Case 07 - The Brenson Estate Shootout

<Some time after SWAT S1E4 and The Rookie S1E3>

Mid November, Ben had his first workday in the LAPD after he was cleared for duty by his father's mentee, Dr Sam Bennett. He had spent plenty of time with and at SWAT to make use of their in-house gym and to forge connections, so he started his first day back at his roots: as a patrol officer in Mid-Wilshire.

<The Rookie S1E9>

Sergeant Grey was positively giddy about having Ben in his command once more - though he couldn't show it because of the tensions at his station - and had prepared for this day with a game the day prior to choose who would ride with him.

The options, however, were a little limited: John Nolan had just been cleared from his administrative leave because he shot and killed someone on the job, but he was restricted to desk duty because another investigation was opened after the dead man's brother broke into Nolan's home.

Tim Bradford was preoccupied because his wayward wife Isabel was shot in the head the night before while working as a CI and trying to uncover the supply chain of a major LA drug lord called Marcus Vance. His wife survived - so far - and was in critical condition at the hospital.

Detectives Kevin Wolfe and Elijah Vestri from the Mid-Wilshire's Gang and Narcotics Division were going to stake out Vance's warehouse and likely hideout. Ben and the other TOs and rookies were assigned to go to Bronson Estates, where Vance's girlfriend, Cesiah Olivo, likely stayed in an unknown apartment.

From all he heard, Ben wasn't liking his odds for a peaceful first day. His partner for the day was Jackson West while Lopez and Bishop paired up, and Bradford took his regular 'boot', Lucy Chen.

Since this all smelled like a trap they made and sprung themselves, Ben had West bring a backpack with tactical gear like lightweight bullet-proof vests and a few extra magazines of ammo with him. The guy in the armory definitely looked at West and Ben funny when he signed them out. Further, the backpack held emergency medical supplies and a toy he brought from SWAT: a snake cam to look around corners and under doors.

Ben was at the police cruiser's trunk, rechecking everything before he looked up at his rookie for the day, "You think I'm overreacting?"

West hurriedly shook his head, "No, sir!"

"Vance shot someone in the head. He doesn't strike me as someone who doesn't have muscle. I want this to go smoothly, but I got a bad feeling. Unless you plan to bring a shotgun into a peaceful kindergarten, never feel bad about overpreparing. You got that?"

"Yes, sir!"

Ben gently patted West's shoulder and said, "Call me Ben, or if that's too much, call me Weiss. None of that 'sir' crap while we're in the building. We want these people in there to relate to us, open up to us. Them thinking we're militant overlords won't help us."

West clearly didn't think Ben would be so amenable, so he stuttered out, "O-okay, O-officer Weiss!"

"Dude, relax a little. Is Lopez treating you like an army cadet or something?"

"No, W-Weiss. Just the nerves, I-I guess."

"Being nervous is bad. Try to be vigilant instead. Even if it's this paranoid, twitchy kind of vigilant. It's a mindset you must get into. You'll get there. Keep breathing," Ben offered with a sigh while giving Lopez a lifted eyebrow.

She was going in with Bishop without much preparation outside of an extra magazine, which was not true for Bradford and Chen, who brought some kevlar breastplates. Still, West and Ben were clearly the odd one out with their prep.

"You're making my boot your mule, Benny?" Lopez asked with a raised eyebrow when they met up in front of the entrance.

Ben shrugged, "At least this way nobody can shoot him in the back. Also, I'll do the talking at the door, West can observe my style a little. Maybe I got rusty - I need an outside perspective."

Chen shot him an appraising smile at Ben's considerations, but she was quickly brought into 'serious mode' by Bradford.

"Okay. This'll go faster if we split up. Weiss and West, you take the ground floor. Bishop and Lopez, you get second. Chen and I are starting on third. Keep your lines open and pay attention to the radio. I want regular updates. Any objections?"

"Got it, Bradford," Ben answered in a serious voice that surprised Chen and West. So far, Ben was more of a laid-back jokester around them.

