Beneath the Mask

Beneath the Mask 52

Written by: J.P.G.

{"Beneath the Mask" is pure fiction. As I am writing this story, I am above the age of 21. If you want a story with lots of sex, look elsewhere. This is a love story. Seeing, as it is a love story, sex is in there, but it is in realistic balance in the characters' lives.

Any similarity to any real events, names, or life events is purely accidental. If you're underage, (according to your state laws, a minor), if this literature is offensive to you or to anyone around your viewing area, or it is illegal for you to view such content where you're reading it, stop reading the story.

This story cannot be distributed in any way, shape or form without author's express written consent.}

Story Written by: J.P.G.

Editor: "Daddy" Rick

Editor: Trevor

I have a home page for you to see what the characters look like or what the places look like. If you want to walk in their shoes, please go to: http://jacobmillertex.com/

Chapter 52

Wanting to make sure he was composed before rejoining the others outside in the waiting room, Alex splashed some more water on his face. Before he was able to dry his face, the restroom door busted open and several uniform police officers rushed in. Alex turned and before he could say a word, one of the officers threw him to the ground, face first.

One of Alex's security agents ran in-between the remaining officers and the officer that had his knee into Alex's back. He demanded answers on what they were doing. However, none of the officers answered him. They tried to push the security agent out of the way, but he refused, which got the officers upset.

Seeing that one of their own was being manhandled, the other security agents assigned to Alex walked in joining their fellow agent. When the officers saw that they were in a standoff, they reached for their weapons, but didn't pull them out. They remembered where they were and didn't want to make the wrong move and innocent people to get hurt.

"If you guys don't want to get arrested along with this thug, you will step aside." One of the officers finally spoke as he held out his hand to keep the other officers from charging at them as they did Alex. "We only want that thug..." The officer pointed down at Alex. "No one else so please, step aside and let us do our job without any problems from you guys."

"I'm sorry but that is not going to happen unless we get more of an explanation on what is going on here." The head of Alex's security looked down at his guy and didn't see a thug laying there as the officer called him. "My client hasn't done anything wrong. In fact, he did your job out there earlier and I believe that's what all this is about. You guys are angry for being shown up, which my client and his friends didn't mean to do. They just wanted to make sure their friends that were trapped in that truck came out alive and safe."

"You have no idea what you're talking about sir, so please shut your mouth. This guy was born a thug and no matter how he dresses or tries to act, he will always be one. It runs in his family's blood." The officer walked over to the head of Alex's security. "He attacked an innocent person in this very restroom just moments ago. Due to that, he has to be taken into custody."

Not meaning to, Alex's head of security laughed at hearing Ashton being called an innocent person. These officers have no idea who they are talking about because if they did, they wouldn't have used the word innocent when describing Ashton. No one that knows that kid would ever use that word to describe him.

"Listen, you need to check your facts before throwing allegations like you're doing here. The guy you're claiming that my client attacked has been on the run for a while now after killing several of your own officers if I am not mistaken." The head of security looked at the officer with a slight grin on his face. "At the same time this same guy we are talking about tried to kill Alex several times since he escaped. He even went to his home and threatened his younger brothers. So when he saw Ashton here, his mind went into protect mode and he did what any other person would have done in his shoes."

"Any other person in his shoes would have gone looking for an officer, not pulled the guy into a restroom and assaulted him physically."

"That's funny. Go looking for an officer? Where were you guys when they needed you an hour ago to get their friends out of the truck? I will tell you where, in your cruisers with your thumbs up your asses, that's where. You guys refused to help then, what makes you think that he thought that you guys were going to help him now? I can tell you there was no way he would have trusted you guys after how you treated them earlier today."

The officer had enough of the talk. He wanted Alex and he didn't care what he had to do to get him into custody. "Look I'm not going to sit here and try to explain procedure to you rent-a-cops. Either step out of the way or I will put handcuffs on you as well and book you and whoever else stands in our way along with this thug."

Alex's head of security had enough of hearing his client being called a thug. He reached down to pull Alex up from the ground, but before he could even reach Alex's shoulder, he was face first into the ground. At that point, the other agents stepped in and were about to do what they were trained to do when the head of security asked them to stand down.

The other agents were stunned with their boss lying on the ground, but they did what they were asked to do. They stepped aside to allow the officers to pull up Alex and their boss. Once they were on their feet, the officer placed them both in handcuffs before searching their bodies. They didn't find much on Alex except his wallet and keys. However, on the agent they pulled out two weapons, which he was licensed to carry.

Matt and Francesca came running in just as they turned Alex around to walk him out of the restroom. Matt demanded to know what was going on, and just like the security agents, he didn't get an answer at first. When Matt asked the second time, all he got was `get out of the way'. He refused to step out of the way until he got an answer to his question.

Afraid that the officers were going to arrest his boyfriend like they did his head of security, Alex spoke up. "Matt, please step aside so you don't end up in handcuffs like me." Matt looked at Alex like he was out of his mind. "Please Matt, please do this for me. I don't want you sitting beside me on this ride. Please do this, PLEASE!"

Hesitantly Matt did what his boyfriend asked him to do. "I am going to get you out of there as soon as humanly possible." Matt started to yell, as Francesca stood there crying seeing her son being taken out in handcuffs. "I am going to go to Jacob and ask him to do whatever he does to..."

"No don't go to him, he has done far too much for me already." Alex interrupted Matt before he was able to finish his thought. "We have to do this on our own. Please Matt, don't go to him and ask him to get me out of another jam I put myself in. Just take the money we have saved and bail me out of jail when a bond is set." Not liking it, but understanding why Alex was asking that, he reluctantly agreed.

The officers pushed Alex and his head of security out of the restroom with Matt, Francesca and the other agent's right behind them. When they reached the entrance of the ER, Francesca noticed that her son's right leg was bleeding. It wasn't just a little blood like you get from falling down from your bike, it was a lot.

"Hold on there, my son needs medical attention before you take him." Francesca tapped one of the officers on his shoulder and pointed out her son's leg. "You guys can't take him out of here until he is checked by a doctor."

The officer that seemed to be in charge looked down at Alex's leg and then over to his mother shaking his head. "It's just a scrape that more than likely he got when he was assaulting that guy in the restroom. When he gets booked downtown he will be seen by the doctor there."

Matt wasn't about to let this one go. His boyfriend was hurt and a blind man could see that the injury to the leg didn't happen when he was fighting with Ashton in the restroom. The way the jeans were torn and the amount of blood, the injury could have only happened to Alex when he was trying to get Thomas and Tom out of their truck under the semi.

"I don't think so sir. Look, I mean really look at his leg. There is no way that was done by a fist fight in a restroom." Matt pointed down at Alex's leg as he looked at the officer in charge. However, he could see that he was not getting anywhere with this guy. By the look on the officer's face, he was not willing to even give the benefit of the doubt to Alex.

"I don't care if his leg is coming off! I am not obliged to have him seen here since this is not the county hospital. If he is really hurt and the medical staff at the county jail can't take care of him, they will take him down to Thomas Hospital. My job is to arrest thugs like this guy to keep society safe. So if you don't mind, let me do my job."

