Helicopter

JJ was unsure about most things, but not this, not now; he was so far beyond unsure he began to doubt his own existence. Maybe he was just a figment of a fever dream, about to do this, not a real person after all. It made sense…what person doesn’t even know how to pronounce their first name?

“JJ, you sure about this?” Martina, his co-conspirator, asked.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” he lied. “I’ve considered and planned a contingency for every possible twist.” That, at least, he was certain of. His constant concerns of “what if…” made him an excellent strategist and analyst — at least when given enough time.

“In that case, I’ve got your back,” she said.

As JJ waited to be called in to the inquest, the clock taunted him, time stretching out. A young man carrying a clipboard called out, “Detective Martina Simes,” and she followed him in, leaving JJ to wait by himself.

He juggled dozens of possible scenarios in his mind, from the most likely to the absurd. No matter how the waves broke when he was called in, he would make sure that he and Martina would never again have to work for the overbearing Captain Helen Monroe. Behind her back, the squad called her “Captain Helicopter Momroe” or just “Mom” for the way she micromanaged everything.

If she had let him do his job, they wouldn’t be in the situation they were in now. He gripped the folder he carried tighter. With the proof he had there, Monroe wouldn’t be in her position any longer. At this stage in her career, they’d probably move her to a desk somewhere to wait out her retirement.

He wondered what Martina was telling them. She was there when it went down and was a victim of how wrong everything went. He knew there were others on the squad that would try to protect the captain, with the idea that if they didn’t, they were a traitor somehow. Martina, though, was still recovering from the injuries she endured in the incident…and she said she’d back him up.

Time continued to drag. JJ let the thoughts he was juggling rest. There was nothing left to do but stick to his guns and react to each falling chip as planned. He was interrupted by a young man holding a clipboard.

“Officer Price? Your first name…is it Jake…or Jack? Looks like I have a typo on my list.”

“That’s me.”

“So, which is it? Jake or Jack?”

“JJ.”

“Okay, but what is your legal first name?”

“Just like it is on your paper. J - A - E - K.” He shrugged. “It’s a typo on my birth certificate that was never corrected.”

“So how did your mother—” the young man began.

“Mom called me JJ. My dad didn’t call me anything because he wasn’t around. Teachers called me Jake or Jack or Jay-ek and I just let them, since it didn’t matter.” JJ sighed. “And before you ask, I don’t pronounce my first name, so you just call me whichever makes you happy.”

“Okay, then. I’ll add a note here and get back in there. You’re up next.”

JJ entered the room when he was called in as “Detective Jay-ek Price.” Commissioner Dina Davis sat between the Vice Chief of SWAT Carlos Ortiz and Soo Kim, the Chief of Police. The presence of the commissioner was unexpected, but perhaps warranted.

Captain Monroe sat behind a smaller desk to one side with a department advocate. An inquest was not unlike a bench trial, and the one under investigation was afforded representation. It looked like she hadn’t bothered to ask the union for a real lawyer.

JJ took his place behind the other small desk, next to the investigator from Internal Affairs, as the commissioner told him to take his seat. He looked over and caught Monroe’s eye where he saw something he didn’t expect — defeat.

“Detective Price,” the SWAT Vice Chief asked, “what is your primary role?”

“I’m assigned to data analysis in the nineteenth precinct.”

“Are you,” he asked, “assigned to evaluate and advise on tactical matters?” Ortiz asked.

“Not officially, but I often help when I—”

“Thank you.”

Chief Kim turned toward him with a bored frown. “What were you doing on the sixteenth of February this year, at or around nine-thirty A.M.?”

He laid the folder on the desk and put his hand on it. “I was printing the documents in this folder for Captain Monroe.”

The commissioner raised a hand. “Are those the same documents the captain has already showed us? The ones printed off at…,” she looked down at the pile of papers in front of her, “09:32 A.M. on the printer that resides just outside the door to Captain Monroe’s office?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He hadn’t expected the captain to hand over his analysis of her tactical operation to the inquest. It was like she wanted to fail.

