Episode 36 Pomp and Circumstance (part 2/3) (Patreon)

Jack Routh

“There is no B3 bomber.”

“I’m not sure about that.” Nolan replied. “I mean, we don’t know what’s happening in Area 51.”

The older man suddenly snapped his fingers. “That’s it! They must be using that in Albania!”

They were using an unmarked car for the first time since his shop was due for maintenance. It was purely a coincidence that the current sedan he was driving was his wife’s old service vehicle that she used to drive when they were still living in their respective apartments. He had some memorable experiences in that car with Zoe.

“Why are you smiling?” Nolan asked him.

He realized he was remembering what he did to Zoe in the back seat months ago, before they were even engaged, and shook his head in reply. He and Zoe were really testing the suspension of this car back then. “Nothing. So what was that about the Albanians?”

“There are rumors in the tabloids about Albanian terrorists using the lightly guarded Canadian border to get inside the country. Reports say that they have a suitcase with a nuclear dirty bomb.” Nolan shared.

It was a ridiculous plot and he couldn’t believe some people would for that. At this point, he was sure that this was all just a ploy to distract the public from the President’s scandal.

“That can’t be real.” He replied. He knew how difficult it was to weaponize a nuclear bomb and even fit it all inside a suitcase. “You’ve been watching too many movies.”

“I’ll show you the article at the end of our shift.” John insisted. “It was really well written.”

“I’ll take a look at it.” He wasn’t expecting much.

They spent an hour more in patrol, and John made an unexpected comment. “At least our first time in patrol together as P2s is quiet.”

Immediately after John finished speaking, their radio blared out a warning from dispatch.

“7-adam-7, be advised, a high-speed pursuit of a motorcycle is currently in progress and is approaching your patrol route.”

“It is real. Damn.” Nolan suddenly looked worried. “Sorry, Jack.”

“What’s real?” He asked. He could hear the distant sirens growing louder as he approached an intersection.

“I’ll tell you later about the curse,” John replied and took over the radio. “Dispatch, where is the suspect now?”

“Suspect has just turned onto Highland Avenue.”

“We’re on Highland Avenue.” His patrol partner muttered under his breath.

He ignored Nolan and checked his mirror, lowered his window, and listened carefully for the sirens. There, he could pick out the unmistakable sound of a motorcycle engine’s exhaust. In his rearview mirror, he spotted a big bike slowing down as it weaved through traffic and split lanes, nearly scratching cars as it passed by. The rider ignored the angry honks from the other drivers and just continued weaving at a slower pace.

“Dispatch, what’s the model and color of the bike?” He asked.

“There’s a Yamaha logo, and a blue and white paint job.”

“That has to be our suspect.” Nolan looked eager as he looked behind him, straining his neck to get a better view. “What are we going to do?”

“Look for an opportunity. He won’t avoid us.” He replied and moved the car a bit so that he would be close enough to their target, yet maintaining space for the bike to pass through on his side. “We’ll use that to our advantage.”

Pretty soon, the motorcycle arrived as he predicted. It slowed to a stop just beside him, the rider looking for a gap in the traffic. He had to time this right.

He moved quickly, reached out of his window, and grabbed a hold of the back of the man’s jacket just as the suspect twisted the throttle. The bike accelerated like a bullet, but its rider remained firmly on his grip. The man looked surprised as he crashed to the ground in a heap.

He turned on the lights just as Nolan jumped out of the passenger side door and pointed his firearm at the rider.

“Police! Remain on the ground and put your hands behind your back!” Nolan shouted.

The man looked surprised at what happened, judging from how wide his eyes were from what he could see through the visor, and remained on the ground.

The riderless bike skidded to a halt in the middle of the intersection, creating a traffic hazard. Other shops from another station arrived and quickly secured the intersection to prevent any traffic accidents.

“I’m never using that word again.” Nolan promised as he placed the cuffs on the suspect.

“Stupid Cager.” The suspect muttered.

“What does that mean?” Nolan asked as he removed the suspect’s helmet, revealing a man around his age.

“It’s a slang term for car drivers.” He answered. He noticed the man was surprised.

“Yeah, I’m a rider too.” He told the suspect. “Stand up, squid.”

“I’m no squid!” The suspect protested.

“You certainly ride like one.” He replied. “I’ve seen better balance from a four year girl old with a Barbie bike.”

“Fuck you.” The suspect spat on the ground.

He turned the man over to a waiting police officer who looked extremely relieved.

“Thanks.” The officer from what looked like another station spoke up while his partner transferred the suspect to their shop. “We’ve been chasing this guy for over half an hour.”

“What did he do?” He asked.

