"Do you know why she might be doing this?" Greg asked me.
"I don't know. We haven't had a good talk in a while." I responded, "I never saw the point, you know?"
"So you have no clue why she is holding up a bank, and asking for three thousand dollars?"
"Can I get back to work?" I asked.
"Dad!" Megan yelled from the top of the stairs.
"What do you want?" I asked, as I got up from the couch, where me and Jules sat, in uniform and went to the bottom of the steps.
"Can you give me a hand with this?" Megan asked.
I walked up the steps and into Megan's room.
Over the past two years, she had really made it her own. Gone were the white walls, painted a light grey with a black stripe halfway down. Her bed laid north to south, as the window faced east. Just inside her door was her desk with her computer. Behind the computer, she had a white board where I could tell she had written reminders to herself. Opposite of the mirrored closet doors, was a stationary bike- one of the old SRU gym units when we had received a new model.
"What's up?" I asked.
"This uniform, it's…"
I looked into the mirror, where she was looking into it as well, as she had changed into her SRU Rover Crew Uniform- which was a modified Humber College Police Foundations uniform. The only differences were the SRU Rover Crew patches on the sleeves of the shirt, and a proper pair of pants- one that could support a two piece duty belt and didn't have the pockets on the legs.
"I'm proud of you, you now that, right?" I said, as I approached her and fixed her collar, "The rear of the collar was popped."
I looked over her uniform.
"Let's go."
Me, Jules and Megan rode in the same vehicle together to the SRU building.
"So, I was able to get today's schedule from Spike." Jules said.
"Oh yeah?" I asked, "How? I thought he was mad at you?"
"I don't think so." Jules said, "I swiped his phone for a few seconds and sent the schedule to my phone."
"Why was Spike mad at you?" Megan asked.
"It was just something I said." Jules explained, "Looks like the Crew is hanging with Team One all day."
"I'll have to put up with you all day?" Megan joked from the back seat.
I laughed, as I scrolled through Jules' phone, "So, meet and greet at 10, tour at 10:15. End up in the basement, and do the Rover Crew shooting test at 11. Group workout in the gym at noon, then Spike's running the Crew through an equipment cage tour, finished with a how-to of equipment cage clean-up and maintenance of equipment and firearms."
"Sweet," Megan said from the back, "I'll finally get to touch an MP5."
"Well, we're going to be early." Jules said, as we pulled into the SRU parking lot at 9:30am, "You can just relax with us if you want Megan."
"That's not the best entry point. " Spike spoke to Ed as we entered the debriefing room with Megan in tow.
"Megan- glad you're here," Ed said, "Can you tell Spike to shut up?"
I sat down beside Jules, and Megan sat down across from Spike.
"What are we talking about?" Megan asked with interest.
"I'm glad you asked." Greg said with a smile.
Greg pressed some buttons on a remote, as a large building layout came up on the projector screen.
I recognized the recon as belonging to a warrant that we were going to act on tomorrow.
"According to Ed," Greg explained to Megan, "Our Team Leader and Tactician, our best entry point is here from A5. Spike on the other hand thinks we should enter a bravo on A7, and an alpha on A5."
Megan looked over the plans with interest.
"Why would you want to split up the team?" Megan asked, "It's a small place- enter from one point, and perform a full sweep. If you have two splinter units enter at different points, you gain the probability of losing your suspect in a blind zone."
"Would you look at that-" Greg said, "They're already discussing blind zones."
"No, actually Mr. Parker," Megan started.
"Hey- as long as you're on my Rover Crew call me Greg."
"Well, Greg," Megan said, "It's more like I'm reading ahead."
Greg nodded his head, as he pressed some buttons on the laptop on the table, as a tactical simulation started on the blueprint.
"See this unit here?" Greg continued to explain, "Watch the point man in this unit- let's call him Ed for fun."
"Boss…" Ed said with a laugh.
"Continue watching Megan. This is why Spike thinks it's better for two teams to enter- see this open area? When Ed enters this area, he's blind from around this corner, whereas, if two splinter units were to enter, bravo unit would be clearing the opposite side of this corner, therefore neutralizing this open area before alpha unit got there."