Francesca raised her hand to slap the officer that was calling her son a thug, but Matt caught her hand in midair. The officer raised his hand with one finger extended, shaking it back and forth along with his head. He didn't say a word, but the look on his face said it all. He wanted Francesca to try it again and actually connect so he could arrest her as well, but she didn't. She saw the same look and wasn't going to give this guy the satisfaction.

The officers got Alex and his head of security out of the building and into separate patrol cars. Just as they closed the door to Alex's car, Ashton was being rolled out of the hospital on a gurney. He looked over at Alex and flipped him off as he laughed. Matt saw the whole thing and wanted to go over and beat the living hell out of Ashton, but he didn't. It took all of his strength not to, but he didn't because he was needed out here to help his boyfriend.

As the police cruiser pulled away, Matt and Francesca went running to their SUV. They quickly got in and rushed to the Westside police station. When they arrived, they walked in and went straight to the information desk to see if Alex had been brought in yet. The officer that was assigned to the desk informed Matt and Francesca that they hadn't arrived.

Matt had a funny feeling in his gut, but ignored it. He walked Francesca to the seats in the lobby and they sat down. That funny feeling he had in his gut got stronger and stronger as the minutes turned into an hour and Alex hadn't been brought in yet. After an hour and half of waiting, Matt had enough of it. He got up and made his way back to the information desk to see what the hell was taking so long. This time there a sergeant sitting there, instead of the officer.

"Sir my mother and I have been sitting here for over an hour and a half for information on Alejandro Garcia. The officer that was sitting here when we first walked in, promised to come out and tell us what was going on as soon as he knew anything, but nothing. As I said we have been waiting for over an hour and a half. We want to know what is going on. Where is Alex and why hasn't he been brought here yet?"

The desk sergeant typed something into his computer, looked at the screen, typed again, looked at the screen and then up at Matt. "Young man I have no record in here of this Alejandro Garcia. If there was an arrest made as you said an hour and a half ago, he should already be in the system, but it isn't. Maybe you're mistaken and there wasn't any arrest."

Matt had enough of all the games that were being played. He did what Alex asked and kept calm, but this is the last straw for him. "Several officers walked in to Providence hospital and arrested Alex on a charge of assault, which was bullshit and they knew it. Then when they were pulling him out, they arrested his head of security for doing his job." Matt gave the sergeant the head of security's name. "We left right after they did. Even if somehow we drove a quicker route than your officers from there to here, they should already be here. I want to know what in the hell is going on and I want to know right now!"

The sergeant started to type really quickly in the computer. When his search came up with nothing, he asked Matt to hold on. Not waiting for a response from Matt, the sergeant walked to the back and didn't return for almost ten minutes. The whole time he was gone, the bad feeling in the pit of Matt's stomach was getting worse by the second.

"Sir, we have no record at all of an arrest you're describing. There is no call in from any officer of an arrest being made at Providence Hospital at all, which is procedure when an arrest is made. So I am sorry, but I think someone is playing some kind of joke on you. When you find out who it is, make sure you tell them that if we find out who they are, they are going to be arrested for impersonating an officer."

Matt looked over at Francesca trying to figure out how he was going to explain that her son, his boyfriend, was not arrested by the police. It was nothing but a joke. He turned and started to walk back to Francesca and just as he was about ten feet away, a bell went off in his head. He remembered something that he was kicking himself in the butt for not remembering. Turning around, he walked back up to the sergeant.

"Sir what about Ashton, um Ashton, what the hell is his last name." Matt started to hit his head, trying to knock out Ashton's last name. "Ashton, Ashton, um damn it, Ashton Rocha, yeah Ashton Rocha. What about him? He was arrested at the same time and I am sure that your officers wouldn't lose him since he killed several of your officers."

The sergeant started to type again in his computer, but came up empty. This time when he got up and ran to the back, he didn't ask Matt to hold on. Not even two minutes later, the sergeant returned with several other officers with him. Matt could tell the other officers were high ranking officers by the way they were presenting themselves.

They asked Matt to go over what had happened at the hospital. Not leaving a thing out, Matt told the officers everything he knew from the moment they arrived at the hospital till the arresting officers drove away. Every time they heard the name Aston being repeated, Matt could tell it touched a nerve. He also could tell that they had no idea that Ashton was spotted.

When Matt was done, one of the officers that came up with the sergeant started to bark out orders to all of his officers. He wanted to know where all his officers were at. If any of them didn't answer their radio right away, he wanted that officer found and brought in. On top of that, he wanted all roadblocks near Providence hospital notified that Ashton was seen in that area.

Meanwhile, downtown El Paso the Mayor fought his way through the press to get to his office. The press demanded answers on why the police and the fire department didn't react the way they should have dealing with the major accident on I-10 earlier in the day. The Mayor kept saying he was going to hold a press conference in an hour or two, until then no comment. That didn't make the press happy, but they knew they had no other choice but to accept it.

Once the Mayor got into the building, he demanded answers himself. The two assistant police chiefs were there and tried to give him answers, but they were butting heads so much, it made things worse. As they tried to brief the Mayor, the phone rang. The Mayor wasn't going to answer it at first, but when he was told who it was, it put the phone on speaker. On the other end was the precinct commander of the Westside police department.

"Mr. Mayor we have a huge problem here sir. Ashton Rocha was not only spotted at Providence Hospital here on the Westside, but he was arrested." The major interrupted. "Good, finally we have something going right. With that news, I might be able to push off the screw up that you guys did on not doing your damn jobs on the second story in the news cycle."

"I'm afraid sir we can't do that." Mayor Richardson slumped down in his seat. He prepared himself for some more bad news. "We have been able to confirm that Ashton was taken into custody by several of our officers, but that was not radioed into dispatch. At this time not only we don't know where Ashton Rocha is, but we have four officers unaccounted for."

"What the hell is going on in this police force? Are all you officers worse than those you arrest." Mayor Richardson slammed his fist against his desk. "The next words out of your mouth sir better no be that you believe the officers in question are taken the law into their own hands. They better not be somewhere disposing of this kid, because if they are. Well, just let me tell you those officers will not see the light of day for the rest of their lives."

"Sir I am afraid they might be doing that."

"Son-of-a-bitch, what in the world is going on here? You find those police officers and find them now. I want them in custody along with Ashton Rocha. If that kid is dead, I want those officers in front of a judge the minute they are taken into custody." Mayor Richardson looked at the two assistant chiefs and wanted to throw them out of his window because of the blank looks on their faces. They looked as dumb as a post standing there in front of him.

"Sir, again I am sorry, but I have even more bad news to deliver. Not only did the officers in question take Ashton into custody, but they took two civilians into custody as well." The Mayor hated to ask who they were, but knew he needed to know. "Alejandro Garcia and his head of security were arrested at the hospital as well. We don't really know why the officers arrested them except to keep them quiet about Ashton. It was Alejandro who first saw Ashton at the hospital and was the one that took him down."

