As if it wasn't bad enough that SOMEONE had allowed for her to be "on loan" to the Chicago Police Department as basically a glorified babysitter, her first assignment was to a team of fabulous cops with the most stubborn and self-confident leader she had ever come across. She was not used to her decisions being questioned and her suggestions being eventually overruled and she was having a hard time not letting her annoyance show. Kate took a deep breath and started counting. She needed this "job" to work out somehow, since due to serious small d*ck energy at several big agencies, she would not be getting the position she deserved at any of them. As she still needed to earn a living, there was no other solution than to wait for changes in the higher-ranking positions until one of them was filled with a friendly face. That, in turn, meant she had to play nice with CPD, no matter how hard that would be.
Earlier that day she had been introduced to the Intelligence Unit at Chicago's 21st District. It had started out quite okay, she'd met the Desk Sergeant of 21, Trudy Platt, whom she immediately connected with – they shared the dedication for the job, the disdain for bs by anyone and the deep sarcasm, without which you don't climb ladders in the world of law enforcement. After giving her a brief run-through of new-hire admin stuff, Trudy had taken her upstairs to Intelligence, where she met the team. A new case was supposed to be on their hands, and everyone was waiting for the boss, Sergeant Hank Voight, to be back from his briefing with the Chief and leaders of a few other agencies. He should have been back over an hour ago but hadn't even called to catch anyone up, so the assumption was that this would not be an easy task. Or, as Kim Burgess added, "not that any of our cases are easy, but quite a few still at least follow a pattern. When the first briefing takes this long and involves that many agencies, something's up." So, they were sitting in the bullpen, drinking coffee, introducing themselves and trying to mentally prepare for the new case.
After about two hours, Voight came storming up the stairs, immediately having everyone's attention. "OK listen up, thanks to the useless discussions with the brass this morning, we're running late on this, and we can't afford to." He looked at Kate "I know you have a flawless CV and you've been assigned this unit specifically for this case, but for now I don't have time to get acquainted with your past and since I don't know you, I can't trust you. It's nothing personal, but your position here is not final at this point and you don't have the same freedom to take decisions than the rest of the team. Clear?" Kate was stunned, but not surprised, so she nodded. Play nice, she reminded herself. She was aware of raised eyebrows and looks going around the rest of the team, most likely wondering how what Voight just said related to the fact that she was quite a few years older than any of them but did not have time to address the topic just yet. "We've been assigned a witness protection case. I have tried very hard to keep this off our hands, because it's not our job. But apparently SOMEONE thinks since we have a specialist with us now, we're on the hook." He gave Kate a nod, looking slightly irritated, apparently, at the SOMEONE who assigned her to his unit. You and me both Voight, she thought, you and me both.
A few minutes later, a heated discussion was going on on how to best keep the witness secure and alive until trial started. Which was in three weeks. "This is bullshit, professionally speaking, it's impossible to keep someone away from the limelight for three weeks when they have this much heat on them," Kate said. "You have to move them around constantly, forget about safe houses, and you need to watch every inch of their surroundings every second. To do that properly takes manpower. Not 7 people." "I agree with you on that, Kate, but we don't have a choice. We have more than enough safe houses within city limits, we're going to choose a few and then move them around on a regular basis." Kate shook her head "It's way too dangerous to keep them in Chicago. Too many unknown variables. We should get doppelgangers and move the actual targets out of the city, as far away as feasible, some cabin in the countryside that can be easily monitored and, first and foremost, easily defended." "No can do, Kate", answered Voight, even though the rest of the team were nodding in agreement, "we know that the people who are after them have us in their crosshairs as well. If we disappear, which we'd have to if we move them, they'd know what's up and then we'd have a war on our hands wherever we'd take the witness. And we wouldn't have backup, which we have here in Chicago. Plenty of it."