"But," Megan provided, "The two units would have to be timed perfectly, because if they're not, and bravo unit clears that open area first, there is still this corner to attend to, which would be considered a blind spot."
"And how could we solve this if we entered as a full unit from A5?" Ed asked, as the conversation started to interest him.
"Well, you could never fully solve it, when you think about it." Megan explained, "But you can be more prepared- the entire unit enters from A5, with your point men with shields. When you reach W4 off of Black Wall, your pre-determined bravo splits, backtracks through the washroom, which connects to the master bedroom. From there, bravo can either dynamically clear the blind spot, or recon the area for your suspect."
Ed looked up from the building plan on the tablet he was looking at, back up to the same plan on the projector screen. "That's brilliant- ok team, suit up, we drill in five."
"Ed, we can't drill today," Greg reminded him, "We have the Rover Crew."
"Ok- Team One, report for duty tomorrow at 0500 hours instead of 1000 hours- we're drilling this tac plan at least five times tomorrow morning."
We all groaned loudly.
"Ok, its 10," Greg said, "Let's go wait for the Crew to show up at the desk."
We all reluctantly got up and followed Greg to the dispatcher's desk.
"Oh, Greg," Megan said, as she ran up beside him, "There's been some changes."
"Changes?"
"Yeah- pretty much everybody but me and the other girl who got selected for the SRU Rover Crew backed out. I guess they were either expecting to get onto another Crew, or that they wouldn't make it."
"So who do we have?" Greg said.
"My instructor emailed me the new roster this morning." Megan replied, "Here it is."
Megan handed over a piece of paper to Greg.
"In the future Megan, if you have an email or something like that, that I need, just send it to my PDA. Your mom or dad should have the number."
"Ok." Megan replied.
Suddenly the front doors opened and four teenaged girls walked in, in their SRU Rover Crew uniforms.
"Oh you have to be kidding me…" I heard Ed quietly mutter.
"Ok, quick attendance check," Greg said, "I know we have Megan Perrasmith. Christina Walker?"
"Here." She responded.
"Looks like you and Megan are the only originals on the Crew."
"Looks like it." Christina replied.
"Jessica Kibbee, Adele Fawn and Valerie Pauze?"
Each time, after their name was said, each of them responded with 'Here'.
"Ok," Greg said, "My name is Greg Parker- call me Greg. I'll be your SRU Contact Person, although I may not always be the person you'll be working with. Starting from my left to the end, is my Team- SRU Team One Team Leader Edward Lane, call him Ed."
"Don't call me bald." Ed commented.
"Beside him is Constable Michealangelo Scarlatti, we call him Spike. He's also our Technologist and Bomb Technician. On the end are Kristopher and Julianna Perrasmith. We call Kris Perra because he's cool. He's also the team's CQB Expert. Anyone know what CQB stands for?"
One girl raised her hand.
"I'll get this, hold on." Greg started- "Jessica?"
"Close Quarters Combat."
"Correct." Greg continued, "Julianna, we just call her Jules, because everybody needs a nickname. She's usually 2nd Negotiator. Any questions?"
Another hand went up. "Valerie," she said, "Is everybody on your team cross-trained? Can they perform other tasks?"
"Excellent question Val, do you mind me calling you Val?" Greg asked.
She nodded.
"Yes, everybody is cross-trained. That being said, if there was a bomb call, Spike would be the first contact in the field, unless he is unable or cannot do so. Same thing goes with Ed, Perra, and Jules. If for whatever reason, we need another person to cover CQB with Perra, Spike, Jules or Ed have the knowledge to do so. Alright, let's get started on the tour of this place."
"Hold on," Ed said, "What about nicknames for the Crew?"
"Really Ed?" Spike asked, "Why not just come up with it on the fly?"
"Alright."
After the tour, shooting test and workout, Ed got his wish. By then, he had managed to find a pet name or nickname for each member in the crew.
Jessica Kibee got Kibs as her nickname when Ed had mispronounced her name so many times that he just hyphenated it to Kibs.
Val was the natural shortened version for Valerie so everybody just accepted it, including her. Adele's however, was hard for Ed to pin down, so he thought that Adele would be just fine.
