Disclaimer: Hasbro still owns Transformers.
Chapter Four
"What the HELL is that?"
"Is that a Saleen?"
"NO FUCKING WAY!"
"How the FUCK did the department manage to get THAT?"
"Murphy, you got SCREWED, they give you the new Charger and Maeve a fucking SALEEN! Holy sheeee-it!"
Maeve giggled as she parked the Saleen next to the well-lit shooting range, listening intently to the exclamations exploding a few feet from her. Her team, and the SWAT unit commander, were huddled around a wooden picnic table, and all of them displayed a look of utter disbelief in her direction.
Looking around the training center, she noticed a few off-duty patrol officers watching her from a distance across the dirt road, sitting on concrete steps that led to a small wooden building that held the classrooms for academies.
She only recognized one officer, and he looked bored, as if he had been forced to babysit the others. The rest were clearly new officers and probably just wanted to see the "spectacle". The looks on their faces were even more uproarious than her team's.
Maeve just shook her head, smiling.
She stepped out of the cruiser and grabbed her SWAT bag from the backseat, waving at the one officer she knew. He smiled and waved back at her, and then rolled his eyes as he pointed a thumb towards the young officers with him. Maeve couldn't help but giggle, and nodded slightly as she smirked.
As she turned back towards her team, she noticed the smirk upon her Lieutenant's face.
"Should've known they'd give it to you. Let me guess, Blair?" He asked her.
Lieutenant Jack Murphy was confused on how Maeve had been able to score a Saleen as her patrol cruiser and was admittedly a little ticked that he hadn't been assigned the Saleen cruiser, but he shrugged it off. Maeve had worked hard to get where she was; it was about time she got a new patrol cruiser. Especially since hers had been declared scrap metal after the last incident six months ago, and the temp cruiser she had been using since was practically a wreck on its own.
She nodded, with a small shrug as she answered, "Blair had a hand in it, I guess. Chief gave the okay, though."
Upon hearing that, Jack was not happy to learn that Sergeant Blair had had a hand in okaying the patrol cruiser for Maeve. He had guessed it, but it still didn't make him happy. That bastard had had it out for Maeve for years, and knowing him, this car had some sort of questionable history that Blair had deliberately kept from Maeve.
Lt. Murphy had heard some strange stories about a Saleen cruiser a few years ago, but the details escaped him now. Jack promised himself that he would look discreetly into that matter.
Still, at least she had a new cruiser. Jack couldn't help but smile at the exuberance present on Maeve's face. It was nice to see her smiling with real happiness. Maeve didn't show her true emotions often, and Jack had often wondered why. He had an educated guess, but had never fully confirmed it with the young officer. Any time he had asked outright, she had shut down, refusing to answer him directly. Jack secretly hoped that in due time she'd tell him the entire story. Or he'd get it out of his wife. He knew that Maeve and his wife, Janet, were good friends and chatted quite frequently.
"You're still late, McWillams." He chastised her, although it was softened by the grin on his face.
"I know it, LT. Didn't leave my district early enough, and there was a hell of a lot of traffic." She said sheepishly.
Lt. Murphy just laughed, his blue eyes twinkling with mischief. "You're only fifteen minutes late, Maeve. Hardly worth a bitching." Her team nodded at that.
"Miss me, boys?" She teased, and her ten-man team just laughed. Maeve set her bag down on the table, and quickly pulled off her patrol shirt, and then her Kevlar vest, revealing a white tank top underneath as she rummaged around the bag for her training T-shirt.
She was glad she had worn her black tactical cargo pants today and didn't need to change those, as she pointedly ignored the catcalls coming from across the road. They didn't really bother her, but if the rookies continued with the comments through practice, it could get distracting. Especially for her team, as they weren't exactly tolerant of idiotic rookies. Especially of idiotic rookies making stupid comments about their leader.
One thing she admittedly loved about her team: they wouldn't allow anyone to say anything bad about her. It certainly helped her ego and emotional strength.
Jack's eyes narrowed as the catcalls included some very inappropriate comments, and he excused himself for a moment. Maeve ignored what he was doing, though she could hear the heated condemnations echoing from across the road, not only by Jack but also by the one patrol officer she knew, as she pulled her gear from her bag, strapping her handgun holster into place around her right upper thigh. She placed several magazines of ammunition in her cargo pockets, and then put on her training T-shirt over her tank top.
"All right, boys, we're doing shooting range first. Standard handguns first, utilizing stationary positions and then we'll do two-man tactical teams moving in on targets, and you will be judged on how well you work with your partner. Don't even think of rolling to look cool, Lancaster, or I'll kick your ass to next month. Just because Hollywood does it, doesn't mean that it's good tactical skills." She warned coldly.
