On the run from a tenacious trio of LAPD pursuit cars, BabyGirl careened wildly onto the surface streets through a crowded intersection. Straight out of a video game, the Porsche's tires screamed against the asphalt as the high-performance car made easy work of a 90-degree turn into oncoming traffic. Traveling against a red light, Kogami temporarily shook their pursuers and vanished by weaving into the intermittent traffic.

Kogami glanced into the rearview mirror to watch the pursuit cars scatter in his wake. Hoping that the drivers were skilled enough to avoid any collisions, he held his breath and wished for the best possible outcome. He didn't need to add any more damages to his expense account with the city of Los Angeles.

"Kogami, was that really necessary!" She had become increasingly short with him, ever since the drifting stunt in the roundabout.

"Akane, we are going to be arrested. It's part of the plan," Kogami said. "But remember what Rodriguez said? He said to make it look good. Even you have to admit, this looks good."

Akane held her hand to her forehead, pressing her fingers into her furrowed brow, and struggled to regain control of her breathing.

"How are we doing?" His question was meant more to snap her out of her vexation and less about their situation. Their capture was inevitable, but Kogami meant to prolong the end outmaneuvering and outpacing the police for as long as he could.

Akane manipulated the holographic map to find the best path to the crossing. "We're only a few blocks away from the carnival."

"I see it." The highest peak of a Ferris wheel could be seen on the skyline above a row of office buildings. As Kogami sped down the boulevard, he started seeing signs for the beach and boardwalk. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw nothing but civilian traffic behind them. With his bloodstream saturated with adrenalin, his heart thumped, almost painfully, against his breastbone.

"Patriarch Cerberus," Virgil said. The holographic relief of the poet appeared over Akane's lap. "You have arrived at the Carnival By the Sea."

"Virgil, how much of a lead do we have?"

"Through pain I've learned to comfort suffering men. Law enforcement has regrouped and will seek apprehension in 1 minute. Do not tarry, Hound of Hell, or you will be set on a leash."

"Luda suggested that we park and move into the crowd," Akane said. Still manipulating the map, she searched the immediate area. "Looks like public parking is limited to side streets, unless you go into one of the nearby municipal parking garages."

"Can't take the chance. They could block us in." Gripping the steering wheel in one hand, Kogami downshifted and reveled in the g-forces as the Porsche leaped forward on command.

Horrified, Akane followed his eyes to an empty, but distant spot in the small alley ahead of them. The curb was lined with cars parked perpendicularly to their position. "Kogami," she whispered, studying the city grid in terror, "there's a busy street between us and that spot."

"And?"

"Are you serious!" Wrapping her hands in the five-point restraint, she shrunk back into the seat in fear. "You don't even know if BabyGirl will fit."

"She won't fit if I try to park the regular way."

"What other way is there to park a car?"

"Drift in for a perfect fit."

"Kogami!" Akane screamed his name as he oversteered and brought the Porsche sideways. As if mocking her apprehension with its precision, the nimble 911 drifted sideways, speed increasing despite the maneuver, and coasted across the street on rubber, smoke, and fumes.

Narrowly missing a collision with traffic on both sides of the street, BabyGirl remained in this oblique position. Carried through the drift by Kogami's foot on the throttle and natural momentum, the car deftly maintained both angle and velocity before coming to an abrupt stop.

"That was easy, right?"

Akane opened her eyes to find that they had not only survived, but they were safely parked along the curb. This did little to alleviate the hysteria weighing heavily on her chest. In righteous fury, she slapped Kogami across the face. "Are you trying to kill us!"

With the imprint of her hand neatly outlined across his cheek, the Enforcer grinned at her with the menace. "Fun, admit it." When she tried to slap him a second time, he caught her hand and pulled her in for a quick kiss, but she fought him. "We don't have time for a tantrum."

Kogami released himself from the safety harness and backed out of the car, while helping her crawl over the center console. He grabbed the black fedora from the back of the car and jammed it down over his ears. Together, they ran toward the lights and music of the carnival as police sirens wailed ominously in the distance.

