Machine Learning (Captain Allen and DPD SWAT POV)

The Manifest

"This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine."

If anyone had the luxury of being "lucky" out there, I suppose it would've been the guy with a shitty tabletop air conditioner that was $30 on Amazon sitting on his desk. Well, card table. I wouldn't really call it a desk.

I tapped my pen against my elbow, leaning back in my chair. My office, my tent, didn't offer much in the way of privacy. But I decided to sneak a phone call, anyway.

"Do you even know how much soccer equipment costs now?"

My arms were crossed, and I smirked at the fabric ceiling that rolled in a wave from a slight breeze.

"No, but I'm not out here dodging bullets for nothin'. Just get her the damn shin guards she wants."

I yawned, leaning forward to continue reviewing the inbound shipment. I got to decide who put what where, and it was also my ass if anything went missing. I'd got hung up on something...something expensive, and unheard of.

"David, they're $139 a pair because they're Diadora. WalMart has the same kind for-"

"Sadie, if Tali wants the $139 cleats, just get her the fucking cleats."

"You're working, aren't you?"

"...No-"

"Jesus fucking Christ, Dave, you can't give me 10 fucking minutes?"

"Honey, look...I'm sorry, alright? I'll be there tomorrow, and then you can tell me I'm am asshole to my face."

"...And I still get to call you an asshole for 15 days, right?"

There was a good chance my 15 days would get cut to 96 hours. A really good fucking chance. I couldn't tell her that, though. Not after hearing her voice, the underlying excitement, the hopefulness.

Fuck, I'd missed them so much. At that point in time, it would've been easier not to see them. Not to hear from them. Just pretended they didn't exist, that I wasn't missing Tali grow up by months, or years, at a time...and that Sadie didn't have to raise her by herself.

"Yes. You and Tali are stuck with me for 15 days."

She deserved some hope for reprieve. I wasn't going to take that away from her.

"...It might be more than me 'nd Tali."

Until I wished I had.

"...What."

"Your parents are coming down from Detroit-"

"Sadie."

"And your grandparents are coming up from Atlanta-"

"Sadie-"

"Your aunt and uncle-"

"Where the hell are these people staying?"

"Hotels." She gulped, "I thought..."

She got quiet. The practiced kind. The sort of throat-squeeze I could practically hear because my anger, my lack of control, put that fear in her in the first place. Things had changed a lot since I punched that hole in the wall, 2 inches from her head, arguing about God knows what. All I remember is putting Tali in her crib, and then drinking...a lot. It'd been after the deployment when I saw a good friend of mine laying in the dirt with an unzipped stomach. Friendly fire. British missiles.

Had to stop thinking about it.

"...You did good, sweetie. It's not you, it's just..." I sighed, "Something ain't sitting right."