Badges Prequel: Badges (Iron Orchids Book 7) Read online

  Badges Prequel

  Iron Badges Series

  Danielle Norman

  Copyright © 2019 by Danielle Norman

  and F Squared, LLP

  All rights reserved.

  Without limiting the rights under the copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission from either the author and or the above named publisher of this book with the exception for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction.

  The name Danielle Norman® is a registered Trademark

  Iron Orchids™️ is a pending trademark.

  Contents

  Dedication

  1. Harley

  2. Sadie

  3. Piper

  4. Kat

  5. Bridget

  Sneak Peek—Sadie, Doctor Accident

  Find Me

  Badges Prequel

  Prepare for the ride of your life....

  The strong-willed and feisty ladies of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office will have you begging to be frisked and cuffed. These motorcycle-riding women are more dangerous than the criminals they apprehend, but that doesn’t stop them from letting their hair down once in a while.

  Get a small taste of each lady's personality as she embarks upon a night to remember at an All-Male Strip Show. When the badges are stripped away, so are their inhibitions.

  Connect with old friends from past books and get a look at future love stories.

  Dedication

  This is dedicated to the members of the Iron Orchids, the best fucking reader group in the world. You make me laugh every day. And after you read this, you will also realize that you inspire me…sorry, not sorry.

  Love,

  Dani

  Harley

  I took a long swig from my tall cup of Chick-fil-A lemonade as I walked into the sheriff station. You know that saying when life gives you lemons make lemonade? Well, I think when life gives you lemons grab the tequila because you’ll use fewer lemons. Then when you are nice and drunk, you can chuck those remaining bad boys at anyone who pisses you off. Right now, I’d chuck them at Aiden McGuire for playing so fucking hard to get. Of course, I’d aim for anywhere other than his midsection because truth be told, I had been fantasizing way too long about what that man could do with his nightstick.

  “Are you staring at my brother?” Bridget, one of my best friends, caught me in the act.

  I raised one eyebrow. Right now, I couldn’t answer her because I wasn’t sure which I was more embarrassed about, being caught staring at him or using a cop analogy for his man missile. Oh God, that was worse…baby maker? No. Womb Raider, Vlad the Impaler, Cocktapus…I threw one hand against my forehead, I needed to stop, but my brain was now in full gear. You know what I’m talking about, when you want to turn your mind off, but the ideas just keep flowing.

  “I’m seriously afraid to know what you’re thinking right now.”

  “You should be. I don’t think your delicate ears can handle it.” I shook my head.

  “Ummm, I work in dispatch. You’d be shocked at the things I hear.”

  “Why does Harley look as if she’s—”

  I cut Piper off, she was another one of my best friends and she’d just walked up to join us. “Fine, I’m staring at Aiden, and my mind won’t shut off, I can’t stop coming up with names for his…you know.”

  Bridget threw her hands over her ears. “No, no, no, no, I’m not hearing this. He’s my brother for Christ’s sake.”

  “His dicktator, clam hammer, yogurt slinger, or I’ve got it…Just-in Beaver, get it?”

  Piper and I were doubled over laughing and Bridget was non-to-pleased. “Don’t forget, weapon of ass destruction,” Piper said in-between fits of laughter.

  “Will you two stop, the majority of the station is staring at you not to mention that Aiden is coming over here.”

  I froze at Bridget’s words and immediately changed my mental thinking. Aiden and I had an on-going war to see who could best the other one verbally. “Why do you look as if you’ve been busted?” Aiden whispered in his soft Irish brogue, I swear to God the man’s brogue intensified around me because he knew that it totally set my girly parts on fire.

  “Because I have been bad and you should spank me, it’s the only way I’ll learn.” I bit my lower lip and turned to stare at him waiting for his reply.

  “Fuck.” He shook his head and walked off. I silently gave myself a fist pump.

  “Whoa, Aiden, wait up, need to ask you a favor,” Piper hollered and waved him back over. “What are you doing next Friday?”

  “Nothing, that’s my off Friday.”

  “I know, that’s why I’m asking if you have plans.”

  “No, whyyyy?” His eyes darted from Piper, to me, to his sister.

  “We need a favor.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “The three of us plus Sadie and Kat.” The two of them rounded out the rest of our girl posse.

  “What do I have to do?”

  “We just need a ride and pick up. We’re going out for girl’s night and we’re meeting Lieutenant Christakos’s wife as well as Sergeant Lang’s wife and a bunch others.”

  “Fine, send me the deets. Just you five?”

  “Yep.”

  “You’ll all have to squeeze in my truck, it only holds six.”

  “We’ll make it work.”

  I pulled out my phone and immediately sent a text to Kat and Sadie.

  Me: Aiden is taking and picking us up for the show.

  Sadie: Does he know where we’re going?”

  Me: No, that is not-needed information.

  Kat: LOL

  “Bridget, why don’t we all meet at my apartment that way afterward anyone who is still too drunk can just stay the night since I have the extra bedrooms.”

