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“It has been 160 years since a man named Halleck has had to consider a man named Lee on such terms as we meet, Colonel … one would think in Big Loft, to hear some tell it, that you have carried out the destruction of the city.”
This is how Henry Halleck VII, state conservator for the Big Loft, VA police department, chose to open his conversation with Col. Henry Fitzhugh Lee, Army Reservist not-quite-late of Special Forces and Judge Advocate General, serving as the most controversial police captain in Big Loft's history.
Mr. Halleck watched the colonel consider his answer … the modern Lee, like his infamous ancestral uncle, was known for his angelic Southern manners, but his nickname fit both Lees equally well: “Angel of Death.”
“Mr. Halleck, I am delighted to know that Virginia has found it in its heart, after 160 years, to let a man named Halleck be in charge of anything in a Virginian city such that you can sit down with any Colonel Lee.”
Mr. Halleck restrained himself from jumping … he was somewhat prepared, having heard about the colonel's capacity for literally deadly rhetoric … yet the colonel's body language was not threatening, but simply in readiness. He had simply parried in this initial battle of wits.
“The times we are in do require adaptation,” Mr. Halleck said, and thus continued the conversation. “Of course I am sure you are perfectly aware of why I am now the conservator of your police department – perhaps more aware than anyone else in Big Loft.”
“I would not argue with that assessment, sir.”
“I have also found, having looked through matters for myself, that the clamor to remove you and all trace of what you have done with Special Investigations and the Blue Ridge Precinct has less to do with the budget and more to do with all the reasons the state saw fit to appoint a conservator.”
“I also would not argue with that assessment, sir.”
“Yet certain circumstances have arisen so that we cannot at this time dismiss you – the breaking of the Lucas case and the withdrawal of the deal by the district attorney means you will be needed with your lieutenants at trial.”
“It does appear to be so, sir.”
“Would I be incorrect in my assessment of the timing of the breaking of this case being not entirely by chance?”
“You would not be incorrect, sir. As I am sure you know in the study of our family's history back to the time of the Civil War, my ancestral uncle was known to become a little shrewd, and perhaps a little belligerent, when he felt that his people were being threatened.”
Mr. Halleck took his time considering that … he was not surprised, but the massive historical understatement the modern Col. Lee was making was stunning. What it said about ancestral Lee it also said about the equally dangerous modern Lee...
If you go after my people, I will destroy you if I can.
Mr. Halleck had contacts who knew about a Special Forces mission called Five Bright Nine … without getting into what was classified, they had shared with him that Col. Lee, being incorruptible, had made enemies of some higher-ups. They had decided to misdirect him and his unit into a trap … but he had realized the situation and been victorious, with minimal losses. Time had passed; the colonel and his adjutant had accepted a special assignment to Judge Advocate General in order to meet the needs of JAG with some Special Forces-related cases coming up. The two officers' adaptation to the practice of military law had been spectacular.
Little yet did anyone dream what they would do once given liberty to do it … every single superior officer behind Five Bright Nine would be snatched up, prosecuted, and disposed of before Col. Lee and Major Hamilton returned to Special Forces to 'retire' to its Reserve.
As of the breaking of the Lucas case, there was not a single person in power in the Big Loft Police Department who had openly been working against Capt. Lee and his men in their fight against corruption in Big Loft while sitting in the middle of a corrupt police department. It had taken only fourteen months since Orton Thomas, former commissioner of police, had tried to suborn his new captain to the day when all of Orton Thomas's surviving cronies were in jail awaiting trial with no chance of beating their cases.
And – and Mr. Halleck felt his heart rate picking up – the key term was "surviving." Orton Thomas was dead. He still thought he could win a shootout at his age with two younger officers … with his back door unlocked. That same Maj. Hamilton, now serving as police captain in Tinyville and on-call county backup to BLPD, had come in by the front door and gotten shot at, but had been missed by a mile. Nonetheless, that being established, Capt. Lee had walked in by the back door, gotten to point-blank range, and made the commissioner's head a Humpty Dumpty type of a problem for the undertaker to deal with.
