A/N: I'm back! I got some reviews this time! And lovely reviews, at that.
Also, the two Neals are: Neal, Kel and Joren's son, and Neal, Kel's best friend. Neal and Neal live next door, so sometimes when Kel has work, she leaves her kids with Neal's wife, Yuki. (Last chapter I said leave them with Neal—I meant with Neal's wife.)
Thanks to:
Alanna22039: Thank you! I update soon for people who review me, the darlings that they are (wink wink)
Aeta Aella: Thank you. I'm updating just for you guys.
On with the show!
When Keladry raced into the room, panting after sprinting down the abnormally long hallway to the briefing room, all eyes turned to look at her coldly. Smiling slightly, obviously a little bit awkward, she quickly sat down in a chair next to Neal.
"What did I miss?" she whispered under the roar of noise—the arguments between Raoul Gold and Flyndon. Some other officers sat bored, glancing through the slideshow someone had set up but only a few were really watching. Kel hoped that she wasn't too late.
"Not much," he whispered back, "Just a little lecture how for the people who don't have a day off should've been here earlier and an apology to us who did." He snorted. "Then Raoul started giving orders, and Flyn started to turn bright red, and they've been arguing ever since."
"How long?" asked Kel.
Neal shrugged. "Maybe forty minutes."
Kel nodded. At the rate they were going, it would be time for her to retire before they were even given orders. She sat back, glancing at the slideshow which only showed pictures of women running away from men dressed in all black and screaming.
Kel had almost drifted to sleep when Raoul barked, "Stone! Mindelan! Queenscove! Rose! Get up here!"
Rising slowly, Kel wondered why he had called only high-ranked officers up. What could he want them to do?
"I'm sure you all know our situation?" he inquired, eyebrows raised, when they were out of sight and earshot. At their nods, he continued. "As the highest-ranking officers here, Stone and Mindelan, what would you do?"
Keladry glanced at Joren, and he began. "I would split up our people, sir. Go to important places in the city that employ women—namely, the other Goddess Bless stores and companies. And, of course, send some people to the crime scene to investigate a little bit into the crime from last night."
Raoul nodded tightly. "Keladry? Do you agree?"
Kel nodded. "I would only add one thing, sir. Have some people start researching mafias or other private groups with prejudices against women. That way, we may be able to catch them before they commit another crime, which I'm expecting will be tonight. Just in case they strike earlier, though, I'd go with Joren's plan. "
Raoul nodded again. "I'm pairing you up. Keladry and Merric, you're going to the possible places for further crime. Joren and Nealan, you're going to the Goddess Bless banks. Keladry and Merric, you've got the Own Riders. Joren and Nealan, you get the TPF."
Kel looked in silent sympathy at Neal for two reasons. One was that just because Joren had gotten over hating women, he was still a jerk to almost everyone who wasn't her. The second was that the Own Riders would be much better for the case than the TPF. Neal glanced at Merric, as if asking if they could switch, but Merric shook his head.
"Own Riders!" called Raoul. "Follow Mindelan and Rose out the door! TPF! Stay here!"
As the fifty of the Own Riders trooped after Kel and Merric, Kel contemplated where they should go. Goddess Bless owned many things—supermarkets, phone companies, hair salons, and restaurants all over the city. It was hard to figure out where they would want to commit their next robbery. It probably wasn't even that Goddess Bless was the best place to rob, just that they were very pro-women, that someone had robbed them. The robbers obviously had something against women, and robbing Goddess Bless was the best way to show it.
"All right, people. I want groups of two, a boy and a girl in each group. You have thirty seconds." Kel's voice was commanding and loud so that everyone could hear it. Thirty seconds later, she had twenty-five groups, not including herself and Merric. "Okay," she began again, "Here are the locations. There are only twenty-three of them, so I'll have Wolset, Nicoline, Genlith, and Eldorne work together. Masbolle, Kennan, Johnson, Holly, you're together too. I want the groups of four at the phone company and the restaurant—the restaurant and 16th and the phone company at 27th. I don't care who goes where. You all have ways to contact me and Merric, right?" They all nodded again. "If anything happens—I mean anything from an odd guy coming in to some man in a black mask threatening a female cashier, you contact us. I mean no one but me or Merric." She held up the list Merric had been typing as she spoke. "Everyone, I'll assign you a place. You and you—hair salon on 7th.You and you—supermarket on 9th."
She gave assignments until her throat was dry and everyone had one. Once they were all gone, she turned to Merric. "I was thinking we'd just walk around, going to wherever they say they need help, but mostly just dropping in every once in a while to make sure they're all working. Sound good?"
Merric nodded. "Let's go."
For the first hour nothing much happened. Everyone was on alert, but also inconspicuous, which was why, thought Kel, the Own Riders were doing it instead of the TPF. But at exactly 12:00 noon, they got three pages at once stating that masked men had come into their stores. A minute later, three more, and so on. Since they couldn't go all six places, Kel called Neal.
"Hello?" answered Joren's voice.
Startled, Kel asked, "Is Neal there?"
"No, he's talking the cashier about the robberies."
Kel smiled. "Tell him to get everyone you have everywhere that has a Goddess Bless sign on it everywhere in the city. We've got two people in each, but we're getting messages all over the place that they need help."
"Got it. We should be there soon." It was Neal's voice this time, but instead of talking to him Kel just hung up, grabbing Merric's arm and running into a hair salon after a black-masked man.
Within an hour everything was over. The officers and Own Riders had managed to capture no one, which was really quite embarrassing, but no one had been injured or taken hostage, and none of the female workers were harmed. Finally they went back to the station, where the four officers---Stone, Mindelan, Queenscove, and Rose---were called into a separate room.
It was the room where the research was being done. Raoul stood by one computer, looking almost ready to explode. On the screen was a picture of a man who looked exactly like Joren. Under the picture was a caption: "Mafia leader. Frank Stone, age 33 (year: 1971)." On his face was Joren's signature scowl, and to the left of the picture it read, "Escaped from life sentence. Found dead, August 13th, 1991. Cause of death: Gun wounds."
Keladry and the others looked at Joren. Raoul's red face turned even redder when Joren's expression changed to match his father's scowl exactly.
"Stone!" roared Raoul. "You've got some explaining to do!"
(Hehe, Joren didn't tell everyone the secret of his past? Bad boy! Review for the next part!)
IMPORTANT: Joren and Keladry were both co-chief and still are, making them the highest ranking officers. Raoul is chief. His new name is Raoul Gold, because obviously I can't call him Raoul O. Golden Lake and M. Peak. He doesn't do field work, just paperwork and he also gives assignments. He retired from the Own Riders (combination of King's Own and Queen's Riders)which is a private service which sometimes helps the TPF and sometimes works solo, leaving Flyndon in charge of them. To help out Raoul, Flyndon is partly Chief as well, which is why he sends Kel her monthly payment and stuff while Joren's is from Raoul. The Own Riders are helping with the Goddess Bless Bank robbery case. Also, Rose is Merric of HollyROSE. He isn't a very key person in the overall story, only in this chapter. But if you guys like him I can bring him back. As for Masbolle, who Kel yells at to get in a group, yes, it is Dom. Even if he's not Kel's love interest (obviously) I couldn't leave him out. He's too awesome. I will bring him back if you review and tell me to!