He never programmed that frequency. But sometimes, late at night, when the house was dark and the wind rattled the shed roof he still hadn’t fixed, Leo would pick up the radio, turn it to Channel 21, and just… listen.
Ch 11: 162.550 – NOAA Weather (Boring until it isn’t) Ch 12: 155.340 – Hospital Link (Ambulance to ER. Never happy news.) Ch 13: 159.900 – State Police Tac-3 (Don’t transmit. Just listen. They don’t like listeners.)
Leo stared at the words. The static from the CP1300 suddenly felt less like emptiness and more like a held breath. motorola cp1300 frequency list
The radio on the workbench looked like a brick. A scuffed, olive-drab brick with a stubby antenna and a keypad worn smooth by a thousand thumbs. It was a Motorola CP1300, a relic from an era when “portable communication” meant a five-pound anchor on your belt.
For a long moment, there was only the soft hiss of an unused frequency. Then, a crackle. A distant, rhythmic thumping—like a heavy door slamming in a windstorm. Or something else. Something with a heavy foot. He never programmed that frequency
Leo’s father had carried it for twenty years. First as a park ranger, then as a security coordinator, and finally, in the quiet last years before retirement, as a man who just liked to listen.
Leo felt a chill. His father had been a rule-follower. The idea of him eavesdropping on the state police was… thrilling. He kept reading. Never happy news
But his father’s handwriting screamed from the page: DO NOT USE.