But it was not like Col. Lee even needed a gun if he got anywhere near that close. The next man, Commissioner Pendleton, had pitched forward and died of a heart attack after calling Col. Lee in, from sheer fear. Commissioner Tate had just been talking with himself in the front stairwell about how he was going to deal with the colonel, and the colonel, from a flight above him, had just calmly answered to his name, and just as calmly watched Commissioner Tate jump straight through the plate glass facade several stories down to the pavement.
Ancestral Lee had accounted for the deaths of at least 100,000 men on getting "just a little belligerent" … but he had not known he was capable of that until it happened. Modern Lee knew exactly what he was capable of, and was sitting at point-blank range from Mr. Halleck, just as calm and demure … and still doing exactly what Lees did when their people were threatened. He had cleaned out the Big Loft Police Department just as he had his portion of the Army … and was sizing Mr. Halleck up as much as Mr. Halleck was sizing him up … a fact that gave Mr. Halleck a cold chill.
“I am sure you are also aware that all of my officers, in Special Investigations and the Blue Ridge Precinct, have received superior ratings in every aspect of policing even under 2020's conditions,” the colonel was continuing in saying. “It was very important that we take our time with the Lucas case, and it is not their fault, at all, that the department has been so pressed and anxious about dismissing them while they were working diligently that whole time. We might have left it for you to clean up in a show of pique … but that is below the standard of Special Investigations and Blue Ridge Precinct, even in the disgrace our unjust dismissal would be.”
The other thing Colonel Lee was known for: his units in the Army and on the police force all received superior ratings … and were the envy of many. That was part of the problem in the Army, and it was part of what had galled the survivors of Orton Thomas so much … and led them to the mistakes that led them to their own destruction.
“I do see all of that, Colonel,” Mr. Halleck said aloud. “I wanted to tell you in person that I am rescinding the proposed disbandment of Special Investigations, and delaying the merger of the Blue Ridge Precinct into Western. It does not even make sense from a budgetary perspective to cut Blue Ridge, given the cost savings of rotating furlough in the pandemic and the upcoming rebuild of the areas affected by the Ridgeline Fire. As for Special Investigations, it is the one part of the entire department about which there is no suspicion of corruption. Everything else has to be rebuilt in the public trust, but not that.”
“We have done our best, sir.”
“And what about you, Colonel? You were hired for a desk job, and have been in 21 months of sad disappointment.”
“I have a desk at home and am willing to go to it. Lieutenant Longstreet is more than capable of running Special Investigations as its new captain, and with me having resigned, the rest will face much less opposition. As for Western, Captain Oriole is a man I would trust with my own life, so I am sure he would take excellent care of his new officers. Again, his work would be easier if I departed the force. At any time, sir, I am prepared to end my career on behalf of the men with whom I have had the honor to serve.”
Mr. Halleck inwardly smiled … modern Lee was indeed like his ancestral uncle. He was willing to destroy ... but he was also willing, even at sacrifice to himself, to secure peace.
“Obviously you cannot be let go now – not until the Lucas case is through the courts. Without regard to that, I was not of the mind that you should be dismissed. My work here will not be easy, but your work has made it as easy as it can be. When I have finished here, the Big Loft Police Department must be operating at a far higher standard than it has been, and your precincts are a model even in the midst of the situations that have caused me to be appointed here.”
“I have done my best, sir.”
“If you desire to offer your resignation after the Lucas case is completed, I think your reasoning is sound, Colonel, but, that is off the table for now. Your duties continue as they were, Colonel … or, as we shall continue to say in police terms until further notice, Captain Lee.”
“Yes, sir.”
And just like that it was over … Mr. Halleck soon looked down at the police captain crossing the street from headquarters, going to the police lot where he had his truck. Both had survived the encounter. That was a good start.
What Mr. Halleck had not guessed and could not guess from the colonel's impassive calm, even though the colonel had told him outright: the commander of the Blue Ridge Precinct and Special Investigations had fallen on his sword by breaking the Lucas case … he had bought his men their jobs, at the cost of him not being able to leave, either, for at least another year unless the district attorney changed his mind.
“It's what Lees do in Virginia,” he darkly mused to Major Ironwood Hamilton about it. “If we cannot save our men another way, we surrender, and whatever happens next is what has to happen.”
“Do you trust Mr. Halleck, Harry?”
“I don't distrust him yet, Woody … that is a good start.”