The Chief

The doctor can hear the grin on the chief's face, “We got a bead on the bastard. He's holed up at an old cattle factory. Do you want to be there when we take him down?”

The doctor chuckles, “Yes, absolutely. When and where?” The doctor quickly scribbles down the information as the chief relays it, “see you then.”

Cowgirl smiles as she sees what Benjamin wrote, “I called it, then.”

“You did,” the doctor agrees, “and we have time for that pizza; they aren't going to have everything in place for a few more hours.”

“Cool…” Cowgirl glances at the note, “...I'm gonna need to get a big ole raincheck on that pizza; need to pick up a few… like, personal items… immediately… it's that time of month.” She starts to head out, her Texan accent slipping into valley girl for a bit.

“Ah, here…” Benjamin hands Betsy a small plastic card emblazoned with a ‘Be Beauxtiful’ logo, “Expense card. It's linked to my account, with that hundred grand budget I mentioned. Get whatever you need.”

“Right…” the woman grabs it, and drops a quick, “thanks,” as she heads out the door and starts up the rental car. As s[he drives off, the doctor brews a pot of rose hip tea and enjoys a cup until the pizza arrives, at which point he enjoys a couple slices of the buffalo chicken topped dish, and eventually puts the leftovers in the fridge. Benjamin frowns slightly at the delay, but shrugs it off - Betsy's a big girl, after all, and probably needs clothes and things too - and sits down to catch an episode of Southern Headlights on TV… he's still not sure how the FCC is letting them get away with that many topless girls on the show… but they never point out, speak of, or DO anything with their chests besides just having them hang out there as they navigate college in Florida.

When the time comes and Cowgirl still hasn't returned, Dr. Beaux texts Cowgirl the address and a reminder, then heads out himself to the staging area, a look of concern on his face

…which turns to a look of surprise at the staging area. The doctor counts twenty Armored Personnel Carriers, five M1 Lott's tanks, and enough National Guard troops in full combat gear to fill the vehicles to capacity… plus the SWAT vehicle and half the patrol cars. The chief is apparently going to war.

As Benjamin walks through the chaos towards the same field HQ the chief always uses, he idly returns the salutes he gets from every soldier he passes out of habit… which slows him down a bit. The HQ has the outer wall open to serve as more floor, where the chief has a couple of lieutenants pouring over some maps with him. They break up and head to different vehicles as Dr. Beaux approaches.

The chief smiles, a shadow in his eyes belying the white teeth, “Ah, Dr. Bimbo… a pleasure as always. Do you want to hang back here or go with the troops?”

“I'll take the front lines, thanks,” Benjamin looks around at all the hardware. “Reminds me of my army days… how…?”

“The governor was in my unit in the marines,” the chief chuckles, “and now he gets to command these guys.” The bear of a man pauses, “...also, he appreciates you. The governor occasionally visits our holding cells after you've handled an op… just to ensure the prisoners are properly taken care of, of course… and he really didn't like the idea of someone keeping you from helping out.”

The hero in refitted military gear takes a slow breath through gritted teeth, “Good to know. It looks like you're moving out now… I'll head that way.” Shaking his head, the doctor grabs a radio, gets back in his car, and follows the APCs and tanks.

The procession doesn't go very far: The staging area was just far enough away from the target to hopefully avoid suspicion. The actual police officers quickly cordon off the area, leaving the military types free to operate. The doctor notices something odd when they reach the facility and the guard surrounds the place….

“Why are the lights still on?” Benjamin radios in, looking at the old factory.

“Best guess is a generator buried in the facility,” the radio crackles back in the chief's voice, “seems pretty big. We won't be able to shut it down until after we're in, by which point it won't matter, over.”

“I did tell you this guy intercepted the police radio before, right?” Benjamin adds, “Are you sure we should be using….”

“These have military grade encryption,” the chief interrupts, “I assure you, this is the radio to use for this call, and I will keep giving a

orders to the troops this way as well, over.” something is nagging the doctor about the chief's tone… he doesn't seem to be lying, exactly….

Benjamin nods, “Okay then. So what's the plan?”

“Well, we surround the place, do the basic ‘surrender now, you're under arrest,’ yadda yadda on the bullhorn. If they do?” The chief pauses, “Best case scenario.” Okay, now he's lying. “If they don't, we move in. Arrest those who don't fight back, do our duty for the rest.” There's the option he wants, “there are also a few contingencies we planned out, of course: There's no shortage of ways this can go… but I figure we have most covered, over.”

“Good to know,” the doctor stops and gets out himself: They've arrived, and the soldiers are deploying. They're professional soldiers, even if they are ‘weekend warriors’ that have full-time civilian jobs, and are lining up behind what cover they can find, weapons at the ready and mostly pointed at the expected enemy.

Of course, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Before the chief can even make the threat, the residents respond….