As they entered the door that Ben held open, Lopez lingered a little and whispered to him, "Jackson is the son of the IAD Commander [Internal Affairs Division], Percy West. Don't let the kid die. You didn't earn enough brownie points for that fallout yet."

Ben shook off the slight goosepumps he formed on his arm but eventually shrugged. He texted Chris and Hondo to be on the lookout for news regarding Bronson Estates in case this goes south and gave them a channel he would contact every 3 minutes with a simple tap sound just in case.

"Okay, West. You keep your radio open on the channel we agreed on, I contacted my friends at SWAT for a signal. I get all the wrong vibes from this place, so remember what I said. Twitchy paranoid over nervous. Just don't shoot someone not shooting at us."

Ben knocked on a door and talked to the inhabitant for a short moment, but the man wasn't too keen on talking to Ben. Only a few sentences later, the tenant got loud and slammed the door shut when Ben simply walked away.

"Why did you stay so calm? That man was clearly trying to taunt you into a fistfight by calling you a racist pig and all that?"

SWAT liaison officer Weiss gained a confident smile and said, "That man has his own life. His own values. His own struggles. I don't need to meet him where he wants to meet me. Why engage with him and confirm his bias?"

Three doors later, the inhabitant confirmed that he had seen Cesiah and knew she lived somewhere on the top floors, same with Vance. Just as he wanted to call it in with West's help, Ben noticed the static from his own radio.

"West, try your radio. I suspect Vance has a jammer up," Ben ordered solemnly.

He himself walked to the backpack he had West wear and began to take out the bulletproof vests. Just as he put his own vest on, Ben heard gunshots a few floors up.

"Throw off the backpack and put on your vest, quickly."

West hurried and followed Ben's order. Ben helped West put the vest on because the young rookie forgot to take off his body cam in his nervous state. Then, Ben picked up the backpack and helped West wear it once more.

"I should have listened to my paranoia. Bring a second backpack with helmets and tear grenades," Ben mumbled as he got out his Kimber Custom II and told West to take out his own gun because the rookie only had his hand on his pistol. "Jammer must be somewhere in this house. We're going into the basement to turn off electricity. If the main circuit breaker actually is in the basement."

Just then, Ben saw something from the corner of his eyes and shoved West away, "Out of the way!"

The moment they were behind the corner, automatic rifle fire blasted through the hallway.

"Turn around," Ben ordered and got out the snake cam from the backpack on West's back while still under fire.

From the floor, he pointed the camera around the corner and was able to see three gunmen.

Ben held the monitor for West to see and whispered, "I brought exactly one SWAT issue flashbang from my car. You think this is worth it?"

"I-I-I don't know, sir."

Ben closed his eyes for a moment and whispered, "Twitchy vigilant, not nervous, West."

Taking out some ziptie handcuffs while keeping an eye on the monitor, he handed over three to West and took three himself. He whispered, "I have 10 rounds in this mag. I'm going for two four-shot-bursts and hoping I can keep 2 bullets in case I miss. I'll move out on my signal. You keep an eye on this hallway. Remember: If they stand, you're going to keep shooting. And unless they have a visible hole in their head that shows brain matter leaking out, you're going to put those cuffs on them."

"G-got it," West stammered out while reigning in his nerves. Ben's steady demeanor helped Jackson calm down a lot. But gunshots from the other floors were actively fighting Ben's calm voice in West's head.

Timing it with a moment where he saw the three gunmen talking amongst themselves and not paying attention to the corner West and he were hiding behind, Ben leaned into the hallway from the floor.

Four quick shots later, two of which landed center mass while the other two connected with the third gunmen's arms, Ben quickly sat back up to look at the hallway where West was on lookout.

Seeing and hearing no extraordinary movement, Ben took another look with the snake cam. All three gunmen looked to be taken care of. Two weren't moving at all with slumped bodies. The third was crying in pain while clutching both of his arms to his body.

The older officer of the two stood up, signaled West to follow him, and began placing the zipties on the two gunmen he just shot all the while keeping an eye on the third man screaming in pain.