"Are we really running from the police?" Akane held onto his broad shoulders as Kogami lifted her up by the waist and put her on the other side of a low-lying beach fence. "These are our colleagues!"

"Yep. And if you want to help them, you'll keep playing your role." With an athletic leap, Kogami cleared the fence and joined her on the other side. Taking her hand, he glanced back at the swarm of blue and red lights before running into the crowd of festive carnival goers.

Akane felt like a one-ton weight as he dragged her behind him. Remembering that she had twisted her ankle back at the station, he slowed down and darted behind a funnel cake vendor. "Is your ankle bothering you?" He could see that she was hurt, but not in a physical sense. Tears brimming in her eyes, her lips quivered even as she struggled to maintain her composure. Being angry was not a mood that suited her well.

Kogami ran his long fingers through the hair at the back of her neck. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

Voice cracking with emotion, she replied, "But you did."

He took a step back from her and lowered his chin. "If you had a Dominator here, you'd have every right to shoot me. No Dominator, so we'll go with the next best thing. Take your best shot, Inspector. I won't stop you."

"What? You want me to punch you?"

"Makes Kagari feel better."

"You let Kagari hit you in the face?"

"No, but the attempt makes him feel better."

Nervously holding her hands over her mouth, Akane laughed. Having seen them spar in the gym, she could see the two Enforcers going at it. Kogami totally on the defense, dodging, while Kagari fought to land a punch. She stopped suddenly, remembering why she was angry with him. "Don't try to distract me, Enforcer! If we were back home, I'd report you!"

"I'm sorry," Kogami said. He cupped her face in both hands, looking into her eyes, and wiped away a tear with his thumb. Kissing her on the forehead, he lingered there, his lips brushing against her cool skin. "I promise to behave myself."

"Why am I struggling to believe you?" Akane whispered. She was as quick to anger as she was to forgive him. Leaning into his warmth, she wrapped her arms around him and sighed away her frustrations. "Aren't we still really close to the car?"

"Yeah. Why?"

Akane gently ran her fingers across his forearms and committed herself to the game. "Because we can't get caught too soon or too easily. It won't look good, right?"

"Right." Looking for signs of their pursuers and finding none, Kogami led her down a path lined with food vendors. "Hungry?"

"Still not sure I could keep anything down."

"Even something sweet?" Kogami put three dollars on the counter of the closest stand and accepted a pink, bouquet-sized cotton candy. He tipped the brim of the fedora to the salesman in thanks. Pulling off a small piece, he offered it to her, but she hesitated to accept it. "Don't be mad at me. I'm just playing my role. Yakuza bad boy, remember?"

Unable to keep a straight face, Akane laughed and ate the offered sweet from his hand. "Are you trying to make up for scaring me half to death?"

"Is it working?"

"Maybe." Gently tracing the outline of the handprint on his face with the same fingers that had caused it, she frowned. "Or maybe I should be the one apologizing."

"I deserved it." Kogami abruptly stiffened while looking over her shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Tenacious hounds, aren't they? Don't look."

"How many?"

"Two officers moving through the crowd," he replied. "They're doing a casual sweep of the area." Kogami carefully watched them working the crowd. Taking Akane's hand, he slipped into that same throng of people to disguise their presence. "Stay close."

To evade capture, Kogami led Akane through the packed carnival lanes and even slipped into a haunted house attraction after buying a roll of ride tokens. Hiding in a darkened alcove with a cackling skeleton, he took a moment to stare into Akane's eyes from beneath a tangled forelock of black hair. With a smile, he leaned over her and stole a tender kiss.

He had a lot to make up for during their first few hours undercover. Encouraged by a girlish giggle, he stole another kiss and reveled in the feel of her lips on his. "We can't stay in one place too long."

"Wasn't that Rodriguez we lost at the go-carts? Can't believe he got that close to catching us."

"Almost like he caught our scent."

"I'm not surprised. The two of you do think alike."