That was it, the Mayor had enough. He got up from his seat and started pacing back and forth, trying to figure out what was going on here. If it wasn't one thing going wrong, it was another. To make matters worse for him all the things that are going wrong are being caused by those that are sworn to up hold the law.

"Mayor Richardson, I am aware of the arrest of Alejandro Garcia." One of the assistant chiefs finally spoke, pulling the Mayor out of his thoughts. "My assistant was notified about what happened at the hospital and called me. I gave the order to arrest Alejandro in hopes that he won't sue the city if we dropped the charges against him."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Mayor Richardson yelled as he walked up to the assistant chief that gave the order to arrest Alex. "Not only you didn't save us from a lawsuit for not doing our job, but you just opened us up for even a larger one. These guys have an iron clad lawsuit against the city for us not doing our jobs. We can't afford to give them any more dammit!"

The Mayor walked over to the window and just looked out to the sea of reporters. "Gentlemen, I even know about the threats Ashton Rocha made towards Alejandro Garcia and his family. Hell this whole mess with Mr. Rocha started with him shooting up El Paso High School because he wanted Mr. Garcia. Mr. Garcia put his life on the line to end that standoff. We are very lucky he hasn't sued us for that yet.

Then, Mr. Rocha went after Mr. Garcia's family. If I was in his shoes, I would have done the same thing if I saw the guy that tried to kill me and my family, walk in where I was at. The only thing that would be going through my mind is protect my family and that is exactly what he did in that restroom." Mayor Richardson turned around and walked to his chair.

"You do what you need to do to locate those officers. If you need anything else from any of the other precincts, just say the word and you will have it." The Westside precinct commander thanked the Mayor and hung up the phone. "You two get the hell out of my office, but don't go very far. I might need to call you guys, and I don't want to be looking for you."

The two assistant chiefs nodded their heads as they walked out of the office, As soon as they were gone; the Mayor sat down and dialed a number. A few rings later, a female's voice came over the line. He cleared his throat and asked to speak with Mr. Falster. Not even a minute later, the Captain was on the phone.

"Mr. Falster I am sorry for disturbing you this evening, but I have a huge problem down here. I don't know if what's going on here in El Paso is on your news down there, but I need to ask you for your answer now about the job you were offered this morning. I know I promised to give you the weekend to talk it over with your family, but things have changed. I need a new fresh face here to help show things are going to be better and I need that face NOW!"

"Mayor Richardson I was just telling my wife when the phone rang that it was probably going to be you on the other end. We have been watching the news and you're right, you're in a pickle down there. So many things went wrong today I don't even know where to start to tell you what can be done to fix things.

With that said, I have spoken with my wife and kids and they have left it up to me to decide what I am going to do. I know they hate this little town and would probably like El Paso better than here. Therefore, to make them happy and go into a job where I know I can do some good, I accept your offer to become your next chief of police."

The Mayor almost jumped out of his seat with joy. Finally he got some good news. "Sir you don't know how much the answer you gave me is going to make things easier for me. Now the next question I am going to ask might throw you off, but I need to ask it. Can..."

"Sir, there is no need to ask it. If it is okay with you, I would like to fly in tonight and get right down to business reformatting the police department. I have a lot of work ahead of me, and the faster I get started the better it will be. Plus, I already told my boss at the prison that I won't be returning to work. Today was my last day with the prison department."

"That is good, very good indeed! I will have a plane ticket purchased under your name and waiting for you as soon as you get to the airport. When you arrive here, I will have a car waiting for you to bring you to my office. There is so much more that has happened that the press doesn't know. Once they do, I am afraid things are going to get a lot worse."

By the tone of the Mayor's voice, Mr. Falster knew whatever he wasn't saying is bad. He didn't ask, he just told the Mayor that he will be there as soon as he could and hung up the phone. Mrs. Falster knew that her husband was leaving tonight, so she went to their room and started to pack his bags. She wanted him to have everything he needed for a long stretch of time.

"James I have everything pretty much packed for you." Catherine spoke when she felt her husband's arms around her waist. "When you get to El Paso, you're going to need to pick up a few things, but not a lot." She turned around and looked straight into James' eyes. "You promise me that you're going to take care of yourself until we get down there. I want you to eat and not work every minute of every day. Do you understand?"

James nodded his head as he lent in to kiss is wife on the lips. "Now let's get you down to the airport so you can get to El Paso and clean up that police department. They really need someone like you right now." Catherine turned and started to close the suitcases. When she tried to pick them up, James gently brushed her hands away from them.

"You make sure the kids do what they are supposed to do. The last time we moved, they started to slack off here at home and at school because they knew we were moving. They thought that they were never going to attend that school again, so they didn't need to do their work. Their grades suffered, and we can't have that again."

"I know sweetheart, I know! We learn from our mistakes and this time I am going to keep on top of them. So don't worry about us, just worry about what you have to do down there. Your plate is already full and you can't afford to take your eye off the ball."

"Thank you, I love you so much." James leaned in and kissed his wife once more on the cheek before taking the suitcases to the front door. "I don't know how in the world I was so lucky to get you, but I'm glad that it happened. I'm glad you said yes you would marry me because I am who I am today because you have been on my side."

Catherine turned all shades of red. She loved it when her husband said words like that to her, but didn't like that she couldn't come back and say anything like that to him. They kissed once more before they loaded the car with the suitcases. Once they were done, they walked in and left a note for their two boys before leaving.

When they arrived at the airport, James had to run to the gate in order not to miss his flight. He had to say a quick goodbye to his wife, which he didn't like, but he made it right as they were about to close the doors. The flight attendants didn't like the last minute arrival, but they were given heads up that it might happen. Mayor Richardson not only booked the flight himself, but he made it clear that the guy needed to be on that flight.

The whole flight to El Paso, James mapped out the structure of the police force. He'd never seen a structure this way, but knew he has to keep it. However, he knew he didn't have to keep those that were in the structure if he felt they were doing more harm than good by staying in their positions. At the end of the day, James knows he isn't being hired to make friends. He's being hired to clean up a dirty police force by any all means within the law.

As promised when he landed, there was a car waiting for him. Several uniformed police officers were there to greet him. It didn't take long for James to figure out that the officers had no idea why he was there. All they knew is that they were ordered to escort him from the airport to the Mayor's office as quickly as they could.

After loading up his bags, they were off. James has never been to El Paso, so the whole ride to the mayor's office downtown; he looked out the window of the car. It was dark and he really couldn't see things in detail, but he did see some things by the city lights. He heard it was the fifth largest city in Texas, but didn't believe it until now.

When James arrived at the mayor's office and got out of the cruiser the press corps ignored him. He was able to walk right past them without them really asking him any questions. Once he got inside the building, the officers that met him at the airport showed him to the mayor's office. He didn't have to wait; he was taken right in.

Mayor Richardson stood up from his seat when he saw Mr. Falster and walked over to him. "It is great to finally meet you in person Mr. Falster." The Mayor extended his hand and James shook it. "Again I'm sorry for all this, but I need my new chief of police in position as of yesterday. There is a mess here and the only one that can really fix it is you, our new chief of police."

