Chapter Nine
COPS…
After the Tai-Kok invaded Earth the police departments morphed into the Civic Order of Protective Services or COPS. It was run like the old military reserves.
The police academy was still standing, and the training had a lot in common with the military.
Lots of physical fitness, learning how to handle firearms, crime scene investigations, and the proper way to deal with bad guys; including hungry aliens.
My favorite course was defensive driving.
It was so much fun. Unfortunately, my instructor didn’t feel the same way and the wuss brought in my father to complete my training. Ugh.
Most of the cadets were a lot older than me and treated me like a dumb kid even though I could outshoot, outrun and out fight all of them.
My link with Kaelen had gotten stronger and while his faint presence in my mind was oddly comforting, he’d pop in from time to time to check on me.
Which could be a bad thing or a good thing.
Example: Cadet Jesse Boyd was seventy years old.
How he passed the physical agility test and got hired as a recruit, I’ll never know.
He could do the push-ups okay, he ran the two miles in the required time, but he couldn’t get over the six-foot wall.
He tried and tried until Kaelen projected the image of a Tai-Kok soldier into his mind.
Damn! He was over that wall like a twenty-year-old.
Unfortunately, he landed badly and broke both his ankles.
Another example was when I was in the women’s shower at the academy. The other women had perfect bodies. Me? Not so much. I cringed at all the horrified looks I was getting for the hideous claw marks on my back. “You received those scars in battle, wear them with pride.”
Dammit. He was right. I had survived and killed a shitload of monsters. I had nothing to be ashamed of. My chin came up, and I stood there proudly. Let them look.
“Your breasts are magnificent,” Kaelen announced.
My jaw dropped. What? How? My gaze fell on the full-length mirror by the door. The pervert was looking at us through my eyes. I averted my gaze. “You are a damn peeping-tom.”
“I am a male. We like looking at naked females,” Kaelen replied without a hint of remorse.
“How would you feel if I started ogling naked men?”
I felt Kaelen scan the area. “Where are these males? I will kill them.”
“What? You can’t do that.”
“I can and I will.”
Ugh. Testosterone should be outlawed. “I have no interest in looking at naked men, well, except for the strippers at the male revue. Those guys were hot.”
“Your father permitted you to look at naked males.” Kaelen’s outrage was hilarious.
Neither Dad nor Uncle Saul knew about Kaylee, Sarah and Samantha taking me to Studs to watch the male strippers. “They’re quite talented dancers.”
“You are forbidden from watching them again.”
Totally ignoring him, I continued, “It’s called girls’ night out and it’s necessary for my mental health. It’s not like I touched them, nor did I want to take them home with me. They took my mind off the Tai-Kok for an hour or so.”
“These girls’ night out are with General Jones’ females?”
“Yep. We try to do something fun once a month.”
Kaelen asked indulgently. “What do you consider fun?”
“Horseback riding, kayaking, or a spa day. Sometimes we watch old movies, eat lots of popcorn and just talk.”
“The Jones females are warriors like you?”
I grinned. “Hell yeah. Kaylee’s a kickass cop; Sarah’s a fighter pilot and Samantha’s a special forces sergeant.”
“I approve of your friendship with them.”
I snorted. Like he had any say in the matter.
“My ship is under attack. We will speak again.”
Alarm knotted my stomach. “The Tai-Kok?”
“No. The Rodan.” The image of a weird creature flashed into my head.
It was a combination of a rat and a dinosaur.
With lots of teeth and claws. Kinda reminded me of a pint-sized t.
rex with scaley purple skin. “They are eaters of flesh like the Tai-Kok.” An alarm sounded and Kaelen vanished from my mind.
A wave of horror swept through me at the thought of Kaelen getting hurt or dying. Damn. Could I survive without him? And when did my link with the battle commander become a necessity like breathing?
“Lexi!” Dad bellowed. “Quit daydreaming and get your ass in gear. You have eleven minutes to complete your run or you’re out of the academy.”
I increased my speed and finished in eight minutes.
After six hundred and seventy-two hours of training, I graduated at the top of my class. I was assigned to District Six, which included the west side of Phoenix, all of Glendale and Peoria. Since the Tai-Kok had bombed the area and the roads were in poor shape, we drove armored ATVs.
I wanted to be partnered with Kaylee, but Uncle Saul put his foot down. “The two of you working together is asking for Armageddon.”
Hey, our kill rate was higher than most military platoons, but he refused to budge.
Kaylee now works the twelve-to-midnight shift on the east side of the valley. I reported to work at the crack of dawn and if I was lucky, I’d get home by o-dark-thirty. Who did they partner me with? Yep, my father. Talk about a buzz kill.