. John headed over to the station and got ready for his shift, trying to put everything but doing his job out of his head. Tim had let him borrow some books on how to be a good Training Officer that he had been devouring over the last few weeks. His notebook was filled with information on training techniques and tips that he reviewed every chance he got. He knew it would be awhile before he was able to be a TO, but he wanted to be ready. He and James drove through the streets of their assigned beat and took call after call.
"Heard your buddy was hurt today. You ok, Nolan?" James asked as they drove.
"As ok as I can be. Just waiting for an update. He made it through surgery."
"Good. I'm gonna tell you right now, best thing you can do is keep your head in the game. You'll get updates when you get them. For now, focus on the job."
"Thanks, James."
"You're doing good, Nolan."
Two short tones greeted their ears, signalling a high priority call.
"Wilshire beat 2, silent bank hold-up alarm, Wells Fargo on Sunset. Units responding advise."
"7-Adam-15." John said into the radio.
"7-Adam-20."
"7-Adam-14."
"7-Adam-15, 7-Adam-20, 7-Adam-14, teller hold-up alarm. Working on getting a hold of the manager."
"7-Adam-15, 10-4."
With sirens going, they drove through the streets towards Sunset. As soon as they approached Sunset, they saw the bank.
"Units responding to the silent bank hold-up alarm, unable to get a hold of the manager. Line went to voicemail."
"7-Adam-15, 10-4. Show us on scene and give us radio silence while we clear the building."
The radio silence tone began to sound as they turned into the parking lot and threw the car into park. Exiting the vehicle, they had guns drawn. Within seconds, the other two units arrived. They made a plan and stationed themselves at quads around the bank. From his vantage point, John could see the robber. A security officer in a white uniform was standing closest to the door, and there were a few clients and tellers sitting on the floor. For a split second, it brought Nolan back to Pennsylvania, but he quickly shook it off and was again able to focus on the job. A voice came over a speaker.
"This is the Los Angeles Police Department. We have the building surrounded. Come out with your hands up!"
John watched as the robber came into view. He was wearing all black, including a hood that covered his head. He was taller than John, but not by much, and was of average build. He raised the gun towards the security officer who quickly fired his gun. The robber fell to the ground, dropping his gun as his hand flew to his shoulder.
"Shots fired! Shots fired!" John yelled as he burst through the door, gun raised.
Other officers burst in and converged on the suspect, who was still on the ground. One officer grabbed the gun and threw it behind him so the suspect couldn't get it. Two more grabbed the suspect and detained him. John and James helped clear the building and talked to witnesses. When that was done, they let the witnesses leave and went inside the bank to see if the other officers needed help. By that time, the suspect had been Mirandized and was being led out to the car. John and James remained on scene until Sergeant Grey came and said it was ok for them to go. As they got into the car, they decided it was time for lunch. They drove over to Whataburger and sat down to eat. When they were done, they went back on patrol for another couple of hours until their shift was over. They filled out reports on the calls from the day and headed out.
John headed back to the hospital, hoping for an update on Jackson. Grace came down and told him that Jackson was still in a coma, but that they were very closely monitoring him and he looked to be improving. His body was responding well to the treatments they were doing and they hoped he would wake up overnight. John felt an immediate sense of relief that Jackson was pulling through and would hopefully make a full recovery. Grace promised to call him when Jackson woke up and headed back up to the floor she was assigned to. John headed home, cooked himself a light dinner and watched television for a little while to unwind from the day. When he started to feel tired, he set the alarm and headed to bed for the night. As he drew back the sheets and got into bed, he breathed a silent prayer of thanks that Jackson was doing better and prayed that he would wake up soon. Then he drifted off to sleep.
