Caught On Camera

By Kadi

Rated K

Disclaimer: It isn't my sandbox, I simply like to play in it!

A/N: Written for the #ShandySundayHiatus Marathon, Week 3. The prompt was to write a story where a documentary crew ends up following the Major Crimes team, and catches a close moment between Raydor & Flynn on camera. I wanted to approach this a little differently than how I normally write, so it's not written from a completely Shandy POV. Rather, it's from the outside looking in, so to speak. This is a one-shot for now, but I'm thinking I may revisit it later, as part of something longer... for the moment, Enjoy!

A headache began to pound behind his eyes the moment the man in front of him entered his office. Anything involving the City Attorney's office was usually a hassle on a good day. Since the words Gloria Lim had left Assistant Chief Taylor's mouth, Chief of Police Will Pope had developed something of a migraine. She had to be the single most annoying woman on the planet, and Pope was certain that his only saving grace was that the woman didn't work for him. When she got too far out of hand, he could make a phone call and her boss was usually able to rein her in.

At present, Pope was listening to the report on how Lim, in conjunction with Taylor, had managed to stop yet another LAPD lawsuit involving the Major Crimes Division. That they were being sued was enough to start his headache. At least this time they were truly not at fault.

The idea for a film crew to follow certain divisions within the LAPD as part of a documentary on its routines and procedures had come from the Mayor's Office. Pope had immediately jumped on the idea. It was a great way, they all agreed, to help further erase the stigma of the recent Turrell Baylor lawsuit. Elite divisions within the LAPD were chosen for the project, and due to their involvement at the center of the Baylor lawsuit, Major Crimes was one of the key divisions to be filmed.

To say that Captain Raydor was not pleased was an understatement. Pope could still feel the scorch marks from her glare. She had gone along with it, he hadn't given her much choice in that, but she wasn't pleased. When Raydor wasn't happy, well usually, no one was happy. He just knew that she was going to make their lives a living a hell for that, and if Pope didn't know better he would think she had conjured up the ensuing chaos just to get back at him.

It all started out with little enough hassle. Major Crimes was between cases when the film crews came on board, so they had started with the Special Operations Bureau. Major Crimes caught its next case only a day later, and a film crew was assigned to the unit. How Raydor got her people to cooperate, Pope really didn't want to know, or care. Thing was, they were cooperating, and that was the only part that he really cared about.

Will rubbed a hand across his forehead as his Assistant Chief kept speaking. He squinted up at the man and wondered, not for the first time, if the Mayor would really care, at this point, if he tried to get Brenda back.

"…on the upside, Lim is not going to settle with the Martins' lawyers. The camera footage clears our guys of all culpability, and a motion has already been put in front of the judge to dismiss the suit."

Taylor paused, for just a moment, probably to draw more air into his already vastly occupied self and Pope leapt at the opportunity to cut in. "Then why are we still here?" He asked, without completely managing to mask his exasperation. "If the lawsuit is being dismissed, that's good news. You could have phoned it in."

"That's not why we're here." Taylor smirked. He held up a DVD and wriggled it. "I had Lim send over a copy of the footage, I wanted to see it for myself. I found it… compelling, to say the least. I thought you might like to take a look for yourself."

He looked entirely too pleased with himself. For Pope, that sent off warning sounds through his already aching head. He sat up a little straighter and his brows furrowed together. "Was there something in the footage that Ms. Lim missed?"

"Yes and no." Taylor strode over to the large screen television that was mounted against the wall in the Chief's office. He slid the DVD out of it's case and into the player. "The footage I'm talking about isn't necessarily important to the lawsuit. It is important to the Department. At least in so far as we are involved." Taylor smirked. "You didn't think it was going to work. Putting Raydor in charge of Major Crimes. You thought it would be an exercise in futility, as I remember."