The Mayor turned around and introduced the city manager, the city council and Judge Harold Evans. "I wanted to have a big ceremony swearing you in, but circumstances are not going to allow. I'm sorry for that! I hope you don't mind." James answered no. "That doesn't mean that we're not going to have the ceremony, because we are. We just need to get you sworn in so you can get to work. That's why Judge Evans is here."

James turned and looked at Judge Evans and something told him that he was going to be a very close ally of his. "I understand everything that is going on, so don't worry, do what you need to do. When the day comes that you want to do the ceremony, my family and I will be there." James turned and looked at the Mayor.

"Good then let's get the swearing in done so we can get right down to business okay?"

Everyone in the office stood up and made their way to the middle of the room. They stood either to the right or to the left. James took his place in the middle and the Mayor and Judge Evans in front. Judge Evans asked James to raise his right hand and place his left on the Bible. Once he did that, Harold asked him to repeat after him. In less than five minutes, the city of El Paso had a new chief of police. When Harold was done, the room broke into applause as they congratulated James on becoming their new chief.

Mayor Richardson didn't waste any time after the swearing in of his new chief of police. He asked the city council and the city manager to wait for him outside so he could have a few moments alone with James. They were warned earlier that he was going to ask for this time when they first got there, so they didn't question his request. Quickly they got up and left the office.

"Okay I need to cover a couple of things with you before we face the press." James looked at his watch and thought to himself that it was too late to be giving a press conference, but it didn't faze the Mayor. "The reason I had Judge Evans stick around is because the next subject I am going to talk about is a huge black eye to your department and the sheriff's.

Less than a week ago, Judge Evans here had no other choice but to release a convicted felon from jail because the district attorney's office didn't turn over some evidence during the trial. He did it because that is what the law required. However, he believed that once this individual got tried again, he would have been convicted even with the evidence that wasn't handed over."

The Mayor looked over at the Judge for a few seconds and then back to James. "Now here is the problem that came from that. Right away the convict returned to his old ways and went after one of his former gang members at his high school. He ended up killing students and police officers before he was brought down by the very guy he went in to kill."

James read about this, so he didn't need to be briefed unless there was some detail he was unaware of that was not released to the press. "With all due respect, I am going to stop you there because I know time is of the essence here. I am aware of Mr. Ashton Rocha and everything he has done from when he was released from jail. Believe it or not, what has been going on down here has been reported on in full detail all over the state of Texas. This guy killed cops at the school, as well as students. He escaped by killing two more sheriff's deputies.

He is a very bad guy that needed to be caught as of yesterday." James looked at the Mayor to see if he is making himself heard. By the look on his face, he is getting through. "Somehow he has been able to elude the road blocks since his escape and continues to cause problems. He will be one of my number one priorities to deal with as soon as I take care of my staff."

"Mr. Falster I know this is the first you and I have met and talked, but I need to make one thing clear to you." Harold leaned forward. "For what this guy has done since he was released from jail, I blame myself. I am the type of judge that follows the law to the T, and for that reason and that reason is why I overturned the conviction. Now seeing what he has done since then has made me sick to my stomach. All these people he has killed are on me. I will never forgive myself."

"What Rocha did is not on Judge Evans, no matter how much he wants to blame himself. He did his job, and no one can ever say otherwise." Mayor Richardson gave Harold a look that told him to stop blaming himself. "Here is the problem we are in right now Mr. Falster. Ashton has been arrested, but we don't know where he is right now."

The Mayor explained what happened at the hospital in complete detail. James sat there stunned by what he was hearing. He couldn't believe that several officers are not only taking the law into their own hands, but took two innocent individuals along with them. There was no reason for any of this to happen, but yet with what he has heard about this department, it wasn't a total surprise.

"Mayor Richardson I think I need to get to work here." James got up from his seat, followed by the Mayor and Harold. "The faster I deal with my staff, the faster I can get out there and find these officers that are breaking the law before anything bad happens to the two innocents they have pulled into this mess. So let's get the press conference taken care of and then take me to my staff that I asked to be here as soon as I arrived."

"Every high commander from your two assistant chiefs down to your sergeants are in our larger conference room down the hall. As soon as we finish with the press, I will introduce you to them so you can set forth your agenda on how you want the department to run from this date forth, okay." James nodded as they walked out of the office.

No one said a word as they made their way down the hallway and out the front door to where the podium was set up. The minute the press corps saw them, lights were turned on and they rushed the podium, but were stopped by the officers standing there. The Mayor waited until the press settled and stopped asking questions before he spoke.

"I know it's late, but I had to wait for the last person I needed to arrive for this press conference." The Mayor spoke in his campaign way of talking. "Our police force is corrupt and we don't know where it ends. All we know is that our former chief of police has been charged with several felonies and there are still a lot more to come. He has been part of this police force since he got out of the military in his mid-twenties.

The reason I am saying that is because we don't know if he learned what he was doing from the commanders that came before him, or it started during his administration. Whenever it happened, we can't be certain where the corruption stops. Because of that, the city council, the city manager and I met and decided to change how our chief of police is selected.

As you know, your city council voted in one voice to make the chief of police position an appointed and not an elected position. Several procedures have been put in place to make sure those in charge that select the chief of police can't put a corrupt one back into office, a friend or family member. Hopefully with the changes that were put into place, the future chiefs of this city will never again be able to soil that office.

There is so much wrong with our police force right now, I don't even know where to begin to fix it. What happened early this morning is a prime example of what I am talking about. Our officers, EMTs and firefighters are trained to be put their lives on the line for the citizens of this city, but they didn't. They stood back and allowed citizens to do their jobs, and that I will not have while I am Mayor.

Therefore I looked outside of our police force and offered the position of chief of police to an individual that has no ties to our city. We need an outsider to come in and clean up the huge mess we have here, but not just any outsider. We need a person that has shown that he has the ability to come into a mess and do just that! I know I found just that person in our new chief of police."

The Mayor looked over at Mr. Falster so the press knew who he was talking about. "Let me introduce to you, ladies and gentlemen, the new police chief of El Paso County, James Falster. He has a working history that shouts out that he is a man that can get the job done here and clean up the mess that has been around for years."

James walked up to the bank of microphones with flashes of light from the still cameras going off all around him. "Over the next few days, I will take the time to sit with each and every one of you so you can get to know me. Through you, the people of this fine city will get to know their new chief of police. At the same time, I will have an open door policy for any citizen, no matter who they are to come and talk with me about anything that is bothering them.

Since time is not on our side here tonight, I am going to leave the talk about my background to the time I sit and talk with you. I will answer any questions you ask me, so start preparing." James laughed, which caused the members of the press corps to laugh also.

"There are so many things I need to touch right away that I need to get right to work. Before I leave though, I want to tell you that I am going to have all the road blocks removed here in the city. It is too much of a hassle and they are not doing the job anyway. The Mayor agrees with me. So by morning, all the road blocks will be removed."