Officer Lancaster just blushed under her unwavering glare. He didn't object.
Maeve continued, "Then we'll move onto the automatics, same scenario as handguns, and then Bauer can have his fun with FiFi." She gave a glance to their weapons specialist, Bauer, as he gave Maeve a gleeful grin.
'FiFi' was his nickname for 'his' beloved fifty caliber machine gun that the department had managed to secure after much wrangling.
Bauer had literally cried when they had received it, he was so happy. It took six months before they could shut him up about 'her' specifications, and how 'she' was amazing at shooting through brick walls, and that 'she' was positively KICK ASS.
There had been much eye rolling, complaining and grumbling directed towards Bauer, but it was mostly good natured teasing. There had only been two incidents in which her team had ever had to use the hulking monstrosity, one of which was assisting another larger agency, but Bauer still trained with it religiously and practically worshiped it as his personal goddess.
She rolled her eyes, but smiled at her team as she continued speaking, "And then we get the shoothouse with the sim rounds for active shooter scenario. Whoever shoots the shittiest today with both handgun and semi gets point man in the shoothouse. Second place gets secondary, naturally."
Groans reacted to that announcement, but Maeve knew that the groans from her men were half-hearted and more joking than anything.
"Oh, shut it, you lot can all handle those positions just fine. It'll be a snake line situation, stick to it and watch your six, and you all have to follow the point man and cover each other -"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, we know Maeve, we're a cohesive team, we all know what a damn snake line is, freaking get on with it!" Her second in command Hall, another senior patrol officer like she was, rolled his eyes at her as he interrupted and she laughed in response. He always tried to make sure she didn't ramble redundantly as she was doing now. Hall could always be counted on for that.
"Thanks, jerkoff." She smiled at him, trying to hold back her giggles.
She continued, "Anyway, Jack and I will reveal the specifics when we get to that point, and you'll be designated your specific AORs before you go in – but there will be surprises, so you know the drill, always be ready to change the AOR if something goes down unexpectedly. First run, Jack and I will watch to score each of you on how well you do. Second run I will do with you guys, with Jack supervising. Flash-bangs will be used for that scenario, so please don't forget your PPGs, we don't need any blown ear drums and yeah I'm looking at you, Tiny." She growled as she glared at the largest member of the team, who had a habit of forgetting his ear protection and had had a few instances in which his hearing had been injured temporarily because of it.
Tiny responded with a 'who, me?' innocent look on his face; his large tan shoulders shrugging as he shot a smirk towards the rest of the team and shifted the weight of his HK semi-automatic rifle from his left hand to his right.
The rest of the team grinned, sending each other mischievous looks.
If there was one thing good about their SWAT team, and Maeve being their Team Leader, it was that they knew how to have fun and still be deadly effective as a SWAT team. And it helped that Maeve wasn't very uptight. She was quite serious about her work, and cracked some heads when the circumstances called for it, but she had always found leadership to work most efficiently when the leader wasn't a total ass to their teammates.
Maeve grinned with them as she called out loudly, "Let's get to it, boys!"
Barricade watched silently at the scene unfolding before him, shifting on his struts ever so slightly. This could be interesting to watch, and an ample opportunity to learn. He set his memory cores to record the training from various angles to his central processor, just in case his main memory core failed him later. He would watch these vids several times for analysis, he knew.
A few hours later, Maeve threw her SWAT bag into the tiny backseat of the Saleen. She wiped her forehead free of sweat and dirt as she stood up straight, exhausted. The team had given a good effort this training session. They had some issues to work out, but nothing large.
Tiny had blown his damn eardrums for the fiftieth time at least, even after her warning, so she wasn't entirely pleased about that. She wondered if Tiny was doing it on purpose, just to piss her off. At some point the idiot would go deaf, he had to realize that. She wondered if she should start forcing him to wear the damn things, just to ensure that the idiot didn't have to go to the medic every time his ears bled.
Maeve sighed. Well, at least it was a good session. It could have been a lot worse. Regardless, like every session; she'd have to go over their tactical plans, and today's results, when she got home and she was not looking forward to it.
She watched as her team, her boys, smiled at her as they prepared to leave the training facility.
"Hey, fearless leader, get some sleep, will ya?"
"Yeah, don't drool too hard over that gorgeous car of yours!"
"Oh, you know she'll be sleeping in it all night loooong!"
The good-natured jibes and laughter of her team just made her grin as she waved to her boys that were packing up and leaving the training center. Soon only Jack was left, and she leaned against the cool metal of the Saleen; her arms folded against her chest.