  “Sounds good to me. We just need to let Kat and Sadie know. Have you got your elephant gift yet?” I asked.

  “Yep and it is sooo good, you?” Piper asked.

  “Not yet,” Bridget answered.

  “I have no clue what to get.” This whole elephant game was new to me, but they insisted on everyone playing it. “And something tells me that I seriously need to be afraid of Sergeant Lang’s sister, Stella.”

  Piper pursed her lips. “That’s probably the understatement of the century.”

  That night I sat down at my computer I wove my fingers together and then turned them until I heard the telltale sign of my knuckles popping. Then positioning my fingers on the proper keys, I began typing, embarrassing gifts for a male review show. Okay, so not only were there twenty-four of us going to see Thunder Down Under but it was someone’s bright idea to play Amazon Elephant. It was sort of like White Elephant where you wrapped something you already had that you didn’t want and exchanged it with someone, and you got stuck with their unwanted item. But Amazon Elephant was different in that the item was new, you ordered it from Amazon, it generally had something to do with whatever your theme was, but the commonality was you still didn’t want to get stuck with it.

  As I shifted through website after website the perfect item came to me.

  Sadie

  Today was one of those days that if I was into reading my horoscope it would probably say, whatever you do don’t kill anyone. First and foremo
st, my Captain for calling me in on my day off when I’d rather have been home lounging because it was going to be a late night. I hadn’t told any of my friends but honestly, I wasn’t so sure how I felt about men shoving their junk in my face. Sure, I’m as willing as the next woman when it comes to admiring a well-honed, well-defined piece of man meat. But I prefer to know where my meat has been. But regardless, I knew it was going to be fun.

  I waved at a little boy holding onto his mom’s hand. I loved kids, I didn’t want kids but I liked them as long as they didn’t have to go home with me.

  I rounded the corner to one of our classrooms, and from the looks of it a lot of people had been called in if the group piling into the classroom was any indication. I saw Piper sitting at a chesk, I didn’t know what else to call it. It was one of those combo chair desks that really should have been made extinct in the seventies. And for God’s sake no adult should ever be forced to sit in one again after graduating high school.

  Moving to grab a seat near Piper, I frowned when I spied a notebook already on the desk top. “Just move it, that’s mine. I saved these seats”—she pointed to three around her—“I think that Harley and Kat were ordered to attend as well.”

  “Shit, I wonder what’s up with all of us being called in.” I scanned the room, there were other female and male deputies, as well as support staff clamoring in. “Who is going to be left on the road if we’re all here?”

  “No clue.” Piper look dumbfounded then grabbed the notebook from my hand and tossed it on another empty seat next. “Looks like Bridget is here too.”

  “What’s up with Nantucket Barbie?” Harley asked as she slid up next to us and gave a nod toward a woman with perfectly coiffed blonde hair tied up into a chignon. Harley was right, the woman would look more at home in the Hampton’s than she did in the Orange County sheriff station.

  “No clue but she doesn’t look too pleased to be here.”

  “You talking about Country Club Barbie?” I laughed at Bridget’s comment, she’d finally made her way over to us. “Yeah, she doesn’t look happy.”

  Kat rushed in with seconds to spare and grabbed the last seat Piper was holding. Of the five of us, Piper was the only one in motors, well she was the only female motorcycle deputy period. Bridget was in dispatch, and Harley, Kat, and I were all road deputies although I was hoping to someday make it onto motors. If only some of these old farts would go ahead and retire. But noooo, they wanted to wait until the very last second.

  “Listen up, ladies,” Captain Getty said as a way of shutting us all up. No, the room wasn’t full of all women, that was just his, no-bullshit-old school way of getting attention and for us to take our seats which we all did in haste. “As you can all see we have a guest in the room.”

  A slight cough from the well-dressed woman in the corner had me sitting on the edge of my seat. That wasn’t a normal cough, that was an interruption cough. You know the one, the Delores Umbridge interrupting Professor McGonagall, it was rude and grating. She coughed again.

  “There’s a water fountain outside if you need to get a drink otherwise hold it down,” Captain Getty barked, and we all chuckled. Obviously, he’d already decided he didn’t like this woman, whoever she was. “In just a moment I’m going to introduce you to Kelly Fitzconnell, but I want to give her some time to rest her throat from all of the coughing.” He emphasized coughing, “Let me tell you a little about her and why she’s here. She’s with Internal Affairs Equal Opportunity division. Anyway, she’ll be hanging around and talking to some of you over the next few…” He turned to look at her and waited for her to say something, but she didn’t answer. “Too long however long it is. If you’ll all be so kind as to help her with whatever she needs to get her job done so she can move on to another district that much faster. As many of you know there are three positions on motors and two in our investigations that will be opening in the near future.” He glanced over at Nantucket Barbie who seemed to have righted herself now. “Miss Fitzconnell, would you like to say something?”

  “Thank you, Mark.”