Everybody started calling Christina 'Chris' but Perra kept on thinking that they were addressing him, so they decided to call her by her last name- Walker.
Megan- being surrounded by SRU for years had already earned her stripes as Meg, so everybody just started calling her that.
After the workout, Perra and Jules were putting away the foam mat and the defend and attack mitts, as they were testing the Crew in hand to hand.
"Think she's doing any good?" Jules asked.
"She's doing good. Needs to work on her hand to hand, but good." I muttered to her.
"What's the holdup over there?" Greg asked, as they finished and walked over to the group.
"Ok," Greg said, "SRU Rover- you're going to go with Spike. He's going to show you the-"
"Team One hot call!"
"Winnie-" Greg yelled over.
"I'll call up Team Six from the basement to cover the Crew."
"Talk to me." Ed yelled out, as we started to gear up.
"Armed woman holding up First Continental Bank on York Street, asking for $3000." Winnie said, "No other information."
Once on scene, I immediately went to work, and got a pair of eyes in by climbing onto the roof and using the pole camera.
"We got ears yet?" Greg asked.
"Working on it." I replied, as I found the electrical box on the roof and reversed the phone lines and attached a wireless router to the signal.
"I got your signal." Spike replied to me, "But I still got nothing. We need to activate the phone lines."
"I'll work on that." Greg said, "Eddie- you got tactical options yet?"
"According to the security company, there's a locked and bolted door that leads to the safety deposit box room." Jules mentioned.
After climbing back down from the roof, I stood beside Ed at the door that Jules suggested.
"We can torch through that." I confirmed, "What about floor plans?"
"Coming at you." Spike replied, as I picked up the PDA.
After pressing some buttons, I brought up the plans so me and Eddie could view them.
"Torch the door, we're into the SDB room." I summarized, "From there, we can smoke and flash into the foyer. Use less lethal inside, and detain the subject."
"I just got off the phone with our subject." Greg said, "Jules, you got any more information?"
"Nothing useful."
"I'm sure I've heard this voice before. Grab a snapshot Spike, and reference through the SRU Incident & Case File database."
"Not critical incidents?" Spike asked.
"Nope."
"Getting the snapshot."
Inside the truck, Spike grabbed the video feed that the pole camera was transmitting. After viewing several minutes of the footage, he froze a good frame, and zoomed into the subject's face.
"Got a snapshot." Spike said into the radio, as he started rendering the image so it would come up clear instead of pixelated.
After the rendering, Spike looked at the image.
"Boss." He said, as he poked Parker in the back, who was comparing notes with Jules, "Look at this."
Greg turned around and looked at the image.
"Perra- do you mind reporting to command?"
Confused as to why I would be reporting to command, instead of preparing our tactical entry with Ed, I got into the command truck.
"Recognize her?" Greg asked, as he pointed to the screen where Spike had captured the snapshot.
"Haley?" I asked out loud, "That's her. That's Haley."
Do you know why she might be doing this?" Greg asked.
"I don't know. We haven't had a good talk in a while." I responded, "I never saw the point, you know?"
"So you have no clue why she is holding up a bank, and asking for three thousand dollars?"
With confusion and anger stepping in I replied "Can I get back to work?"
"Can you stay objective and professional?" Greg asked.
"You bet I can."
I left the truck and went back to Ed, who had got the torches ready, in case we needed to enter.
"We got a read on our subject." Greg said, "Haley McLeod, ex-wife to Kristopher Perrasmith."
"Seriously?" Ed asked.
I nodded yes.
"Ok Team, listen up. I'm going to try to talk her down." Greg said, "Ed, if we need to go in, I want to keep Perra back. If she sees him, it might trigger an emotional response."
"Copy that." Ed replied.
"Hello?" came Haley's voice over the radio, as Greg's call into the back was being transmitted to our radios.
"Haley- this is Sargent Greg Parker."
"How do you know my name?" she interrupted.
"That's our game plan. We get to know who we have to talk to, who we have to help. Do you need help Haley?"
"No, I need three thousand dollars."
"Ok- I'll pass that along to my superiors, and they may be able to do that. How is everybody doing in there? Is everybody ok?"
