May 1990

Fuller called me and Tom at home as we were eating breakfast and told us that he wanted us to get to the chapel as soon as we could. That never happens, unless it's serious. Tom and I shoved the rest of the cereal into our mouths and left our dishes on the table so we could race to get ready for work.

Tom and I were the first to get there. Despite it being a warm May morning, I kept my jacket on because my skin was still healing from the emergency room doctor digging into my flesh to remove shards of glass that had flown into my arms and shoulder from my last assignment. I got a few stitches, but the rest will heal on their own. I know that they'll turn into scars and will forever remind me of one of my worst cases.

Fuller wanted to wait until everyone was at the table before he told us what was going on, which made Tom and I restless. Fuller seemed to be on edge, which made me feel uneasy.

Doug was the last to get here, and Fuller immediately began explaining the situation that required all hands on deck.

"What is it, coach?" Ioki asked.

"There was a home invasion last night," Fuller said.

"According to Crime data, the average break-in lasts between 8-10 minutes. That's why at my burglary school we are trying to get down to 5-7," Doug piped in, proud of his stupid joke.

Fuller began tossing everyone a folder as he explained, "Brian, Tiffany, John, Will, Dianne, and Carmen Sanders were all found dead last night. Each were shot in the back of the head, execution style in their beds."

Tom opened the folder first and glanced down for just a moment before he promptly closed it and put his fist over his mouth and looked like he was going to gag. I peered down and opened my folder, and my lips parted in shock at what I was looking at. They were photos taken of the crime scene, and all I saw was blood. The next page were photos of the bodies of the family.

"Geez Louise," Doug said under his breath as he was looking at the pictures.

Fuller said, "it's a rough scene."

"We will have to go there?" Judy asked.

"No," Fuller answered quickly. Judy let out a sigh of relief.

"Why was a family of six targeted?" I asked.

"We aren't sure yet," Fuller said.

"Wait, you said six? I only see five bodies," Ioki said.

"Back page," Fuller said.

I turned another page and saw Mr. Sanders laying on his back by the front door. Blood was coming out of his head, and chest. I was a little confused so I asked, "I thought Mr. Sanders was shot in his bed?"

"He was. We think that he woke up from when he shot Mrs. Sanders, and the assailant shot him in the head. Analysis said that the bullet didn't go through his skull. Mr. Sanders got up and chased the assailant out of the house," Fuller said.

"You mean... Mr. Sanders had a head injury and the assailant had a gun and Sanders was able to chase him out of his house?!" Doug asked.

"If I shot somebody in the head point blank and they kept coming after me, I'd run too," Tom said.

"No kidding," I added.

"The assailant shot him in the chest, which ended up killing him. As he was running away, he ran into a neighbor who was walking her dog. He shot at her, but she managed to run back to her house and call the cops," Fuller finished.

"Why do they need us?" I asked.

Fuller said, "the girl is Sydney Goodman, a senior at Bedrock High School. The assailant has been sending her death threats all night, so we have reason to believe that he will be targeting her next. Her parents were in Louisiana, but we've contacted them and they have a flight back tomorrow. Hoffs, you are going to pose as Sydney Goodman and we will pretend to relocate you to secondary location to make him believe that she is not in the house. In reality, Hanson and Gregg will be watching her in her home."

"We are babysitting?" I asked unenthusiastically.

"I wouldn't call it babysitting," Fuller said, "but basically. You'll be keeping her safe. She cannot be out of your sight, even to use the restroom."

"That will be your jurisdiction," Tom leaned to whisper to me.

"Doug, Ioki, you will be protecting Hoffs until we can get her to the station. The Metro Police will do the rest. Everyone understand?" Fuller asked.

"Aye, aye, Cap'n."

I stood up and tucked in my chair. It was one of the only assignments where we did not have to dress up like rambunctious teenagers. I really enjoy being undercover, but it is nice to have a change.

