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“Yes, sir,” Talia acknowledged, not letting her frustration show as she walked off the bus, but she was…pissed. Doug was decent when he played by the rules, and she had no doubt he’d perform admirably for what he considered therightsquad leader; amalesquad leader, so she needed a new approach. Rather than dressing him down, she had to make him understand the gravity of his position.
“A word, Talia?” Cisco, Doug’s best friend approached her as she chewed up ground toward Doug with her size six combat boots.
She stopped, but not happily.
“Unless you have something useful to say about Doug’s blatant disregard for protocol, you should make good use of your break to hydrate and regroup,” she told him pointedly. “I need to have a word with him.”
“Yeah. About that.” Cisco, who could be as big a jerk as Doug at times, actually looked uncertain of himself. “Can we speak someplace privately?”
Talia didn’t trust Cisco. Not exactly. But he wasn’t as big a question mark as Doug. If he had intel that would help her deal with her “problem-child” she was open to that. With a tip of her head indicating he should join her, she stomped off toward the tree-line, not waiting to see if Cisco followed.
But he did.
“Make it quick,” she ordered, when they were finally out of earshot. “As well as putting Doug straight, we have to get things ready for Squad G in a few minutes.” Each squad set up the empty house with new parameters for the second squad to go in after theirs.
“It’s about Doug.”
Uh, duh.Talia barely refrained from rolling her eyes. Of course it was. Readying to get her ass chewed by not one, but two of her squad members, she stood with her arms crossed over her chest, waiting.
“He, uh, has a problem with women.”
That’s what Talia had been expecting to hear.
She let his words sink in, and… It wasn’t the first time Talia had faced prejudice against females. Being a woman in law enforcement, she’d encountered it over and over again. Still, she’d found a welcoming niche in her current department in Old Town, so she’d let her guard down over the past couple years.
“No shit.” Talia wasn’t about to cut Doug any slack because he was misogynistic. She didn’t blink as she continued to hear Cisco out.
“No. I mean he has arealproblem with women.” Cisco huffed, looking damned uncomfortable.
Why was it so tough for some guys to just spit out their crap and be done with it?
His voice grew gruff. “When Doug was fourteen, he came to live with Chief Ildavorg.”
Okay.Somehow, she’d known that.
“The chief’s brother—Doug’s father—died in a boating accident when Doug was ten, After that, Doug’s crazy mother was all Doug had left. The woman not only beat him, regularly, she…physically assaulted him in…other ways. She and a few of her friends.” Cisco shrugged, as if shifting something horrible from his shoulders. “He ran away to his uncle’s house and lived there until he went away to college. But he’s never been, after what he suffered…normal where females are concerned.”
Talia was appalled. She thought her own childhood had specters, but this… “How…?” She cleared her throat. “Didn’t this come up in his psych eval?” She felt for the guy, but man, he needed some serious help.
Again, Cisco shrugged. “Maybe, but the shrink obviously didn’t think it would be a problem. She clearly didn’t take into consideration the possibility that Doug might be on a woman-run squad.”
Talia nailed Cisco with a probing look. “But he’s been…involved with policing and the public for years.” At least ten, if she wasn’t mistaken. “Tell me how this hasn’t affected his conduct as a patrolman? And be truthful. I know the two of you have worked together at OPD.” She’d heard through the grapevine that Doug, Cisco, and Ildavorg’s son Dieter, a lobsterman, were all close friends.
“He’s…” Cisco ran a hand back through his hair. “He avoids anything that might have him butting heads with a female, because the chief has reprimanded him, privately, a number of times. But since the chief also knows where Doug’s problems stem from, he’s cut him some slack and…buried those censures.”
Funny how relatives who meant well could be your worst enemy. If Ildavorg had made Doug get help, he might be managing the world better these days.
“And you?” Talia couldn’t help but ask. “You seem to join in with most of Doug’s antics. That can’t be doing you any favors.” She’d ascertained that Cisco was smart and capable, and she hadn’t previously been able to understand why he’d want himself painted with the same brush as Doug. Now, she knew he was covering for him.
“I’ve been his friend for years. And I know what he’s been through. If that means I have to look like an asshole to take some of the heat off him, that’s what I do,” he grumbled.
It made sense to Talia now, the mixed messages she’d been getting from Cisco. He’d alternately be accommodating and insubordinate; challenging her authority, but on the flip side, often playing nicely.
Since he’d come forward voluntarily, she’d use his insight; see what his thoughts were about today. If his intel proved sagacious, she’d move forward accordingly. “He screwed up today, big time, Cisco. Mason’s not happy and is talking about tossing him off the team,” she revealed.
When he would have rebutted, she held up her hand. “I’ve fixed that, for now. I’ve told Mase I’d deal with it. But if it happens again…” she trailed off. She didn’t have to continue. Cisco knew how that sentence would end.
“Right.” He looked like he wanted to be anywhere but hashing this out with her.
