Exploration

[Robbie C.]

This isn't a normal story for me. If you're a die-hard Crockett fan you might want to skip this one.

MJ and I have both explored the post-series period, picking two equally valid options. During the early '90s quite a bit changed about the narcotics underworld. We saw the birth of more and more cartels, using more and more vicious methods to control their trade and territory. OCB's way of doing business was rapidly becoming obsolete. My Task Force shows one way forward, MJ's Watching shows what might have happened if things stayed more or less the same. The key in both cases is Crockett. Her Crockett learned some from his past mistakes, but still had many of his old habits. My Crockett drew back in himself and came away a different person; more of a team player and even eventually a leader in his own right. But there was always a third option. What if Sonny hadn't learned a thing after Costa Morada and continued on his cowboy path? That's what this little scene explores.

Again, die-hard Crockett fans might want to read something else. I am working on other stories, but I wanted to get this one out just because. Paths not taken and all that. It's one of the things you do when you write.

 

Martin Castillo didn’t look up when Sonny Crockett entered the office. Sonny had expected no less; no one in the outer squad room would even meet his gaze. Ever since Rico was gunned down they’d avoided him. He guessed he couldn’t blame them, even though it was the risk they took. Maybe Rico had gone to the well one time too many.

Castillo let him stand there for a good five minutes. Sonny fidgeted, first looking at his watch then down at his shoes and then back to the watch. He had leads to chase. Standing here accomplished nothing. Then the lieutenant looked up. “You’re suspended, Crockett. Effective immediately. I want your badge and sidearm.”

“What! You can’t! I gotta…”

“Your badge and sidearm.” Castillo locked eyes with him, and Sonny flinched. He’d never seen that much anger in the man’s eyes before. “You’ll remain suspended until I’m satisfied you can perform your duties.”

“I can damned well perform my duties!”

“Like you did last week? Pushing Tubbs into a meet with an unknown dealer while you ran off after an unverified lead?” Castillo looked down and Crockett realized the man was looking through his file. “How many partners now? Two? Maybe three if you count Henderson from Robbery who was retired on disability. And there’s still the matter of Detective Zito.” He closed the thick folder and stared at his folded hands. “You’re reckless, Crockett. And you push other officers into bad situations.”

“Name one!”

“Aside from last week? How about Eddie? Your contact changes the meet location and you go ahead with the deal, even after he tells you he’s abandoned the supplier who was your target. You got your partner killed for no solid reason. A smart cop aborts. A reckless cop presses on, making a bad plan worse.”

“Eddie’s was…” Sonny stopped. He knew Castillo was right about Eddie. Just like he would be right when he came to Tubbs. But that was the risk they took every day. But Zito? “Ok, maybe I was reckless with Eddie. But Zito? IAD stepped all over themselves in that one.”

“They were looking at Zito. They weren’t looking at the bad decisions that put him in that shower. Part of that’s on me. I didn’t stop you when I had the chance. I live with that every day.”

“And you think I don’t?”

“No.” Castillo looked up, the anger stronger now. “I know you don’t. And that’s one of the reasons you’re suspended. You’re a liability in my unit, and I can’t afford those any longer.” He looked down, and Sonny could see slight tremors in his clenched fists. “Leave your badge and sidearm on my desk and get out.”

Sonny felt his own anger building, but it was competing with something else. Something he wasn’t used to feeling. Shame. Deep down he knew Castillo was right. Or at least partly right. Digging into his blazer pocket he slammed the badge down on the desk, followed moments later by his Smith & Wesson. Castillo didn’t even look up. “The Detonics, too.”

Tossing his ankle holster and the small .45 on the desk, Sonny turned and stormed out. “Suspension!” he snarled at the room. “Can you believe it?”

Switek nodded. “About damned time if you ask me. How’s it feel killing another partner, Crockett? And yeah, take a swing at me, big man. I’ll knock your ass flat.”

Sonny balled his fists, glaring across the room. “You ain’t worth the damned trouble, fatso. I’m out of this pop stand!”

As he drove, cutting in and out of traffic like a madman, the anger gave way to something else. Something he didn’t want to deal with. Reality. The more it turned in his head, the more he knew Castillo was right. He had pushed too hard, taking risks with other people’s lives instead of his own. Tubbs hadn’t wanted to go to the meet alone, but Sonny had insisted. “We got one shot at this, partner,” he’d insisted, knowing it wasn’t true. He just wanted the whole thing in a neat package instead of doing it right and making the meet first and then seeing if this phantom informant was the real deal. But he hadn’t, Rico had gotten cut in half by a shotgun, and he’d spent two hours waiting for a ghost that never appeared. How could it not be his fault?

And that thought led to others. All the times he’d been so sure he was right and someone else ended up dying. Zito wasn’t the first. And Eddie wasn’t either if he was honest. Slowing down, Sonny slammed his fist on the steering wheel. He’d been so sure Hackman was innocent, letting the bastard pick at his ego until he was dancing on the man’s damned strings.

It was cold out on the water, but Sonny didn’t care. He’d shut down the SCARAB over half an hour ago, letting it drift in the darkness with only the blinking navigation lights for company. His mind kept running no matter what he did, showing him every error he’d made as a result of his arrogance. How many informants had died? Barbara for one. He’d almost killed Noogie and Izzy more times than he could count, pushing them into danger because he’d had some Goddamned hunch or another. But the worst was Caitlin and his unborn son. They died because he’d decided he knew better than the State of Florida and played right into Hackman’s hands. More than once.

