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Sergeant Maritza Cruz was on the warpath. She stormed down the hallway toward Anti-Crime and everyone in front of her saw her coming and quickly moved out of her way. As she entered her office, the other anti-crime officers noticed her mood and tried their best to stay out of her wake.
"What's up, Boss?" Officer Yoshi asked slowly.
"Do any of you know anything about this joint operation with the CPD?" She glared at everyone quickly, watching them all shake their heads. "Yeah, there's some captain here from Chicago who's taken over three of our open investigations." Cruz dropped into her chair and slammed her fists on her desk. "This is bull shit if they think I'm gunna turn over my stuff to some jag-off that thinks he can walk over jurisdiction laws."
"Well, I heard that that jag-off went through the proper channels and got their request for the NYPD's help signed by both the governor and the chief of police."
Cruz whirled around. There was a woman standing in the doorway, smiling pleasantly back at her. Cruz was on her feet and over in the woman's face in seconds. "I don't appreciate people eavesdropping on me."
The woman smiled and then said, with a slight British accent, "I wasn't intending to, but your voice was a little loud and it carried a bit."
"Who the hell are you?" Cruz demanded. She looked down and noticed a badge clipped to the woman's belt. "You don't work in this house."
"You must be Sergeant Cruz." The woman nodded. "You're right, I don't work in this house, but I would like a word with you, so if you'd come with me-" She turned as if to lead the way.
Cruz was blown away by the attitude the woman was throwing at her. First, this bitch arrives unannounced and listens in on her, then she dodges her questions and now she was telling her what to do? "What the hell is your problem? You don't talk to me like that. I should have you written up for insubordination."
The woman turned back toward Cruz and starred at her. Then, she reached into her jacket, pulled out a business card, and handed it to Cruz. "Actually, Sergeant, where I come from, a captain outranks a sergeant. So, if you would please come with me, we can get this over with and you can go back to bitching about some jag-off captain stepping on your toes."
Cruz looked down and read the business card. "Terrisa Marie Swensen. Captain. Chicago Police Department. First District." Cruz felt like she'd been punched in the stomach. Not knowing what else to do, she looked at the captain and nodded. "Let's go then," she said.
Swensen lead the way toward the roll call room. Roll call had ended a few minutes earlier and it was now vacant, except for two uniformed officers.
As Swensen opened the door and motioned for Cruz to enter, Cruz recognized Yokas and Boscorelli and turned back toward Swensen. "What is this?" Cruz asked. "I have a lot of work to do and I don't have time for-"
"You've plenty of time, Sergeant Cruz. I made sure that I could have your undivided attention for this afternoon." Captain Swensen picked up a file folder and sat down on the desktop it had been sitting on. "I take it that you know Officer Yokas and Officer Boscorelli?"
"Yeah, we've met," Cruz spat. She glared over at the two officers.
"Once or twice," Yokas said, in the same tone as Cruz.
Swensen saw the interchange and made a mental note of it. "Well, it's time to put any bad feeling toward each other behind you, because on this assignment, I can't let personal vendettas interfere. I need nothing less than perfection." Swensen looked at each person in turn, as she asked, "Are there any problems with this?" Both Yokas and Bosco shook their heads.
Cruz, still a little burned by the earlier exchange with Swensen, said, "Yeah, I've got a problem. I don't even know what the hell you're talkin' about and I don't intend on getting myself evolved in something that I know nothing about!"
Swensen nodded. "That's a fair argument." She turned toward Yokas and Bosco. "Will you give us a minute?"
"Sure," Bosco said. He looked at Cruz. For a split second, he almost felt sorry for her. His introduction to Captain Swensen had not gone as smoothly as he hoped. He had learned quickly that, even though she looked sweet and all, Terri Swensen was not someone to mess with.
Yokas smiled pleasantly at Cruz as she and Bosco left the room. To be a fly on the wall in that room right now, she thought.
They walked down the hall and back into the locker room. Bosco sat down on the bench in front of his locker and looked up at the ceiling. "I blew it, didn't I?"
Yokas was still imagining the scene unfolding a few rooms down and didn't hear him. "I'd pay anything to be in there right now," she thought aloud.
"I should've just kept my mouth shut," Bosco continued.
Yokas turned to face Bosco. "Yeah, you should've. Hitting on a police captain and then trying to lie about it is not my idea of a good idea."
"It's your fault, you know."
"My fault?!" Yokas exclaimed. "Yeah, you should've told me who she was before you introduced me to her."
"I was introducing her to you. How could I tell you who she was without introducing her to you first?"
Bosco shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe you should've said 'Bosco, this is CAPTAIN Terri Swensen from the CHICAGO PD' and not 'Officer Boscorelli, this is Terri Swensen from Chicago.' You mislead me on purpose."
Yokas started to protest, but then smiled. "So what if I did. How is it my fault that you made an ass of yourself? You do a pretty good job of that on your own, without any help from me."
