Chapter 41

By the time that the SBI lab boys got through with the scene, it was past midnight. I was on overtime, but I didn't mind. I was enjoying the prospect of hitting the meth lab.

"So do you want to volunteer to stay over and go on the strike team. We need to get in there before the word get out that we are on the way." Michaels said.

"You know I want to see it through to the end. I want to see what a working meth lab looks like. I only seen them on TV." I said.

"It doesn't look like this one was too large, judging from the amount in of meth in this guys car," Michaels said.

"It will still be the biggest one I have ever seen, Kind of like the first penis I saw. It was the biggest one I had ever seen," I said with a laugh.

"I got a feeling, you aren't through with drug operations," Michaels said.

I almost ask Michaels why he said that, but I didn't want anything to bring down the good feeling I had. I had been involved in a wild car chase and I got to bring a bad guy down. Of course, if I went on the drug raid, I was going to have to ride with someone else. The Bronco suffered some pretty significant metal damage.

"So if I stay, what do I do for wheels?" I asked.

"You ride with Reynolds, he is using the back up car tonight. You kind of made sure he would not be using the Bronco. By the way it was an accident you didn't intend to ram to suspect, did you?. It wouldn't look good to put lives in danger over a broken tail light." He said.

"It wasn't about the broken tail light, it was about the chase." I said. Of course it didn't feel a think like the movies. It felt better,.

"You know the drill. You don't risk your own life or the suspect's life unless you have no other choice. At least that's how you tell it, when his lawyer asks why you ran him down over a traffic stop," Michaels said.

"Sergeant, it's like this. He ran so he might have had a hostage in the car, and he might have been going to kill him or her. I had an obligation to stop him, to be sure it was just a broken tail light that I was dealing with," I said. It sounded like bull shit even to me.

"Yeah, you know the words alright," he said.

"It's the truth," I said barely able to keep a straight face.

I waited until the suspect's car was towed away, before I caught a ride back to the station with Michaels. When I went into the station, I met Sergeant Wilson. Wilson was a legend in his own mind. Even so, I was pretty sure I could get along with him. Wilson was the county;s only full time vice officer. He had men working vice now and then on temp assignment, but no one was permanent assigned because the bad guys made them pretty quick. I had no desire to work vice.

I didn't go out of my way to find him until Sergeant Michaels said that Wilson would be coordinating the assault along with SBI agent in charge. The agent in charge for the SBI seemed to changed every few weeks. This week it was an old man, at least to me he was old.

"Hey Porter," the SBI agent said.

""How did you know I was Porter?" I asked.

"Because you are the best looking one here. I was told you would be," He said trying to be cool. A womanizer no doubt, I thought.

"Anyway, it was good work that you got the delivery man stopped," he said.

"Thanks, now I looking to get approval to go on the lab take down," I said.

"I'll put in a good word for you with Wilson," he said. I wasn't impressed.

"That's okay, I'll put in my own world. Where is the sergeant?" I asked/

"Over in the break room, trying to choke down the coffee," he said.

"Okay thanks," I said but didn't mean it. I had Wilson a pointed out to me before, so I knew who he was. When I walked up to him, I was ready for anything.

"I'm deputy Silvia Porter and I'd like to go along on the raid tonight," I said.

"Porter, you are the one who ran down the drug delivery man tonight aren't you?" he asked.

"Yes I am," I said.

"And you caught the girl who was growing pot for the survivalist?" he asked.

"Yeah that was me to, I guess," I said.

"Well, it was good work for a rookie," he said.

"Sergeant, it was good work for anyone," I said.

He looked at me as though he wanted to fight. Then he asked, "Promise me you won't go all John Wayne on me, and I'll find a place for you?"

"Fair enough, you have my word, if I do go all redneck bitch, I'll only go for the bad guys." I said.

"Sounds about right," he said. Get a real vest before you go out. That thing you have on will stop a small handgun, but these guys like to play whose is bigger," he said. "Deputy Reynolds can help you out there."

I found Reynolds in the equipment room. There were only five of us from the Sheriff's office going with the strike force. But we still had our hands full. I had to draw everything from a tack vest, to a M-15 assault rifle. I had qualified with it in the air force, so I knew what to do. But I would rather have had an assault shotgun. Even the old Winchester Pump Shotguns would have been more to my liking for a night time raid. Still I was willing to go along, just to be able to go along.

I rode with Reynolds to the staging area. It was a church parking lot about a half mile from the driveway. The SBI was setting up the raid, so we all had to take our orders from them. The old man agent told me that I could stand in the rear of the house. There wasn't much chance I would be hurt there.