Chapter 598 - The Truth About Cowards and Free Ride
Luke paid no attention to their expressions. “Secondly, after taking cover first and ensuring your safety, you can’t abandon the initiative either. You must cautiously observe the enemy’s situation at once. I recommend that everyone carry a small item on you.
“A mirror.” Luke took out a mirror half the size of a fist from his chest pocket. “Mine is made of stainless steel. It’s durable and cheap. If you keep it in your chest pocket, it might stop a bullet for you some day.”
Seeing their expressions turn even stranger, Luke chuckled. “From my personal experience, a living cop is always more useful than a dead cop, so don’t be so quick to stick your head out; try to make use of tools.”
He paused to let his words sink in, before he continued, “Thirdly, don’t play the hero. In most emergencies, holding your position and waiting for reinforcements is your best option. This is L.A.; We have countless colleagues to back us up. Blind and reckless behavior won’t get you anywhere; teaming up with a partner to keep the criminals suppressed isn’t a bad option.”
At that point, Luke raised his hand and pointed at Harrison. “It’s best to leave the professional criminals to Captain Harrison and his men to handle; we don’t want to steal their jobs.”
Harrison: … You have the nerve to say that?
Luke coughed. “Okay, these three points are a summary of my experiences. You can try them out for yourselves. I won’t waste any more of your time.”
He chuckled inwardly.
Teaching was really simple. In short, his tips were: Stay low! Stay low even more! Continue to stay low!
For a rookie officer without extraordinary strength, these really were the best tips. After all, a dead man wouldn’t need them.
Peterson scowled as he looked at Remick.
Remick nodded helplessly. “Okay, all of you carry on. Luke, come with me.”
The students resumed training, and Remick and the others walked back into the building.
Remick smiled bitterly once they were out of the students’ line of sight. “Detective Luke… is that really what you should be teaching?” Luke smiled and looked at Harrison. “Harrison, what do you think?”
Harrison frowned and thought for a moment before he slowly nodded. “Luke is right. Rather than getting hot-blooded rookies to trade gunfire with criminals, it’s better to tell them to hide.”
Remick’s lips twitched. …But this is police training. Are we going to train them to be cowards?
Luke whispered inwardly, if a fearless rookie charges forward without thinking in the face of danger, wouldn’t they just get themselves killed if they ran into extraordinary opponents like Bullseye or Rebecca? That hadn’t really happened in his previous life, but this was a world with supervillains.
It was better to be a cowardly officer than to be slaughtered by the enemy.
After all, there was no police department that had enough funding to cover mass compensation for their deaths.
Since he didn’t have Harrison’s support, Remick could only drop it and return gloomily to his office.
He had planned to use Luke as a free instructor, only to discover that what was free was unreliable. But since a professional like Harrison agreed with Luke, Remick didn’t have the confidence to disagree with Luke.
Out of sight, out of mind – he thus simply dismissed Luke.
Luke talked with Harrison about law and order in L.A. recently on the way to his car. When he opened the car door, he noticed that Harrison was still just standing there.
He asked smoothly, “Are you sticking around to continue training the students?”
Harrison shook his head. “No. My team drove off when I stayed to listen to your class. They’ll pick me up later.”
Luke said with a smile, “No need for the trouble, I can give you a ride back to the city.”
Harrison was very frank. “That works too.”
On the road, they had a good chat in the car.
Harrison was a professional and also a very proper person. All he talked about was work.
He was like one of those engineering specialists in a regular company who didn’t like to socialize or fawn on their bosses.
Luke also liked discussing issues with professionals in the same trade. He didn’t have to scruple too much and they didn’t bring up private matters.
Harrison’s phone rang just as the car was approaching the east side of the city.
He said a few words into his phone before he hung up. He then looked at Luke guiltily. “One of my guys wants me to pick him up…”
Luke shrugged. “Just give me the address.”
Harrison rattled off the address and coughed. “Thanks.”
Luke laughed. “It’s fine, Harrison. When you’re being all polite like this, you’re like a middle school nerd trying to screw up his courage to hit on a girl.”
Harrison’s face relaxed. “Hey, I was popular in middle school. It was the girls who hit on me, alright?”
Luke: “Were you on the football team?”
Harrison: “…I was the leader of a firearms fan club.”
Luke laughed again. “Harrison, there are definitely much fewer middle school girls who like guns than those who like football players.”
As they chatted, they soon picked up a young handsome fellow from the side of the road.
This was Jim, a teammate whom Harrison had only just recruited a couple of days earlier. He was carrying a big metallic tube with a pointed tip that looked a little like a ballista. Luke asked, “What’s this? Some sort of professional tool?”
He was now the number one mechanic in the world, and could roughly guess this tool’s function after just a few glances.
Jim’s face glowed. “It’s a wall destroyer I invented. You just need to shoot it at a wall, and this end will open, and then you pull out…”
Luke gave him a thumbs up. “Then you create an opening for an offensive! It’s very simple and effective, and a lot more convenient than a battering ram.”
Harrison smiled as he scolded, “Stop praising him. The police department receives a maintenance bill every time this thing is used.”
Luke shrugged. “It’s the bosses who fork out the money, but our lives are our own. I’m with Jim on this.”
Pleased, Jim chuckled.
He was clearly yet another technician in SWAT. Harrison’s phone rang again. He picked up the call and said a few words, and his expression turned serious. “There’s just been a bank robbery near Route 47 on the east side. The criminals have automatic weapons. Can you take me there?”
Luke hit the gas pedal and said in passing, “If you need to change into your gear, you can press that red button to put down your seat and get into the back.”
Harrison: “Thanks.”
He did as Luke said and climbed into the backseat.
When Harrison first got into the car, he had put a big bag with all his gear in it in the backseat.
As a SWAT captain, he always carried his gear with him when he was on the clock.
Jim had already geared up before he got into the car, and was silently checking his guns at that moment.
Luke secretly nodded when he saw this; the man wasn’t just a technician, he was also a field officer!
As he put on his gear, Harrison checked the car’s location, and his movements sped up.
At the speed Luke was driving, they would reach the crime scene in less than ten minutes. If Harrison didn’t hurry, he wouldn’t finish gearing up in time.