"Yeah, they're fine, everyone's fine."
"Ok, thank you Haley. I want to let you know that you're being very co-operative and with your help, I'd like to resolve this peacefully, ok?"
"You don't know me! You don't know what I'm capable of! I just want my money!"
Then the line went dead.
" 'My money.' " Greg repeated, "Perra, did you or your ex-wife have an account at this bank?"
"We started savings accounts for the kids when they were born." I replied, "When Megan turned 18, the account matured and she withdrew the money and closed the account. That would mean there would only be an account for Matthew left."
"But still, 'my money'- is there any way she could withdraw that money before Matthew turned 18?"
"No- not without both of our signatures." I replied.
"But you're technically no longer Matthew's father, so how does that work?" Greg asked.
"To be honest, I don't know."
"Spike," Greg spoke to him, "Contact a lawyer that specializes in family services and get a branch manager on the line to see if she knows how she could withdraw the money."
"So what?" Ed asked, "Are we actually going to give her the money? Setting a bad example."
"We got tactical options to go through the front?" Greg asked.
"No." Ed said, "I'm not going through the front unless we have to, and only if we have to go lethal. I thought we were talking her down?"
"I know Ed, I'm just thinking if I can get a face to face with her, this might end up better."
"Ok." Ed gave in, "Me and Jules, alpha through the front with shields to cover the boss. Perra, Sierra across the street and into the bank."
"Less lethal?" I asked, as we started running back towards the trucks to change gear.
"No, lethal."
After I got my Sierra perch setup I started watching the actions of Greg, Eddie and Jules, and putting together what I could hear over the radio, I started to gain a bit of perspective.
"So what's the plan here boss?" Jules asked, as she and Ed formed up around him and started walking towards the main entrance, "Does she know who she's talking to? Does she remember you?"
"I don't think so Jules, and I would hope I can keep it that way."
Ed opened the doors and they entered the foyer.
"Alpha team inside." Ed commented over the radio, "Sierra, do you have the solution?"
"Behind a pillar," I responded, "draw her out. I'll have to double tap for glass."
"You good on intel boss?" Ed asked.
"Yeah, where do you want Spike?"
"Spike- second Perra, and tap on the glass for his sierra shot." Ed ordered, "Await your Scorpio Sierra One."
"Copy that." Came my automatic reply, as Spike came up from behind me, and put his hand on my shoulder, a signal that another member has your back.
"Haley McLeod," Greg yelled out, "My name is Sargent Greg Parker- we spoke on the phone. I just wanted to come in and see you, and to confirm that everybody is ok."
"They're fine!" Haley yelled back, "Where's my three thousand?"
"Haley, why do you need three thousand dollars? Are you in trouble? Is someone forcing the money from you?"
"Shut up!" she exclaimed, "Get your guys back, or I'll shoot."
"Ok, ok," Greg replied, "We're stepping back. Officers Lane and Perr- Callihan, step back."
"What did you say?" Haley asked. "What did you start to call her?"
"I was just ordering her to step back- like you asked, remember?"
"Keep them back! All I want is my money!"
"Your money, ok- Haley, is this money for your son? For Matthew?"
"How do you know his name?" Haley asked, as she stepped out from behind the pillar that blocked my shot, "How do you know his name?"
"I have the solution." I informed Greg.
"Hold, Sierra, hold." Greg muttered, "I'm a smart guy Haley. I did my homework before I came in here. Something tells me that you're smart too, right? Architecture, that's some complex stuff, am I right?"
She took a few steps closer to Ed, Jules and Greg.
"What did you say your name was?"
"My name is Sargent Greg Parker, with the SRU."
"Greg Parker…" she thought out loud.
Suddenly, she must've remembered the name, as she brought up the gun, "Sargent Greg Parker! The Parker who had my ex-husband shot, the Parker that caused my daughter to be taken hostage by a man who…"
"I didn't facilitate those things Haley, I didn't." Greg assured her. "I didn't have that guy shoot him, and I definitely did not order the kidnapping of Megan."
"Julianna…" she thought again, as she gained confidence and grasped the gun with two hands, like her ex-husband trained her to, "You married him, didn't you? You're the bitch who my daughter- my own flesh and blood calls her mother!"
