Pickup Radius

This is something I’ve been tinkering with for a while. Think Hill Street Blues meets COPS, with a sprinkling of Law & Order for flavor. It’s first-draft material, so be kind.

A Red Dirt Justice Short Story

Muskogee. Friday, 11 April. 2335.

“802.”

“802, when you’re clear from your traffic stop, with 601, see the clerk at the Fairfield. They have some guests they’re evicting.”

Dustin Adams grunted as he punched the buttons on the digiTICKET device, then clicked his mic twice after Amanda Human in 602 called en route to the call. He was closer, but the younger officer was more eager, and the ticket computer had just locked up on him. Again. He hated the blasted things. When they worked, they tended to cut his time on a traffic stop in half, which meant that he could write more tickets, which made the city council happy. But he seemed to have more than his share of troubles with the devices, and usually ended up writing an “old-fashioned” ticket. Two minutes later he was walking back to his cruiser after handing a scribbled warning to an old man who probably should have lost his license a year ago.

“601 to 802. You getting close?”

“Affirm. Just around the corner.” And he was, if you were looking at things from a thousand feet up.

Human was already inside the building talking to the clerk. “She says there’s half a dozen people in the room, but only two on the registration. Been rowdy all night, and she’s told them three or four times” – and here the clerk held up six fingers – “to quiet down, and told them she’d call us if they didn’t, so here we are.”

Adams looked over at the clerk: a short, older lady, probably just supplementing her teacher’s retirement pay a couple of nights a week. No business working alone at night, but that’s the way all the hotels in town were. “You want everyone out ma’am?”

She nodded. “I called the manager while I was waiting, and she said they all go, and no refunds.”

Adams nodded as he considered their tactical situation. The shift was already short-staffed, with Robinson out of commission due to a broken finger, but it would be helpful to have another officer around for this call. On the other hand, Darrel Sandyman, the officer who was probably the closest to them, would be a liability if things went south. He was three inches shorter than Adams, probably twice her weight, and had little interest in doing anything that might make him sweat. It was more of a problem in summer when the temps crossed one hundred, but even during the winter, The Sandman didn’t do much unless he had to. Adams had his hand on his shoulder mic when his phone buzzed with a text message.

-I’M CLOSE AND THOR IS BORED

Adams smiled at Human. “I can’t believe Kalina used the b-word. She just jinxed us.” He typed a quick response:

-THANKS FOR THE JINX. BRING IT ANYWAY

Five minutes later three humans and a canine crowded into the elevator. The clerk had taken one look at Thor, the all black Belgian Malinois, and had hidden behind the counter after throwing a key card at the officers. The dog looked at all three human officers and sighed.

Even if the dog hadn’t alerted to the smells coming from the room, the low music and loud crowd chatter would have pointed it out to the officers. Adams knocked once with no apparent response. The second knock brought a slight drop in crowd volume. The third attempt brought a more drastic drop in volume, probably because it sounded like Adams was ready to kick the door in. As it was, when the door opened a crack, he pushed his way on in, with Human close behind. Heather Kalina stayed in the hallway with a tight hold on Thor’s short lead. The music died quickly enough that the expletives from someone in the corner sounded louder than they probably were.

“How we doin’ tonight, everybody? Sorry to break things up early, but the hotel says it’s time for you to go. Let’s everyone have a seat on the bed, and hands out where we can see them. We’re going to find out who everyone is first, and then we’ll talk about the recreational pharmaceutical action we’ve got going.”

Human suddenly backpedaled toward the bathroom and pushed the door open. A second later Adams heard her say, “Come on out and join the party, Ryon. You can take a shower later.” As the skinny black male tried to stroll nonchalantly past her, Human looked at Adams. “He was standing in the tub with the shower curtain pulled. Forgot to turn the water on though.”

Adams shook his head. “Ryon. This is not good, boss. You still on parole? This isn’t going to help things.”

“He’s on parole? This fine young man?”

“Receiving, isn’t it?”

Ryon shook his head. “I set up. Din’t know it was hot, man.”

“Hook him. They’ll violate him.”

Adams watched the other six people in the room while Human searched and cuffed Ryon Wayne. There were three women, one of whom was close to tears. Of the three other men, he could only see one’s face, and he was trying really hard not to be obvious about not looking at the officers. Once Ryon Wayne was searched, secured, and sitting on the bed, Adams said, “Why don’t you get IDs on these guys, and we’ll run them all by phone, instead of tying up the radio.”

He turned and gave the room a quick scan. There were two bags of pot on the table, along with two full joints and one partially-smoked. Two opened cases of beer sat in the corner next to him. There was no luggage immediately visible, but that was the norm for party rooms like this. Then again, they didn’t usually get calls like this at the Fairfield. The locals usually partied at one of the mom-and-pop joints or cheaper chain motels further south on 69. It was cheaper for them when they got shut down and thrown out.

Five minutes later, Human turned to Adams, showing him her notepad. He read the section she was pointing to, then raised an eyebrow. One of the men in the room was wanted out of Pennsylvania on a murder warrant. Not the best place tactically for a felony arrest, but I’ve handled worse, Adams thought. He caught Kalina’s eye and flashed her with 4 fingers followed by 8, signifying a 10-48, felony warrant. Her stance tightened just a bit, making Thor shift just as little as she did. Adams thought for just a moment about letting Human make the actual arrest, but he was closer to the men on the bed, and was senior officer present, so the primary risk fell to him. He took a step toward the bed and heard Human draw her weapon.

“Enjosi Nelson. Hands on your head boss, and stand up very slowly.” The man on the corner of the bed dropped his head, shook it slowly, then did as instructed. Adams cuffed him quickly, double-locked the cuffs, then pushed the man ahead two steps and turned him toward the wall. “Anything in your pockets that’s gonna hurt me? Needles, knives, guns, or grenades?”

Nelson snickered. “Naw, I’m clean. Ain’t goin’ nowhere tonight, neither.”

“How you figure that, boss? There’s a murder warrant out on you.” Adams had finished searching the man’s left leg and now worked his way down the right.

“Philly don’ wanna come down this far. Shoot, they don’ even wanna cross the river up there. Homie’s goin home tonight.”

Adams shook his head as he finished the search. He walked the man into the hallway and had him sit opposite the dog. “Don’t do anything stupid, okay? The dog is bored.”

It took a few more minutes to sort out who was going to admit to the pot on the table and get Lakeicha Smith cuffed and searched. Adams and Human each walked their prisoners down the stairs while Kalina waited to escort everyone else to the elevator. Human and Adams met between their cruisers after their prisoners were secured, the girl in Human’s car and the two men in Adams’ for the moment. He had called for another officer to help transport.

“Was he serious about walking tonight?”

Adams shrugged. “Probably. We’ve got nothing to hold him on since she’s taking the fall for the pot, and he’s right about the warrant. If they don’t want to come get him, we’re not going to hold him. Pretty much as soon as they verify he’s outside the pickup radius, they’ll cut him loose. Bet he doesn’t even get changed.”

Human shook her head. “Doesn’t make any sense to put a warrant out if you’re not going to go after them.”

He nodded. “Get used to it, kiddo. We do the same thing, you know. But we’ll at least leave the state for a murder warrant.”

Their radios chirped with an alert for a foot chase on the east side of the city, and Kalina came trotting out of the hotel lobby, Thor in a steady gait beside her.

Adams shook his head as she drove off, lightbar blinking rapidly.

“Gonna take forever to get another car here now.” He sighed and leaned back against his cruiser. “Told you she jinxed us.”