Two shots to the solar plexus, one to the trigger-hand and one to the elbow. Ben once more landed his magic four shots.

"Help him stop the bleeding, Officer West. Use a ziptie. It's the fastest method we have. There's still active gunmen here," Ben ordered as he stood guard over the weapons he had kicked away from all three gunmen.

He only heard a grunt in affirmation, so he kept watch over the hallway with his gun trained toward the hallway with the elevator.

"You ready?"

West sounded out a 'yes', and the two began moving toward the entrance where the stairs toward the basement were.

Another gunfight later, where Ben got grazed by a bullet at his left bizeps, two more gunmen were in custody.

"Sir, you only have two bullets left," West advised as they cuffed the gunmen.

"Yeah, got it. The entrance is barricaded. We won't be able to run out to ask for help. You got a sharpie or something? I'll leave a message on the glass front," Ben asked.

With another affimation, Ben moved to write 't:1339, BW+JW -1, TBi+AL +2, TBr+LC +3, Vance & army 0-+2' in a mirrored font so that the outside could read it. The message contained the time and positions of all three teams as best as Ben knew.

Ben exchanged the magazine to replenish a full 10 shot capacity and told West how they would handle this situation. Every corner was checked by the snake cam, and finally, Ben took out the flashbang.

"Okay, four people. You gotta pull your weight now. Good thing I didn't use the flashbang earlier," Ben whispered to West. "I expect cover fire. After the bang, I'll cross over. You stay here."

"Understood," West mouthed back.

"Why they ain't checking in? They clearly just shot a couple of fools?" One of the perps asked the group in a low voice.

Another perp shouted, "They died. We're all gonna die! Vance doesn't pay enough for this shit!"

"Shut the fuck up, Kibbler! We're five people down here, who's gonna mess with us?"

"Man, stop giving out names and numbers. What if SWAT listens to our every word from somewhere by hacking the washing machines down here or something," yet another perp threw in with a deranged edge in his voice.

"You gotta lay off the H, Darcy. The fuck you saying?"

Ben took note of the increased number of perps and threw the flashbang after a countdown with his fingers. After the bang, Ben walked across to the other side of the wall and shot four times while West laid down suppressive fire. Picking up his snake cam, Ben checked the situation.

"LAPD! If you're alive and wanna stay alive, throw over your weapons," Ben shouted when he only counted three people down. One of the downed perps actually slid over the AK he had, but nobody else answered or reacted.

"West, cover me," Ben ordered as he moved to another cover down the hallway.

He shot another two times while getting shot at, but he only hit a man's weapon twice. At the last moment before ducking, he saw the man getting another rifle from the ground from one of his downed colleagues.

"Cover your eyes, West! Another bang incoming," Ben shouted and threw the sharpie he received from West.

The man who just grabbed the rifle covered his eyes, so Ben had free reign to shoot the man twice from the floor. Another four shots after that, all men were taken care of and Ben begang kicking away all the weapons from the perps.

"West! Start cuffing!" Ben called out as he quickly powered down the main circuit board.

Moments later, the radios of both officers began exploding, figuratively. Ben got out the radio that was connected to the channel he gave SWAT and spoke over the chatter, "Power down in Brenson Estate. Officers Weiss and West in the basement with 5 downed gunmen and offline jammer. Five more downed gunmen on the ground floor. Assist the other officers on the higher floors! Target of this mission highly likely on 3rd or 4th floor. Last known positions marked on entrance glass window."

"*Ben, what's your situation?*" A voice he recognized as Captain Cortez's came from the radio.

Ben looked to West and made his eyes roam him up and down, "Officer West is unharmed but rattled. I got shot twice. Hope EMT isn't too far out."

"You got shot again?" West screamed and moved toward Ben.

"Hey, hey. Get out the supplies and stop the bleeding. No need to freak out," Ben replied as he pressed on a wound just above his left knee.

"*Deacon and Luca are about to head downstairs to get you out,*" someone who was clearly Tan instructed over the radio.

"We're Code 4 down here," Ben spoke into the radio.

