Part IV

Johnny sighed as he climbed back into the squad. Roy's mood was hard to read right now, but one thing was for sure. His partner wasn't at all happy.

"Captain Queeg's not here, Roy. Talk to me before I have to start monitoring your blood pressure."

Roy took a deep breath then leaned his head back briefly before starting the squad.

"Sorry, Johnny. It's not you and you know it. It's him. Queeg? That's from that movie, right? If it's the one I'm thinking of, it fits."

"The Caine Mutiny. We were watching it on the television just before we got a call last month. You know, all the time Poole was talking to me I kept re-hearing that one line from the movie. 'There are four ways of doing things aboard my ship: The right way, the wrong way, the Navy way, and my way. They do things my way, and we'll get along.' "

"That does sound like Poole's philosophy in a nutshell, Junior. Just substitute Fire Department for Navy."

As he drove, Roy glanced briefly over to Johnny. Seeming to make a decision, he cleared his throat.

"You'll need to try and keep things level for you, Mike and Marco until Cap gets back."

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Mark my words, he has it in for Chester B and me. Me because he blames the paramedic program on me. Chet? I'm not sure why he has it in for Chet, but he does. If he can figure a way to be rid of us, he will be."

"Hey, don't you think you're being a little paranoid there, Roy? The guy's only a temp."

But even as he said that, the words Poole said to him replayed through Johnny's head. 'He's looking for trouble and, by God, he's going to find it if he doesn't get with the program.' Okay, so maybe Roy wasn't just being paranoid.

"I know that he's a temp and you know that he's a temp. I don't think he knows that. Or if he does, I don't think he plans on this position staying temporary. He said some pretty unflattering things about Cap in front of me and, so far as I know, he just met Cap for the first time when we were all introduced."

Fingers drumming on the dash, Johnny just gave a slight nod.

"Now that you mention it, he said something to me about Cap's lax attitude with us. You think he's trying to show Cap up so he can replace him?"

"I do. After all, if he thinks I don't show the proper dedication to the job because I have a wife and kids, I can't imagine he thinks any higher of Cap's dedication. Especially since he's taken off time for his anniversary."

"Yeah, I guess you've got that right. Oh, Dixie was asking about you. She was worried that something was wrong when you didn't come in."

"She's right about that. Something's wrong. Sorry by the way. I didn't mean to snap at you over the handset. It's just -"

"I know. Poole."

"I wonder if part of the problem is where he's from. I heard the B Shift Captain say that Poole is from Delaware."

"So?"

"So, the population of L.A. alone is probably over six times the population of the entire state of Delaware. Maybe he's on the offense because he feels like he has to make his mark in an area this big?"

"Maybe. But even if that's true, knowing it doesn't help our situation with him."

They were almost back to the station and fell silent, both grateful that their shift was almost over. Not over soon enough though. The second the squad was parked, Poole was yelling.

"DeSoto! Office! Now!"

Roy took a deep breath and gave Johnny a brief look as he spoke softly under his breath.

"Wish me luck, Junior. I'm going to need it."

Johnny watched until Roy disappeared behind the door, then headed for the latrine. The first thing he noticed was the strong scent of bleach. To his surprise, Chet was in there, cleaning the walls. Again. He knew for a fact that Chet had already cleaned the area once when they'd started their shift.

"Chet? What's up?"

It roused Johnny's concern that Chet looked over at him, but didn't say anything. Especially since Chet's eyes were showing signs of irritation. Putting aside his original reason for coming in, Johnny moved over to check Chet out.

"You need to go outside for a few minutes and fill your lungs with some fresh air, Chet. I think you've inhaled a few too many bleach fumes and this area isn't what you'd call well ventilated."

Chet didn't argue with him or even speak to him as Johnny led him out behind the station and had him sit down. Some of B Shift were arriving by now and their newest paramedic, Walter Cessna, came out, speaking softly to keep his voice from carrying.

"Is there a problem?"

Johnny looked over to his fellow paramedic.

"Nothing too bad. Chester B here just stayed in with bleach fumes a little too long for his health."

Glancing back toward the building, Walter nodded.

"I'll bet, but you might want to get back inside. Sounded like Poole was almost finished yelling at your partner, Gage."

"He's yelling at Roy? Aw, man."

Hearing that, Chet just took another deep breath of fresh air then got up and headed back for the latrine again. Walter waited until Chet was out of hearing range before he spoke again,

"Gage? What's going on? You and DeSoto used to be tight."

That got Johnny's back up.

"What do you mean used to be?"

But before Johnny got an answer, Walter's partner yelled out from the door.

"Walt! Role call!"

Johnny continued to sit. He wanted to get that answer from Walter, but just as role call was concluding, the tones sounded and the squad was called out. Since there was no telling how long they'd be gone, Johnny gave up and headed for his locker.

Everyone else from his crew seemed to be gone already. Sighing, Johnny opened his locker. It wasn't that long ago that they would have all been in here, changing and joking at the end of a shift. And then some or all of them would have headed to the local diner together for a quick snack before they all went their separate ways. Now? Now it was like none of them could get out of here fast enough. And even Mike had stopped coming in as early as he normally did.

Changing clothes, Johnny could hardly believe all the changes in just the short amount of time that Hank had been gone. Chet was another of those changes. While he admittedly had complained on more than one occasion that it was impossible to shut Chet up, he was finding he had to think back to remember the last time that Chet had spoken to him. He looked miserable too. That couldn't just be from latrine duty. It was a running joke on the shift about how often Chet ended up with that job. Maybe he should encourage Chet to go see a doctor.

As he climbed into his Rover, Johnny thoughts turned again to what Walter had said. For a moment, he thought about driving to Roy's house, but he knew Roy's was exhausted and probably just wanted to crawl into bed. Starting up the Rover, he headed for home.