By the looks on the faces of the press corps, they liked the idea. "I also would like to warn you all that there is going to be a huge shake up in the police force. Everything that has gone wrong here is at the fault of the leadership, not the officers that are walking the beat. They carry out the orders that are given to them, and in return, if they are bad orders, things don't go right. It is time to clean up the house, which means those that are dirty must go."

James left it like that as he stepped back from the podium. The Mayor fielded a couple of questions, but not all of them. After five minutes of answering questions, the Mayor, city council, Harold, the city manager and James walked back into the office. They walked together to the large conference room where they had all the officers James asked to have gathered.

As they walked in, the officers were called up to attention. James looked around the room and saw years of experience standing before him. Some of the police officers look like they were the walking dead and others looked like they barely got out of the academy. There were a few in-between, but for the most part, the age scale of the officers in the room tipped one direction or the other, not too many his age.

"Please take your seats. I'm not going to take much of your time because I know it is late." James looked over at the Mayor and the others sitting there next to him. "Can anyone in this room tell me how things got this bad with your police force." James turned and looked around the room. All he saw was blank faces staring back at him.

"That is what I thought. This police force is the laughing stock of not only this state, by around the nation. Put aside the corruption, you all refuse to do the job that you're trained and sworn to do. You let regular citizens do it like this morning at the major accident on the freeway. Who in the hell told the officers that were on the scene to stand back and do nothing?"

The Westside precinct commander raised his hand. James turned and asked him to stand and give his position and name. Once he did, he sat back down. "Is it true that the officers that are uncounted for and have a cop killer in their custody are from your precinct?" The commander nodded his head. "Your precinct has fallen apart, please get up and leave this room. You're no longer employed by the city of El Paso."

The commander looked over to the Mayor for help, but didn't get it. He stood up and walked over to the new chief of police. "If this is how you plan to fix things in this police force, you're going to fail. By firing those that can help you, they are going to come back and bite you in the ass. More so after I go to the press and tell them how you're getting rid of all the wrong people."

"If you choose to go to the press and air your grievance there that is fine, but be warned; if you go that route, I will have no other choice but to tell the press how, under your watch four of your officers placed under arrest a wanted fugitive and two civilians and disappeared. If those officers do what I think they are going to do, it is going to be even worse on you."

The commander couldn't come back at James. He walked out of the room with his head down knowing the officers under his command screwed him bad. He thought the worse that was going to come from this was suspension without pay, not the loss of his job. Once he left, James turned his attention back to the remaining commanders in the room.

"Will the sergeants please get up and leave the room. I will get to you once I am done with the rest of the commanders." All of the sergeants got up and walked out of the room as fast as they could. "The reason things are out of control is because of you all sitting in this room. The street officers see you guys doing what you're doing and figure that it's okay. Therefore, they copy what you do. That has caused the downfall of this police department.

I am not going to waste taxpayer dollars on investigations that will probably turn up nothing because those that are dirty have got good on covering their tracks. Call your reps or whatever else you want to do, but as of this moment, you're all relieved from your positions." All he heard in the room was sighs and grumbling, but not outright objections to the terminations.

"You work in a state that is at its worst period of unemployment and that goes for the city workers as well. You have certain protections being part of a union like vacation days, pay and hours you have to get, but not the right to hold your current position. You're all now regular uniformed officers and will be on patrol like you were when you first started. I have chosen to go this route and rebuild this force from scratch since I have no idea who is clean and who is dirty.

For now, you have the next forty eight hours off. Within that time, call my office and you will be told what precinct you're assigned to." James looked around the room at the stunned faces as he made his way to the door. "That is all I have for you at this time. Gather your things and leave the building. Don't go to your offices because as we were speaking, they are being locked up. Anything personal you have in them will be boxed and sent to your homes. If you have a city car, please turn it in within the next forty eight hours. If you don't, I will have an officer pick it up from your house."

The former commanders stood up and walked out of the conference room. A few of them shot James a dirty look. He didn't care. He has a job to do, and part of that is cleaning up this police force. The only way he can be certain that is going to happen is by removing all those that might be corrupted and placing in new people that are clean as a whistle.

Once they all left the room, James called recalled the sergeants. "For the next couple months, you all are going to be under investigation. If the investigators find anything on any of you, I don't care how minor it is, you will be relieved of your positions. If you know something is going to be found, get up now and leave with your head up high. If you quit now, no investigation will be done on you. Your record will be closed. If you stay and something is found, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Several of the sergeants stood up and handed James their badges as they walked out. The remaining ones that were left, James made it clear once again if they chose to stay on and something is found what will happen. No one else got up. With that, he let the sergeants go.

Mayor Richardson held James back when the room was empty. "I brought you in to clean up this police department, but not fire everyone. You don't have any leadership out there right now, what are you going to do?" The Mayor looked at James with a worried look on his face.

"Mr. Mayor, we didn't have any leadership out there with the commanders collecting a check. There is really no difference now than an hour go except we are sending a loud and clear message that the old days of how things were being ran are gone. If any officer is caught with their hands in the cookie jar they will be caught and treated like the criminals that they are."

The Mayor liked the answer. He patted James on the back and wished him good luck. They walked out the door together, but separated in the hallway. The Mayor headed to his office, while James asked the officers who picked him up to take him to his office. Without hesitation, they walked James out of building and over to his office.

As soon as he walked in, the officers that were on duty snapped to attention. James asked them to take their seats as he passed them on his way to the elevator. Once the officers showed him his office, they left him to get to work. He looked around his office when he walked in, but didn't sit behind his desk. He knew he couldn't rest with four officers out there with a wanted felon and two innocent civilians.

He walked back out and asked the same two officers to take him to the floor where his detectives are. Nodding they led James back to the elevator. When they got off a couple floors down from his floor, James saw a familiar face heading towards him. He smiled at Harold and asked him what he was doing there so late.

"I was talking to a detective I worked very close with, during the last couple of weeks. He has done wonders for me on a couple of cases and I wanted to thank him once again for all his hard work."

James looked behind Harold, but didn't see anyone there. "This might sound odd, but is this detective trustworthy? What I mean is he dirty or is he a guy that I can trust to go to whenever I need an investigation done?" Harold smiled at James.

"Out of all the detectives on your police force, he is the only one I will answer yes to on those questions. He has not moved up in the ranks because he was not a `yes sir' type at all. Whenever he saw an injustice, no matter who the person was committing the injustice, he called them on it. He didn't like the way things were run here before you came and he was outspoken about it."

Liking what he was hearing, he asked Harold to introduce the detective to him. Together they walked down the row of cubicles until they reached the one where Detective Pueblo Alvarez was sitting at, hard at work. When he felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned and saw Harold and a guy he has never seen before.

"Detective Alvarez I would like you to meet your new police chief, James Falster. Chief Falster this is Detective Pueblo Alvarez, Paul for short." The two men shook hands. "I was telling the new Chief here how you're the only detective I trust. He wanted to come over to meet you." Harold moved to the side, letting James move closer to Paul.