I glanced around and noticed that Tom was standing at his desk, shuffling papers together. I walked up behind him and tapped one of his shoulders, and when he went to turn to see me I stepped to his other side. When he tried to turn again, I leaned to the other side, and we went back and forth a couple times before I stopped messing with him.

He chuckled softly and I asked, "do you want to drive or do you want me to?"

"I can," he said. He leaned back against his desk and asked, "are you packed?"

I nodded, "I have a go-bag in my car already. I'll ask Doug is he can watch Swayze, just in case."

"Okey-dokey," he said.

I called out to Doug before he could slip out of the chapel. I jogged up to him and asked, "just in case this assignment runs late, can you feed Swayze tonight?"

"Yeah, of course," Doug said.

I handed him my apartment key and said, "thanks, I owe you one."

"Don't sweat it," he said and grabbed his keys from his pocket and put my apartment key on his key ring.

"I'll see you over there," I said and ran back to Tom.

Doug has had to hangout with Swayze before, and Swayze loves him. They are both very similar souls. We had no idea how long this could take. It could take hours, or days. We had to be prepared for anything.

We left my car at the chapel and Tom drove us to Sydney Goodman's house. It was a big house in a nice neighborhood, painted light blue. Her next door neighbor, the Sanders, had caution tape around the entire property, and law enforcement personnel were still going in and out of the house.

Even though this assignment wasn't exactly exciting, I didn't mind it. It wasn't that long ago that I came back to work after Maariyah and Zain's death, and I was still healing from it emotionally. Tom was still helping me pick up the pieces of my heart. He has been very patient and incredibly kind to me. He actually wanted me to take some more time off of work, but I was ready to come back. I don't think I can handle another loss, so the anxiety of not knowing what my next assignment was going to be subsided when I realized that it should be relatively easy.

Judy was snuck through the back of the house just in case the assailant was watching. Tom and I parked down the road and walked briskly to the Goodman residence, and walked in through the front door. Fuller was already there, and he introduced us to Sydney.

Sydney had a bright smile and tight black curls, just like Judy. There were pictures of her and her family all along the entrance of their home, many of them were of her in a bright yellow cheerleading skirt for Bedrock High School. According to the abundance of family photos, they looked like a close-knit and happy family.

Fuller introduced us, "Sydney, this is Officers Gregg and Hanson. They're going to be watching you until we catch the assailant. I want you to listen to everything they say."

"Nice to meet you," she said to us.

"Nice to meet you too," Tom said with a soft nod.

"You are not to leave this home under any circumstances. You have Hanson and Gregg in here, and we also have a couple of our officers on your street. We are going to make sure that no one sees you," Fuller said.

"Thank you," she said.

Fuller sighed and put his hands on his hips. He asked us, "are you two gonna be all right?"

I nodded. "We will be fine."

"Great. Call if you need anything," he said.

He put a coat over Judy's head and rushed her out of the house. I stepped to lock the door behind them, and we all watched Fuller and Judy jump into a cruiser before they took off out of the neighborhood.

I turned to Sydney and said, "you can call me Mickey," because Officer Gregg felt too formal. Tom frowned at me and I gave him a shrug. "We might be here for a few days. She's gonna find out anyway."

Tom, on the other hand, preferred to be formal with cases like this. I've never understood it. He hesitated but agreed and said to her, "and I'm Tom."

"My parents don't really like shoes in the house," she said.

"Oh, of course." Tom immediately bend down and slipped his shoes off and set them down next to the door. I followed his lead, leaving me in just my white slouch socks.

"You guys can put your bags upstairs, we have a ton of bedrooms up there," she said. She paused for a moment before she finished, "Tom, my room is the second on the left."

Tom stammered, "um, great. Thank you, I'll be sure to avoid that room."

Sydney looked slightly disappointed, and we all knew that that was not what she meant. Tom grabbed my duffel bag from my hand and said, "I got it."

"You sure?" I asked, letting the bag slip from my fingers.

"Yeah," he promised and began his walk up the stairs.