The Chief's brows rose. As he recalled, putting Captain Raydor in charge of the division was his idea, and he'd had to talk Taylor into it. Later, the man took credit for it, and he allowed it. He couldn't be seen doing too much in-depth reorganization, particularly where Major Crimes was concerned. He needed to distance himself from the division and its lawsuit. Will leaned back in his seat and allowed his fingers to steeple together as he swiveled in it to face the television. It served his purposes far better to allow the other man to have his delusions. Instead, he simply settled comfortably in his chair.

"I take it you're about to prove otherwise? I thought we'd already agreed that it was working. Their productivity is up, their costs are down. The woman can run a division, we don't have to like her." Technically, Pope did, most of the time. Unless she was glaring, yelling, or otherwise displeased with him. Then, like the rest of the world, he knew to be wary.

"You could say that." Taylor stepped back from the television and moved to lower himself into one of the comfortable leather seats in front of Pope's desk. He started the footage rolling. Since it was an excerpt from the original footage, subpoenaed by the City Attorney's office in the Martin lawsuit, the video began playing as the team gathered on the street outside the warehouse where his headache had originally started.

The case had involved the death of a former Deputy District Attorney that had gone into private practice. Theresa Nolan hadn't been part of the DA's office for the last four years, but her former position was reason enough to assign the case to Major Crimes. The team had followed leads which had led them to an old warehouse in West Hollywood. They had reason to believe that while Nolan's body had been dumped off Mulholland, the warehouse was the original crime scene.

It was a routine fact gathering, so there had been no reason to leave the film crew behind. Pope tilted his head as they listened to the film crew question the team as they gathered outside and discuss entering the warehouse. They had two patrol cars with them, and SID on standby if they found anything inside. Normally they would have been inside within moments of arriving, but the team lingered outside and allowed the film crew to get shots of the building and street.

Pope fought the urge to chuckle as Sanchez described, with a good deal of glee, how they were going to bust in the door and check the place out. His enthusiasm hadn't faltered any during all the years he'd been part of the unit, Will had to give him that.

"Okay, in a couple of minutes, the firing is going to start," Taylor instructed. He held up the remote, pointed at the screen. He fast forwarded the film several minutes and then started it playing again. "Now, watch all the way through… notice where everyone is as they start inside. It'll be important when the shooting starts."

Pope slanted a look at him, but then gazed back at the screen. His eyes narrowed. He took note of it. Sanchez and the young woman that was new to the division, Sykes, he believed her name was. He spotted Tao speaking with Buzz and the Captain, and near the front of the group, the jokesters and senior Lieutenants, Flynn and Provenza. Will snorted quietly, there was no audio from the pair, but he could tell they were arguing about something. The way the pair gestured as they spoke was entirely too familiar. The Chief shook his head, up to no good, most likely. Although, with those two, he could genuinely say that it wasn't the trouble they got into that was interesting, it was how they got out of it. He figured he'd keep them around, at least until they got the department sued, or started being boring.

A moment later, his ears pricked at the familiar popping sound that indicated gunfire. The team immediately took cover, diving back to their vehicles. Pope leaned forward in his seat and payed closer attention. They were shouting, and over the din he picked up the distinct cadence of Provenza ordering the camera crew to take cover on the other side of their van. They fell back, all but one, and the cameras kept rolling.

He watched Raydor send Buzz with the others, to the safety of the van. It was, in a word, organized chaos. Organized in that the team took up positions and began assessing the situation quickly. When they assessed the direction of the gunfire, they began returning it. Short bursts, saving their clips. Sanchez and Sykes ran forward, while covered by the others and flanked the entrance.

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Sanchez glanced over and caught Amy's eye. He nodded once and they both counted silently. On three, he kicked in the door while she moved into a crouching position and cleared the door. The immediate entrance was empty. They both moved inside and quickly took cover. The echo from within the building allowed them to more easily pinpoint where the shooting was coming from.

"Upstairs," Sykes whispered.

"Yeah," Sanchez stepped back, toward the door and gestured in Provenza's line of sight. He waited for the Lieutenant to nod. "Let's go."

