Chapter Nine: Innocent Risk
In a way, it wasn't fair to demand that Parker betray his word…in another, Jill found it more than fair, considering who else Parker had betrayed. "You comfortable with that, Sergeant Parker?" she demanded, "Playing roulette with other people's lives? Obstructing this investigation into you and your team's actions?"
He actually tried to calm her down. "I think we should take a minute. We both need…"
She wouldn't let him, wouldn't let this go on any longer. "You ever think about how your belief in everyone's inner goodness actually puts more lives at risk?"
"If there's a chance to talk, it's my duty to take it."
His calm, his steady demeanor…all of it just threw more fuel on the fire of her anger. "You didn't let your team take Claire down when you had the chance and you lost control of the situation," Jill accused.
"I used my best judgment, based on my instinct and my experience in the field."
"I'm aware of your experience, Greg, and your instincts."
"I know you are." Jill, fuming, didn't give him a response. After a few moments, he spoke again. "Look, Jill, you can second-guess me all you want. You can refer religiously to those transcripts, but unless you were there in the room, you can't know all the moving parts of any situation. Claire lowered her gun when the wife intervened. It's my job to take that opportunity."
"And how can I know that when parts of the transcript have been restricted?" Jill spat.
"You have my word; the negotiation and all relevant details are not restricted, Jill."
Side-Along Apparating was about as fun as Flooing and his team's description of international Portkeys in Greg's opinion, but it had gotten the job done, so he pushed aside the lingering nausea and hurried up the steps to do his job and bring this deadly night to a close. In less than a minute, his team was arrayed around the area, Spike in front of him, Ed and Wordy on the other side, Sam in the back with a sniper position, and Lou and Jules, along with the two Aurors, in the center area, almost, but not quite, crowding Claire.
"Claire, thank you for keeping your gun lowered. Now, if you could just lay it down on the ground for me, maybe we can work this out."
"I don't need any more lies," Claire hissed, bitterness reeking in her voice and hate in her eyes.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Claire. We both know what's already happened here tonight, but it doesn't mean it has to continue. Doesn't mean it has to get worse."
Claire either couldn't or wouldn't hear him. "Get out of the way," she ordered her target's wife.
"No," the woman replied, shaking her head.
"Move!" When the woman still refused to budge, Claire yelled, "I said, move!"
"And then the incident was resolved," Greg finished sadly. Such a waste…ten dead, eleven if you counted Claire's husband, two wounded and for what?
Jill was unappeased. "After thirty-seven minutes," she hissed, "In which you allowed your team to put lives at risk."
"You know I didn't," Greg countered quietly.
"And I will make sure it never happens again." She was angry, just like Claire had been, but thankfully, Jill had better judgment than Claire had had.
"What are you going to charge me with, Jill?" No point in bringing up the fact that the Auror Division would likely bury any attempt to charge him…they'd act for both practical and political reasons. "This investigation isn't about today."
"It is," Jill insisted, a smug look on her face and a glitter of triumph in green eyes, "It's about your judgment. It's about your fitness as leader."
"No, no," he parried, his expression understanding. He reached out and stopped the recording. "For you, this investigation is about Brian."
Ed walked back to the rest of his team; they looked up at his approach and Spike held an open folder. The two Aurors had faded into the background, their expressions grim. Ed felt a chill as he realized the news was nothing good.
"We found out why Brian stopped being Jill's partner," Jules reported, "He made SRU."
"She trained him?" the team leader questioned, brows going up in surprise.
Spike passed over the folder in his hands as he replied, "Looks like it. Her name's all over his performance reviews."
"And his letter of recommendation," Sam chipped in.
"See the kicker?" Jules asked, even as Ed's eyes fell on that part.
The team leader looked up from the folder, staring at the closed door into the briefing room. "Brian was on the Boss's team."
As if Greg's observation had been all she needed, Jill went on the offensive, spitting her words at him. "You put Brian at risk. In that spree shooting you hesitated. You gave that scumbag a chance to kill Brian and he took it."
Greg met the accusation calmly. "We did what we thought was right in the circumstance."
"You believed the best of that scumbag," Jill snapped, "You gambled with Brian's life. You put him at risk unnecessarily, just like you did today."
"Jill," Greg spoke softly, trying to get through to her, "Jill, I know you're in pain. I know you want to blame me. But I did not cause Brian's death."
Green eyes flashed at him; Jill's chin tipped up and she gave him a cold smirk. "You need to take responsibility. You put the lives of your people in danger. I'll prove it. I'll prove that you should be charged with criminal disregard of human life and removed from duty."
He could let her believe all of that…let her believe that it was his fault her old partner had died…it would be easy. But it would also be wrong. "I can let you believe what you believe," he remarked, meeting her eyes. "It's probably easier to live with than knowing the truth."
The Sergeant let that hang a moment. "You came out of that museum tonight after seeing…after seeing that tragedy. You came out, and you saw me, and all that outrage and all that grief came up again, and this was your chance to right a wrong for his sake. I understand. But I got to tell you something. The night you lost Brian…" He stopped, looked down a second as his own sorrow came back. "The night we lost Brian…it's not what you think. The time for negotiation was over. I saw the signs, I called Scorpio, like I did tonight."