There was a bit of an awkward silence between me and Sydney. I tried to look busy by scoping out the house, seeing where everything was. The house was so quiet, I could hear Tom upstairs opening one of the bedrooms.

I finally broke the silence and asked Sydney, "are you a senior?"

"Yeah," she said proudly, "I'm going to graduate next month."

"That's exciting. Do you know what you're going to do after?"

Her voice rose slightly, almost as if she wanted Tom to hear her. "I've already been accepted into Yale, but I think I'm going to go to the community college down the road."

"Oh," was all I could say. I could tell from her body language of not looking in my direction and her excessive attention to detail that she was lying. Going to community college is not bad at all, so I didn't understand why she felt the need to lie about it. I shrugged it off, figuring that she was just trying to impress Tom.

Tom came trotting back down the stairs and she said, "on my eighteenth birthday, my parents got me a car. Did you see it? It is the red Toyota in the driveway."

"Yeah, we saw it," I nearly snapped. She was already getting on my nerves.

"It's tight." Tom nodded.

Sydney asked, "so... what are we allowed to do?"

"Anything, as long as we don't leave the house," Tom answered.

"We could watch TV, or play board games if you have any," I suggested.

"How about TV?" Sydney asked.

Tom smiled at her. "Sure."

Sydney led us to the living room, and Tom nudged me with his shoulder. I looked up at him and whispered with a soft laugh, "what?"

His silence was loud, but his smile was louder. I nudged him back with my shoulder and we followed Sydney to the living room. We saw an orange cat begin to claw at the nice gray couch. Sydney grabbed a spray water bottle that was on the coffee table and sprayed the cat a couple times while scolding it. The cat bounced out of the room, and she set the bottle back down.

She turned to us and said, "sorry. We only use that to train him to stop his bad behavior."

"My mom does the same thing to her cats," Tom said.

Sydney sat on the couch and patted the spot beside her for Tom, but Tom walked past her and sat on a love seat beside the couch. I sat on the other side of the couch, and leaned against the arm.

Sydney grabbed the remote control from the coffee table and turned on the television. She ran through the channels quickly before she landed on a show that she wanted to watch and asked us if it was okay. Tom and I were both indifferent about it, so we didn't really care. We were working, we didn't have to be entertained.

As we were watching, I was feeling restless so I got up and made rounds around the house to ensure that every window and door was locked, and every window was covered by blinds or curtains so no one could see in. We had to make it seem like no one was here. This made the house pretty dark, so we had a few lights on but not enough to make it seem like anyone was home.

I came back to the couch and heard Tom and Sydney's conversation come to a halt. I smiled at Tom, and he returned it. I didn't want to ask what they were talking about, because it was none of my business.

Sydney offered to make us popcorn, but Tom got up to make it instead. Someone had to be with her at all times, so she stayed on the couch with me.

When the show came to a commercial break, she turned to me and asked, "how did you become a cop? You look so young."

"I went to the academy right after high school, I had a mentor on the force," I told her. I couldn't tell her that I work undercover, because that could jeopardize both my career in this precinct, and Tom's. 

"Does everyone in the force look like... him?" Her voice lowered for the last word.

"Tom?" I asked.

She nodded.

I chuckled, "not to me."

I didn't want to tell her that we were dating, because that would be unprofessional. She obviously had a bold crush on him, and I could tell that even Tom knew. Tom is smart, but he's still a guy so he is usually oblivious to girls who flirt with him. I think it's hilarious so I usually point it out to him, and he always says, the only girl I look at is you.

"Oh," she chuckled. "He's real cute, ain't he?"

My lips twisted to avoid smiling and I answered, "he can be."

She chuckled at my dry joke and then Tom's voice called out from the kitchen, "where are your bowls?"

"In the cabinet beside the oven!" Sydney yelled back to him.

Tom was silent for a second before he said, "found it!"

