Routine Patrol

Barbara Butterfield

Description

Officers Dan Temple and Andy Thomson are back at it. Their first book, Incident Command, wasn’t enough to stop these deputies and they continue to faithfully wear the badge.
Routine Patrol is a patchwork of calls to which they’ve had to respond, proving that patrol is anything but routine. Whether delivering a baby or stopping a shooter dead in his tracks, Temple and Thomson are getting the job done. Their methods may drive Lt. Ruger crazy, but he knows Temple and Thomson can be counted on to save the day.
Join them for the ride of your life!

Sujets

• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 15 novembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669855545
• Langue: English

Extrait

ROUTINE PATROL
Barbara Butterfield

Copyright © 2022 by Barbara Butterfield.
 
Library of Congress Control Number:
2022921344
ISBN:
Hardcover
978-1-6698-5553-8

Softcover
978-1-6698-5552-1

eBook
978-1-6698-5554-5
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 
Cover Photograph:
Compliments of iStock.com
Photograph by: Slobo
Fair Oaks, USA
 
 
 
 
 
Rev. date: 11/10/2022
 
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
848366
Contents
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Epilogue
Credits
Dedication
My heartfelt thanks and appreciation are extended to:
Dan Templeton
Former El Paso County Sheriff’s Deputy,
Army Staff Sergeant and Steer Wrestler
For his continued excellence in going above and beyond.
With expertise and patience in the capacity of consultant, Dan’s
input continually brings about the impossible: he causes me to think.
* * *
Andrew Thompson
Former El Paso County Sheriff’s Deputy,
and USMC Sergeant
Thank you for answering technical questions
and clarifying numerous issues.
* * *
My deepest thanks are also extended to my long-standing friend:
Sue Teeple-Gardner, RN, Ret.
For not only diligently proofreading every single page,
but also for her extensive medical expertise, and incomparable
patience in consulting for the uninitiated…me.
* * *
This teamwork came together to improve the final
outcome of the story and for that I am eternally grateful.
Thank you all.
Blessings always, and Stay Safe.
Chapter 1
The ambush had been horrifying and completely preventable. Mixed communications, bad timing, and a deviant felon released early and on parole of which he cared nothing about.
Three officers died that day. Sgt. Baldwin J. Halsey was one of them. Though he lived long enough to receive care at Samaritan General.
The tires of the black and white patrol car squealed to a nose-down stop in front of Adele Halsey’s home, and the officer rushed to the front door, which was promptly opened.
“Mrs. Halsey, there’s been a problem. I need for you to come with me, right away,” a very young Officer Ruger had explained. She did not question the urgency in his voice.
“One minute,” she said holding up one finger. “Boys! Come here right now!” She called out to her sons, who were 4 and 6 years old. Obediently, they put down their toy police cars and rushed down the hallway to their mother.
“Go next door to Aunt Sally’s house, right now, and stay there. I have to run an errand, but I’ll come back and pick you up in a little while. Now, go. Now,” she encouraged and shooshed the young boys out the front door. Locking up, she followed Officer Ruger to his car.
The next thing she knew, she was surrounded by other members of the SCSD, those that had been injured in the melee, as well as those who had gathered to support their brothers and sisters in uniform.
A very somber nurse hurriedly rushed her into a nearby treatment room where she saw her husband lying on the gurney. The nurse didn’t have to say anything, Adele already knew the outlook wasn’t good. She stood by his side, just like she always had.
Dark brown eyes looked up at her, but she doubted that he was really seeing her. There was no pain, he was beyond that.
Adele lifted the back of his hand to her cheek and held it there. No tears came, not now…that would be later. She had to be strong…for him, and for the boys.
“I love you,” she whispered, and she felt a slight squeeze to her hand, and in the next moment he saw her no more.
* * *
Together, the couple slowly walked to the patrol car. Mrs. Adele Halsey was Andy’s ride-along today. She was twenty-five years older now, and both of her young sons had grown into fine, young men. Avid to carry on their father’s legacy, they now served as officers with SCSD.
Every year, Adele accompanied an officer on a ride-along on the anniversary of her husband’s death.
An older and wiser Lt. Ruger had made him aware of this information, though Andy, as well as everyone else on staff, were well aware of the significance of 01Aug1998.
Though three officers had died on that fateful day, it was solely due to Officer Halsey’s bravery…above and beyond, that the other ten went home unscathed. In saving others, he had forfeited his own life.
Though Adele had grieved the loss of her husband, she also understood it as well. That was just the kind of officer and man that he was. It was part of why she loved and respected him as deeply as she had.
“You’re an awful quiet young man, aren’t you?” Adele commented as Andy drove the patrol vehicle down Beach Blvd.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“Son, it’s alright. I’m not made of glass,” Adele smiled, as she calmly sought to allay the officer’s concerns.
“I’m sorry about the loss of your husband, ma’am,” Andy finally broached the subject.
“I know you are, dear,” Adele replied, kindly patting the officer on the shoulder. “But that was a long time ago.”
“I’ve read the story about that day. Officer Halsey’s photo and biography are mounted on the Wall of Fame at headquarters.”
“I know,” she primly replied, turning her gaze out the side window. “I’ve seen it, and so have the boys.”
“They have big shoes to fill,” Andy commented with a sweet smile.
“They do indeed. But they will leave their own mark on this life, and it will be just fine, whatever path God leads them on,” she commented, and he smiled.
“Around headquarters, it used to be known, that they called him Balsey-Halsey,” Andy quipped, feeling it was alright to do so, and he would’ve been right.
“Yes, I heard that too,” Adele admitted with a chuckle. “Though not the most attractive of nicknames, the boys…you know, the officers did give my husband the most applicable nickname. That man was ballsey, through and through,” she chuckled, as a slight blush crept over ivory-colored cheeks.
The patrol had been productive, but generally quiet. As the hours progressed, they had encountered a few routine traffic stops. They had also stopped at a few businesses to check on the store owners to see how they were doing and to shoot the breeze.
Andy enjoyed community work, but the aging Adele seemed to thrive on it. Talking with others about their good days, and bad, she had a wide capacity for sharing in the enthusiasm of others, but also in commiserating with people who were going through trying times. She had a heart for those people, and her love and compassion were evident.
Throughout the day, it had also become apparent that Mrs. Halsey showed a real proclivity toward protecting the officer to which she’d been assigned. Not that she had to, but she was intensely observant whenever Andy had to approach a vehicle during a traffic stop.
Adele fully realized that nine times out of ten all went well, but it was that one per cent…the one every officer had to be aware of and watch out for, that seemed to cause her the most consternation.
To her way of thinking, nothing and no one was going to harm her very own personal officer on this special day.
Andy had noticed her nurturing, or motherly inclinations but wrote it off to her history and having been a mother and raising two boys alone.
Adele had never remarried. No man could have withstood following in Officer Halsey’s footsteps, so she didn’t even bother to try, and had done alright on her own.
It was nearing end of shift when what seemed to be a rather straight-forward call came in. Keying his mic, Andy radioed that he was only about a mile from the location and would handle it.
He slowed the patrol vehicle and pulled over behind the stalled car alongside the road. The hood of the car was up, and a woman believed to be about 30 years of age was pacing about the roadside, clearly upset about having car trouble.
Andy had not let Adele approach any of the traffic stops they’d attended to, for her own safety’s sake. B