Chapter Five: Subject Number Five
Hero Jenkins 3/6/13
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Chapter SixThree Days Later
It was a beautiful warm summer day that greeted Brandiss when he stepped out of the Police Administrative Building for the last time. His lawyer, Bryan, all four foot nine of nothing but blood, bone and tenacious lawyer nastiness exited the building and stood beside him.“I thought there were rules for days as depressing as this,” Brandiss said. “Shouldn’t it be raining or at least overcast or something?” Bryan chuckled. The press was gone and the world had moved on. Brandiss stood on the steps and watched the world go by while he decided what he should do next. Getting plastered was the leading option; in fact it was the only option that seemed viable at the moment.“Well, look on the bright side bro… we kept you out of jail,” Bryan said. Brandiss laughed.“Yeah and there’s that,” Brandiss said with a chuckle. Brandiss had been divorced a couple of years ago and his ex-wife had the house, so at least that had been safe. But he had had to sell his car and condo to settle the civil suit with his “victim”. On the bright side he did have a room at a near-by motel and oh yeah, at least he was not going to jail.“It’s the times bro,” Bryan said without looking at him. “Everybody and their momma has got a cell phone camera. You have got to be real careful these days.”Bryan was an ex-cop who himself had been fired years ago for an offence that was far worse. He had taken Brandiss’ case for next to nothing and grown to like Brandiss or at least appreciate why he had done what he did. Brandiss’ temper had gotten the best of him, it happens. But his offence had been caught on tape and after that no one cared.“Can I give you a lift somewhere?” Bryan asked. “No, but thanks… I think I want to walk a bit,” Brandiss said and then he shook his lawyers hand walked away.It was still early, way to early for a drink, but Brandiss didn’t care. His plan was to find a bar and be drunk by mid afternoon. The only thing left to decide was which bar. Brandiss wasn’t an alcoholic, in fact he rarely drank, but when he did, he typically drank too much. The good news was it wouldn’t take long for him to get blissfully falling down drunk, or was that the bad news. He settled on a dive bar in the worst part of the bad part of town called Mulligan’s. It was a favorite of all the disreputables in the area. Misery loves company and it was the only place that he could think of where people would be more depressed than he was.
The walls inside of Mulligan’s were an interesting combination of sheetrock and exposed wooden studs. The floors were threadbare carpet in most places except where it had been ripped up. Mulligan’s had been going through a renovation of sorts until the owner Vijay’s wife figured out that in America, unlike India, she didn’t have to put up with Vijay’s crap. After one beating too many she got a lawyer and then cleaned him out in the divorce. Vijay now slept on a cot in the storage room. He kept the bar open and made just enough to pay the bills, pay alimony and eat. So whatever renovations he had in mind had been put on hold.Vijay would open the doors as soon as he awoke each day so that he could take in the occasional lost soul who needed a place to sit and sulk. Vijay was behind the bar just staring out the window when Brandiss walked in. He nodded to Brandiss, but that was pretty much the extent of their interaction, he wasn’t much for conversation. He had enough problems of his own to spend his day listening to someone else’s.Brandiss positioned himself in the corner on a barstool and settled in for a long afternoon of drinking and drowning his sorrows. Unfortunately he hadn’t eaten anything all day and as noted before he was pretty much a lightweight when it came to alcohol. After only three drinks he was so intoxicated that he fell off the barstool. As he lay on the floor drooling he looked up and saw the last thing he expected or wanted to see. There was Kade standing over him looking down at him with that pitying, condescending look of hers. Kade picked up his empty glass and made a show of sniffing it.“Cosmopolitan? Really? That’s Carrie Bradshaw’s drink!”“Carrie who? What? W-What are you talking about?”“Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character on SEX AND THE CITY… Cosmopolitan’s are her drink.” “W-What… Whatever? Where’s your syringe you psycho!”“You’re not good at this getting drunk thing are you?”“I’m drunk... I think I did pretty good!”“You’ve only been here for an hour.”“Whatever,” he said again with a disgusted shake of his head. He thought about sitting up but changed his mind when the room resumed spinning. He belched and all of that vodka and cranberry juice mixed with stomach acid found its way back to his throat… the pain was excruciating. He felt dizzy, if it hadn’t been for acid reflux he would have passed out by now.“What are you doing here?” He groaned.“I followed you from the headquarters, I heard you got fired.”“Go away and leave me alone,” he snarled. “Now we both know that you really don’t mean that, especially since I am here to offer you a job.”Brandiss wanted to say something awful but instead he did the next best thing. He rolled over and threw up on her feet.