The show came back on just in time for Tom to come back with a couple bowls of popcorn. One for me and Sydney to share, and one for himself. Sydney tried to make enough room between me and her for Tom to sit by us, but he sat back in the love seat.

We watched the television together for a while. The phone rang, and all of us snapped our heads toward the base. My eyes shot to Tom, and his to mine.

We tried to let it ring out and whoever was on the other end could just leave a voicemail. The ringing stopped momentarily, but then it started back up again.

I reached over and grabbed the phone. I answered it and brought it up to my ear. In a firm voice, I said, "hello?"

All I received on the other end was heavy breathing. My eyes scrunched together as I tried to hear any words, but all I heard was labored breathing. The phone clicked, and the line disconnected.

"What was that?" Tom asked.

I hung up the phone and said, "I don't know. They didn't say anything."

When a shampoo commercial came onto the screen, Sydney stood up and began walking toward the hallway.

Tom frowned at her and snapped his fingers. "Woah, woah, woah. Where do you think you're going?"

Sydney turned around and said to him with a confused expression on her face, "the bathroom."

"You can't go alone," Tom said to her.

"Will you come with me?" Sydney asked him flirtatiously.

I tried to keep myself from laughing at her audacity. I snapped my head to Tom, who looked just as shocked as I was.

"No," I finally said and cleared my throat, "no, I'm coming."

She nearly rolled her eyes like a bratty teenager and stomped off to the bathroom. I looked to Tom and we silently laughed with one another before I bounced down the hallway to follow her. I walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind us. I peeked behind the shower curtain to make sure that no one was in there.

"Great, there's no one in here. Do you mind?" Sydney asked with a bit of attitude that wasn't there earlier.

"It's my job to not leave you alone. Just pretend like I'm not here. Believe me, I don't want to be here either," I said.

"By the way, can you not embarrass me in front of Tom?"

"When have I embarrassed you?" I asked. I felt like I was arguing with a little sister.

"I'm just afraid that you're going to," she said.

"I have no plans to do that," I told her.

"Good. First step, is to leave me alone."

"No can do," I said and turned around to face the door. I heard her groan, and I turned on the fan to try to mask the sound of her peeing into the toilet bowl.

I let myself turn back around when I heard the toilet flush, and then she washed her hands. We left and got back to the living room. She was embarrassed, but I didn't feel bad for her. She was getting on my nerves.

Sydney and I walked back out into the living room, where we saw Tom standing up and staring down at the telephone while a dial tone was ringing out from the base.

"What's that?" I asked.

"It was another one of those calls again," he told us with an exasperated sigh. "I think it's probably some immature kids from your school, Sydney. They probably found out that you're under eye witness protection and they are messing with you."

"That's so annoying," Sydney groaned.

"I'm going to call Fuller and see if he can get the department to trace the calls because this is annoying me. Whoever is doing these prank calls needs to stop," Tom said. He dialed Fuller's number and gave him his request. He accepted, and Tom turned to us and said, "Fuller is going to have the department watch the phone line. They can trace the call, but we would need to be on the line with them for at least sixty seconds."

We watched more television with her, and it was almost dinner time. The phone rang, which made all of our blood run cold. We were all frozen as we heard the trill. We let it ring, because we were supposed to act like no one was here. But at the same time, we are supposed to answer every call we get so they can trace them.

The phone went to voicemail, and we heard Fuller's voice say, "Gregg and Hanson, we've got an update on the Sanders case."

Hanson lunged for the phone and picked up the receiver.

"It's Hanson," he said. He listened to Fuller's statement and they exchanged a few neutral words. Tom hung up and we anxiously waited for the news. He said to us, "the update is that there is no update. They caught sight of him about fifty miles south, but he escaped. They think he's heading towards Routeville, but they can't be sure."

"Hopefully they catch him by tonight," I said. I really didn't want to be here with Sydney any longer than I had to.

"I hope so too," Tom said. Then he asked Sydney, "does the name Frank Davidson mean anything to you? Neighbor or anything?"