“Robbed a mini-grocery.” The officer replied. “And broke a dozen traffic laws in his attempted escape, and caused two car crashes in the process.”

Nolan got his cuffs back, and the suspect still looked angry as he continued glaring at him. He ignored the man and helped move the bike out of the middle of the intersection and onto the curb. Hopefully, his next patrol solo would be more peaceful.

Camille Vasquez

She reminded herself to get taller heels the next time she would accompany her client to a meeting. She wasn’t a short person, but walking next to Jack and Zoe made her feel how inadequate her two-inch heels were.

They were headed to a fancy hotel restaurant, and the man Jack was about to meet requested that he bring his lawyer, her, to look over some paperwork. She was happy that she got out of the office for the day. Seriously, she needed a better working location, and she was getting tired of the smell of smoke from the restaurant on the ground floor sticking to her clothes at the end of the day.

Maybe it was time to change locations, and her client could certainly afford it. She just needed him to agree.

Thoughts of a nice, posh location changed when she saw the people her client was supposed to meet. This was supposed to be an informal meeting! Why was the ambassador of the Netherlands here with an entire delegation more suited for some economic summit? She suddenly felt unprepared and exchanged apprehensive looks with Jack, but his wife Zoe seemed to brush off the unexpected situation and headed inside the luxurious private room.

“Mister Jacques-Henry, or as I understand, Jack Routh.” The older man greeted her client warmly. “We are very pleased to meet you in person. Jozef Van den Burg”

“Pleasure to meet you, Ambassador Van den Burg. I thought this was an informal affair.” Jack returned the handshake.

“It is.” The older man with the impressive silver mustache replied with a smile. “Just Jozef, please.”

 “How about we have an early lunch before we get to business?” The man suggested. “I am told they have excellent food here.”

The food was indeed excellent, and the service even better. Ambassador Van den Burg was very polite, and one of his staff, Annie Meijer, cozied up to Zoe as they discussed several issues regarding law enforcement policies. She was drawn to her conversation with one of the embassy staff, and she realized later that this was done on purpose.

The ambassador and his staff wanted their party to relax and lower their guard. She didn’t know why. Sure, her client was their head of state’s nephew and part of the royal family of their country, but this warm reception couldn’t be the reason for their treatment.

As if answering her question, Van den Burg brought the primary topic for their meeting forward as their empty plates were taken away, replaced by dessert, coffee, and tea. Damn, those macaroons looked exquisite.

One of the staff pulled out a stack of paperwork, containing asset declarations, contracts, and identity papers, her element. She gleamed, eager to peer into the information within.

“To business then, and why we are meeting in the first place.” Van den Burg gave them a nod. “We need you to sign a few documents, and of course, Ms. Vasquez should take a look first.”

With the attention now focused on her, she took the first folder from the pile and reviewed it as she sipped her coffee. It was written in both English and Dutch, and she narrowed her eyes at what was declared. It looked like Jacques-Henry’s death certificate was now null and void, declaring him alive.

“It took a few emergency sessions by our parliament, but we got that paperwork done as swiftly as possible.” Annie Meijer shared.

“Legally, you were declared dead, along with your original identity.” She explained to Jack. “This document, passed by their parliament into law, declares that the previous document is void.”

“Of course, you can still use your current name.” Van den Burg added. “This, however, shows you are one and the same person. And that means you are also a citizen of our country.”

“So I have a dual citizenship.” Jack noted.

“Correct.”

The next document was the parents’ will. That changed the mood in the room, and since she was sitting beside her client, she was able to spot the moment when Zoe intertwined her fingers with her husband to offer comfort. She focused first on Jack’s father, and her mouth dropped in shock as she reviewed what Jack was entitled to inherit.

“This can’t be right.” She muttered out loud.

“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.

She thought Jack was wealthy already, working with Taylor’s label on the side despite donating a vast majority of it to his charity foundation. This… this was on a whole other level.

“Jack’s paternal family has acquired various sources of wealth throughout the centuries.” Van den Burg shared.

Her client now had stocks in leading global companies, properties, and a lot of zeroes in bank accounts. This was incredible! This… this was generational wealth! The room started spinning. She couldn’t comprehend such a large amount of money, and this was just her client’s inheritance!

There were a lot of rumors about Jack’s family ever since his lineage was revealed by his royal uncle. What she was seeing here right at this moment blew all those speculations by TV show pundits out of the water. Damn. She thought her client was a big fish already, but it turned out that he was part of a family of mythical krakens that lurk in the deep, unseen and unheard, until now.

“And we’re still trying to arrange for the Mountbattens’ side, for Jack’s mother.” Annie revealed.

