US police: outlaws

Chapter 23: The Name of a Hero

In the Antonio Mountains, a pair of blood-red eyes peek out from a cave. Footsteps echoed from the earth, but the owner of the eyes ignored them and disappeared into the darkness. The sound of chewing flesh could still be heard.

.

It was a sleepless night for San Antonio Hill, with a large number of police officers remaining until midnight and not completely dispersing, while Ethan Lee was being questioned at the hospital.

However, this time it wasn't colleagues from the Shooting Incident Response Department, since the nature of the incident is different. Instead, it was the Internal Affairs Department's Investigation Division that came forward, and the person in charge was a police inspector.

"Officer Ethan, this is Richard Baker, head of the Internal Affairs Investigations Unit. I'm here to ask you about the situation at the time. The process might be a bit complicated, since your body camera was off."

"I understand, I didn't know when it broke during the fight."

"Let's start with your patrol duties."

After Li Yisen finished speaking, the head of the investigation team nodded. If the body camera hadn't been broken, the questioning would have been much simpler, since it involved drug dealers who had killed several police officers.

Of course, there was another gun whose whereabouts were unknown, but Lee Esen insisted that he threw away the weapon after running out of bullets and picked up another one. The police had no evidence to prove that there was anything fishy about it. Maybe it was picked up by some entity, just like the body?

"Officer Ethan, please go home and rest. The police station will arrange for someone to stay by your side to prevent retaliation from drug dealers."

"I see."

...

The next morning, Lee Ethan encountered an unexpected event: the police officers who had accompanied him the night before left, and two detectives replaced them, one of whom was an acquaintance.

"Kaiya, what brings you here?"

The white-haired policewoman wore a suit set, but instead of a pencil skirt, she wore trousers for ease of movement; even so, she looked incredibly dashing.

"The police department has decided to assign me and Andy to be in charge of your safety until the case is completely closed."

"Thank you for your hard work."

As soon as Kaia Anderson entered, she scrutinized her classmate, making Ethan Lee feel embarrassed.

"I may be handsome, but you don't have to keep looking at me."

"Heh, I really didn't expect you to be able to kill five armed drug dealers all by yourself. When did you become such a good shot? By the way, do you know you're on the news?"

Lee Ethan wasn't going to talk to the other man about marksmanship; the police academy chief was rather competitive.

"It's normal to be in the news, isn't it?"

American official media generally focus on the news itself or the acts of sacrifice when reporting on police officers involved in cases. The heroic acts of the police officers in killing enemies in the cases are omitted from the report. For example, he saw his own story on the morning news.

Police officers Ethan Lee and Evelyn Hill have distinguished themselves in their fight against drug dealers.

That's right, let's just gloss over it.

Kaia took out a weekly magazine and handed it over.

"Take a look at this yourself, the autobiography of the editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Newsweek."

Lee Ethan looked at it, and the more he looked, the more surprised he became.

Good heavens, that Henry Wood guy, he's praising him like a hero.

"While hiking in the San Antonio Mountains, I witnessed several drug dealers kill a policeman and were even discovered and chased by them. Later, I met Officer Ethan Lee, who did not back down when faced with five drug dealers armed with automatic rifles. Instead, he calmly led us to hide in the woods, disregarding his own safety, and let Officer Evelyn take me away, while he faced an enemy that was far outnumbered and armed by him alone."

"I saw the brilliance of humanity in Officer Ethan: courage, justice, and a willingness to sacrifice. I thought Officer Ethan would die on the mountain, but who knew he would wipe out all the enemies? What incredible strength! He is a hero of Los Angeles, a hero of America, and of course, my hero."

Henry Wood couldn't resist taking a jab at the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department at the end.

If every Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office officer was like Officer Ethan, the number of crimes and drugs in this area wouldn't be increasing every year.

"..."

Kaia whispered in the stunned man's ear.

How does it feel to be called a hero?

The next second, Li Yisen got goosebumps. This woman.

Kaia Anderson left with a smile, but she also had some doubts. As a good friend who had trained together, she knew Ethan's physical strength and marksmanship. Although he had improved a lot, how could he kill five drug dealers?

With two detectives protecting him, Lee Ethan was much more relaxed. He was worried about being retaliated against by drug dealers, and he had to thank Henry for putting him on the leash.

It is clear that Li Yisen was unaware that his actions had already been compiled and placed in the hands of related forces.

For example, the MS-13 gang, which is based in eastern Los Angeles County, would never have bothered to retaliate if they weren't under intense police scrutiny. They would never let go of the cops who caused them millions of dollars in losses.

They are remaining indifferent because retaliating now would provoke even more intense police crackdown.

.

In the evening, in Ethan's kitchen, Kaiya, wearing an apron, was busy preparing dinner, while Ethan, who could only use one hand to help out, was beside her.

Kaiya glanced at the injured man's arm.

"You don't need to help since your hand is injured."

"It's nothing, just a minor issue."

Kaiya stopped trying to persuade her and continued working on the meat with great skill.

The man beside her readily handed over the necessary tools, since he was the one who taught Kaiya how to cook Chinese food.

Another detective, Andy, sitting on the sofa, kept glancing towards the kitchen; he hadn't realized the two had a better relationship than he'd imagined.

Suddenly Andy's phone rang. When he answered, it was his superior informing him of something.

"Ethan, the county sheriff's department wants you to do an interview."

"What?"

Ethan, who was about to sneak a bite, was stunned. He hadn't expected that his superiors would allow him to give an interview, which was rare in the police force. It seemed that it was because of Henry's newsweek again.

The next second, his outstretched hand was tapped by the woman with chopsticks.

Did you wash your hands?

"....."

So the two detectives stayed at Ethan's house for a few days, during which some awkward things happened.

For example, one night, Lee Ethan accidentally broke the bathroom window glass. The next second, Kaia Anderson broke down the door without asking any questions and saw the man's naked body.

Li Yisen was holding a bar of soap in one hand, but his other hand was immobile. He was completely stunned when a policewoman saw him naked.

It would be easier to bear if the other person was even a little shy, but Kaia was completely open and generous.

Was it a sneak attack?

Lee Esen covered it with soap.

"No, I just accidentally broke the glass."

"Um."

Kaiya continued to look around the bathroom, occasionally glancing at someone.

Lee Ethan finally couldn't take it anymore and shouted.

"Could you please stop looking and go outside?"

"Don't worry, during the mission I only treated you as a target to protect, not as a man."

"..."

Li Yisen felt his dignity as a man was attacked. What did it mean to not treat you like a man?

Li Yisen picked up a bathrobe and wrapped it around his lower body, then pointed to the bathroom door and said.

"Kaiya, shouldn't you be responsible for the repair costs?"

When money is mentioned, Kaiya smiles warmly, exuding the air of a virtuous wife and loving mother.

"Ethan, was it wrong of me to want to protect you?"

As an old classmate, Li Yisen knew exactly what the scheming woman was thinking.

"That's right, but you can ask me first."

"Is it wrong for me to worry about you being shot?"

"....."

"It turns out I was wrong to care about my good friend; I was just being presumptuous."

As Kaia said this, she wiped her eyes as if she were very sad, but in fact there were no tears at all.

Lee Ethan was speechless.

"Do I have to pay for the door myself? You know I owe tens of thousands in student loans."

"I can lend it to you, or you can write a report and get reimbursed by the police."

"Okay, I'll write the report myself."

Before leaving, Kaia made sure to mention something.

"It seems you've never slacked off in your training."

"....."

As expected, the policewoman isn't a woman; otherwise, a woman wouldn't act like that.