Watch, he'll ask me how I'm doing, like always, she thought to herself. She half-smiled as Jack walked up to her and crossed his muscular arms.
"How are you doing?" Jack asked, a touch of concern evident in his voice though his face showed no discernable expression.
Never fails.
Maeve shrugged before answering, "Eh, better than usual."
She grinned. "It helps when you get a beauty of a car like this," She patted the Saleen lovingly. Neither of them heard the very soft gentle purr from the powerful engine of the Saleen.
Jack smirked, and leaned against the Saleen's doorframe, next to Maeve. He looked out over the training center's land, the red and brown landscape lit by the bright moon and then stared down at the highway below the training center.
Distant yellow headlights and red taillights crisscrossed the desert in front of them, as Tranquility's lights glowed brightly in the distance. He gave a sideways glance to Maeve as he spoke. "You want to push that baby to the limit, I won't stop ya."
Maeve blinked in surprise, an eyebrow raised as she turned to her Lieutenant. Is he seriously suggesting that I test drive it on public roads? Has he lost his damn mind?
"Huh?" She responded, and the innocent tone in her voice was crystal clear to both of them.
Jack struggled to control the urge to snort at her naivety and supposed innocence. He decided to roll his eyes instead.
"Don't play dumb, Maeve. You are the most outrageous speed demon I have ever met. Do you not remember when you were pulled over in the Chief's personal patrol car for speeding?" Jack exclaimed as he rolled his eyes, and Maeve stifled a giggle, biting her bottom lip as she did so.
"It was just a test drive," Maeve grinned sheepishly, deliberately ignoring Jack's skeptical look.
"Of the Chief's brand-new Challenger!"
"Ah, uh… um, well, he did give permission," She pointed out, a finger lightly brushing the Saleen's door panel as she blushed, the scarlet color quickly overcoming the paleness of her cheeks.
"Yeah, to drive it at the speed limit, not sixty over. You pulled driver training stunts on an open public highway, with the chief's personal car." Jack could barely contain his laughter as he chastened Maeve. That had been quite the story; Maeve was lucky she hadn't been fired. She had gotten a letter in her file though, and quite the dressing down from her superiors.
It had helped though that the Chief had thought it was hysterically funny and actually thanked Maeve for testing the speeds of his new car and determining that although heavy, the Challenger was good enough for high-speed chases.
And even Jack could admit that her excuse of just testing the limits of each patrol car, and subsequently including the Chief's car in that, to judge which was best for high speed chases to be one of the best excuses he had heard in a long time.
Not that her excuse was entirely true; the woman just loved the feeling of being on the open road, flooring the accelerator and pointedly ignoring posted speed limit signs. Not exactly the best behavior for a police officer, but then again Maeve had never claimed to be perfect. Everyone had their own personal demons, and Jack knew that speeding just so happened to be one of hers.
Maeve shifted on her feet, her lips pulled into a mocking smirk as she stared down at the highway below the training center.
"So, admit it, girl, you want to push that Saleen to the very limit it can go, right?" Jack couldn't help but smile as Maeve looked down at the ground again, with another sheepish look.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't."
"Go. I'll tell Dispatch to disregard any calls about a demon Saleen. Just be careful, and don't speed in the city; go out towards the rural areas." Jack said softly.
Maeve glanced up at him with alarm and confusion.
"Really? You'd do that? But you could get in trouble, LT. I'm not going to have you get shit from IA and the Chief because of me," She contemplated, chewing her cheek. Jack had definitely lost his damn mind. The idea was tempting though. Too tempting.
Jack just sighed. "Maeve, it's not that hard for me to tell the Chief that you were testing your new patrol car like you did his. He'd understand. He's not like some of the Neanderthals we work with. You know that. IA won't investigate unless you're doing it blatantly in public in broad daylight with no concerns for the public, and in front of idiots like Blair. Just make sure the public isn't around, use evasive maneuvers and slow it down if you see any of the public, and have at it. It's late anyway; there will be hardly anyone on the rural roads at this hour. Just be careful."
"Jack… I don't know... Well, if you say it's okay. I just don't want to get anyone in trouble, especially you, LT. But man, I could so push that baby to the limit!" Maeve exclaimed.
Jack chuckled in response. One of the things he had always liked about Maeve was her youthful exuberance.
"Get out of here, kid. Go have some fun and relax." He placed a hand on her shoulder as he said quietly, "You need it."
Maeve surprised him by practically jumping on him, wrapping her arms around him in a huge hug. "Thank you, Jack. For everything."
