Page 13 of Protected By West (San Antonio S.W.A.T. #1)

"Don't you try and bully me!" She shoved her door again and her feet hit the dirt and grass beneath her feet. "This is taking too long! I want a supervisor!"

Weston saw the Trooper reach for the radio he had hooked near his shoulder. "No need to call it in, Trooper."

The State Trooper turned and nodded. "Sir."

If the other Rangers weren't so mad at the woman currently gearing up for another tirade, Weston knew that someone would have made a comment about the 'sir.'

"Need a hand, Trooper Bonney?"

Weston watched the other man slide a sideways glance at the woman.

"I'm a Major with the Rangers. Weston Cooper, I'm in charge of the-"

"I don't fucking care what you're in charge of, tell this idiot to give me my ticket so I can get home!"

A muscle ticked in Bonney's cheek and Weston felt for the man.

He was handling it well, but it had to be grating on his nerves.

Weston was nearly at the end of his rope as well.

"Ma'am. I'm Ranger Cooper. I qualify as the supervisor you... asked for."

Folding her arms, the woman nearly squished her breasts to her chest. "Then you better tell this fool," she lifted her chin at the Trooper, "how to do his damn job."

Weston nodded and turned to face Bonney. "Seems like I'm here to assess your work, Trooper."

"Sir." He nodded.

"What was the reason for the stop?"

The Trooper held himself well. Looked him right in the eye.

His gaze didn't waver once. "I clocked her speed at forty miles over the limit.

She likely didn't know as it took me a few minutes for her to realize that I was signaling for her to pull over and even when I walked up beside her car, she was livestreaming.

The length of her broadcast was longer than I was following her to pull her over by nearly seven minutes. "

Weston nodded. "Possible charges?"

After a moment of thought, Bonney answered him.

"Criminal speeding. Also reckless driving for livestreaming at the same time.

If I could prove that she was evading my pursuit I could write her up for a felony instead of a misdemeanor, but as it stands, criminal speeding as she was over twenty-five miles above the speed limit. "

Weston nodded again. "And since the stop. Has she been cooperative?"

The woman was fuming and kicked at the ground under her feet, groaning out loud. "How do I cooperate with complete retard!"

"Ma'am!" Weston nailed her with a look. "You ordered me to talk to him. You would really serve yourself well to hold your tongue."

"What? You can't tell me to shut up!"

"I never said-" He turned back to the Trooper. "So she's been like that?"

Trooper Bonney nodded. "I've hardly gotten a full sentence out. She keeps telling me what I don't know and right as you were arriving, she wants me to hurry up. I haven't even seen her license, registration, or insurance."

Duval nodded. "I noticed the registration sticker is out of date on the back of the car."

Bonney nodded. "It's over a year out of date. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other issues with her documentation."

Weston nodded in return and turned back to the woman. "Ma'am. Do you have your drivers license, registration, and insurance cards?"

"You don't need them."It wasn't lost on Weston that she stomped her foot like a toddler. "I don't have to give them to you! That's police overreach!

Just give me the damn-"

"Ma'am."

She was nearly bug-eyed at his interruption, her mouth gaping open as well.

"I'm giving you thirty seconds to produce at least one document. Failure to produce identifying information will be seen as failure to identify yourself to an officer of the law and can lead to your arrest."

"Arrest?" The woman looked like she was about to explode. "Arrest! The hell you are!"

Weston looked at the watch on his wrist. "Please, ma'am. Could you provide us with one card to start?"

She looked at all of them in turn and then back to the State Trooper. "You're all too stupid to do your jobs that you're threatening me with arrest? Over a fucking speeding ticket?"

Behind West, Oxy scoffed at her words. " We're too stupid?"

"I hate to butt in here, West." Duval's cowboy drawl wasn't the voice he used in uniform, but it did leak out from time to time. Never when he was happy. "I think Trooper Bonney here might have neglected a charge."

The woman latched onto the word 'neglected' like a life line, nodding and pointing at the officer in his khaki uniform and pristine blue tie. "See? See! I told you, you're stupid!"

Bonney seemed unfazed, but Weston saw a little twitch at the corner of the man's mouth. He seemed to have found a little humor in the situation. A good talent to have on the job. The Trooper turned toward Duval. "What did I miss?"

Duval's smile had the habit of scaring people who didn't know him.

His smiles always seemed to look like snarls.

"She opened her door into you, knocking you back. That's battery." Duval lifted a brow making his smile even more menacing.

Bonney smiled back, but he looked more like a farmboy than a menace. "I could go with Texas Penal Code 22.01 B since I'm a public servant. That would make it a third degree felony. Between two to ten yeas in prison. A fine of up to... Ten thousand dollars."