Moments later, Luca was on Ben and West and looked them all over. He gave Ben a lift by placing the wounded man's left arm over his shoulder and brought the two officers out while Deacon gave them cover.

Once they were outside, Ben chided Luca and Deacon, "Alright, alright. West can get me over to the ambulance. You guys go back in, I'm not a hapless and helpless old lady."

With a severe limp, Ben was walked over to the nearest ambulance by Officer West as his father ran over. Luca and Deacon ran back into the building without saying another word.

An older black man in full gear ran over and asked, "Jackson! Are you alright?"

"Dad, I'm fine, I'm fine. Officer Weiss took all the fire," West answered his father, and the two Wests quickly helped Ben move to medical attention quicker.

As the EMTs cut open his pant leg and sleeve, Cortez ran over from the SWAT mobile command center with her bulletproof vest on.

"How is his situation?" She asked the two guys working on her future liaison detective.

"Graze on the left arm, no visible muscle damage. Nothing permanent," the one working on Ben's arm replied.

"Through and through left thigh five inches above the knee. Didn't hit bone. No artery knicked. Shouldn't have hit a ligament," the other answered. "He'll still need to get to the hospital because I can't estimate the damage from here and a bandaid is decidedly not enough."

She finally turned to her future liaison detective, "How are you feeling, Ben?"

"Captain Cortez... I really don't like getting shot at. Can I still choose working the car park at some mall cop police station?"

"No way, you're stuck with us," the captain quipped with a smile when she noticed Ben was in the mood for jokes. It reassured the SWAT captain greatly.

"Get back to command, I'll live. I hope the same is true for my four colleagues still inside," Ben ordered when he saw Cortez didn't move away. "Will you take my gun for forensics?"

"Don't take that tone with your captain, Officer Weiss. But yeah, I can do that," Cortez answered with a smirk but moved away regardless after picking up his Kimber with a plastic evidence bag as well as his body cam.

"I'm going back in," Officer West argued with his dad in the meantime.

"No way, we got SWAT on the scene, so you're not moving anywhere," Percy West argued back.

"Lucy and our TOs are still inside, I gotta help them!"

Percy grabbed his son's vest and sternly argued, "You're just a rookie. They are hardened veterans. What can you do that they can't?"

As soon as he said that, Ben and Jackson West saw Nolan run inside together with two other officers.

"Nolan's inside, too. What right do I have to wait?"

Nolan quickly came outside with a distressed expression while moving one of the men that Ben shot to an EMT. After dropping him off, Nolan went right inside the building again.

"Hey," Ben holla-ed at one of the first responders. "Keep me on the gurney and move me to a squad car. I want all the ambulances here in case someone needs it more. If you stopped the bleeding, get me a driver and give us directions to the nearest hospital."

"Uh, sure. The closest ER with capacity is St Francis in Lynwood. Got decent surgeons on call. CHP on Pacific Ave is down for renovations," one of the EMTs advised.

"Guy, be serious," the EMT working on Ben's leg finally addressed something that had him weirded out from the get-go. "Why are you talking to us like we've put you under. You didn't wimper once. Are you feeling pain?"

Ben frowned and then shrugged, "100% adrenaline. Let me tell you a secret, though. After a shot through the heart, this is kiddie league."

"You serious?"

"About the heart shot? Yeah. About not feeling pain? Fuck no, I'm dying inside. Adrenaline wore off when you cut open my clothes. I'm just keeping it together for the rookie," Ben scoffed and looked to Jackson as he ran back inside the building despite his father's adamant argument against such a thing.

"Alright, let me see what we can do about that officer driving you to St Francis," one of the EMTs answered to change the topic.

Twenty minutes later, Ben found himself in an ER bed at St Francis. The officer that dropped him off filled the head nurse in on what happened in case the LAPD patrol officer uniform didn't give it away already. After that, the still walking officer went back to the Brenson Estates after Ben was given local anesthesia.

"So, what's a hotshot like you doing here?"