"After Brian died," she accused angrily.
"No, Jill," he countered, "Before." When she stared at him in disbelief, he admitted, "Brian hesitated." If he felt guilty for anything, it was for the fact that Brian apparently hadn't trusted him enough to respond instantly to his order that day.
"What?" Disbelief rang in the word and denial.
"Tonight, when I called Scorpio, my shooter, Ed, responded immediately. He took the shot."
"And Brian didn't?" Jill's anger was shattered, shock in her voice as she took his words in.
"No."
She looked like her world had just come crashing down. "It was Brian who hesitated?" Greg held his silence; there was no point in belaboring the obvious. She sucked in air, her eyes filling. "That's not what it said in the report." One last, weak attempt to deny the truth, even as a tear slipped down her cheek.
The Sergeant sighed. "Reports and transcripts- they don't tell the whole truth. Brian was a good man. I miss him, too. And that night, he thought he could help. Turns out, he couldn't. Sometimes we can't help."
"Claire, you don't have to do this. Ben's wife has nothing to do with Brenton. She's innocent. Like your husband was innocent."
Ben's wife was still between Claire and her target; the couple clung to each other as Greg negotiated for their lives…for Claire's life. But Claire had gone too far to stop; too far to back down, regardless of the consequences. "Innocent," she murmured; Greg stiffened. "Innocent just means…" She stared at the couple, her eyes going darker. "…acceptable risk."
"Scorpio."
Ed Lane fired instantly, dropping Claire as she brought her gun up. She fell, dead before she hit the ground; Ben and his wife fled past Team One without looking back. Lou and Jules moved in, kicking Claire's weapon away, flipping her over and cuffing her.
The team left the museum, drained and exhausted. Lewis hung close to the two Aurors, leading by example as he handed his weapons over to the waiting SIU investigators. Now the Aurors understood why they'd been given sidearms before entering the museum hours earlier; Team One had been ensuring that no hint of magic could be found by anyone not in the know. Once they'd passed the weapons over, Lou moved to be between the two magicals and the horde of reporters.
Behind them, the EMTs brought out one last covered stretcher; Claire's sister Rachel was permitted to accompany the stretcher as it was taken to an ambulance and away from the tragedy.
On the sidelines, Jill Hastings watched as Sergeant Greg Parker walked past her without a second glance in her direction. She turned to watch him go, her face unreadable.
Greg let Jill take the lead out of the briefing room. Judging by the expressions on his team's faces, they had figured everything out. Fair enough; he could hardly ask them to stop being cops, to stop being investigators. Jill handed the binders in her hands to one of her coworkers with a brisk, "We're done." Then she walked over to the mixed group of Team One and two Aurors. With a deep breath and Greg hovering at her side, she said, "SIU will find that Team One used clear judgment and appropriate force. I'm sorry that you all had to go through this after a night like tonight. Thank you." She walked away and Greg opted to not look after her.
Instead, he focused on his team; they circled around him, the two Aurors joining the circle at his encouraging look. "We did all we could tonight," Greg told them, his eyes settling on each man – and one woman – present. "Hey, I'm proud of all of you." He drew a breath, deliberately meeting Simmons' eyes – he knew the man was no fan of Team One, but still…he had come and helped…that meant a lot to the Sergeant. "I'm darn proud to be a member of this team," he whispered.
Jules looked up at him, smiling a little. "Yeah," she agreed. Then she hugged him as his team crowded around, agreement shining on their faces. He didn't care what Jill Hastings thought of him, of his team…he had the best team and the best family in the world.
~ Fin
Author note: Fade to black. Thank you all for sticking with me throughout this wild ride as well as my real life rodeo session. The RL update will be below for anyone interested in it. In the meantime, please read and review. We'll be kicking off our next story, "The Kindness of Strangers", in the Flashpoint/Chronicles of Narnia crossover archive this Friday, April 6th, 2018.
And now for the RL update: Praise the Lord, I have reached yet another week in training without getting kicked out. As of yet, we still stand at 15 people and I'm hoping that number will not decrease any further.
Specific prayer needs:
1. Praise for God's Blessings and His Grace in allowing me to reach this point in my training.
2. Prayer for the evaluation that is yet to be held today...it is fortunately more of a group evaluation, so at least I won't be solo.
3. I haven't yet tried it today, but the online portion of this course was having...trouble...yesterday. Pray that the site gets over its issues quickly so I can turn my browser's certificate security back on. (And that's the least of the online issues...all I can say is: Thank the Lord for browser history).
4. We will likely have our first interviews either at the end of this week or the beginning of next week. Please pray that the interviews go according to the Lord's plan, regardless of outcome. (I believe I have shared my misgivings regarding this potential employer, but if God wants me to work for them, then that is His plan for my life. Likewise, if He does not want me there, I trust He will find me another place to go.)
5. And last, but not least, Praise for God's Wisdom, Grace, and Mercy in sending His Son to be our Ultimate Rescuer. That, my dear readers, is the true meaning of Lent, Good Friday, and Easter.