"Ten thousand?"

The woman's shriek was likely to break glass soon.

West nodded at the assessment and gestured to the woman.

Trooper Bonney nodded and this time he looked relieved.

He turned back to the woman and lifted his arm, reaching for the handcuffs he had on his belt.

"Ma'am, you've battered a law enforcement officer while he was doing his duties and have been unable to provide me with your identification, failing to disclose when given a lawful order. You are under arrest."

Her jaw dropped open, looking like it was unhinged like the rest of her personality.

"U-under arrest?"

Bonney freed his cuffs from his belt and took a step toward the woman. "Yes, ma'am. Please. Don't resist."

Her mouth worked a little as she looked from the Trooper to Weston and then on to the other uniformed Rangers.

The handcuffs in Bonney's hand caught the sunlight and the bright flash seemed to spur the woman to action. She turned her back and reached for the door of her car.

Weston barely avoided a laugh as her feet slipped on the grass and she floundered a little.

When she opened the driver's door to her car, she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder.

Bonney made quick work of handcuffing the woman.

As soon as he turned her around to head to his car, she dug her heels into the grass. "Wait! Wait! You didn't read me my rights!"

Bonney almost lifted her off of her feet to get her going again and as Dally stepped aside to give them room, she locked sights on the officer. "You know... that... Miranda thing! He didn't read that to me."

Dally turned to look at Bonney. "Planning to interrogate the woman?"

Weston saw Bonney's pained gaze. "I was kind of hoping she'd exercise the right to be silent."

Weston saw Oxy smile at that. "I think we're gonna get along real well, Trooper."

Duval opened the back door of the Trooper's cruiser. "You get many stops like this?"

Weston gave the trooper credit for protecting the woman's head from the top of the door frame and buckling her in with a minimum of fuss.

When Bonney closed the door, he turned his head to Duval and answered. "Not really. Most people answer my questions, show their documents, take the ticket and go on their way. This?" He shook his head. "This was... extreme."

Then he looked at Weston, meeting his gaze evenly. "Is there something you needed, Major?"

Weston nodded. "I was coming to find you when we saw you stopped on the side of the road. I got your application to join the Rangers. Are you still interested?"

Bonney nodded. "I put in for it. Yes, sir. I grew up on tales about the Rangers. My father and grandfather tried to join, but they didn't make it. They raised me to reach high. I want to make them proud."

Weston smiled at that. "I'm a third generation Ranger. The pressure people put on me to follow suit was... painful."

Bonney looked at him with admiration. "You made it, sir. I hope to do the same."

"Your record is impressive. I know that the State Troopers are looking at you for advancement. Do you want to stay where you are or-"

"I want to be a Ranger, sir."

Weston didn't have to look at the others to know what they were thinking. It was obvious that they liked the State Trooper.

"If you're looking to join. You can be sure you have my recommendation."

Trooper Bonney's eyes widened with a hint of shock. A moment later he held out his hand. "Sir. Thank you."

Weston shook his hand, but when they stopped, Weston continued to talk to him.

"Would you be interested in a Special Operations team? I've seen your record at the firing range. We could use your long gun skills on SWAT."

"SWAT?"

Weston nodded. "We're putting together a team in San Antonio. You're on my list for the team."

Bonney stood there looking at him as if he was frozen in time.

It wasn't quite the reaction he expected.

When he asked Duval, the other man had almost shrugged, but Duval always kept his feelings close to the vest.

The state trooper was earnest … maybe too earnest for his own good.

It was Oxy who came to the other man's rescue. "Come on, Bonney. Speak up. Or you're going to miss out on the opportunity of your career."

The trooper reached out his hand again and Weston took it in a hearty shake.

"Thanks, sir."

"Call me West. Everyone else does." He introduced the others quickly. "You'll meet Fox later, he's out at a seminar for negotiators."

The trooper nodded. "What do I need to do next?"

Weston smiled at the earnest and eager tone in the man's voice. "I'll send you an address on your phone. After your shift is over, meet us there."

"Yes, sir."

"Okay then, we'll see you later."

Weston started walking back to his Chevy, but paused when he heard a scream from the back of the trooper's vehicle.

"Let me out of here! I have things to do!"

Weston looked back over his shoulder at the other man.

The trooper's smile was a long suffering one. "I'd better get her to lock up. I doubt she's going to be compliant with them either. It's going to take a bit."

Weston whole-heartedly agreed with him.

He was glad that it wasn't his arrest so he didn't have to deal with the irascible woman.