ONE

"The Second Rule"

If the first rule of survival, is adapting to existing threats, the second rule is
always staying alert. It was almost four-thirty in the morning, and your instructor was
coming off a seventeen day out of town assignment.

Home base was less than a half a mile away, and sleeping through the weekend
was the only item on the agenda. One more turn and rest would be just minutes away.

Home base is miles from anywhere, over twenty miles from the nearest junk food
restaurant. That night dense fog hovered above the headlights of rare oncoming vehicles.

Knowing that the sun would not be up for a couple of hours; your instructor was
considering a couple of "Crowns on Ice" at the office pier in the pleasant forty degree
weather.

The trouble with towns is that there are just too many people living in them. The
last thing some private sector investigators want, is to live near people and their towns.

While making the last turn to my refuge office; a figure started to appear beside
the road in front of the entrance to home base. The silhouette evolved into a full grown
man as the instructor's vehicle neared the wrong time wrong place subject.

About the time I started reaching for a weapon, I recognized the intruder as
someone who could best be described as an occasionally reliable street source.

Thoughts moved from using my weapon to how I could get out of driving this
refugee from society back to town. The unwanted visitor started moving to the side of the
road so I could pull along aside to see how much money he needed in addition to a ride
back to town.

While lowering the driver's side window and slowing to a complete stop, your
instructor was totally unprepared for what was about to happen.

Suddenly I saw the barrel of a small revolver come through the window. About
the same time I moved to push the barrel which was almost touching my glasses away
from my face; the sound of the hammer striking the firing pin was followed by the silence
of a misfire. The next sounds I heard were "Smell the barrel, I didn't shoot nobody. Smell
the barrel, I didn't shoot nobody."

After taking the Saturday night special away from the unwelcome visitor, the only
remanet of what had just happened was the lingering smell of an alcoholic's breath.

According to the unwanted visitor, he and one of his friends had been driving
around drinking cheap beer and tequila since early afternoon.

He said that he and his drinking buddy had gotten into an argument over who had
the ugliest wife. The disagreement had evolved into a confrontation where his friend had
drawn a gun and forced him out of his car leaving him stranded about two miles from my
home base.

The unwanted visitor said that he would have shot his "rude" drinking buddy
except for the fact that he had forgot to load his pistol.

As it turned out, all the unwanted visitor wanted me to know was that he had not
shot anybody. While returning my drunk street source back to town, we passed near
where his drinking buddy lived.

The unwanted visitor insisted that we go wake up his drinking buddy by pounding
on his windows so he could show me that he had not shot his friend.

After some stern counseling by your instructor, the street source decided that we
really did not need to go banging on his drinking buddy's windows at five in the morning.

The return trip to home base was more somber than the initial effort. It dawned on
your instructor that the only reason he was not shot in the face less than an hour earlier;
was because an associate had been too drunk to remember to load his pistol.

Your instructor had forgotten two things: first, in some scenarios, friends can be
more dangerous than enemies; and second, next to not knowing what you are doing,
carelessness is the number two cause for foolish and sometimes fatal mistakes.



TWO

"Alleged Incident Scene"

All justice represents forced redistribution based on revenge: redistribution of
freedom, or redistribution of property. Justice in the best case scenario never exceeds
reasonable revenge. Justice in late twentieth century America, evolved into a code word
for mob rule and socialist policies.

It is not unusual for civil servants seeking justice to ignore truth. Consider the
following assignment report.

Arrived at the alleged incident scene about 9:20 PM. Upon entering the residence,
I observed a police officer slapping and verbally abusing a frail middle aged man.

Upon further inquiry, I was told by the abusive police officer that the suspect had
attempted to rape his teenage daughter while she was exiting the bathroom after taking a
shower.

I informed the officer in charge that I would like to talk to the suspect in private.
When the officers did not make an effort to leave, I requested them to step into another
room.

Upon further reluctance by the officers to leave, I informed them that I had heard
their story and would like to hear the suspect's story.

The suspect was a terrified middle age man with a body frame that can only be
described as puny. The suspect denied attacking his sixteen year old daughter. He said
that his wife and the girl's mother had died several years earlier in an automobile
accident.

I was told by the suspect that his daughter erupted into a violent rage when he
would not allow her to spend the weekend at the beach with her twenty year old boy
friend. The suspect also stated that the boyfriend had been arrested and spent time in
county jail for selling drugs.

Further inquiry revealed that the daughter had threatened on previous occasions to
call the Sex Abuse Hotline when she was not allowed to go and come as she pleased.

Additional questioning revealed that the daughter usually took showers for
extended periods of time. I also learned that the daughter did not devote a lot of time to
grooming or personal hygiene.

The suspect was informed that I may have further questions, and asked the police
officers to step back into the room. I asked one of the police officers to introduce me to
the alleged victim, and show me the site of the alleged attacked.

The first two things that struck me about the alleged victim were her size and dry
hair. The alleged victim was a big boned teenager who's body weight exceeded that of
her father by twenty to thirty pounds.

I asked the police officer to show me where the attack had supposedly occurred. I
was shown the towel the victim claimed to be wearing at the time of the alleged assault.
A further search turned up none of the following: shower cap; second towel which could
have been used to keep someone's hair dry while they were taking as shower; or a hair
dryer.

Upon returning to the bedroom where the alleged victim was setting, I informed
her that I had a problem. At this point the police officer interrupted, smiled and said "I
know you want to hear her story so I'll be in the next room."

The alleged victim was informed that there was a shortage of foster homes
available, and asked if she might know any responsible families that she could be placed
with for several weeks until the pending matter had been resolved.

The alleged victim stated that the "only" place she could think of was with her
boyfriend. I informed the alleged victim that I could not place her with her boyfriend
because she was underage.

The alleged victim was informed that the only remaining option was for me to
place her in a cell by herself at the county jail. The alleged victim became enraged and
threatened to tell the police officers in the adjoining room that I had tried to "hit" on her.

At this point the alleged victim was given another opportunity to resolve the
allegations against her father. I asked the officer in charge to step back into the room.

The alleged victim stated that the attempted rape charge against her father had
been a misunderstanding, and that she had over reacted.

The cops agreed not to press charges against the teenager for making false
statements in return for her father not filing any complaints against the police officers for
violating his civil rights.

What seemed like a pretty good night turned into garbage when I returned home
and found a note from my favorite lady which said: I can't live with someone who cares
more about their job than me ... I'm leaving your hell.