Amy stayed low to the ground, in the shadows provided by rows of old crates and pallets and headed toward the steel stairs in the corner. She moved quickly, but quietly, and could sense Julio on her heels. He was covering them as they moved. It was familiar, almost instinctual. They'd worked together enough the last two years that they didn't have to stop and plan every moment anymore. His was a good gun to have at her back.

As they moved deeper into the shadows, Provenza lost sight of them. The shots were coming from windows on the second floor. It was hard to pinpoint how many shooters. It seemed to be coming from more than one direction. He stayed crouched beside his car, and while Tao, on the other side, took his turn at firing back, he checked his clip. Half gone. Glass shattered from his back, passenger side window and rained down on him. "Son of a—" That one had been close. He'd heard the bullet as it whistled past his head. Provenza leaned into the car, grunting as he did and opened his glove box. Several clips spilled out. He took two for himself. "Mike!" He drew the younger man's attention and tossed two of them over, across the seat.

While Tao took the opportunity to change out his now empty clip, Provenza leaned up over the edge of his open, passenger door and fired toward the building. Three quick rounds and then he sat back on his haunches again. This time, he took the opportunity to glance around at the rest of the team. The idiot camera man, Martin, as he recalled, was poking his fool head out around the corner of Sanchez's car. "Get back," He yelled, waving his arm at the man. The idiot had his camera and was filming the entire ordeal. "Take cover!" A bullet embedded itself in the passenger seat of his car, a foot from his head. Provenza ducked and swore. "Damnit!"

The camera man leaned farther out to to film the action at the Lieutenant's car, and went down a second later. "No!" Provenza waved Buzz back when it looked like he was going to leave his cover and run toward the man. "You stay put, you hear me. Stay. Put."

"I've got him!" Another of the camera guys was pinned down between the van and the car. He ran forward to collect his colleague, but went down with a bullet in his leg.

"Do none of you understand the words take cover? What the hell is wrong with you. Stay there! Buzz, find out where the hell that back up is."

That was Flynn, and Provenza took a moment wonder how he'd gotten all the way the hell over there. He could have sworn he'd been beside Tao, taking cover behind the open, back driver's side door. Now he was on the other side of the silver cruiser that Tao and Buzz had arrived in, that now looked as though it had seen better days. That idiot! Provenza realized who else was over there and almost rolled his eyes. Almost, in that he had other things to worry about at the moment.

In the distance, they could hear the sound of sirens. That would be their backup. He was counting the minutes that he thought it would take for Julio and Sykes to make their way upstairs and began searching for their shooters. From where he crouched, he heard the rapid popping of shots, although it was not followed by the sound of breaking windows or bullets striking the sides of their cars. That would be their people inside.

They heard more gunfire, and then silence. Before anyone could move, Provenza shouted at them to wait. He waited for his phone to ring. When it did, he reached into his pocket for it. The text was from Sykes. All clear.

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"The rest," Taylor said, as he paused the video, "is pretty self explanatory. It all fits what was in the team's reports. They swept the building with patrol, looking for more suspects. There were two, moving between the three second floor windows." He began fast forwarding, past the aftermath. "As for the lawsuit, the camera crew didn't follow orders they were given on site, or the instructions they were provided with when we agreed to let them follow our people."

Pope nodded, that was clear enough. The entire event was covered by the releases they'd signed. The lawsuit was filed by the Martin family stating that the deceased man was placed in unnecessary danger, which would have made the release null and void. That was clearly not the case. "What are we looking for?"

"This." Taylor started it playing again. He leaned back in his seat and grinned, looking smug. "Watch the left hand side of the screen. Don't pay attention to FID."

The Chief frowned. His eyes narrowed. The camera was still rolling, this time from a different angle. One of the crew was still filming, despite having lost one of their own. The camera was pointed at the FID team members as they questioned the officers on site involved in the shooting. Behind, and in the distance, were the ambulances and emergency personnel providing aid. In the background, well behind where FID was speaking with Sanchez, he caught sight of Flynn. He watched the man stride angrily toward the left. The man was practically vibrating, but that was nothing new. He had a temper, they all knew that. It was on a leash most of the time. He stood just outside one of the ambulances. They couldn't see, beyond the back doors, who he was speaking to. "What am I looking for?"