***Sandwiched somewhere between the city of Playa Del Rey and Inglewood, in the county of Los Angeles, was the small town of Madrona. The citizens of Madrona, who were mainly upper middle class executives from the near by aerospace industry, had become dissatisfied with the level of service provided by the Los Angeles Police Department. They had the finances and clout to extract themselves from Los Angeles and incorporate their own city. Shortly thereafter, they formed their own police department. Brandiss was a LAPD cop who left the department to become one of Madrona’s finest. He was looking forward to finishing his career quietly in a small department that most people had never heard of and never would. After 911 the Federal Government was into forming task forces as a outreach to Local and state Law enforcement. As a result they were adamant that every department, large and small, be represented. Before he knew it Brandiss had been assigned to a special Federal Task Force attached to Homeland Security. In his half conscious state, Brandiss was remembering the night of the “incident” that had cost him his job. He remembered that he was cold and tired and despite the fact that he rarely drank, because his friends all told him that he was a mean drunk, he had decided that he owed it to himself to have a drink. His plan was to stop and pick up a little something and have himself a little drink to warm himself up inside… besides, it would help him sleep.Looking back, the day hadn’t started out great, but it hadn’t started bad either. It was his first day back after a six-month absence. He had been run over by a drunk driver in the parking lot while he was attempting to run down some guy who was plotting to explode a bomb in a near-by Mall’s food court. Brandiss had spent two months in the hospital, which was where he had met Kade. After he was released from the hospital he had spent four months in rehab. He had stayed in contact with Kade and though he had not spoken with her for a couple of days. They had been playing phone tag, but as far as he knew, the relationship was going well. Cubicle intrigue and office political drama was present in any and every organization, even law enforcement task forces. Brandiss would be the first to admit that his tolerance for it was way down. His day had taken several annoying turns and he was already in a foul mood by lunchtime. He should have known to get out before something bad happened, but he didn’t. He didn’t know it until it was too late but he had ignored all of the warning signs and he was well along the path towards personal disaster. ***
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Chapter SixThree Days Later
It was a beautiful warm summer day that greeted Brandiss when he stepped out of the Police Administrative Building for the last time. His lawyer, Bryan, all four foot nine of nothing but blood, bone and tenacious lawyer nastiness exited the building and stood beside him.“I thought there were rules for days as depressing as this,” Brandiss said. “Shouldn’t it be raining or at least overcast or something?” Bryan chuckled. The press was gone and the world had moved on. Brandiss stood on the steps and watched the world go by while he decided what he should do next. Getting plastered was the leading option; in fact it was the only option that seemed viable at the moment.“Well, look on the bright side bro… we kept you out of jail,” Bryan said. Brandiss laughed.“Yeah and there’s that,” Brandiss said with a chuckle. Brandiss had been divorced a couple of years ago and his ex-wife had the house, so at least that had been safe. But he had had to sell his car and condo to settle the civil suit with his “victim”. On the bright side he did have a room at a near-by motel and oh yeah, at least he was not going to jail.“It’s the times bro,” Bryan said without looking at him. “Everybody and their momma has got a cell phone camera. You have got to be real careful these days.”Bryan was an ex-cop who himself had been fired years ago for an offence that was far worse. He had taken Brandiss’ case for next to nothing and grown to like Brandiss or at least appreciate why he had done what he did. Brandiss’ temper had gotten the best of him, it happens. But his offence had been caught on tape and after that no one cared.“Can I give you a lift somewhere?” Bryan asked. “No, but thanks… I think I want to walk a bit,” Brandiss said and then he shook his lawyers hand walked away.It was still early, way to early for a drink, but Brandiss didn’t care. His plan was to find a bar and be drunk by mid afternoon. The only thing left to decide was which bar. Brandiss wasn’t an alcoholic, in fact he rarely drank, but when he did, he typically drank too much. The good news was it wouldn’t take long for him to get blissfully falling down drunk, or was that the bad news. He settled on a dive bar in the worst part of the bad part of town called Mulligan’s. It was a favorite of all the disreputables in the area. Misery loves company and it was the only place that he could think of where people would be more depressed than he was.