  The intake of air at her words was shocking and then the silence was almost deafening. No one addressed Captain by his first name, for all I knew, his wife called him Captain. It wasn’t until someone fidgeted and the sound of a chair squeaking that the awkwardness started to break. “I’m Captain, Captain Getty, or Sir. Do we have an understanding?” His words were clipped, and his bushy mustache quivered above his upper lip but there was no response from Kelly. “I asked you a question and I’m your superior. You will answer me, or we will leave this room right now.”

  “Yes, sir.” Her words were full of venom and I had a strange feeling that she was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. “Your”—she emphasized the word your—“captain told you about these openings, I’m glad that I was able to highlight the lack of women in these positions so that your captain could remedy the short coming and I’m honored to have been a part in this change and hope that your department does the right thing and fills these position with women.”

  I seriously disliked this woman. I hate when people take credit for shit they didn’t do. Not able to take it anymore I raised my hand. “Excuse me, Kelly.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry this isn’t an answer-question session.”

  “I understand that but I’m sure that you’ll indulge me as you are pro-woman and I’m a woman and all.” I turned at the sound of several people snickering. But people who weren’t law enforcement didn’t get it, as a woman in a predominately male profession, I wanted to ensure that things weren’t made simple just because I was a female. I wanted my coworkers to respect me and know that I had the training and skills for the job. They had to trust my expertise as much as I trusted theirs because I’ve yet to see a bullet leave a killer’s gun that cared whether I was a female or not.

  “Fine, what’s your question?”

  “You said that you are responsible for these three positions in motors. So that means these are three new positions in addition to the three that have been on the charts for over a year because we have Connelly, Markson, and Davis retiring, correct?”

  Before she could answer, Captain Getty spoke up, “I’m only aware of those three spots but I’ll be sure to bring this up the chain of commands and mention that Miss Fitzconnell announced as such and that it was her doing.” He paused, used his index finger and thumb to smooth his mustache before continuing. “Here is why you were all called in, if you are interested in applying for one of the three motors position please stay in this room, or if you are eligible to move up the ranks to one of the detective openings please follow Detective Callum McGuire over to classroom one-o-one. While I have your attention, we’ve asked all of our support employees to stop by at some point today. We will be increasing our force by thirty-two road deputies over the next two years. If you are currently employed by Orange County we have a scholarship program if you would like to attend the law enforcement academy on our dime. You are guaranteed a job when you graduate so it is a win-win since we already know your work ethics. If you’re interested, please speak to me later. Everyone else is excused.”

  I stayed seated along with Kat and Harley as we watched almost everyone else trickle out. “I’ll catch you all later.” Piper picked up her notebooks and left with Bridget behind her.

  For the next three hours, I sat in this fucking room, I was fascinated when Lieutenant Christakos talked about the hiring process and what skills were needed. Sergeant Lang drew a map of the driving course and gave pointers for us to start practicing. And Nantucket Barbie, well she kept interrupting telling all of us how things should be catered to women.

  “Ladies, do not allow them to give those positions to anyone else. They must go to women if not, you can file discrimination.”

  Once again, I raised my hand. “You do understand that the sheriff issued motorcycles are over eight hundred pounds, correct? Not all women can lift them. It takes some serious training. The last thing anyone needs is to
lay their bike down and then not be able to lift it up.”

  Kat raised her hand and joined in. “Although I appreciate what you’re doing and I truly believe that more women are needed, perhaps it would be better to use the revenue they spend on your salary and maybe invest it in additional training. To give you an example, there are tricks on how to rock a bike and get it back up, even an eight hundred pound bike.”

  “Or using your enemies force to help increase your own strength,” I suggested. “These are areas that we as women could benefit from not from demanding positions that will get us killed if we aren’t properly trained.”

  The once perfectly polished Nantucket Barbie didn’t seem so put together, she actually looked pissed. I wasn’t sure whether it was the comment about reallocating her salary or the fact that we had steamrolled her. But she knew nothing about us, we had no problem standing up for ourselves and we had just proven that.

  Lieutenant Christakos passed out information packets that recapped all of the information. “Remember, you must be a road deputy for a minimum of two years before applying to motors, this is non-negotiable.”

  “I have a clipboard here.” Sergeant Lang held it up in the air. “If those of you truly interested in moving into motors will add their name it will help us.”

  “This meeting is over,” Kelly announced. Lieutenant announced rolled his eyes but didn’t contradict her.

  Harley, Kat, and I left and silently smiled because we’d just taken a serious step. “You’re first Sadie, you’ve been here longer.”

  “We should all try out together. Whoever gets it, get in while you can. Let’s not screw up our chances. I’d rather one of us, any of us than someone else.” I squeezed their hands and we left. Now I just needed to figure out how to tell my dad and Margaret that I was going to try for motors. My dad would freak, Margaret however would be thrilled and would tell me to follow my dreams. God, I loved her, how did I ever get so lucky to end with a step-mom like her?