Ben looked up to see a pretty nurse checking his chart. She had pink and floral scrubs on, and her silky brown hair was in a high-ponytail.

"Guess I got shot twice. But you should see the other guys," Ben boasted with false bravado as he hissed in pain as his leg wound was inspected.

"I feel like I've seen you before," the tanned nurse with asian descent mumbled as she concentrated on the wounded officer's face for a moment. "Like, in a bar, maybe..."

"Did that bar have a TV? I'm probably a lil' sweaty and worse for wear on account of the two extra gunshot wounds - but I was given a medal on TV some time ago. News gave that a rerun for like two weeks."

"Aw shit, last day of my internship and I get to treat a celebrity?"

Ben looked her up and down and asked, "You're not a nurse, miss?"

"Some kid barfed on my scrubs a bit ago, this was all I could find in my size. Your name was something like Benji Winter, right? Can I get a selfie? My cousin called you Officer Dreamboat, maybe I can hook you up?"

"Ben Weiss, close enough. Wait, shouldn't that be on the chart?"

The last-day-intern simply shrugged.

"Maybe I'll make that my next undercover name. Benji Winter, doesn't sound too bad," Ben mumbled with a pondering expression when the doctor got back to reading the chart, pretending she didn't miss seeing his name. "You want that selfie before or after surgery?"

"Huh, maybe I can do a selfie when I got my finger in you?"

<Cast: Chloe Bennet as Fan M.D.>

<Dr Christopher Dunken Turk post Scrubs S9>

Before Ben could retort, another doctor in green scrubs turned up at his hospital bed, "Ey Chloe, you prep our GSV yet?"

"What's a GSV, Doctor Turk?"

The 40-something black doctor rocking a spotty beard squinted his eyes, "Gun Shot Victim, what they teach you, girl?"

"They teach me that we talk about the wound instead. So they taught me the abbreviation GSW for gunshot wound," Chloe countered with an unimpressed look.

"Sounds smart. So, Doctor Fan. Is the guy with the GSW prepped for surgery?"

"Uh, guess not?" Ben asked unsurely despite not being the one who was asked.

Turk finally turned to Ben and instantly recognized him, "Yo, we got a celebrity here! What you doin with a GSW in here, Benji?"

"Ben, just Ben."

The surgeon nodded, "I see you, 'Ben the better human' - did I get that right? Call me Turk. What we looking at anyway, Doctor Fan?"

"GSW left thigh, through-n-through. Bone, artery, ligaments all seem to be fine."

"Then this will be a quick in and out," Turk shrugged. "We'll put you under and close that right up for you. You'll be pimp-walking out of here in no time, player."

<Carla Espinosa post Scrubs S9>

"Can you not talk like that? You're a father of two daughters. They get second-hand embarrassment all the way from here to home," a short latina nurse with long curly black hair scolded.

"Don't throw shade at me, woman! We're in the presence of a celebrity here," Turk argued back with exaggerated gestures.

"Celebrity? You mean Officer Dreamboat behind you? I'm sure Officer Weiss would rather you fix the hole in his leg before he hears any more stories out of you. He's a busy man. You're a busy man. Izzy's ballet recital is in two hours," the nurse argued with an exasperated expression. "Get to it, chop-chop!"

"Thanks, Nurse...?"

"Call me Carla," Carla offered with a grin as she batted her eyes at Ben.

"Don't go flirting with my wife just before I put my scalpel in you," Turk warned with narrowed eyes, but his wife immediately pinched his side and he yelped like a little boy.

"Chloe is the one doing the surgery. You're just looking at it and nodding your big head," Carla scolded. "Get to it!"

"Can I make a quick phone call?"

Everyone looked at Ben. One was curious, one shrugged, the last one helped Ben take out his phone. The screen was cracked all over.

"Thanks, Carla."

"Oh, enough of that. Tell me who you'll call already," Carla ordered with gleefull anticipation of some gossip.

"This chart says he wasn't given any pain medication yet. What the fuck is up with that," Chloe whispered under her breath as she watched Ben joke around with Carla.