He’ll never run in and rob another store.
Steele had ignored the sounds of pain that rang out behind him while he took out the ringleader, trusting Ruxs had his back. When Steele was sure his own perps were no longer a threat, he looked behind him to see the second would-be thief on the ground with a knife embedded in his shoulder and his gun about twenty feet away from him. Ruxs stood over him, making sure he didn’t move.
Green was still sitting at the table drinking his soda. The ultimate trust in his partners.
Tech
This was the hardest part of Tech’s job. Listening to his team when they were in the thick of it while he sat there in the office. He’d already dispatched Syn, God, and Day the second Ruxs called out his name but didn’t voice a request. Tech heard the sound of the place being robbed and got to work. Their trackers put them at the Burger King on Atlantic Ave. and Syn took off out of the office while Tech contacted the zone three precinct in Peoplestown. He knew they had the worst response times in the city, over twenty damn minutes. A good response time was ten, that’s if the call was near a zone. But a robbery happened in a quarter of that time. Tech had confidence in his team; they’d handled worse than a few desperate, petty thieves that were willing to risk their freedom for a measly few hundred bucks.
Tech hadn’t wanted Steele to have a problem on his very first day out, but shit happened. He could hear the commotion and knew they were safe for now, but his hands sped across his keyboard while he used his software to scan for the IP address to tap into the restaurant’s security cameras. He needed eyes in there. He didn’t want to distract Ruxs, only spoke once to let him know his team’s ETA. When he heard the hisses and pops of a suppressor, he closed his eyes, praying it was the one he’d just given to Steele. Most robbers didn’t have silencers. After four too-long minutes, Ruxs’ voice was composed and clear, “Tech. 10-24 and 10-52.”
“10-4,” Tech responded. They were Ruxs and Green’s usual codes. The situation’s been contained. Ambulance needed for suspect. They used the general police codes much of the time, but their task force also had a few of their own. Tech would need to teach them to Steele soon. He waited for his software to finish moving through the many IP addresses in the area before it hit on the one he wanted. In that time frame, he let Ruxs know that first responders should be on the scene in six minutes. It took another eight minutes after that before Tech’s computer beeped and his Hydra system highlighted an address for him.
Yes. Tech quickly copied the address and fired up Kali to bypass all passwords. As soon as the footage came up Tech could see the place swarming with firemen and about six uniformed officers. His eyes darted all over the lobby, looking for his teammates. One in particular. He spotted Green talking with the officers and kept searching for Ruxs and Steele. Where is he? Tech had his hand on his chest the entire time, looking back and forth over the people in the grainy image. When his other monitor finally picked up the outside cameras, he realized Steele and Ruxs were outside, watching the paramedics load up a man whose large body filled the stretcher. Tech blew out a breath. Jesus Christ. After a few more minutes, he recognized God’s big RAM when it flew into the parking lot.
As much as he’d have liked to keep his eye on them, his lieutenants didn’t need that. Tech had his own job to do and it wasn’t to stare at the new recruit. Instead, he went about getting the footage downloaded and into files so it could be reviewed by God and Day when they meet with the captain and the robbery lieutenants. His department always appreciated not having to wait for a company or city office to give them the video they needed, Tech was able to provide it himself within minutes. By the time he had everything compiled, including the closest street cameras, the men from his team – accompanied by the captain and a couple other detectives, were walking back into the precinct. Tech ejected the flash drive and inserted it into a cover.
Ruxs’ hands moved animatedly the whole time they were walking across the bullpen. Steele was behind God so he couldn’t see him, but the lieutenants and the rest of the guys looked pretty entertained by the story. When they got through the glass double doors, Ruxs finished with a loud, “It was some real Steven Segal-type shit, God, I swear.”