This must be a first, Jack thought. Not her thank you, but her enthusiastic hug. She had always held everyone at a distance for as long as he had known her; refusing herself any physical contact and shying away when anyone, even Jack's wife whom she was closest to, came close to giving her a hug or a sympathetic touch. For her to hug him? Well, maybe her brick walls were finally tumbling down.
"No problem, Maeve." Jack smiled genuinely as he pulled away.
Then he thought of something better than Maeve tearing it up on public roads.
"Hey, actually there's that old unused speedway a few miles from here. The owner is a retired officer; remember the track we used for training about ten months or so ago? I'll leave him a message to expect you; he won't care." Jack's crystal blue eyes were twinkling. He had forgotten about the speedway; perfect for racing and for training. Maeve's eyes lit up as she stared at him.
"That's an awesome idea! Much better than IA breathing down my neck if something happens." Maeve was ecstatic now. Any chance to speed and she was one happy woman. Jack just laughed, and gave her another hug, one which he was glad to see that she didn't shy away from. Oh yes, her icy walls were crumbling now.
"Now get out of here!" He laughed again as she grinned, let go of him and then jumped in the Saleen; its engine roaring and tires spitting red dust as she sped down the road to the highway.
Jack returned to his own patrol cruiser, the Dodge Charger, and just watched as Maeve drove off. He clicked onto the Dispatch frequency and warned them not to worry about any "rogue demon Saleen police car" calls. Dispatch just laughed and affirmed. Then he called an old friend and asked him if it was okay if a speeding Saleen cruiser was welcome on his old speedway.
Lt. Murphy explained a bit about the fiery patrol officer to his old patrol friend, and soon with a gruff laugh and an "okay" later from his old friend, Jack was texting Maeve with the good news that she drive straight to the old speedway and that the gates would be open for her.
He couldn't hear the pure shout of joy as Maeve read his text. She quickly turned the Saleen down a dirt road off the highway, and headed towards the speedway. Oh man, this was going to be awesome!
Maeve drove slowly onto the "abandoned" racetrack property, the old and forlorn metal gates that normally stopped any intruder pulled open in invitation. An older looking man, wearing a red flannel shirt, dark brown cowboy hat, and faded blue jeans, watched her with a bored look on his wrinkled face as she parked the Saleen next to a rather ragged looking ranch home and stepped out into the cool desert air.
"You must be McWilliams," The man's gruff voice echoed towards her as she waved a hand in greeting.
"Yes, sir, I am. Lieutenant Murphy said that I could use the racetrack for some practice runs." She smiled; trying to break what she felt was tension. The old man grunted in response, his head dipping down slightly. Maeve half-expected him to spit chewing tobacco and act like a Tombstone actor.
"Yeah, Jack warned me 'bout you. Jus' be careful, now, ya hear? That track can be dangerous, and I don't want no lawsuits." His tone was cold, but Maeve noticed the warm sparkle in his stark blue eyes.
She nodded quickly, pushing a strand of her auburn hair out of her eyes, as a smile danced on her pink lips.
"Of course, sir, I'll be careful, and your track will be just fine." She responded with enthusiasm, and the old man grinned in response. Maeve couldn't help but notice how stained his teeth were, no doubt from years of using chewing tobacco. This guy was the epitome of the western cowboy.
When the hell were you an officer, old man? Maeve couldn't help but think to herself, but kept a smile on her face as she stared at him.
"Have fun, then. Jack said you're a real firecracker when it comes to speed. Don't be too surprised if I watch your run. Speed is one of my demons, Lord help me. Heh. The entrance to the track is down there," The old man pointed out to her, the grin still present on his face, and Maeve couldn't help but smile in response. The coolness he exhibited at first was melting fast.
"I can't tell you how much I appreciate this, sir." Maeve said to him. The old man dropped the cold routine entirely then, and smiled a warm grin towards her as he tipped his old cowboy hat towards her.
"Ma'am, I'm just happy to see someone with the same demon as myself testing their new gorgeous cruiser on my track. You have fun now, ya hear?" The old man responded, and Maeve couldn't help but nod vigorously.
Oh, don't you worry about that, Maeve thought to herself as she walked back towards the Saleen, and got in.
She followed the old man's directions and soon found herself on the track itself. The man may have been older, but it was plainly obvious that he still took care of his track with deliberate and fastidious care. The black asphalt was illuminated by several lights around the track, clear of any debris, and the old grandstand stood proud on one side, even though the white paint was peeling and the wood sagging ever so slight.
Maeve gripped the steering wheel in gleeful anticipation. She couldn't help but be excited. She pressed in the clutch and counted down from ten. A sigh of pleasure escaped her as she hit the gas.
Heaven. Singing angels, clouds, the works. She was absolutely in heaven as tires squealed, and the Saleen engine roared.