"What is this all about Haley?" Greg asked, "Why don't you lower the gun and we can talk about that?"
"No more talking! You're going to get me my money, and then I'm going to kill her- I'm going to kill Julianna Perrasmith."
"You don't want to do this, Haley." Parker started, "Because once you do that, you can't go back."
"Don't tell me what I can't do, Parker!" Haley screamed as she pointed the gun directly at Greg's face.
"Scorpio."
Spike shot out the window with an off-center shot that would be out of the way of both the suspect and the hostages. Milliseconds after the glass shattered, and while it was still falling, I fired my shot, which fatally implanted itself into the skull of my ex-wife.
"Did you, at any point question the order of your superior?"
I thought about the question. Did I? Did I, at any point question the order to fatally shoot my ex-wife? Did I have time to question it? I all seemed like a blur.
I got the order. Yes, that's right; I got the order to take the shot.
Then Spike shot out the window…well then, no wonder I didn't have a chance. Spike shot the window, which gave away our position, and if I wouldn't have taken the shot, Haley probably would have taken cover.
She might be still alive.
Am I sad? Should I be sad? I probably should, I mean- I essentially played God. I made the decision to kill her.
No- wait, I didn't- Greg made it for me. I just acted upon it….
"It's a simple question Mr. Perrasmith-" the SIU investigator asked me, "Did you question the order to shoot Mrs. McLeod?"
"What kind of question is that?" Emily asked- my lawyer, "Read the transcript. You know that it was his ex-wife and you also know that an SRU Officer is to follow the directive order given to him or her by his or her superior."
"It's just a question." He replied, "Did you question the order?"
"Don't answer that." Emily instructed, "I'd like to call upon a witness- for the purposes of the transparency of this critical incident."
"By all means." The investigator replied.
"Come on in!" Emily yelled.
I looked up to see Jules enter the room.
"How is this supposed to be relevant?" I whispered to Emily.
"Just watch, ok? When have I ever made you look bad?"
That one I had to think about.
"My point exactly." Emily whispered to me, "Julianna Perrasmith, some preliminary questions. You are in fact, are on Team One of the Strategic Response Unit, in the capacity of Constable, correct?"
"Yes." Came Jules' response.
"And on this diagram of the layout of the incident, where were you when Haley McLeod was shot?"
Jules pointed to her position.
"Now, Mrs. Perrasmith, why don't you tell me about the situation? Did you notice any delay or hesitation between the moments that Sargent Gregory Parker called Scorpio and when Mr. Perrasmith fired the shot that killed Mrs. McLeod?"
"No." came Jules' reply, "There was no delay between the two events."
"Excellent." Came Emily's response, "And in your professional opinion, was the order of a fatal shot justified?"
"Yes, Haley- Mrs. McLeod, had her firearm pointed at both myself and at my Sargent."
"Which is in contradiction of the Priority of Life code, correct?"
"Yes."
"What's going on?" Megan asked Ed, who had just came out of the sealed debriefing room with Greg and Spike, "Where's mom and dad?"
"No one told you?" Ed asked.
"Told me what?"
"That call, Megan- it was your biological mother who was holding up that bank. Haley escalated the situation and had a gun pointed at your mom and at Greg, and your dad was ordered to shoot Haley."
"What?" Megan asked, acting like she suddenly cared about her biological mother, "Is she ok?"
"Megan," Ed explained, "In that situation, your dad had to shoot to kill."
"Really?" Megan mouthed.
It was Megan's first time so close to a situation like this. She had seen her dad come home after killing someone, and sometimes even Jules, after her dad and Jules got married.
"Megan." Came a voice from behind her, where she sat on the bench.
She got up to see her dad standing in front of her, with her mother in tow. Without a thought, she wrapped her arms around her father in a tight embrace.
"It's ok dad. You were doing your job."
"Why don't we just go home?" I whispered to Jules and Megan, as I put my arms around them.
A/N: A very emotionally charged chapter, yep. Sorry about the expletives in there, but they were carefully used. Gear up, Flashpoint fans, because I got some stone-cold, heart dropping drama coming your way that is going to throw you for a loop.