He could still see their faces. Eddie turning and smiling at him as he shouted a warning because he’d been too damned stubborn to abort the buy. The CIs he’d burned over the years. And finally Caitlin looking up at him on the stage, the light fading from her eyes as she died. He’d never gotten to see Tubbs’ body. The shotgun had taken most of his head and shoulders.

How many friends had fallen away? Robbie…a better man than Sonny because he actually wanted to raise his son and was willing to give up his own freedom to do it. Sonny wouldn’t even come home on time. The rest of his team, one by one. Even Gina, the one he thought he could count on to stay loyal. And through it all he could still see and hear Evan, drunk in his white suit yelling at him about how a man learns from his mistakes. How he gains wisdom. And Sonny had been too big an ass to forgive him even as he lay dying at his feet.

Evan knew. He always knew. He’d always known Sonny was a fraud. While he’d been kicking back stroking his own ego Evan had been out there, running risks on his own instead of making other people do it for him. And out there by the water he’d asked if Sonny knew there was a bullet with his name on it. Maybe there was.

Reaching down, Sonny took the last drink from the bottle of Jack Daniel’s, feeling the bourbon bite at the back of his throat. Tossing the bottle away from the boat, watching it sparkle as the sun caught it before it disappeared with a splash, all he could hear were Evan’s last words. “Now it’s your turn,” he’d muttered, and at the time Sonny had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Now, all these years later, maybe he did. He’d lost his family, friends, his job, the confidence of his team. All for what? His damned ego. And what was worse…people had died for his ego.

“Maybe you’re right, Evan,” he muttered, pulling the old Colt out of the boat’s central console and racking the slide, seeing the bullet casing glitter in the waning sunlight. “Maybe it is my turn.”

 

The Coast Guard found the boat floating empty two days later. No body was ever recovered, but based on blood evidence the coroner ruled James Crockett’s death a suicide.

Edited August 24, 2019 by Robbie C.

[mjcmmv]

Great writing. 

Here's a story that shows us all the times Crockett let his ego help make his decisions and how others paid because of it. Finally, he's been forced to come to terms with it. Very powerful!

Loved his confrontation with Castillo. And the fact that he had no support from the team,  leaving him vulnerable and alone.

Throughout the show, Sonny Crockett was on the brink many times.  Losing Caitlin and they way she died is the first example that comes to mind. Then, when he killed the boy in Child's Play or when he was responsible for letting Hackman go. Not to mention, waking up and realizing all the harm he'd done as Burnett.  It certainly could have ended this way. 

What a tortured soul this character was!

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2019 by mjcmmv

[vicegirl85]

Sad and definitely has a basis in the actions and decisions taken by Sonny during the series.

Kudos to you for exploring a path not taken on the show, and one that many people don't want to take in our imagination.  But it's one that shows consistency with the character, and doesn't take the easy way out. 

[Jeff_Cooper]

Great writing. Having said that, I'm kinda sorry that I read this though.. You did provide ample warning and 'haps I should've heed them

-J

[Robbie C.]

1 hour ago, Jeff_Cooper said:

Great writing. Having said that, I'm kinda sorry that I read this though.. You did provide ample warning and 'haps I should've heed them

-J

Don’t worry. My next one won’t be like this. I just thought it was worth exploring as one very real possibility for Sony. 

[Robbie C.]

It also unintentionally is a commentary on the number of suicides in law enforcement. Didn’t think of that until after it was done. 

[Robbie C.]

11 hours ago, vicegirl85 said:

Sad and definitely has a basis in the actions and decisions taken by Sonny during the series.

Kudos to you for exploring a path not taken on the show, and one that many people don't want to take in our imagination.  But it's one that shows consistency with the character, and doesn't take the easy way out. 

Thanks! I debated posting this one and finally decided it needed to be out there, along with the little intro. It goes against what I believe was the entire point of Evan's outbursts (pushing Crockett to accept his responsibilities and finding his own path to redemption - which motivated the direction he took in the Task Force arc), but the idea that Evan meant it was Crockett's time to take a bullet for what he'd done seems to be somewhat common. This, really, is the logical end result of that thinking. And even though I didn't realize it when I was writing, it is a commentary on the problem of police suicides.

But I've got stories centered on Trudy and Noogie kicking around in the project pile... (that's two different stories, not one with Trudy and Noogie together...I'd never do that to Trudy)

Edited August 23, 2019 by Robbie C.

[sdiegolo78]

Wow! that was really harsh for me to read as Sonny's fan. The darkest path possible. As with getting Tubbs killed I think this is a too far fetched. He did care for his partner in the series (i.e. not agreeing to let him go to prison in "walk alone"). The fact the coast guard couldn't recover the body leaves a window of opportunity for a sequel....he did survive the shot he took on himself and was rescued by some drug dealer or better by a rouge government agent who had been watching him for a long time and set up his own renegades task force ...I wish DJ could read this story of yours!

[Robbie C.]

I based it on a projection of the behavior we often saw from Sonny. He cut corners and often moved too fast. And he wasn't above underestimating the bad guys. One possibility among many, obviously.