The three of them conferred among themselves quietly for a moment. Commissioner Davis nodded and said, “Detective Price, if you would, walk us through this document in your own words.”

This was it. He could show that Helen “Helicopter Mom” Monroe was not the sort to be leading a precinct. When he finished, she would be finished.

“In this document, I analyzed the tactical plan for taking down the drug lab, as coordinated by Captain Monroe with SWAT.” He opened the folder to the diagrams he’d added and pointed to each item as he went.

“I pointed out that coverage in this alley was impossible without removing the dumpsters here and here first. I recommended at least two shooters on these rooftops here, and here.”

He flipped the page over to the diagram on the back. “Finally, I concluded that unless these two neighboring buildings were secured, the tactical team was open to ambush from either the underground service tunnels here, or a makeshift bridge from the scaffolding on this building here.”

Vice Chief Ortiz leaned forward, resting his chin on his fists. “You say you figured all that out just from looking at the original tac plan?”

“Yes, sir, and a quick look at the online maps street view.”

Chief Ortiz and Chief Kim both looked at Commissioner Davis and nodded. She looked at them both, then back at JJ.

“Officer Price, your evaluation matches what happened on the ground, and, as Captain Monroe has already informed us, if she had waited just another minute for it, Detective Simes would not have been injured, they wouldn’t have had time to torch the lab, and we wouldn’t have lost our prime suspect.”

JJ was stunned. The captain used his best ammo against herself. What was she thinking?

Davis continued. “Given the stellar career of Captain Monroe to date, and her willingness to admit her errors and learn from them…and given your tactical know-how that hasn’t been properly put to use thus far, we are reassigning both of you.

“You will remain at your precinct, but your jobs are changing. Captain Monroe is hereby promoted to Vice Chief in charge of our new Major Crimes Unit. Until such time as her position as precinct captain is filled, she will continue to carry those duties as well.

“Detective Price is hereby promoted to Detective Sergeant Price and moved to Major Crimes as well. You will be in charge of the detectives and will head up analysis and tactical planning as well as cooperation with SWAT. In short, you will be Vice Chief Monroe’s right hand.”

Commissioner Dina Davis banged the gavel on the desk, and they all stood while the “judges” left. JJ looked at the Internal Affairs rep that had sat next to him without making a sound.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he asked.

“Captain Monroe started the inquest by telling us everything she did wrong. I had nothing to add.” With that, the small man from Internal Affairs left.

“JJ,” Monroe said. “I know you thought this would be the end of my career…hell, I thought so, too. It seems we both ended up somewhere we didn’t expect. If you’ll show me a modicum of respect in Major Crimes, I’ll do my best not to ‘Helicopter Mom’ you. I mean, if I don’t respect you, neither will the detectives you’re meant to be in charge of.”

“You know about—”

“Of course I know. Just because I’m a Captain…Vice Chief now, doesn’t mean I stop being a detective.”

JJ closed the folder and dropped it in the “shred bin” - the locked waste receptacle that was emptied into a shredder every day. “I suppose you know I was planning to…,” he couldn’t finish the sentence.

“I know what you were planning, but I wasn’t going to let you. If you did, you’d be a pariah. If you’ll throw your captain under the bus, how could your coworkers trust you? What kind of leader lets their people make themselves hated by their peers?”

“In other words, you were still being Captain Helicopter Momroe.”

She nodded. “I was. To you, and Martina, and Kavin, and a few others who had some harsh words. Like I said, I’ll ease up on you, but not on anyone else. If I’m to be Mom to Major Crimes, you’re going to have to step up and be the dad.”

JJ pursed his lips. “But I can be a cool dad, right? Like the one that lets them get away with stuff?”

“As long as it doesn’t put them in harm’s way, impact their job or go so far as to undermine your own authority, I don’t see why not. Now get out of here and take the rest of the day,” she looked at her watch, “all thirty minutes of it — off, Sergeant. I’m sure we’ll have a ton of paperwork to do in the morning.”

“Yes, mom.”

“Excuse me?”

“It was…uh…yes ma’am with a British accent?”

“Try harder. See you in the morning, squad daddy.”