Page 30 of Ranger's Rise

My piece clicks. “Team Two Clear, Ops.”

“Roger, Team Two,” Vick answers, but doesn’t give them an order. I look at Cort.

“They’re here until Security walks out, Vick.”

“Roger, Boss. I’m on with the warden. The inmates are locked down, but they’re short guards until the replacements pull in. I have a fifteen-minute window.”

He’s swinging his head again. “Good job, Team Two. You’re here and follow the Security Team out.”

“Roger, Boss. Team Two standing readied and on the side, Ops.”

“Roger, Team Two,” Vick answers right away.

“Vick, take us out of Ops.”

“I have you and Ranger on, Boss.”

Since we’re still sitting, I put a new clip in the MP. I still have rounds, but like knowing I’m not keeping count.

“What the fuck is going on in Ops?”

“The trainer came in with a trainee and VP switched with Ranger. The trainer didn’t pick it up and add him to the lineup in audio. I had his cams and everything ran as if he was hearing us. When I called the warden, the city had a shooting and Jinx was engaged. The warden wouldn’t shut the fuck up and I have Anton on IT. There’s no one else in the room to talk to the warden.”

“The As use the chat, Vick. They can make the calls and don’t need to talk. Anton’s done it before with the warden. He’s a whiny dicktwat that no one wants to talk to.”

“Roger, Boss. Anton is nodding here. I didn’t run the last inmate fiascos so I didn’t know and dropped that. I’ll make sure Team Two knows and keep it in mind when the room is busy.”

“Is IT fully staffed?”

“Roger, Boss. With only two Control Leads I didn’t want to pull anyone off surveillance. Coverage wasn’t interrupted for the four Clubs.” Smart.

“Good job, Vick. We’ll talk about more Ops coverage when I get in. We’re on the side.”

“Roger, Boss.”

“Mic,” he says. I hit it off and he points to my side. “You good?”

I nod. “It felt numb, so I was checking. I assumed pain where it’s not.”

He nods. “Keep moving. You’ll feel it more tomorrow, but keep moving today.”

“Not a problem, Boss.”

He hits his mic. “Vick, is there a mule truck here yet?”

“Roger, Boss, just outside the gate. I didn’t want to keep the warden on longer.” He makes me smile.

“Roger,” Cort says and we roll to the outside gate to the supply truck.

Once we’re reloaded, Cort says we’re going to visit Rex. “You grew up in a Club, did you live in the city?”

“No, Boss. We lived on a compound. It was a neighborhood just outside the Club compound that was guarded. Two miles in between us, we had a village like the one outside town, but bigger. Growing up, I went to the school and did shit in the village and didn’t know it was all covered by the Club. When I could ride to school and the Kids Club, I learned the Club controlled everything around us. We had jobs on surveillance and we were connected into Ops. Other jobs had us helping in the village. I was maybe twelve at the time.”

He nods. “The whole neighborhood was guarded?”

“Yeah, Boss. Officers lived there. The Brothers lived at the Club or in the village. Our school wasn’t public either.”

“What do you mean?”