chapter 5

 word count: 859

adam joseph miller did not live in the part of the city that was assigned to new albany elementary school.. he was only there because his mother worked nights and was asleep when it was time for him to go to school,, and his father,, detective william "buzz" miller,, was assigned to the homicide division in the east 45th street precinct,, which was located inside the school boundaries..

with his flame red hair, multitude of freckles,, and slight frame,, he had become a depository for all the evils that manifest themselves in childhood... no one knew him.. no one wanted to know him.. he was a "west side" boy and didn't belong... so what if his father was a cop..

his first year at new albany elementary was proving to be a struggle... he silently cried himself to sleep most nights.. he begged and pleaded with is mother to "please talk to daddy,, please don't make me go to that awful school.." he would do "anything..”

however, adam had learned quickly that what he wanted meant nothing,, and what his mother talked to his father about on his behalf, meant even less.. buzz was a good cop, an honest cop, a tough cop.. but he was a lousy father,, and an even worse husband...

having entered the marine corp right out of high school,, buzz had never so much as taken a vacation since graduation.. he went directly to boot camp,, then was stationed in the deserts of saudia arabia for the whole 5 months that was "the gulf war."

buzz never saw combat.. he never saw anything that even closely resembled what he knew to be war.. he was behind the wheel of some master sergeants jeep for most of the time,, and confined to sick bay for the remainder,, with some still unnamed viral infection... he had come home "a hero"... but he knew better,, and he would stop at nothing to prove he had what it took...

before his tour had even ended,, he signed up,, and was tested for admission,, to the local police academy... he was accepted and graduated fourth in his class.. he was hired immediately following graduation,, by the west 17th street precinct of the new albany police department... 

in his first six months on the job,, he came to the captains attention as he was involved,, as chance would have it,, in a major drug bust.. from then on it was pretty much smooth sailing... he escalated in rank quickly and for the past 10 years had held down the position that he lived for,, lead homicide detective stationed out of the 45th st precinct,, the largest and most influential precinct in the county......

he loved everything about the job.. from the stomach churning crime scenes themselves,, to the hunt,, the chase,, the capture,, and ultimately the handing down of street justice when they apprehended one of these useless wastes of flesh....

he lived to be inside the killers head,, this making it possible for him to "become" the suspect.. that is what allowed him to maintain the highest take down record in the department and cemented his position as lead detective.. he was practiced in the art of rage,, allowing it to build as the pieces of each case began to fall together... he knew, first hand, what it felt like to be pissed the fuck off,, to allow it to brew,, and finally to explode,, devastating everything in his path...

aside from the job,, buzz had little time,, less patience,, and virtually no desire to live in a world he had never accepted as his own.. the world that housed his wife, and his only son... home was a place to eat, shit, and sleep.. he wanted nothing more,, and was willing to enforce his desire for that nothing,, by any means available to him..

his frail wife jeannie bared the brunt of the punishment for what buzz saw as an offensive being brought against him at home... she wore the black and blue flesh and swollen eyes,,  proudly and with honor,, as if each time he took out his rage on her,, it brought them that much closer... her perception, skewed as it may be, was the only thing that kept her going,, that kept the home front running,, that kept her son out of the path of his fathers violent outbursts when ever possible...

jeannie succeeded in wearing most of the outward symbols of buzz' violent aggressions against them.. she ran an effective offense for adam,, but that did not stop him from being there,, from witnessing it,, or reliving it nightly in his dreams... 

nor did it did stop him from deciding what he wanted to be when he grew up.. even before easter break, in his first year of school,, adam knew,, that he too would become a cop.. but instead of just meting out justice to murders,, drug dealers and other criminal types,, he had made his own personal vow to become judge and jury for every fucking cop on the job that went home from work and took out his sick frustrations on his own flesh and blood..

starting with his own bastard father....