Sydney shook her head and said, "no, why?"

"That's his name," Tom said.

I didn't recognize the name Frank Davidson either, so it was probably a random attack. I felt a little better that Frank was fifty miles away already, but I knew that we could not leave until he was caught.

"What did we want to eat for dinner?" I asked, changing the topic to something more positive.

"I don't know. Sydney, what are you feeling?" Tom asked her.

Sydney shrugged, "could we order a pizza?"

I shook my head. "No one can know that anyone is at the house."

"Oh," she said in a low voice. She thought for a moment before she said, "I think there is an oven-baked pizza in the garage freezer."

I nodded. "That sounds good to me."

"Okey-dokey," Tom agreed.

"I'll go get it," I offered and I stood up from the couch.

"The garage door is the last door down the hallway," Sydney told me.

I followed her direction and opened the door to the cold garage. I flicked the light on, and as soon as my sock-clad foot touched the cold cement ground I immediately wanted to retreat back inside. I walked to the other side of the garage, walking around the car that was parked in the middle of it, and opened the thick white freezer. I had to search and pull some frozen food items out before I could find the frozen pepperoni pizza box. I pulled it out and it froze my hand. I walked back into the house and set the pizza down on the kitchen counter before I walked into the living room.

There, I saw Sydney sitting on the couch with Tom. I raised my eyebrows at the fact that he was sitting as close to the arm of the couch as possible, trying to tilt back while Sydney was leaning into him with her lips on his.

It took everything in me not to burst out laughing. I tiptoed to the couch, and Tom's eyes darted to me in fear while hers were closed. I swiftly picked up the spray bottle and began spraying her. I knew I had to be professional, but I just couldn't help it. I've been wanting to do this all night.

"Hey!" She squealed and pulled away from Tom. She carefully wiped the water droplets from her makeup covered face and blew her lips together. She squealed, "what the hell is your problem?!"

"I'm correcting bad behavior," I grunted and dropped the bottle back on the coffee table.

"We are gonna run away together!"

"I'm gonna run away, but not with you," Tom said while shaking his head.

"Oh my god, my makeup!" She whined.

"Go clean yourself up," I told her callously.

"You're a bitch!"

"That's Officer Bitch to you," I snapped, which made her gasp.

The phone started ringing again, and we all fell silent. We all stared down at the phone, like it was about to explode into flames. It rang and rang, then it stopped. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when it started ringing again. Whoever was calling didn't want to leave a voicemail, they knew we were here.

The voicemail once again picked up Fuller's voice, and Tom leaned over to answer it. When he hung up, he told us in a low voice, "they caught him. We can leave."

We were off the clock. I could really say whatever I wanted to. Before I could open my mouth to speak, Tom interrupted by saying, "your parents should be coming back soon. We can stay, or go."

"Go," Sydney said and crossed her arms over her chest.

Tom and I stood up and began walking to the door. He said, "I'll be right back," and ran up the stairs.

Sydney walked over to me and said with a snarky tone, "I'm a cheerleader, and I'm eighteen. Quit being jealous."

I laughed in disbelief, "do you really think anyone cares about that? Hate to burst your bubble, but that really means nothing. Even I had spirit, yes I did."

"Boys love cheerleaders," she said followed by an offended scoff.

"You are in high school," I reminded her, "you are literally a child. Even if Tom wasn't in a relationship, he wouldn't go for you."

"Tom is hot, and I'm hot, we belong together," she said.

"Wow, I aspire to have your confidence," I said with a condescending grin. I wasn't like this when I was in high school... was I?

Sydney was about to snap back at me but Tom came bolting down the stairs and he shoved his feet into his shoes. He had our bags in his hand and he asked me, "okey-dokey, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah, babe, let's go," I said to him. I pecked his lips and opened the front door.

I walked through and turned back to wait for Tom and I saw him looking back at Sydney. He told her, "I told you she would be angry."