"OK, so this is how it's gonna go", he looked at Kate, "go through the list of safe houses with Burgess and Atwater and pick the ones which are best suitable for our situation. It's the seven of us plus Trudy and max 4 uniforms for immediate support. We need to have three locations per week, no doubles, and then make a plan for a rotation." With that, he turned on his heels and stormed into his office, slamming the door behind him. Kate was stunned. Okay, so she wasn't used to taking orders anymore. Hadn't been in a long time. She was also not used to not having all the resources she could imagine just one phone call away, which clearly showed in her demeanor, judging by the way Burgess looked at her now. "Okay, let's go downstairs, we have build-plans of the locations, street maps and digital overview maps showing PODS etc. And while we're looking through those, I really want to know about your CV and how you ended up here." She grinned now and Kate laughed, relaxing her tense shoulders. "Let me refill my coffee before we head downstairs, I don't know Chicago too well, so this will take a while."
Four long hours later, Kate headed back upstairs to present Voight with the list. 27 locations in total, to have sufficient alternatives, focus on weak points that would require special attention, and the theory of how the rotation could be done without writing anything down anywhere and everyone still being able to easily remember the plan, even if it went to sh*t and they had to improvise without being able to communicate to the rest of the team. Kim and Kevin had been astounded by how many things she considered and very clearly were NOT satisfied with her mumbling "ah, some FBI jobs, some work for the Secret Service" as an answer to the question what her credentials were to land her in CPD Intelligence. Now she was nervous. She straightened herself, shoulders back, chin up, then knocked on Voights already open door.
He looked up and waved her in. "Close the door", he said. She sat down and put the stack of papers with the summary of each of the chosen locations in front of her on the desk. But Voight did not pay attention. He was reading through another file and did not put it down. "So. Kate Warner. 48 years old. More commendations than most war heroes. Seal Team. FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit. Secret Service. Whom did you piss off to land yourself at Chicago PD? To be honest, I require some convincing that whatever is written between the lines here does not mean I got some rogue over-achiever on my hands to babysit until a better solution for her comes along." Kate felt her blood pressure rising and her face blushing. "Rogue over-achiever?" she barely got her teeth to separate while she said it, trying to focus on breathing and not getting angry at the insult. "Of course, as man it would never occur to you that the reason I am here is not because I went rogue but because MEN in charge couldn't handle the fact that I outperformed them every minute of every day. They couldn't fire me, so they found another way. THAT'S what's between the lines, if you really want to know."
Looking at him now, as he had put down the file, she realized that he was paying attention. "It's very easy to say that when you got the paperwork to back it up – in theory," he said, "but here – you're the new girl. You have to prove yourself in this unit, in this job. You have to prove yourself to me. I know you understand this. The biggest issue I have with you showing up at our doorstep right now is that the Chief put you here. And I need to figure out what that means for the team and for me." He looked at her with a hard stare now, his jaw clenched, his hands pressing on the desk in front of him. Kate relaxed now, leaning back in her chair. "I had one conversation with your Chief, if you must know", she said, "and since I've learned to read people well, specifically men, I can tell you with certainty – he's just out for glory. He thinks taking me on to bridge the time until my next assignment with the Secret Service or the DOJ or Homeland will be good press for him. Wins will be his, losses will be yours. But I assume that's now a new concept to you, is it?"
Hank also sat back in his chair now and smiled "Not really, no", he answered. "So, let's see what you came up with and then get started." She handed him the stack of paper, giving him the run-down on the locations from memory while he read through the details. He barely noticed that fact and when he did, he was impressed. They must have looked through hundreds of locations, all of them unfamiliar to her, and still she did not need notes to catch him up. "You don't have rankings for any of those houses on here", he said, "but we should take those into consideration when making the choices of where to go and which ones to use for backup." "They are all the same", Kate replied, "because we have several options for add-ons that we can utilize if push comes to shove. Any architectural or other disadvantages are considered and can be neutralized with the resources we have." Hank said nothing but kept reading through the pages. "You do have some extravagant gadgets on the equipment list", he looked at her with a raised eyebrow now, "can't remember to have added those to the list of available resources." Now she grinned. "While I have pissed off my fair share of people, I have also made friends in the right places and I have those gadgets at my disposal wherever I am assigned to", she replied, finally starting to feel like she was actually contributing something. "Let's just try to not lose or destroy anything. It might be hard to explain." Hank laughed, thinking that was his kind of attitude and that she might be a good fit for the team after all.