"I haven't heard a lot about you, but what I have heard is nothing but good stuff." Paul looked at his new boss a little confused about his bluntness. "I have a situation right now that I need your help. There are four officers out there with Ashton Rocha along with two innocent civilians. I have no doubt what they are going to do to these guys, if they haven't done it already."

"How long have the officers been off the grid sir?" Paul asked as he pulled out his notepad to take notes. James gave him all the information he had and waited to see what Paul could come up with. "It does sound like these officers are going to take the law into their own hands and be the prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner of these three men. If they haven't carried out their sentence yet, they are going to do it very soon because they know they are close to being caught."

"Exactly and that is why I need someone I can trust who knows this city like the back of their hand to help me find these guys before they completely step over the line. Are you the guy for the job or should I stop wasting my time here and go looking for another detective?"

"I am the guy!" Paul walked out of his cubicle and over to the banks of radios. He picked up one and made sure there was an APB put on the police cruisers that are missing. Once that was confirmed, he pulled all available officers off their regular duty to begin a grid search around the Providence Hospital in hopes that the officers didn't go far from that location.

As soon as Paul was done, James redeployed all the officers, National Guard and Texas Rangers that were working the road blocks to the Westside of town. They were ordered to join up with the officers that were already searching for the missing officers and get their assignments at the command center there. As soon as he was done, he and Paul made their way to the scene.

Harold said his goodbyes to James and Paul when they got to the parking lot. Since James had no idea how to get around El Paso, he hitched a ride with Paul. On their way to the temporary command center, they got to know each other as best they could. When they arrived, James could see why Harold trusted this guy. He was a down to earth honest person that will not cross the line for anyone or anything. The type of guy he wants and needs in his high command.

Meanwhile back at the Westside substation, Matt and Francesca hadn't left the lobby. There was a lot of movement of officers when Matt first told the precinct commander, his desk sergeant and several other commanders about what had happened at Providence Hospital. However, the movement stopped soon after the same guys Matt talked to walked out of the building in a hurry.

Both Francesca and Matt were getting more worried as the minutes ticked away. They started to think that the officers that had placed Alex and his head of security under arrest were off doing something that they were not supposed to be doing. There was nothing else they could think since they had not brought them into the station to book them.

As their minds started to really get away from them, the precinct commander walked in. Matt stood up and started to walk towards him to see what news he had, but stopped when he saw the guy was angry as hell. He walked behind the counter and started throwing things. At first, no one in the lobby, including his own officers, had any idea why he was doing what he was doing.

Matt looked over at Francesca and saw her facial expression. She was worried, so was he. He thought the reason that the commander was tossing things around was because things went bad with the four officers that were missing. Trying to push the ugly thoughts out of his mind, Matt walked closer to the counter. However, the thoughts of Alex and his head of security being killed in different ways kept popping back in his mind.

He knew he had to get control of his thoughts if he was going to be any good to himself and Francesca. Pushing the ugly thoughts out of his mind once again, Matt reached out to ring the bell, but stopped. The precinct commander was still tossing things around as he was yelling at his officers. Matt didn't understand at first what the guy was saying, but when he turned, looked at Matt and spoke, he heard every word loud and clear.

"That new son-of-a-bitch chief just fired me. I am no longer in charge of this precinct so if you need any answers concerning your boyfriend, don't look at me. Ask whoever the chief replaces me with." He looked over at his officers. "I bet you it's my second in command. That guy has been after my job ever since he got his promotion. I swear if he got it, he..."

Just then, the other commanders that left with the former precinct commander walked in. The substation went dead quiet as they made their way through the lobby to the back of the counter. When they got to the middle of the main room, they stopped and looked around. Everyone was wondering who the new commander would be, including Matt and Francesca.

"The new chief of police has decided that he is going to bring in all new commanders to run the police department. He has demoted all of us, so from this moment on, you don't report to any of us." The assistant precinct commander, a captain, spoke to his men. "We all have to take this change and move on and prove to the new chief of police that we're not a dirty police force. The only way I see us doing that is by doing our jobs the way we were trained.

We have four of our own out there with a wanted cop killer and two civilians. Knowing the anger we all are feeling towards that cop killer, I know what our fellow men in blue are doing, which is wrong. If you know where these four officers are, or might know where they took the three men in question, speak now. Let's clean up our own department mess so we can at least come out of this a little less dirty than we are right now."

All the officers looked at each other, but didn't say a word. After a few minutes, a couple of the officers started to whisper to each other, which caught the attention of the former commanders. Just as they started speaking, the radios went off. Everyone looked over to their dispatch and heard a voice that they never heard before ordering all available men around Providence Hospital. As soon as that voice went off the radio, another unfamiliar voice started speaking ordering in the National Guard troops and the Texas Rangers that were there to do the same.

Hearing all this on the radio, Matt turned and walked over to Francesca more worried than he was when he walked up to the counter. Francesca knew something was up, but what it was, she really didn't know. However, she was certain it wasn't bad. Her heart was telling her that her son was still alive, hurting, but still alive.

They stood there watching the officers scramble around getting weapons and heading out the back of the building. A few minutes later, the gate to the officers' parking area opened. One by one police cruisers sped out. Matt tried to keep count of how many there were, but they were speeding out so fast, he couldn't. All he knew is that there were a lot of them, which means whoever was the one that spoke over the radio, meant business on getting control.

Neither Matt nor Francesca wanted to sit around at the substation since it was pretty much empty. Those that were still left were the officers that were just fired or demoted, so they wouldn't be able to give them much information, if any at all. So they decided to get into their SUV and head back to Providence Hospital in hopes that they will run into officers that can give them answers on what is happening with Alex and his head of security.

Little did the officers know that as they were speeding off to the area around Providence Hospital that they were wrong as far as to where the rogue officers are. The four missing officers had already pulled over the ambulance and taken Ashton into their custody before moving far away from that area. They were still on the same side of town, but way off where the officers were heading to try and stop them from doing what they intended to do.

When they were asked to check in, they knew it was just a matter of time before their fellow men and women in blue were going to come looking for them. Since they knew the procedure, they had to think outside of that. After a little discussion, they decided to take Ashton to an area that they would give them the time they needed to do what they wanted with him.

They got back into their police cruisers and pulled back onto Mesa Street. Alex and his head of security sat there in the back in handcuffs wondering what was going on. At first, they didn't think anything bad, until they drove past the police station. Once they saw that, they knew that these officers had no intention of taking them in as they stated.

Knowing that, Earl slid over to Alex as slowly as he could. Once he was close enough that he could whisper to him and only they could hear what was being said, Earl started to talk. "I need you to listen, but not look at me." Alex kept looking forward as he shook his head. "Don't shake your head because we don't want the officers to know we're talking. For yes, move your right leg towards me. For no, move your right leg towards your left leg, understand."

Alex moved his right leg towards Earl. "Good, now I know these guys are not going to take us to the police station and I am sure you know that as well. They just drove past it, which means they have other plans for us. Until we get to where we are going, I won't know what we're going to do. But when we get there and I come up with a plan, I need you to follow me." Alex moved his leg towards Earl to let him know he understood.

