An officer greets me sharply demanding to know how he can direct me to the proper area. I present him with proper paperwork to get me set up. He grumbles something at me about never being kept in the loop, but begins to show me around as expected.

Yes. The Commissioner may or may not have clued me into how this would play out. If you must know he may have pointed out the proper paperwork that Destin needed to make counterfeit copies of.

We walk around the building, most cops actually busy behind the desk. Apparently the opposite direction of where we are headed is where there are detective desks, along with vending machines and the route to gym.

The officer escorting me around questions, “How long have you wanted to be a cop?”

About two days now.

“All my life,” I answer observing the cameras that I know Destin will be tampering with, erasing my face the minute I'm out of here. “You?”

“Since I was in high school.” He shrugs. “When you get the calling. You get the calling, ya know?”

“True.”

“Stay away from Amanda unless you absolutely have to talk to her. She's kind of a bitch, but she is the Commissioner's right hand. Speaking of, his office is down there.”

He prepares to pass us by without an introduction. Quickly I stop in front of the hallway. “Can we go meet him?”

“You don't just go in there without an invitation.”

“But I really wanna meet him. It's one of the reasons I was thrilled I got assigned here.”

“Maybe another time,” the cop tries to keep us going.

“Damn. Too bad I didn't get to meet The Commissioner,” I say the code phrase loudly.

Thankfully as planned it grabs his attention and Nick calls out, “Officer Bradley is that a rookie?”

Without moving us any further he replies, “Yes sir.”

“Bring him in,” The Commissioner insists.

Bradley, who now that I've stared at him long enough reminds me of Bradley Cooper, mumbles under his breath, “Looks like it's your lucky day, rookie.”

God I hope so.

The two of us walk down the hall and into his office. Jovi's father, who is intimidating as shit in the comfort of his own home, is twice as fucking terrifying in his oversized office.

“Commissioner Carter, this is Vincent Smith. Vincent Smith this is Commissioner Carter.”

“Pleasure to meet you sir,” I enthusiastically say and extend my hand. Shaking it firmly, I eagerly say, “It's an honor. A privilege. You're the entire reason I wanted to work here in this district. This precinct.”

He shakes back and pulls his hand away slowly. “Good to hear. We need men with fresh attitude and enthusiasm for their jobs.”

I slide my hands into my pockets. “Thank you for your kind words, sir.”

He nods and looks at Officer Bradley. “Make sure you keep a good eye on him. I want him to learn from the best.”

“Yes sir,” Bradley replies with a head nod.

“Finish your paperwork and we'll see about getting you in the field,” he says sitting back down. Dismissing us with a nod he states. “Men.”

“Commissioner,” we reply back in unison.

Once we're out of the room and headed back towards the main hall he says, “I'm gonna get you set up to finish some paperwork then you can ride along with me and Wayne.”

He leads me to an empty room, I wonder if they use for interrogation, and insists I wait while he grabs the last of the necessary forms. As soon as I'm alone, I whisper, “Set Fires 1 and 2.”

Breathe. I'm not having anyone actually set fire to anything. Vinnie's setting up distractions all around town to pull as many cops away from the building as possible.

Moments later, Bradley returns with stacks for me to go through. “Sucks. But we all have to.”

With a shrug I sigh, “Of course.”

He opens his mouth to say something else when someone appears in the doorway behind him. The man says in a hurried voice, “We gotta go.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah.” The man glances at me and rolls his eyes. “Rookie will be fine. They requested back up and we're supposed to be patrolling in the next hour anyway.”

“But-”

“Commissioner wants us out there,” he argues.

“Damn,” Bradley groans and looks at me. “If you need help with anything, Regina's right around the corner. Got it?”

“Just a quick question?” I put down the pen. “Where's the bathroom?”

“End of the hall, take a right, fourth door on your left.”

“You gotta piss already?” The guy in the doorway sneers. “You are a fucking rookie.”

Remind me I'm not here to make him pay for being a dick. However, on record, I could come up with a few clever ways. Yeah, yeah, I won't get distracted. No need to worry. Getting Jovi out is the only thing on my mind.

The two of them leave me alone once more. Quietly I whisper, “Fires 3 and 4.”

I open the paperwork and flip a few pages clearly not actually reading anything. Moments later Destin states in my ear, “C and L.”

He's cut the feed in the room and is looping video footage from when it was an empty room. Time to exit. Hold onto your seat folks. This is where shit gets sticky.

Casually I exit the room, just as there seems to be a slight panic going on in the squad room. Following the directions to the bathroom, I keep my head down and tilted away from as many cameras I can, trying to minimize the extra effort Destin is going to have to put in to delete me. I slip into the occupied bathroom and head for a stall to wait for the other two people to leave. I listen for their exits before peeking my head outside the stall I'm hiding in. After giving the bathroom one more survey, I use the trashcan to prop up against the door, and hustle back to the largest stall, which has the vent hovering above it. I stand on the toilet, pop the vent screen and prepare to hoist myself up.

Good thing that shit was easy. Hate unscrewing shit in a time crunch.

Like some sort of acrobat, I weasel myself into the vent making sure to put the screen back in place once I'm inside. Groaning through the disgusting dust I'm covered in, I announce, “On the move. Light 5 and prepare to D and D. Triple D, talk to me.”

“Hang a left,” Destin directs. Scooting quickly down the tight space, I follow his instructions. “First right.” Moving quickly I listen intently for the next part. “Take it to the end and follow it around. It'll put you right over the impound box. Closer to the door in the far back corner.”

“We have a problem,” Daniel's voice chimes in out of nowhere.

Fuck that's never good.

I question as I move faster. “What is it?”

“Tow truck has arrived earlier than expected.”

“Fuck. Me.” I mutter under my breath almost to the location I'm supposed to drop down. “Can you stall?”

“Maybe,” he says in an unsure voice. “Kind of dealing with another problem.”

“Which is?”

“I uh...was running a D and D and got spotted.”

D and D. Dangle and Distract. You can probably figure out what that entails.

“Damn it!” Drew shouts. “We can't handle another problem.”

“Then you might wanna plug you ears,” Destin sighs.

Whatever you do please don't use that old saying when it rains it pours. It's definitely one of my least favorites.

“Commissioner is on location. Looks like he's there to over see the entire process.”

Not a part of the plan. Not at all. You don't think he's trying to fuck me over do you?

“Guys,” I whisper arriving at the vent. “I'm gonna need a little help here.”

“Pull the fire alarm,” Knox says confidently. “Force everyone out of the building. It'll force The Commissioner and the tow truck dude to back off long enough for you get that bitch out of there.”

Madden questions. “Can you rip up a skirt that tight?”

“No need,” I reply. “Spare key is under the seat.”