That meant there was still more to come? She briefly looked at the couple and realized how incredibly lucky Zoe was to land Jack. This was more than just winning the lottery!

As she reviewed more and more documents, she was amazed at how spread out Jack’s family’s wealth was. They had a little bit in everything, from petroleum, medical, shipping, hotels, tech companies, and even in media. Her eyes zeroed in on one of the assets.

“Jack, I suggest you get a boat, or learn how to pilot a plane.” She joked.

“What for?” Jack asked.

“To get to your villa, of course.” She answered.

“I own a villa?” Jack looked genuinely shocked.

“In Martinique, in the Caribbean.” Van den Burg answered. “It’s currently being maintained by your uncle, waiting for you to take possession.”

“We have to visit that.” Zoe looked intrigued. Who wouldn’t? Even she wanted to come.

“It looks like we have a trip ahead of us.” Jack even stared at her, and she realized her client was thinking of including her for his travel plans. Sweet!

“We’ll be in contact once you finish reviewing those documents.” The ambassador promised. “I believe his majesty will want to meet you in Martinique after the New Year. He believes he can help you with details regarding your… past.”

“We’ll clear our schedule.” Zoe nodded in agreement after she shared a look with Jack.

 They left the meeting in high spirits. Meanwhile, she was mentally reviewing who she could hire to manage Jack’s estate. She would need a couple of accountants and perhaps another lawyer to work for her. She had a lot of work ahead, but luckily, Jack was one of those clients that lawyers always dream of.  Easy to talk to, organized, and he wasn’t willing to shy away from spending when it mattered the most.

First things first, she needed a new office space. The room above the Ethiopian restaurant beside Wesley’s wasn’t going to work out anymore.

Jack Routh

This was going to be one of these days. While he waited for the recently formed task force for the pageant to set up, he continued his patrol schedule for the week. He knew it since responding to the call about an escaped pair of Dobermans terrorizing a neighborhood. Animal control was still responding to another call, so it was his job to drive up and down the neighborhood to make sure no one got hurt.

“Stay indoors.” He used the speaker system hooked up to his shop as he drove up and down the street. “Aggressive dogs are on the loose. Please stay indoors.”

He could see faces through the windows looking at him as he drove by. The dog’s owners were outside at their yard, trying to all back the two escaped dogs.

The wife was holding a towel to her wrist, having been bitten by one of the dogs as they escaped. He told her to go to the hospital to get checked, but the couple was insistent that they stay and help.

He turned to a corner and cursed under his breath. A school bus had just pulled in, and he was about to shout to the driver through the speaker when the door opened and two kids jumped out, around six or seven by his estimate, and wearing matching pink backpacks.

He stepped on the gas and flashed his lights.

“Aggressive dogs on the loose! Get back to the bus!” He shouted as he stopped in front of the bus. The bus driver looked confused, and the two girls looked were just standing around in front of their house, looking at him.

Two black burs caught his attention, and he realized it was the two Dobermans. They had their gazes locked on the two kids as their long strides quickly ate up the distance between them and their prey.

“Get in!” He opened the door to his passenger side, but the kids just stared at him, not understanding the danger they were in. Without any other choice, he jumped through the already open door and pushed the two girls behind him as the two Dobermans reached their position.

By their body language, he could already see how aggressive they were and jumped towards him without any hesitation. He caught the two dogs in mid-air and slammed their heads against each other, causing them to let out confused whines as they landed on the grass.

“Stay.” He told them.

The two Dobermans, looking confused, started to run back to the bushes, with their tails between their legs, whining as they moved.

Seeing they were out of danger for the moment, he turned to the two kids, and he was not surprised when they started to cry.

“You’re fine.” He told the two who now clung to his legs and patted both on their heads. "The dogs are gone, you're safe.”

He escorted the two to their door, where it looked like their older sister was waiting for them. The teen looked confused with his presence as she removed the headset from her ears.

“Cassie!” The older girl ran to her sister, quickly followed by the other girl. “There were dogs that were about to bite us!”

“There are a pair of dogs currently loose in your street.” He told the teen. “Please keep your sisters indoors while we wait for animal control to get here.”

“Of... of course, officer.” The teen replied, looking flustered. It looked like she wanted to say more, but she remained silent, her wide eyes just focused on him as she absently patted the heads of her younger siblings.

He turned around and, after a quick word with the bus driver, he got back to his shop and headed back to the owners of the escaped dogs. It looked like his unique method of disciplining the runaway dogs had somewhat worked, as he noticed that the two Dobermans were now collared and back behind the chain link fence. They looked to have calmed down a bit, but they were still barking up at him when he got near.

