Back Up — a sci fi work in progress part III

“I’ve had a K-9 unit before Goodman, but not a toaster!”

She turned around but didn’t see who yelled the jab across the crowded room.

The other uniformed men and women laughed and Jo let her scowl slip over into a fake grin she wore hard enough to hurt her cheeks. Part of this damn job was political, and she planned to stay on the streets long enough to move up and over.

She needed them to think she was on their side, even if she had to fake it to make it.

“I’m going to go trade it in for a K-9,” she called out. “Put your name on the list for who’s got next.”

She turned her back to them, before they could say more, before they could start in on her. The good natured ribbing wasn’t so good in nature, and everyone knew it.

It was just pack mentality, and the jabs would keep coming until someone said something that couldn’t be taken back.

Knowing her, she would be the one who would let the insults fly, and even if she said she was sorry later, or blamed it on the heat of the moment, they would remember.

They would always remember.

And payback was a bitch.

It might be a slow call to cover her for back up. It might be a couple of reports that…