#youlikeit - BLACKBIRD book 1

2. russell

Back to the SCU office and waiting for Fred to bring their takeout lunch, smiles were far from trending. Yes, the meeting had gone better than expected, and the Commissioner himself had appointed them to stay on the case. But that didn't change the situation. They were still helping to arrest three abused girls manipulated into committing murder, and sending a bright but frail kid to juvie, while his four partners in crime would get nothing but a scolding. And somebody was still hiding in the shadows, brainwashing kids to turn them into killers.

The BEB group had been closed after Ben Tindermann was caught, of course. Tanya and Kurt had downloaded enough of it to keep digging into the members anyway, but now they had no way to keep track of what they were up to.

"This is just not right," said Ron with a heartfelt sigh, not for the first time.

"Yeah, Fred's taking too long," grumbled Kurt, and looked surprised when the others glared at him.

"I mean, we're sending a bullied little genius to juvie, and trying to arrest three abused girls for murder."

"We're discussing ethics here, Ron," Gillian replied, not for the first time either. "They can be victims, but they also chose to commit a crime."

"Being teens is not an excuse. They can tell right from wrong alright," said Aldana. "Especially about something so radical as life and death."

Before Ron could reply, a potent voice thundered across the office. "HELLO SCU!"

They all turned to the open door, not believing their eyes when they saw the man coming in with Fred.

"Russ!" cried Gillian.

"Fed in the building! Evacuate!" cried Hank, as Ron hugged the man.

"Jeez, guys! It's been a hell of a while!" laughed the man, patting Ron's back. He turned to Hank. "And what's with you, huh? Weren't you DEA not a year ago, you grumpy nerd?"

Russell Coleman was forty-five, but his mixed blood of white and African-American kept him looking always thirty-something. Shaved head, perfect goatee, with an attractive kind of fit body, he wore jeans and a long-sleeved tee. He had been a cop back in the last century, as they liked to say, until he'd left the force to join the FBI. And he probably was the only federal agent that was welcome whenever he walked into any office of the Boston PD.

Even Tanya and Kurt, too young to know him from his cop years, welcomed him with bright grins. Russell greeted them and then turned to Aldana and Gillian.

"Now we need to wait in line to get a hug?" asked Aldana, and Russell rounded her waist, laughing as she threw her arms around his neck. "Hello, lover!"

"I think I heard a dozen women calling him that on our way here," Fred said.

He left Gillian for last, and their long tight hug made the others whistle as usual. Gillian and Russell had met at the Academy about twenty-five years earlier and he'd been Gillian's first partner in Homicide. Despite his changing sides, as many used to tease him, and that he worked mostly in DC, he and Gillian had stayed close friends over the years. And whenever he was in Boston, they would get together as many times as they could.