“Thank you, officer.” The husband looked relieved. “Was anyone bitten?”

“It was a close call.” He replied and turned to the wife. “Ma’am, you have to get to the hospital to take a look at those bite wounds.”

“We’ll head to the hospital as soon as we secure them.” The woman promised, her hand still wrapped by the bloody towel.

“I was upgrading their fence when they broke loose and just jumped out using the stack of construction materials.” The older man looked ashamed. “They never acted like that before.”

“We’re going to have animal control check them for rabies.” He shared. “All of this needs to be properly documented for my report.”

“Whatever you need, Officer.” The husband replied and turned to his wife. “Let’s get that bite wound checked out, honey.”

By the time he got home, he Zoe was already home, looking concerned.

“Jack, why are they calling you the dog tamer in the news?” His wife asked.

Zoe Andersen Routh

She didn’t know why she was irritable lately. She even snapped at Smitty this morning after he made an inappropriate joke about women’s periods during morning briefing. She could usually tolerate those and allowed some leeway.

Even Grey looked worried for a moment. Realizing she had lost her temper, she apologized to Smitty and retreated back to her office to get some peace and quiet.

Her door opened without the person knocking, and that usually meant only one person who was not afraid to face her wrath, and that was her husband.

“So they called in the cavalry.” She raised an eyebrow as he entered her office. He should still be at home, since his meeting with the Pageant Task Force comprised of multiple agencies wouldn’t start until noon. “Grey?”

“He told me you called Smitty the representative of the Halitosis Union.” Her husband looked amused as he answered.  “That’s a new one.”

“His breath stinks. And jokes about women’s biological functions are highly inappropriate.” She replied.

“You didn’t go overboard, love. I was told Harper laughed the loudest after you left. Pity, I was still at home when that happened.” Jack moved behind her and started massaging her tense shoulders. She relaxed her shoulders immediately. Jack had a way with his fingers, and she could feel the stress and tension melting away. His presence, even his own unique scent, was soothing.

She tilted her head to the side so he could reach the spot between her neck and shoulder. Yes. That was it. “Grey called me here because he was worried about you.”

“Worried for me?” She asked. “No, I just got annoyed. And then his scent, does that man even shower?”

She was about to stand up when a wave of dizziness forced her to sit back down.

“Honey? What’s wrong?” She could hear the worry in her husband’s voice.

“Just got dizzy. I didn’t have a proper breakfast this morning.” She had to rush this morning, and was now regretting missing the simple breakfast Jack prepared.

“Drink a glass of water first.” Jack took a bottle of water from her mini fridge and placed it in front of her. “You might be dehydrated too.”

The cold liquid trickling down her throat helped immensely, and she realized her husband was right.

“Thanks, love.” She replied. “Could you get me something sour for a late breakfast?”

“Sour?”

“Sweet and sour.” She clarified. “I’m just craving it all of a sudden.”

“I’ll get something.” Jack nodded. “Are you okay now?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She assured her husband. “Just hungry.”

Jack quickly headed out of her office and she could hear his footsteps fade away even before the door had closed. She focused on the pile of paperwork waiting for her and started to review it, starting with the paper at the very top.

Three proposals in, and another visitor appeared. This time it was Angela Lopez.

“Report on the Granada Hills home invasion.” Angela handed the folder. This was an investigation that their most senior detective, Caradine allowed the new detective to work on. She reviewed Lopez’s files and was impressed by how thorough it was.  A note from the bottom of one of the pages, written in Angela’s handwriting, caught her attention.

“You believe the evidence has been tampered with?” She asked for clarification. “It says here that the case is closed with the death of that final drug member from the shootout at Mission Hills.”

“Yes, Captain. It wasn’t a home invasion like the news presented it.” Angela explained. “However, I suspect the cameraman committed a crime by dragging the bodies to this spot and recording it so it would be more graphic. News stations like that type of stuff.”

“And you believe that this Lou Bloom of this…Video Production News may have done it?”

“He sent the footage right away to KWLA, and withheld crucial evidence that could save lives.” Angela looked annoyed. “Caradine told me I can investigate this only if you give me your approval.”

“I’ll give you a week.” She answered. If what Angela was suspecting was true, then what that man had done meant he had just crossed a line, something that must not go unpunished. It made a mockery of their justice system and the LAPD as a whole.

“That’s more than enough time, Cap.” Angela looked pleased.

“And take Harper with you.” She added. “Poor woman’s getting bored while waiting for the new batch of rookies to arrive. Dismissed.”

“Perfect.” The Latina grinned and gave a smart salute before she left.