Sydney scoffed and stomped up the stairs while we stood in the doorway. I couldn't help but giggle into my hand, I was embarrassed for her. Our relationship is so strong and healthy, I found it to be super funny.

"Do you like her back?" I cooed.

"Ha-ha, very funny." Tom smiled and rolled his eyes.

The phone started ringing just before Tom closed the door. He froze, and I felt my blood drain from my fingertips. We looked at each other, and his eyebrows stitched together in confusion. He pushed the front door open and we dropped our bags.

"Sydney?" Tom called out in between the ominous rings, but she didn't answer. He headed to the staircase and called her name out again. "Sydney!"

I walked to the phone and picked it up. I brought it up to my ear, and all I heard was the heavy breathing that's been plaguing us all afternoon. If the department is going to track the call, I need to try to keep whoever it is on the line for sixty seconds.

"Who is this?" I asked in a firm voice. Tom looked over at me, with one hand still on the railing.

Heavy breathing was the reply. I found myself breathing in sync with whoever this was. I clenched my jaw and rubbed my clammy palm against my denim jeans.

"Why are you calling?" I asked loudly.

"Have you checked on Sydney?" The deep, demonic voice asked in return.

My breath halted in my throat. I felt the blood drain from my face, and I locked eyes with Tom.

"What do you want?" I asked shakily.

"I want her blood, all over me," he said then the line clicked dead.

"What did he say?" Tom asked.

Before I could respond, the phone started ringing again. In my fury, I ripped the phone off the base and screamed, "I don't know who you are, but stop calling, you crazy motherfu—"

"Mickey, Mickey, it's Fuller," Fuller's voice made me freeze. "The call is coming from inside the house. You guys need to get out of there right now."

I looked at Tom. "He's here."

Like a bolt of lightning, Tom raced upstairs and whipped out his gun. I was right behind him, we checked every door and finally we found a middle-aged balding man with square eyeglasses standing behind Sydney, his arm wrapped around her chest and a gun to her temple. She was sobbing, tears staining her flushed cheeks and her entire body was shaking.

If Frank was caught over in Routeville... who was this?

"You don't have to do this. Let her go," Tom stated firmly.

I stood behind Tom with my gun raised. I didn't have a clear shot of the man without risking Sydney's life as well. I need him to move his head ever so slightly, then I'll pull the trigger.

"Frank needs her dead," the man stated. His hand was shaking with the gun to Sydney's temple. He must be a partner of Frank's that we didn't know about.

"Frank has already been arrested," Tom told him.

The man shook his head violently. "Not true. Don't lie to me."

"We aren't lying to you," Tom promised. "He is being processed down at the station as we speak. I can take you to him, you can visit him, but you have to drop your weapon and let Sydney go."

No amount of logical explanation could talk him down. He pointed his gun at Tom, pulling Sydney out of the way just enough for me to confidently pull the trigger. My bullet shot past Sydney's head and imbedded itself into the middle of the suspect's forehead. He dropped to the floor so fast, I blinked and he was on the ground. Blood trickled out of his bullet wound, but flowed out of his nose and mouth like a waterfall.

I relaxed my arm and we heard the sirens approaching the house. I took deep breaths while Tom comforted Sydney, who was bawling uncontrollably.

Tom and I were stuck at the house a lot longer than we thought. Detectives from headquarters came and asked us detailed questions about what had happened, and we gave them all of the information we had. We told them about the phone calls, and how the department tracked where the calls were coming from.

Sydney was stuck to Tom's hip the entire time. She kept swooning over him and gushing over the fact that he saved her life. Not to make this about me, but I pulled the trigger. I would have thought that I'd at least get a little bit of credit from Tom's new girlfriend.

We stayed with the other officers until Sydney's parents came home. They thanked us for saving their daughter, and we excused ourselves to leave.

Guys!!! 10K reads?! Thank you all so much! I love and appreciate all your votes and comments and support, it means so much to me 💗💕
Next chapter, Mickey goes out of town for a work trip!