The walls inside of Mulligan’s were an interesting combination of sheetrock and exposed wooden studs. The floors were threadbare carpet in most places except where it had been ripped up. Mulligan’s had been going through a renovation of sorts until the owner Vijay’s wife figured out that in America, unlike India, she didn’t have to put up with Vijay’s crap. After one beating too many she got a lawyer and then cleaned him out in the divorce. Vijay now slept on a cot in the storage room. He kept the bar open and made just enough to pay the bills, pay alimony and eat. So whatever renovations he had in mind had been put on hold.Vijay would open the doors as soon as he awoke each day so that he could take in the occasional lost soul who needed a place to sit and sulk. Vijay was behind the bar just staring out the window when Brandiss walked in. He nodded to Brandiss, but that was pretty much the extent of their interaction, he wasn’t much for conversation. He had enough problems of his own to spend his day listening to someone else’s.Brandiss positioned himself in the corner on a barstool and settled in for a long afternoon of drinking and drowning his sorrows. Unfortunately he hadn’t eaten anything all day and as noted before he was pretty much a lightweight when it came to alcohol. After only three drinks he was so intoxicated that he fell off the barstool. As he lay on the floor drooling he looked up and saw the last thing he expected or wanted to see. There was Kade standing over him looking down at him with that pitying, condescending look of hers. Kade picked up his empty glass and made a show of sniffing it.“Cosmopolitan? Really? That’s Carrie Bradshaw’s drink!”“Carrie who? What? W-What are you talking about?”“Carrie Bradshaw, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character on SEX AND THE CITY… Cosmopolitan’s are her drink.” “W-What… Whatever? Where’s your syringe you psycho!”“You’re not good at this getting drunk thing are you?”“I’m drunk... I think I did pretty good!”“You’ve only been here for an hour.”“Whatever,” he said again with a disgusted shake of his head. He thought about sitting up but changed his mind when the room resumed spinning. He belched and all of that vodka and cranberry juice mixed with stomach acid found its way back to his throat… the pain was excruciating. He felt dizzy, if it hadn’t been for acid reflux he would have passed out by now.“What are you doing here?” He groaned.“I followed you from the headquarters, I heard you got fired.”“Go away and leave me alone,” he snarled. “Now we both know that you really don’t mean that, especially since I am here to offer you a job.”Brandiss wanted to say something awful but instead he did the next best thing. He rolled over and threw up on her feet.***Sandwiched somewhere between the city of Playa Del Rey and Inglewood, in the county of Los Angeles, was the small town of Madrona. The citizens of Madrona, who were mainly upper middle class executives from the near by aerospace industry, had become dissatisfied with the level of service provided by the Los Angeles Police Department. They had the finances and clout to extract themselves from Los Angeles and incorporate their own city. Shortly thereafter, they formed their own police department. Brandiss was a LAPD cop who left the department to become one of Madrona’s finest. He was looking forward to finishing his career quietly in a small department that most people had never heard of and never would. After 911 the Federal Government was into forming task forces as a outreach to Local and state Law enforcement. As a result they were adamant that every department, large and small, be represented. Before he knew it Brandiss had been assigned to a special Federal Task Force attached to Homeland Security. In his half conscious state, Brandiss was remembering the night of the “incident” that had cost him his job. He remembered that he was cold and tired and despite the fact that he rarely drank, because his friends all told him that he was a mean drunk, he had decided that he owed it to himself to have a drink. His plan was to stop and pick up a little something and have himself a little drink to warm himself up inside… besides, it would help him sleep.Looking back, the day hadn’t started out great, but it hadn’t started bad either. It was his first day back after a six-month absence. He had been run over by a drunk driver in the parking lot while he was attempting to run down some guy who was plotting to explode a bomb in a near-by Mall’s food court. Brandiss had spent two months in the hospital, which was where he had met Kade. After he was released from the hospital he had spent four months in rehab. He had stayed in contact with Kade and though he had not spoken with her for a couple of days. They had been playing phone tag, but as far as he knew, the relationship was going well. Cubicle intrigue and office political drama was present in any and every organization, even law enforcement task forces. Brandiss would be the first to admit that his tolerance for it was way down. His day had taken several annoying turns and he was already in a foul mood by lunchtime. He should have known to get out before something bad happened, but he didn’t. He didn’t know it until it was too late but he had ignored all of the warning signs and he was well along the path towards personal disaster. ***
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