Page 76 of Protected By West
Weston agreed. "Jack was ready for whatever came her way. She had two firearms on her and a knife. She was prepared and didn't need it."
The Chief nodded and offered a smile at his report. "Good to know. Smart and talented. Another good choice."
"When do you want to have the final assessment?"
Chief Fagan frowned a little. "I'm waiting to hear back from the team in Austin. Their major is coming over for the assessment."
"Sounds like a plan. Just let me know. They'll be ready."
"Until then we can plan to use you in situations like this."
"We'll fill whatever spaces you need us to do. All of my people are highly trained and they're eager to help where they can."
The chief put a hand on Weston's shoulder. "It's been a while since we've had a talk about anything outside of the job. If you have some time, come on by my office. We'll have some lukewarm coffee and whatever baked goods are around the office that day."
Weston smiled. "That's a plan."
Chief Fagan nodded with a satisfied smile. "The earlier in the day the better if you want good pastries. Anything after noon... Well, you're taking your taste buds into a dangerous place."
"Thanks, Sir."
"No need to thank me, son. You've done great work, which is exactly why I picked you to be the head of this group. I hope to God we don't need SWAT all that often, but it's nice to know we have the group to call on if things..."
"I hope we spend more time doing community outreach than catching bullets. Quiet shifts..."
"We never... never say it while it's happening."
Weston took the warning with a sober nod. No one liked to tempt fate.
Even law enforcement, who you'd like to think didn't rely on superstition.
"We're happy to do whatever we're called to do. We'd just rather spend it not at the receiving end of firearms or other... interesting things."
"That's what we all hope for, West." Chief Fagan gave him a little wink. "We both know I'm not a fan of... of nicknames on the job. We just used our names back in the day."
Weston nodded. He'd heard this a time or twenty during the time he'd known the chief.
"But the practice might be... rubbing off on me." He started to walk away and turned to look back over his shoulder. "But let's not say anything about it."
Weston saluted the man and then turned to go and check on the little boy and his mom.
It wasn't until he got back to the Ranger office that he realized he was in a lot of trouble. He got his phone out of the locker and saw that he'd missed a few calls.
He was going to have to do some explaining.
And probably a lot of groveling.
CHAPTER 14
TRACY
Tracy was still at the credit union into the evening.
Her RING camera at her door said that Weston had gone by every hour on the hour.
And he'd called her every thirty minutes.
He'd left her that many messages. He looked more than a little haggard after the wait and while she wanted to talk to him about it, every time she reached for the phone to answer it, she'd remember one time or another when her mother had a sleepless night waiting for her dad to come home.
