Epilogue
Ed knocked on his lieutenant's door, an uneasy sensation in his gut. All throughout the debriefing, Greg had held his silence and the few times he'd spoken had focused strictly on the profile or the negotiation. Only at the conclusion of the debriefing had the Boss offered anything more than that, but it had almost been worse. Instead of the scolding every last one of them deserved for ceding their authority to an eighteen-year-old girl or even an evaluation of how they could do better next time, his friend's voice had been level and matter-of-fact as he informed them that May Dalton had been arrested for her attempt to murder her own father. Emotionless as he added the final kick to the gut – effective immediately, he would not be accompanying Team One on any more hot calls.
"Enter." The voice was Greg's, but the lack of emotion wasn't.
Bracing himself, the Sergeant eased the door open and stepped inside, blue eyes landing on his friend and boss. Parker gazed back, negotiator mask firmly in place. Ready for whatever attacks Ed might launch. Pushing the door closed behind him, the bald sniper made no attempt to hide his hurt and confusion. "Why?"
The other man did not misunderstand. "Tell me, Sergeant Lane, who is in charge of your team?"
His scalp prickled at the cold tone. "I am."
The lieutenant in front of him nodded thoughtfully. "Then can you explain to me why you permitted someone outside your team to take charge?"
"We were stupid," Ed blurted. "We shouldn't have let her get under our skin. It won't…"
"That's not what I was referring to," Parker interrupted. As the sniper stared, the lieutenant heaved himself out of his chair and moved to the office's small window, turning his back on his subordinate. "Tell me, Sergeant Lane, would you have permitted Commander Holleran to take charge of the profile?"
"You're not Holleran."
His boss never twitched. "Would you have permitted Commander Holleran to take the lead in the first negotiation?" Slowly, the stocky man turned, finally meeting Ed's eyes again. "Would you have surrendered leadership of your team to Commander Holleran, Sergeant?"
Lane swallowed hard. "No, sir, I would not."
A nod, acknowledgement and approval. "Then explain to me, Sergeant, why you did all three of those things with me."
Taken aback by the frontal assault, for an instant, he could only stare and work his jaw. After several seconds, his mind ground back into motion and Ed whispered, "You're different." One brow rose, but Lane wasn't finished. "You're one of the best negotiators in this unit, sir, and you were the best match we had today." Anger rose and his fists balled. "I am not going to apologize for picking the best member of my team to run the profile and handle the negotiation. I'll apologize for what happened with May, but not for picking you, Boss."
Parker shook his head. "May was my fault. I permitted her involvement and I chose not to override the team's decision even when I knew the situation was too volatile for a civilian." Hazel narrowed. "But you enabled me to take a role that should rightly be yours and yours alone, Sergeant Lane. Your team followed your example; your team leader ceded his authority to you rather than challenge your actions. It's not the first time you've done that, Sergeant, but it will be the last."
"Greg, please," Ed pleaded. "Don't do this to us, Boss."
The mask flickered, but did not crack. "Commander Holleran gave your team authorization to run with six members. I can't override that, but in light of today's developments, I recommend your team start searching for a new member." Parker regarded his Sergeant, still emotionless. "I appreciate your team's efforts to help me regain my old skill."
"Greg, stop," the Sergeant snarled. "Stop acting like you were never on Team One! Stop acting like you coming along on hot calls is taking away my authority or Word's authority. It's not." Blue eyes spat fire. "You can recommend, but it's not happening. We already have a seventh member and he's standing right in front of me!"
The older man shook his head. "I am not a member of Team One," he chided. "I haven't been a member of Team One since the day I was sent undercover." For a moment, he stopped, as though listening to the overhead vents or the sound of Ed's furious breathing. "Sergeant, you earned your promotion and you spent four months proving that. To wind back the clock is a disservice to what you and your team have accomplished."
"So that's it? You're not even going to give us a chance to talk you out of this?"
"No, I'm not," Parker confirmed, loosely clasping his hands behind his back. "I suggest you tell Constable Scarlatti to have an in-depth discussion with his charge as to why an invisible dragon is a violation of the Statute of Secrecy. He may have saved young May Dalton's life, but if he'd done it anywhere else, covering it up would've been nearly impossible." Still with that bland façade that Ed was starting to hate, the lieutenant cocked his head ever so slightly to the side. "Was there anything else, Sergeant Lane?"
"We're not done with this, Greg," Ed snapped, gearing up for the fight of his life.
Hazel hardened into topaz. "That's Lieutenant Parker to you, Sergeant Lane. And we are done." Still holding his pose, Parker indicated the door.
Incredulous, Ed stared at his best friend, but the other man never wavered. Inside, the 'team sense' was just as silent and locked down tighter than Fort Knox. For several minutes, the two men stared at each other, but when the lieutenant's gaze remained steady and emotionless, the Sergeant finally growled and stomped out, slamming the door behind him.
Alone in his office, Greg let himself sag and finally released the mask over his emotions. Genuine grief peeked out, but the day's events had driven several things home to him. First of all, his ambitious plan to ride with all the SRU teams was a complete wash. Great idea, but far too complicated to actually work. Especially when dealing with his former team. There was just too much history, too many emotional entanglements – the chain of command would never be clear, not with a lieutenant coming in and smashing the traditional Sergeant/Team Leader dynamic to bits.
Right along with the broken chain of command was the undeniable fact that his judgment was still suspect. He'd known better, but he'd overridden his own better judgment simply because he hadn't wanted to rock the boat. He'd been so desperate to maintain Ed's leadership that he'd permitted someone in a team leader mindset to make Sergeant-level decisions. It couldn't work like that – a team could only have one leader, not two. Because of his own poor decision-making, a young girl had nearly died at the hands of a cop. At Eddie's hands – he would've plunged his best friend into a hurricane of emotional torment simply because he hadn't been willing to break the chain of events leading right into that rooftop shooting.
Gazing down at his desk, Greg took in the sight of his matte black laptop, the closed case of his Bluetooth mouse, and the file trays that marched along the outer edge. A bureaucrat's haven, not meant for a cop more used to being on the streets. But this was his life now; if he wasn't going on any more hot calls, then this office and the desk inside it was the sum total of his career. The lieutenant's chest tightened at the thought of never going out on another hot call. Never again to roam the streets of his city, doing his best to save lives and keep the peace. It hurt, but he simply wasn't the man he'd been.
The stocky man slumped down in his chair, still staring at his laptop. He wished, with all his heart, that things could be different, but then his mind's eye presented him with an image of the look that would've crossed his best friend's face as soon as he took that shot. It couldn't happen again – and it wouldn't. Better to spend the rest of his career in this small office than to risk putting his friends in that position again.
With a sigh, Parker tore his gaze away from the laptop and looked up, gazing around at the bare, impersonal office. He'd been too busy to bother decorating – and he hadn't been in the office enough to feel the lack – but if these four walls were going to be his future… It was probably about time he started decorating.
~ Fin
Author note: *Fade to Black as Flashpoint's Closing Music Plays*
I hope everyone enjoyed the latest entry in the Magical Flashpoint 'verse. As always, I treasure every review that comes into my in-box, so please do read and review.
And now that Season 5 is off to a roaring start, we'll be moving right along...wait, what's that? Last minute change of plans? Ah, yes, we'll be heading off the beaten track to a Side-Story that's closely related to the fallout from this story. "Talking to Dragons" starts Friday, February 11th 2022, over in the Flashpoint/Spyro the Dragon crossover archive.
See You on the Battlefield!