"Just wait for it," Taylor said, almost gleefully.

His jaw clenched in exasperation, but Will inhaled and chose to hold his tongue for the moment. His brows furrowed into a deeper frown. The Lieutenant took a step forward, and for a moment he was concealed within the back of the ambulance. When he moved back again, and a second later, his Captain was beside him. There was a bandage wrapped around her upper arm. Yes, Pope recalled the report, she had been grazed by a bullet. It wasn't a serious injury, and she was treated on site. "Okay, so what—" He stopped when he spied it. Flynn took the blue, LAPD wind breaker out of her hands and shook it out, Then he stepped behind her and helped her into it. It was all very innocent, until they watched him move her hair aside and lean down to speak against her ear. They couldn't hear a word that was said, but the moment was very clear.

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"Are you alright?" His eyes were flashing, their brown depths nearly black with irritation. Andy's hands rested loosely, near his belt, while he waited for the last strip of tape to be placed over the bandage that was wrapped around her upper arm. He was still reeling from the original adrenaline of having spied the red that stood out in stark contrast against her beige jacket. For just a moment his heart stopped beating at realizing she'd been hit, before discovering that it was hardly a scratch—as she had called it.

Sharon slanted a glare at him. She didn't immediately respond. Instead, she smiled warmly at the paramedic. "Thank you." Then she stepped down, off the back of the ambulance. "Lieutenant, as I've said more than once, I'm fine. It barely even needs stitches." It hurt like hell, but she supposed that went without saying. She watched his jaw clench and tilted her head at him. She stepped past him and let her gaze sweep the area, while she took a visual accounting of all her people. "Get a grip," she hissed.

Her blazer was ruined, and laying somewhere within the red tape that FID had put up when they arrived. She sighed as she fingered the blue, standard issue LAPD jacket in her hands. Sharon drew a breath as she prepared to slide into it, and cover the thin, silk blouse that was now missing a sleeve. Pity, the blue had been one of her her favorites. When the jacket was tugged out of her hands, she glanced at the man beside her. "You're pushing it," she warned quietly.

Andy fought a smirk as he stepped behind her. "I don't know what you're talking about, Captain." He shook the jacket out and then helped her into it, first her injured right arm and then the left. After he settled it onto her shoulders, he lifted her hair from beneath its collar. His fingers stroked the thick, soft tresses and then placed it over her shoulder. He leaned down and whispered quietly. "My apologies ma'am, I get a little pissed off when my girl gets shot."

"Hm." She hummed quietly. Sharon arched a brow and angled her head to cast a cool look in his direction. Her eyes were sparkling, however, and belied the full effect. "I think I can understand that, Lieutenant. I'm not exactly fond of it myself."

His brow arched. He took a step back and regarded her with a more neutral expression. His lips twitched, and he almost grinned at her. "Are you trying to say that you're pissed off, Captain?"

"You have no idea." Sharon bent her arm and held it close to her body as they strode toward where the rest of the team was congregating. "What do we know," she asked, much louder and putting an end to the very inappropriate conversation before it could truly begin. She slanted a look at him again, they would talk about that later. He needed to rein it in, or they were going to have a problem. Although, she didn't suppose they'd actually discussed proper behavior in the event of getting shot. Sharon made a mental note to put that on the list. Maybe it would involve a tub, and some candles, and a strong male chest to recline against while they reflected on the day's events.

"FID has already questioned Sykes," Andy began. "They're with Sanchez right now. I think they were just waiting on you. The rest of us have already given our statements. SID is inside. The guy we got alive is already in custody. We're going to get him into an interview room as soon as FID lets us out of here…"

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The playback stopped again. Taylor was smirking at him. "You'll be pleased to note that I received a report on my desk a week ago. Major Crimes got their hands on a copy of the footage when Gloria Lim received it. I didn't believe it until I saw this."

Pope sat back in his seat and stared, almost dumbfounded, at the other man. "She didn't."

