Outside rain lashed against
the window of the small one bedroom apartment in South
Chicago. Inside, a man
peaks his out from under the covers to see the scene just on the other side
of his window.
Dammit,” he grumbles and
rolls over to stare at the ceiling.
It was 6pm- time to go to work but Jack McCoy was in no mood to
even leave his bed.
Finally, realizing that he
had little choice in the matter, he gets up. At the foot of his bed a
German Shepard eyes his
master but makes no effort to move.
“Com’on, Neo.”
The dog just stares at him.
Jack gives Neo an exasperated look, “Get up. Its not my fault we
have to work the night
shift.”
Neo heeds his master but not without first getting up to stretch and
yawn.
The two head into the kitchen for something to eat. Jack switches
on the radio that sits on
the table. The NPR news is
just starting-
“Today is May 1, 1970. The time is 6pm and this is the NPR News.
President Nixon has
declared all-out war on Southeast
Asia. GIs are being shipped out to Cambodia and the backlash
from the public to further
involvement in Southeast Asia is being felt across the U.S.. Many
interest groups are
planning protests in the coming weeks to denounce this latest military action.
In other news, the death
toll in Vietnam, today, reached-”
Jack turns it off and looks at Neo.
“Nothing but death, death, and more death.”
Neo whines his agreement.
Jack looks at his watch, “We gotta get moving!”
The squad room of the 17th precinct are fairly quiet this time of
day. Most of the head-hancos
have left and all that is
remaining is the hearty night-shift crew. Our view pans across the room
and we spot Jack McCoy
sitting at his desk busily typing out a report. At his feet lies Neo,
snoozing. Jack leaves his
typewriter for a moment and bends down to scratch Neo behind the
ears.
“Lazy,” he whispers to the dog, with a grin.
As he is about to return to his work, his partner takes a seat on
the corner of the desk.
“Ya know, Sierra, if you weren’t a girl I’d just shove you right
off onto the floor.”
The attractive, yet fearsome, brunette laughs and eyes Jack coyly,
“Oh would you? Beat up
a poor, defenseless girl?”
“Defenseless my ass. How about that 300 pound bruiser you took
down last week during
that assault?”
“Oh come on, Jack- it wasn’t even a fair fight! He couldn’t even
keep up to me when I was
walking!”
Neo sits up and begs to be petted. Sierra leans over to pat his
head.
“Hey, how are you doing today, boy?”
Jack takes his chance, “Doing quite well- you?”
Sierra smiles at him, “I was talking to the dog, not the rogue.”
“Hey, some women have told me I was a dog.”
Sierra giggles- Jack is throughly enjoying himself.
Then the mood between the two grows somber, “Jack, did you hear
about Cambodia?”
Jack nods sadly.
“Its never gonna end, is it?”
“Oh, it’ll end when we run out of people and land to bomb.”
“Ya know my brother just got drafted last month... They’re sending
him over in two
weeks.”
“Sierra... I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well not much you can do except hope they can dodge bullets
and grenades and land
mines.”
“Or run to Canada.”
“My brother would never do that. The guilt of knowing that someone
else was sent to die in
his place would be too much
for him to take.”
Jack places a hand on her shoulder, “The only reason I’m not over
there is because I went to
college when the bulk of
the draft took place and my birth date- well, lets just say the lottery is
kind to me because of it.”
“You never said you went to college.”
“Yup, University of Chicago.”
“What the Hell are you doing here, then?”
“My old man, he wanted me to go on to law school. I got accepted
to NYU but I didn’t
want to be a lawyer. I
wanted to be a cop.”
“You passed up a chance to get out of here to walk a beat in South
Chicago trying to
enforce the law on these
hippies and getting spat on for your efforts? Jack, you’re crazy.”
“Maybe... but its where my heart was and still is.”
Neo gives a little bark- no one is paying attention to him!
“Oh, I’m sorry, Neo,” Sierra resumes petting him, “He’s a
attention hound, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, and a mooch and a lazy mutt.”