"I will try my best to let you know what I am planning, but if I can't just trust me and do what I am doing without question or hesitation." The officer driving looked through his rear view mirror, but didn't catch Earl talking. He was looking straight ahead and stopped whispering when he saw the officer moving. "Stay alert and keep an eye on me at all times."

Earl slid back over when he was done. Just as he got back to his side of the car, the same officer looked back at them again through the rear view mirror. He couldn't put it together, but he knew something was different from the last time he looked at them. Not able to figure it out, he ignored it as he turned his attention back to the road.

They continued down Mesa until it met up with Doniphan where they took a right. Earl and Alex kept looking around at their surroundings, but being dark made it hard for them to really get their bearings. Alex knew somewhat where they were, but Earl had no idea since he had never been down this street before. He knew most of El Paso, but not this area.

The officers drove about another two miles and then took a left and went over a set of rail tracks. Alex looked to his left and knew exactly where he was, Lindberg Elementary School. The only reason he knew about this school was because of Jacob. When Jacob first moved here to El Paso from Wyoming, this was the elementary school that he attended. He spoke about it because he really didn't have good memories of this place. The kids were ruthless, calling him names because of how tall and skinny he was.

The one name that caught on was ET. During his last year of elementary school, ET was a smash hit in the movie theatres. He used to talk a lot with his hands. Moving them around and pointing a lot with his big finger. Whenever he extended his finger, the kids would crack up laughing calling him ET and asking him if he was phoning home. It got so bad that Jacob stopped talking all together because he couldn't stop talking with his hands. Over time, he stopped mainly because of those bad memories while in elementary school.

One weekend when Alex first moved in at Jacob's house, Jacob took them all to show them his old schools and tell the stories that he is remembering now. So, when the officers turned off to the parking lot at Lindberg, Alex breathed a side of relief. He looked over at Earl and winked at him as the car came to a complete stop.

He knows what he is going to do since Jacob showed him and the others all the ins and outs of the place. One of the main things that he showed everyone was the places he used to hide. That will come in handy if they can escape that is. The first thing they have to figure out is how to get out of the handcuffs, or at least away from the officers.

Before he could formulate a plan, the officers got down, opened the doors and pulled them out. One of the officers stayed with them, while the other one went over to the other cruiser and helped the other two pull Ashton out. Alex could see the fear on the guy's face. He knew what was going to happen, and Alex felt bad for him. Even though he deserved to be killed, but not the way it is going to happen.

Nothing was said between the officers. They just looked at each other and then one of them pointed to the school and started walking. The officer that stayed back with Alex and Earl pushed them to start walking toward the other officers that were surrounding Ashton. After what happened to the sheriffs, they were not going to take any chances with Ashton. There is no way they are going to give him any chance at their guns or escape.

Doing so, they were paying so much attention to Ashton that they were not paying enough attention to Alex and Earl. The one officer that was with them was really not with them. He was making sure he was covering his fellow officers' backs just in case Ashton tried something that they could not react fast enough to stop him.

All the officers had their gun hostlers unfastened and their hands on the butt of their guns ready for anything. Slowly they walked alongside the building till they ran into six or eight portables. Not fazed, the officers kept going as if they had this all planned. They walked through the portables until the playground where Alex thought they were going to stop, but he was wrong.

The officers kept going until they ran into a gate that was covered with green bushes. One of them pulled out his nightstick and started hitting the lock. It took awhile, but eventually the lock gave way and the officer pushed the gate open. Alex and Earl were pushed to start walking. They walked through the gates and found themselves in a small field surrounded by trees at all sides. If anyone were on the other side of those trees, they wouldn't be able to see what was going on in that open field; exactly what the officers wanted.

When they reached the middle of the field, the officers pushed Ashton to his knees. Alex and Earl were not bothered with. They stood there watching as three of the officers started to surround Ashton and taunting him. Ashton couldn't do anything but look up at the officers as they were calling him names and threatening to hit him with their nightsticks.

"You thought you were going to get away with what you did, didn't you?" One of the officers yelled at Ashton as he spat in his face. "I am here to tell you that you were wrong. Not only you're not going to get away with what you did, but you're not going to get a chance to live the rest of your life on my dime." The officer swung his nightstick and hit him over the head.

Alex hated the guy, but he wanted to go and help him. The three officers started to kick Ashton and hit over and over again with their nightsticks. The fourth officer that was guarding Alex and Earl was more into what his fellow officers were doing than what he should have been. Alex saw that, and decided it was going to be now or never for him and Earl.

He looked over at Earl and didn't need to say a word. Earl saw the same thing. He saw the officer moving closer and closer to his fellow officers, wanting to join in. Alex looked around and saw the gate was still open. He looked over at Earl, pointed to the gate with his head and then started to run with Earl on his tail.

By the time the officers realized what was going on, Alex and Earl had made their way through the gate and were running across the playground. When they reached the portables, Earl fell to his knees and started to crawl underneath one them, but Alex stopped him.

"That's going to be the first place they are going to look, follow me!" Alex helped Earl back to his feet since they still had their handcuffs on. They ran passed the portables and through the walkway they walked through when they first got there. When they got to the front of the school, Alex turned left and ran across the front.

Earl tried the doors, but they were all locked. Alex had to keep stopping and going back for him. By the time they reached the doors to what they could make out led into the cafeteria, Earl stopped trying to see if they were unlocked. He kept right on Alex's tail.

On the back side of the school, the officers started to panic. Two of them stayed with Ashton, while the other two started out after Alex and Earl. They knew they couldn't get far because of where they were. When they got across the playground, exactly like Alex said they searched every portable before making their way slowly to the front side of the school.

When they reached the front side, they looked around the parking lot, but didn't see a thing because it was too dark. Since they couldn't see clearly, they started to look for any movement that shouldn't be happening. Once they were sure that Alex and Earl didn't run out to the parking lot, they turned their attention to the building.

As they were checking the doors, Alex and Earl had made their way through the second set of portables. They found themselves in the open on another small playground. Earl was getting a little worried, but Alex wasn't. He kept running across the playground until he reached a bank of trees where he stopped. Earl caught up a few seconds later and knelt down to catch his breath.

Looking around, Alex was trying to figure out how they could get up the trees with their hands cuffed behind them, A little frustrated, Alex sat down and started to struggle with the handcuffs. He knew they didn't have much time to get up the tree before the officers figured out that they might have made their way there.

Earl saw what Alex was trying to do. He sat down and in seconds, he was able to get his hands from his back to the front, surprising Alex. He wanted to know how he did that, but didn't ask. Instead, he explained what he wanted to do. Earl looked up at the tree Alex was pointing to, and then back over to Alex. He instructed Alex to get close to the tree.

Even though he didn't know what Earl was going to do, he did what he was asked. He walked over to the tree and the next thing he knew, Earl was underneath him. It took everything Earl had, but with Alex sitting on his shoulders, he slowly got them up the tree. They got to the area where Jacob used to go and hide at in the tree. It was an area of the tree where the huge branches came together, making a little flat area. Normally the owner of the tree would build a tree house if he or she had kids.

