Linda Kay Silva - Delta Stevens 3 - Weathering the Storm Read Online Free PDF

that first year. If it hadn’t been for Miles Brookman and some very patient FTO’s, you’d be hamburger by now.”
    Delta shrugged, knowing that arguing with Connie was a waste of time.
    “You were idealistic and obsessed with fighting crime. But it was those ideals that made you work so hard to do your best. You came out like a bullet from a gun, and sometimes, you were on the mark, Other times, you missed by a mile. Stop me if I’m wrong.”
    Looking down into Connie’s face, Delta couldn’t help but shake her head. She had come out of the academy like a car taking a corner on two wheels; so eager to put everything she had learned into practice, she often took shortcuts to make that all important bust. Rules, Penal Codes, policy and procedures were of little interest to her. She was not a theorist, she was a practitioner, and too often, Delta felt the rules were overly prohibitive. So what if she found loopholes or used a little creative problem-solving to yank a crook off the street? As far as Delta was concerned, the laws too often protected the perpetrators, and neither victims nor cops benefitted from the archaic “innocent until proven guilty.” Too many times, some creep caught with his pants down standing over a raped woman had walked because of a “technicality.” Delta simply knew how to avoid such technicalities and send criminals to prison. If she was going to do her job well, she often had to turn her back on “proper police procedure.” If policy allowed a criminal to be set free, then she would do whatever she had to to counterbalance the scales. Beat cops understood that much. Unfortunately, desk officers, the media, and the public did not. They all wanted to believe cops could maneuver under such heavy constraints and still be successful in apprehending criminals.
    Delta knew better. And she was willing to take risks to ensure her own successes on the street.
    “You might have ended up behind a desk or worse if Miles hadn’t straightened you out some. You were a little too idealistic for your own good.”
    Delta smiled gently at the memory. Yes, Miles, her first and best partner had shown her how to do things the right way. He had taught her how to polish her craft and move around the rules without really breaking them. He taught her all the subtle nuances that made a good cop a great cop. He had shown her the real way cops work the streets and not the textbook ways she’d learned in the academy. Miles had prepared her for almost everything.
    Almost.
    When he was gunned down, Delta didn’t care what regulations she had to break to apprehend his killers. That kind of thinking helped her nail the creeps who blew him away. How could anyone expect her to change now?
    “But we’re not talking about me as a rookie. We’re talking about me having the patience to teach one.”
    Connie grinned. “Where would we be if every Field Training Officer had thought that way?”
    Heaving a loud sigh, Delta flopped down on the worn wooden bench. “But doesn’t anyone see? My FTO’s wanted to be there, Con. It was their choice. They obviously felt confident in their ability to teach. I’m no teacher, Con, I’m a cop.”
    “You make it sound like that’s all you can do. You’ll never know unless you try.”
    “I’ve never tried bungie-jumping, but I know I wouldn’t like it. Come on, Connie, you know as well as I do that Henry is just trying to get in good with Internal Affairs. No one said he had to follow their recommendation. The choice is his and he’s burning me.”
    Connie folded her arms across her chest. “Captain Henry doesn’t strike me as the kind of man who sucks up to other people.”
    Delta cocked her head. She knew by Connie’s tone of voice that her impression was based on some good old fashioned dirt digging. “You’ve been checking him out?”
    Nodding, Connie pulled a slip of computer paper from her pocket and unfolded it. “You think I’d have let you go in there today