Neo puts his ears down and leans closer to Sierra.
“Look! You hurt his feelings, you brute!”
Jack grabs Neo’s head and gives it a playful tousle, “You are such
a con-artist.”
“Well, they say the dog is like the owner.”
Jack gives her a hurt look, “I am offended by that! I’m a much
better con-artist than Neo!”
“Oh, really?”
“Yea, wanna scratch me behind the ears for awhile?”
Sierra is about to answer Jack when the phone on his desk rings.
Jack answers, “Officer McCoy.”
He quickly scribbles down a name and an address, “Okay. Uh huh?
Yeah, yeah. Sure. We’ll
be over in 10.”
“What’s up, Jack?”
“Report of a guy lurking around some backyards over on Court
Street.”
“I’ll get my coat.”
As she leaves Jack glances at Neo, “Looks like I’m gonna have to
wait until later to get
my ears scratched.”
He rises from his chair and puts on his jacket. Neo is up and
ready. Sierra returns.
“Lets go.”
Court Street is nothing more than a glorified alley. A police
cruiser pulls up to the curb and
parks. Jack and Sierra get
out and survey their surroundings. Neo trots behind them.
“This had better not be a prank,” grumbles Sierra.
“In this neighborhood? Feh! Sierra, I doubt we could get that
lucky.”
They walk a bit in silence. The breeze sends a pop can rattling
through the street.
Sierra glances at Jack. His black hair is doing crazy things in
the wind. She smiles, “So who
called in the report?”
“Some little old lady in 2237.”
“How come its always a little old lady?”
“Because they’re the only ones home on a Friday night in the
city.”
“True.”
They lapse back into silence. Neo runs ahead of them to chase an
alley cat.
“Neo, get back here!” Jack jogs after him, “Neo! Neo?” Jack looks
around- the dog is, all of
a sudden, nowhere to be
found.
“Jack?”
He jumps and then turns around, “Sierra, you scared the shit outta
me.”
“Sorry... Where’s Neo?”
“I’m not sure. I thought he ran in here but now-”
A trash can falls over behind them and Neo darts out. Jack lunges
out, managing to catch
Neo’s collar.”
“Gotcha!”
The dog struggles but Jack holds tight, “Oh, no you don’t”
Sierra is watching this but then, out of the corner of her eye,
she sees something move and
its definitely not a cat.
“Jack!”
“Wha-”
She hushes him and points. Neo growls.
A man is scrambling over a the fence of a nearby house. Jack looks
at Sierra and motions
her to go around to the other
side of the house- Neo and he can take care of things on this end.
Jack walks, unnoticed, almost right up behind the man. He pulls
out his weapon, “Hey,
friend- where you off to in
such a hurry?”
He whirls around and jumps Jack. Jack kicks him off without much
effort and is back on
his feet, in no time,
wielding his revolver. The attacker is on his feet, too, and makes to jump the
officer again.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Jack charges him and lands a fist square in
his stomach. He falls over,
gasping for breath. Jack
has to stop, also, to regain his balance and the man takes advantage of
this and rolls back onto
his feet. Before Jack knows it his perp is running down another alley.
Neo takes off after him.
Sierra comes to a breathless stop on the other side of the fence,
“Jack, what happened?”
“He’s making a break for it! That way!”
“Aww, dammit!”
Jack races after them. Sierra scales the fence in mere seconds and
follows Jack. In the
distance we can hear Neo
barking. Jack rounds a corner and there is the prowler, with a new
appendage on his right arm-
Neo.
Jack grins, “Good boy.”
Sierra comes up beside Jack and sees the scene. She whips out her
noisy radio, “Base we
have the suspected prowler
in custody. Are proceeding to arrest.”
The dispatcher on the other end sounds more than a little bored,
“10-4. Clear.”
“Clear.”
Jack is handcuffing the suspect, “What’s your name, friend?”
“I ain’t your friend, pig.”
