"Good to see you alive," Jamal says as he walks into my house. This is the first time in years they have ever made a house call. It is in the middle of the night and I can tell we are going to be walking into danger soon because he doesn't use his words of endearment and he looks intense. He is all dressed up in a suit and tie and all bits of happiness that are normally radiating off this man are gone. He should tell me what is going on, especially if there is danger.
The wind picks up outside and it slams shut, startling me.
"I have a mission tomorrow dealing with this case and no partner, you have been working with us for so long. You are now an agent, as soon as we put away these people you will be here with us and part of the team." He says walking into my very small kitchen, he then goes to the fridge, opens it up, and grabs a water bottle. He opens the water bottle and takes a sip as he does so it spills on his shirt.
"I have been working at the shooting range and gotten good," I explain, not wanting to tell him about my hand-to-hand combat lessons. Because if I tell him that, he will ask with who. I can't tell him about my father because of the line of work he is in. Over the years I have been talking about shooting lessons since I joined the team. I started lessons a few months ago.
"That's good, now I know you got my back if someone fires at us. Can I spend the night on your couch tonight? My house is being worked on and your place is closer to where we need to go tomorrow." He explains and asks a question.
"Yes, that is fine. I am going to make it more comfortable." We walk to my linen closet to grab some bedding. I hand it to him and he makes my couch comfortable. He goes out to his car and grabs a whole suitcase.
"Looks like you packed for the week," I say and then yawned loudly.
"It's just a routine mission. Nothing to be worried about. Most of what is in here are our gear.
"I am going to take a quick shower and then go to bed. This mission will be after work, right?" I ask and he nods.
I take a quick shower and jump right into bed. After taking a handful of gummy melatonin I fell asleep quickly.
"You're late," Marcell says as he stands over another dead woman's body. Panic sets in as I notice the bruises and cuts all over her. She fought before her untimely death and the least I can do is close her eyes to make it look like she is resting.
"Another one," I say folding my arms together wishing my fist could connect to his face. Every time an attempt fails in this world.
"I didn't do this. She isn't dead yet." He leans down and her eyes open back up and she smiles.
"Save me." She begs with worry in her eyes. Tears stream down her face and I know nothing about this woman.
"Sebastian-" she doesn't get to finish the name before I am ripped away from my dream.
Rolling over and then looking at my alarm clock, it is only 4 am so I run into my bathroom to take a shower. I then get into bed and go to sleep, I need to get back to her.
When I get up and get ready for work, I notice that my dreams never went back to her. This is my second day back since the accident. Getting quickly dressed in my good clothes. They have a way of bringing out the best in me. These are my lucky scrubs. I am going to need it if there is a mission right after work. My first mission and I can't tell anybody about it. I eat a quick bowl of fruit and granola. Jamal isn't here. I think he went out to get himself breakfast.
I get into my car and roll the windows down. Fresh air flows into the car bringing pretty hot air into my face as I drive. I regret rolling my windows down and putting them up as quickly as can be done. Turning on the AC is the only option to get through this hot September day.
Arriving on time is something I do daily when going to work. The whole time I have worked here, I have never been late once.
Walking into work I get straight into the thousands of emails that have been sent to me over the weeks I have been gone. The intern did her best, but now I have a full week trying to catch up on what she didn't do. I send emails to clients and then look at request forms from the adoption part of our website. All kittens, puppies, and younger dogs are normally on the request form so I am not surprised about those forms. I look to see seven adoption forms and one of them is for a four-year-old dog that we have had for six months. The only fee we charge is for their shots and medical care. If adopts don't shop, it takes some money to keep them alive. So we do charity events to keep funds for them and new rescues. Staying to myself all morning until I have to go out for lunch. I picked up a quick garden salad and Italian dressing. I eat it at my desk as I use my phone to reply and look at my emails. Then I clean up my mess. After about another hour, I get up to go and check on all our animals. Feeding them and bathing a few that need it. There are a few new furry faces that I get to know. Since the clinic is slow today, they let me go home early.
I get in the car and floor it all the way home. Only going a few miles over each speed limit.
Ordering takeout, I walk inside plop on a seat by the kitchen counter and wait for my food to arrive. The door rings and I rush to it but the washer has just set it down so bending over to pick it up is my only option. I grab it and rush inside.
"Oh, those smell like burgers," Jamal says, startling me. I forgot he was still here. I ordered two thinking he would be over since he left this morning. But nope, I guess he figured out a way to get into my house while I was not here.
"We can eat these delicious burgers and discuss the mission," I say holding up the bag filled with veggie burgers. Jamal claims he would never be caught dead with a fake meat burger. So I figured, why not put it to the test? All my friends say they taste like the real thing. So, why wouldn't he? I give him his vegetarian burger, they both have real cheese.
He opens the wrapper and takes a bite, I then go to my fridge and grab two wine coolers. I hand him one and he accepts it without complaints. I would give him a beer, but then again I can't stand the taste of them, so I don't keep my fridge stocked with them.
"Thank you, Baby girl." He winks at me and I wink back. We both have very flirty personalities, so it meshes well. After eating we both gear up. He hands me a vest and offers me his backup gun. I don't accept it because I have the gift my dad gave me so I go and grab that.
"Here look over this file real quick." He hands me a red file that says absolutely nothing on it. Looking over it quickly I notice the scum bag we are going after. All these kids, but yet they don't have a father. Sounds like my dad is alright.
"Ready to go?" He asks as he reloads his gun.
"Yes, more than ever," I say as I fasten the velcro on the side of my vest. Getting into his van we drive to the location. As soon as Jamal gets closer to where we are going he turns off the headlights so everything is pitch black. He throws on some green lens sunglasses and drives as if it is nothing. We pull up to a storage facility that I have used before.
"The call will tell us when we can go in," Jamal says as we sit in the dark. It's so pitch black out there are no stars in the sky. Sitting together not saying anything until his phone rings startlingly me.
When the call came we started to move as one unit, already wearing the rescue gear we'd need.
This routine mission is feeling less "routine" as we walk around the corner. If I wasn't such an idealist I'd turn around right now; I can't think of a pay-check high enough to make me want to find out what's behind the big doors. Wait, I don't even get a paycheck for this. The silence is so absolute that my breathing is loud to my ears and I notice every step onto the highly polished walkway. We walk into the room and a gun goes off three times. We take cover, but I can't see where it came from. I pull out my gun. Ready to defend me from what is coming my way.