"You'd better be careful how you go about telling your truth, Connor," Victor snarled. "I've got enough ammunition to put you six feet under in no time."
"Try it, and I'll make sure you never work in this town again," I said in a cold voice that made Danny do a double take. I leaned down and lifted one of the moaning workers off the floor and headed out to the ambulance. "Now, let's get these people out of here. MOVE!"
I was furious at myself for losing my cool with Victor, but I was even angrier at him for costing these people their lives. He was irresponsible and reckless and he needed to be stopped before there were more deaths. I wasn't sure how I was going to approach Chief with the problem, but I knew that it couldn't wait.
"Chief, when we get back to the station, I need to talk to you," I said as I grabbed my axe and headed back in to help the guys make sure the fire was completely out before we rolled up the hoses and headed back to base. Chief gave me a funny look, then nodded as he spoke to dispatch over the radio.
I was going to keep Victor from doing any more damage, come hell or high water -- that much was absolutely certain.
#
Back at the station, I stepped into Chief's office and closed the door. It wasn't going to be easy having this conversation with him, but once it was over I wasn't going to have to worry about Victor outing me at the station anymore.
"You wanted to talk, Connor?" Chief Riley said as he looked over the schedules for the next month.
"Chief, I need to tell you something that I've been keeping to myself," I began.
"Shit, Connor, tell me this is not drug or alcohol related," Chief said as he stood up.
"No, no, nothing like that, sir," I said, shaking my head. "It's something outside of the department. Something I do on my own time, sir."
"Jesus, you're not coming out, are you?" Chief asked. "'Cause if you are, we're gonna need to bring in HR and get everyone into sensitivity training, and that's going to take scheduling."
"Chief, it's nothing like that," I said, trying to steer the conversation back to the issue at hand. "But a little sensitivity training never hurt anyone, you know."
"I know, I need to get it on the books anyway." He nodded as he bent down and made a note on his calendar. "I just didn't know how quickly I'd have to do it."
"See, sir," I said as I took a deep breath and blurted it out, "I am part owner of Chicago Security Company and we're taking on a contract to protect Richard Metzler during his upcoming run for office."
"Okay," Chief said as he stood looking at me with an expression that told me he wasn't particularly shocked or bothered by my revelation. "And you're telling me this because?"
"Because Victor Vangel has been trying to blackmail me into supporting his bid for the Lieutenant position in this station by threatening to tell everyone that I am part owner of a multi-million dollar corporation," I quickly said. "I'm tired of his threats."
"That sneaky little bastard," Chief said as he sat down in his chair and made another note on his calendar. "I'll take care of his sorry ass, don't you worry about that."
"That's just it, Chief; he's getting dangerous," I said. "Today at the fire, he didn't check the door before he opened it. I can't say if those people were still alive when he set off the explosion, but if they were..."
"I'll take care of it, Connor," Chief said with a determined look. "There's no reason to go spreading rumors or discussing this with anyone else, got it?"
"Yes, Chief." I nodded solemnly.
"And as far as your personal business goes, son, it's your personal business," he said, bracing himself on his desk. "If anyone has an issue with you doing something to better your situation outside of work, then tell them to come see me and I'll set them straight."
"Yes, sir." I smiled as I stood up and waited for him to end the meeting.
"You are free to go, Connor," Chief said as he began punching his keyboard.
I walked out of the office and back to the common room where Kelly was wrestling with Tesla as he tried to pull her stuffed elephant out of her mouth. She was wagging her tail and growling happily as he reached out and took a hold of one end of the stuffed animal and pulled. Tesla's only flaw was that when she got overly excited, she would bark. She barked, and Mike pulled the elephant away and held it over her head. Tesla crouched low and then sprang up and grabbed the toy, bringing it and Mike's arm back down to tugging level.
"Don't you ever get tired of that?" I laughed as I watched the two of them repeat the action over and over.
"Nah, she loves it!" Mike said as he growled back. If he'd had a tail, it would have been wagging a mile a minute.
"Where's Vangel?" I asked. Mike pointed out toward the bay where I could see Victor wiping down the trucks. I walked out and looked at him for a long time before speaking, "You can stop trying to blackmail me now."
"What the hell are you talking about?" he said, looking around nervously.
"You asshole, there's no one around, and even if there was, it doesn't matter anymore," I said. "Chief knows and he doesn't care."