AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“They were some of the first, actually,” I said.
“So why weren’t they grandfathered in?” Kaitlin asked.
“One, cops weren’t allowed to be bounty hunters. Two, they were dead.”
“So you’re saying that you’re better at this job than regular police,” Livingston said.
“Yes,” Olaf and I said together.
“That’s just insulting all your brothers and sisters in blue,” Livingston said.
“I’m not insulting them. I’m stating that police are trained to save lives. Most officers can do their twenty years without ever having to shoot anyone. I know every shooting makes the news now, but if you do the math between how many police are in this country and how many people die by gun violence, it’s mostly civilian-on-civilian crime. Police are trained to keep the peace. You need to think very differently to do our job.”
“You were a cop before you became a marshal, right, Newman?” Livingston asked.
“Yes.”
“You’re good at the job.”
Newman shook his head. “My first hunt in the field was with the Four Horsemen. I got to see how the job is supposed to be done, not what our bosses want the job to be.”
“What do they want it to be?” Livingston asked.
“They want cops that kill on command like the dog half of a canine team attacks, but the rest of the time, we’re supposed to be good dogs, man’s best friend, until they tell us to kill again.” His face as he talked got more and more unhappy.
“Wow,” Kaitlin sai
d, “that’s grim.”
“It feels grim,” Newman said.
“But you’re not dogs. You’re police officers,” Livingston said.
“And that’s the problem, sir. Part of the time, they want most of us to be regular marshals, but then they push the button, and we’re supposed to become something else—something that I don’t understand how to be. And the fighting you saw Blake do in the cell, that’s her training with Forrester and Jeffries and others like them. No one is teaching that to the rest of us.”
“You’re saying that you need to be more like SWAT than regular police,” Livingston said.
Newman shook his head. “No, sir. SWAT is still about saving lives, containing the violence, but that’s not what the preternatural branch does.”
“Preternatural branch goes out with SWAT to serve warrants on known preternatural citizens,” Livingston said.
“Only after the marshal goes through extra training closer to our Special Operations Group, SOG. Once you pass that, you can be picked to accompany local SWAT on regular police warrants to known or suspected supernatural citizens.”
“You sound like you’re quoting,” Livingston said.
“I am.”
“Have you gone out with SWAT?” Kaitlin asked.
“No,” Newman said.
“Yes,” I said.
“Yes,” Olaf said.
“Sounds like a good idea to send the supernatural experts out with SWAT on warrants like that,” Livingston said.
“It is. It’s a great idea,” said Newman, “except we’re supposed to be protecting SWAT in case the supernatural citizen goes completely rogue and tries to kill them, but most of the newer marshals are greener than me. They think like cops, and that’s not what a SWAT unit needs if the monster tries to eat them.”