"She did." Taylor tapped the remote against his leg. "Furthermore, she reported it before I saw this, so she's still covered." He waved a hand through the air. He didn't care about that. "It got me to thinking… FID had to investigate Sanchez for unnecessary force when he brought David Layton in for his interview after Major Crimes cleared the scene." Layton was the young man they'd arrested, alive, following the shooting. He was currently in County pending transfer to upstate. He'd taken a deal, both for the shooting, and the murder of DDA Nolan. "Layton claimed that Detective Sanchez was angry at him for shooting his captain." Taylor's lips pursed. "Now this…" He pointed the remote at Pope. "No one thought it would work. Moving her in with them."

"There were some that were skeptical." Pope sat up in his chair and shrugged. He recalled Taylor being one of them. He also recalled that Taylor hoped it wouldn't work. Then he could be rid of Raydor, Provenza, and anyone else in Major Crimes that he wanted the opportunity to replace. Now the man seemed only too gleeful. It was only more reason that he was glad he'd put the transfer into play. Will rather liked keeping Captain Raydor where she could keep an eye on Taylor. The lawsuit and losing Brenda forced his hand, he had to promote Taylor, he didn't have to like it, and he didn't have to turn his back on the ambitious man. If he wanted to remain Chief of Police, he needed certain insurance policies in place. He had quite a few, Raydor was one of them. Knowing her, she knew it.

Fraternizations between officers were beneath his current pay grade, however. Pope reached for a pen and tapped it against his desk. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I think I'll keep an eye on them for a while." Taylor stood up and carried the remote back to the shelf beside the television and DVD player. He retrieved the disc of the shooting. "As long as they're behaving themselves, I see no reason to do anything. Like you said, their productivity is up, costs are down. I don't want to shake that up right now. Major Crimes receives a lot of coverage, especially these days. Two lawsuits in as many years, they weren't at fault this time, but it's got people looking again. I thought you needed to be made aware of what they might be seeing."

He was a gossiping old woman, Will thought. Instead, he clasped his hands against the top of his desk and nodded. "I appreciate that. Keep an eye on the situation. Let me know if it gets out of hand. We might want to rethink the organization structure, put her back in FID." He wanted to smirk when, for just a second, Taylor looked disappointed at that. It wasn't what he wanted to hear. Pope reached for the report left abandoned on his desk when Taylor arrived. "Is that all, Chief?"

"Yes sir." Taylor took a step back. Not what he expected, but something that he could work with. "Enjoy the rest of your day, Chief."

Pope nodded, but said nothing. He waited for him to leave. Then he snorted and rolled his eyes. He leaned back in his chair again and sighed. "Crap!" He was well beyond the point of migraine now. He wondered if the human brain could literally explode from the pressure exerted on it at any given moment. Most likely not, but the image gave him something to focus on for the moment. He knew what would probably come next. The budgeting committee was going to look at lifting the promotions freeze during the next quarter. There was a specific list on his agenda, and on that list, was a certain Captain that he once promised to make a Commander. Pope expected Taylor to try and block it now. He'd need to find a way to circumvent that.

The Chief smirked. So kind of Taylor to give him the heads up. The man might be an ambitious snake, but he'd just showed him his hand. He wasn't always as smart as he liked to believe.

Pope tapped his pen against the surface of his desk again. Then he reached for his phone. There was a full version of the documentary footage out there somewhere. It would be in his best interests to get his hands on it. He wanted to see the film shot before the shooting. Now that he knew what was going on in his Major Crimes division, he needed to find out how overt, or not, that it was. He could almost guarantee that if Taylor didn't already have the footage, he'd be requesting it. Pope wanted to make sure that he got his hands on it first. Anything to stay three steps ahead of the man. Three steps… and one promotion ahead.

Later, possibly in a few days… when it wasn't quite so obvious, he would get a warning to Sharon. She was going to need to watch her back. Although, Raydor being Radyor, she already was.

Will snorted. He shook his head in amusement. Clearly, she wasn't the only one watching it…

~FIN