Once they were settled, they looked out and saw the two officers slowly making their way towards them. Alex looked over to the backside of the school and was able to see Ashton was still alive. He was on his knees with the other two guarding him. He turned his attention back to the other officers that were looking for him. They were getting closer, and if nothing changed soon, they would be found.

TO BE CONTINUED...

WRITER'S CORNER:

{Welcome back one and all to another exciting chapter of "Beneath the Mask'. I know, I know this cliffhanger is probably the worse I have come up with yet, but I love to keep you guys on your toes. This chapter was fun for me to write and to prove it to you; I was able to write it out in a day and half, which is unusual for me right now, but for that I'm thankful.

From beginning to end there was a lot of excitement. For those that read `Jacob Finding His Way' chapter eighty two, I know you might have thought the next chapter of this story was going to be nothing but a rerun; boy did I surprise you on that. Not only I didn't write about one thing that was written in `Jacob' eighty two, but I opened up a lot of new plots for this story.

I picked up this chapter where it left off with Alex in the restroom. You guys probably thought Alex was going to walk out and join the others, not get arrested. He did assault Ashton, even though the kid deserved the assault, Alex shouldn't have done it. The police had to do what they did, but what they did afterwards was completely off the rails.

Not only they were rude to Alex, Matt and Francesca, they arrested Earl, the head of Alex's detail. What is going on there? Earl was doing his job, protecting his client when he stepped in and tried to stop the officer from doing what they were doing. To arrest him was wrong, and I think by the way the chapter ended the officers are regretting it.

Matt and Francesca, what more can they take with Alex's past always popping back up? These two keep supporting Alex no matter what it is. Again what happened in the last two chapters wasn't really Alex's fault, but he should have found a way to keep control of his temper. If he would have done that, everything that happened after the arrest wouldn't have happened.

El Paso County finally has a new chief of police. James Falster I believe is the right person for the job. The police force right now is so bad, they need an outsider like Falster to come in and just shake things up, which he did within his first hour as police chief. How many of you disagree with the way Falster dealt with commanders?

I think he did it right because he has no idea who is corrupt and who isn't. He can't always be watching over his back wondering if the person that passed the investigation only passed it because he or she was really good at hiding things. With the way the police force was, he had no other choice but to do what he did and that is fire one and demote the others. I hope in the future those that were demoted never get their old positions back.

Harold and James I think are going to work well together, as is Pueblo. If any of you don't know who Detective Pueblo Alvarez is, you haven't kept up with `Rebirth'. In chapter three and four he was introduced, so go on over there and catch up if you want to know why Harold holds the guy in such high regard as he does.

I believe Paul is going to be more than a detective in the near future. What I don't know is what story his character is going to fold out completely in. So once again, if you don't want to be lost as far as this character is concerned, you must read `Rebirth' as well.

Now the ending of the story was it a surprise to you all what the police officers were doing. It wasn't to me! These officers are taking the law into their own hands and are planning to kill Ashton. The only question I guess I have is were they planning to kill Alex and Earl as well. We won't know that answer until the next chapter, so come on back and find out.

I know a lot more happened in this chapter and if I missed any of it, Trevor or "Daddy" Rick will cover it in his editor's corner. In addition, there are a lot of open plots still dangling out there in the air that will come back and as well a whole lot of new ones. So please stick around as I have said and keep on reading. I hope that you all enjoyed what you have read and will keep coming back week after week to this saga.

I don't want to say too much more and spoil the future chapters to come, so I will not. I warn you though! Don't skip a chapter, or you will be lost. There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacob@jacobmillertex.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR'S CORNER:

Thanks Jacob for another exciting Chapter. Over the next couple of chapters as my dear friend pointed out, you will have to read not only his stories but my `Rebirth' as well because for a while they will run hand in hand. If you have been reading `Rebirth' then you will know Detective Alvarez is a good cop dedicated to the job, and he has been working with Texas Ranger Luke helping him clean up the problems surrounding Davey. I think he will be an asset to the new Police Chief.

Ok Alex did wrong beating up Ashton but let's face it guys, wouldn't you have done the same if you had the chance? I know I would. No matter how even tempered you're it would have been difficult not to have had a go at Ashton.

When Jacob told me, he'd planned a cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers I never imagined it would be as worrying as much as it is. I feel confident that all will work out right or will it?

The remaining Commanders who are now back on the beat as ordinary cops have at least shown some sense and reasoning by getting on with righting the wrongs in hope that they will get their jobs back. I don't think Chief Falster will do that but let's wait and see.

Don't forget to let us know how we're doing, comments good or not so good we welcome because you guys are the gauge for future plots and stories.

Hugs

Trevor

trevor@jacobmillertex.com

"Daddy" Rick's Soapbox:

Alex just can't get the fact that he has a history that results in him having a target on his back. It is going to be years of his being an upstanding citizen before people, at best, forget, or, at the least, can overlook his past. He is going to have to insulate himself so carefully from any and all aspects of his prior life. I know that Ashton isn't the old wild card out there from his past. There will be others with long memories that will have a vendetta in their hearts and minds. Franseca and Matt realize this probably more clearly and better than Alex.

The level of malfeasance and corruption in the EPPD is coming to the surface and the `scum' on the surface is thick. Was the new Chief right coming in and swinging a broad axe? I think he was. He knows the problem is pervasive. His comment to the Mayor about the `leadership' in the department was dead on. There was no "leadership", at least non that was in there doing their jobs. Those that were in command positions will now have to prove themselves worthy if they are going to regain rank and status. They should feel VERY lucky they aren't unemployed!

The new chief, James; he's a very interesting character. He sure got my intrigue right off. He's a family man, with a supportive wife. It seems they are very much in love. They have two sons. The sons must be of an age to be out of the house on their own since they weren't there when their father left for El Paso. I'll be watching how this new family will meld into El Paso. I have this niggling feeling that they are going to be influential in the community and will become involved with the families of the JPG Sagas. <Does that sound like a strong hint to our author? It was meant to be!>

I really feel for Franseca and Matt. They both know that Alex isn't pure as driven snow, but they know his heart and mind. They know he is good to the core. How their hearts must ache to see the evil from Alex's past life keep coming headlong at him to haunt him. They both fear losing him from their respective life and it seems that fear is not irrational. They are powerless to change the course of events. They are stuck being bystanders and the karma unfolds before their eyes. It's good that they are both strong in their own spirit and the love they have for Alex. If they weren't, there would be no way they could stand behind him with such complete dedication.

I finally figured it out, after nearly two years. You all know that I've been working with Jacob for that long. I've not met him in person. We talk, many times face to face, on Skype. I guess I'm a slow study, but I finally got it. That nasty cliffhanger...well sometimes I'm slow but I finally put it together. Jacob is a sadist at heart ! Need I say more ?

Until Next Time,

"Daddy" Rick