There is movement in behind them, “Oh, now that’s not a very good
attitude to have.”
Jack looks over his shoulder- that voice!
“What have you managed to dreg up, Jack?”
A rather burly and brutish man shoves past Sierra- she is
indignant, “Excuse you!”
The man whips around, “You have a problem?”
“No, you do- you don’t have any manners! You could at least say
that you’re sorry for
pushing me.”
“I never apologize. Be thankful I didn’t do more than push
your wise-ass,” he hisses
menacingly.
“Just who are you?! What gives you the right-”
“I’ll show you what gives me the right!” he raises his hand but
before it can land on its
target-
“Dad! Stop!”
Sierra is instantly forgotten, “You know not to call me that
on the job!”
“And you know not to hit people but you do it any ways.”
“What are you gonna do about it, pansy?” he challenges.
Jack pulls the perp forward, “Where are you parked?”
His father blocks his path, “Where are you going?”
“I don’t want to fight.”
The elder McCoy’s eyes have turned into slits- he is enraged that
Jack isn’t rising to the
bait, “Down at the end of
the alley.”
“Okay,” Jack walks with the man in tow. As he passes his father,
he purposely hits
shoulders with him.
Sierra wordlessly follows Jack but won’t take her eyes off the
other McCoy- she doesn’t
trust him.
“Jack, who is that man?”
she asks once she has caught up with her partner.
“My father- he must of
heard about the arrest over the radio.”
“You’re related to that... that thing?”
“Yes, and it would behoove you to keep your mouth shut about him
for now.”
“But, Jack, he’s-”
“Please, just do it.”
Neo is back beside Jack again, whining- he has no love for Jack’s
father, either.
Jack feels the presence of someone behind him- the old man.
“I don’t know why you have that animal,” he comments with disgust.
“Well, it was a logical thing- I was raised by an animal so I go
lonely for animal company
once I moved out,” Jack
growls.
His father’s hand shoots out and grabs Jack’s shirt collar. Neo
bares his teeth and growls at
this. Sierra takes the man
from Jack and stands back.
“On second, thought- girly be a dear and take your suspect back to
your own car. I have a
lesson to teach.”
“No, I’m no-”
Jack looks her in the eye, “Go,” he implores, “And take Neo with
you.”
Sierra is torn but finally starts to leave. Neo won’t go with her,
though.
Jack sees this, “Go on, Neo. Go with Sierra. You’ve done a good
job.”
Neo, reluctantly, obeys his master’s wishes goes with Sierra but
looks back, sadly, one final
time.
The next night, Sierra gets to work early, hoping to talk to Jack
before they head out but he
is late. Neo whimpers.
“I’m worried, too, boy.”
A half-an-hour later, Jack drags himself in. He is sporting a
split lip. Sierra immediately
runs to him with Neo hot on
her heels.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Jack! He hit you!”
“And I hit him, so?”
“But it must hurt.”
“I’ve learned to deal with it. It’s the price I have to pay to do
want.”
“But isn’t he proud that you’re such a good cop?”
“I didn’t do what he wanted me to do, so no, he isn’t.”
Jack takes a seat at his desk and looks at his mail. One letter is
from police headquarters.
He opens it and reads.
“Heh... I made detective.”
“You, finally, made rank?”
“Yeah...,” he sadly lays the letter down, “Ya know most people
would run to their parents
to tell them the good news.
Me... I dread telling mine.”
Sierra places a hand on his shoulder and Neo puts his head on
Jack’s knee.
After a few moments, Jack jerks his head up, “Hey, what you doin’
tomorrow night?”
Sierra is shocked by this sudden change in mood, “Aw... Nothing, I
think.”
“You wanna go see a movie?”
Sierra is more than a little surprised, “Sure,” she finally gets
out.
“Great... I’ll pick you up at your place around, say, sevenish,
okay?”
“Sure.”
The phone rings. Jack picks it up, “Detective McCoy, speaking.”