"Then I need to change things up." Kogami peered around the front exit of the attraction. Suddenly, he ducked back inside on seeing a uniformed officer. Fortunately for them, the cop's back was turned to them as he spoke to an elderly couple. The cop held up a tablet with pictures of Kogami and Akane.

"I was wondering if those mugshots they took would come in handy," Akane whispered. She peered around the corner from beneath Kogami's arm. "That doesn't seem quite fair, does it?"

"With the MWPSB on the job, they need to even the odds as best they can." He led her back into the labyrinthine corridors of the haunted house. "We'll be taking the back door this time."

"Here's to hoping there is a back door."

"If not, we'll make one."

After a few wrong turns and having to retrace their steps, Kogami found the rear exit to the attraction. Quickly descending the rickety metal steps, he picked Akane up from the raised platform and lifted her to the ground. Enveloped in darkness, the Enforcer slowly made his way to the side of the haunted house and hunched down in the shadow to scan the area. With no policemen in sight, he merged with the swarming crowd.

He was drawn to a sudden halt when Akane's hand slipped from his grasp. Looking back over his shoulder, Kogami found her standing in a mob of on-lookers. "Akane?" He followed her transfixed eyes to a game booth.

A dozen weathered, pellet guns lined the pitted front counter of a shooting range that had seen better days. Red and white targets were tacked to the back wall, which was framed by rows of stuffed panda bears in three different sizes and colors.

A pale, lanky kid in dirty jeans and a frayed blue t-shirt manned the booth. A fiery red-head, he was wearing a greasy apron with pockets filled with tickets and ride tokens. "Step right up, lady. Try your luck and win a prize," he said.

As if in a trance, Akane slowly extended her finger and pointed to the booth.

"A stuffed panda?" Kogami said in disbelief. "You want a panda toy? Now?"

"There's a pink one," she whispered. "Pink's my favorite color."

"Thought your favorite color was yellow."

"There's a yellow one, too."

"You're as bad as Phoenix. Maybe there's a Japanese Cotton Finger, too." Rolling his eyes, Kogami reached for his wallet. "How do you win the panda? I want a yellow one."

"Pink," Akane whispered.

"A pink one."

"Five dollars for three shots. Hit the bull's eye. Dead center, no line. Win a panda for your love. Take a chance for the pretty lady, sir?"

Kogami looked back at Akane, and sighed while shaking his head. He shoved the fedora back onto the crown of his head. Without really taking a moment to aim, he fired a cold shot. The pellet hit the target slightly to the left of the bull's eye, as he suspected it might. Most carnival games were rigged, and to the unskilled marksman, there was not much that could be done to score a perfect mark. But with a discerning eye, a wolf's eyes, Kogami hoped to prove that he was better than the general public of sheep. He adjusted accordingly and fired again, hitting the dead center of the target.

"And the man wins a panda for his lady love." Snatching the target from the wall, the carnie handed it to Kogami along with a small stuffed panda.

When Kogami tried to hand the toy to her, Akane shook her head slowly from side to side. Chewing nervously at her fingernail, she refused to accept it and pointed to the back wall behind the carnie. Perched just beneath the targets, a row of almost life-sized pandas lined the back of the stand. "One of the big ones?"

Eye imploring him for tolerance, Akane blushed, her cheeks slowly becoming crimson. "I love panda bears."

Kogami felt his jaw go slack. He turned back to the vendor. "How do I get to the big pandas in the back?"

"By trading in eight of those small ones," the kid replied with a smirk. As Kogami reached for his wallet again, the sly vendor chuckled and leaned over the counter. "But you can only win one panda per turn."

"Sounds like extortion," Kogami said evenly. The smooth-talking huckster reminded him of Kagari. He wondered, if it was possible to measure, what the young mans psycho pass would be.

"It's how I make my living, sir."

Kogami slapped down $50 on the counter. "How about you take this and front me one of those big pandas, a pink one, and a packet of gum. Keep the change."

The red head flashed a crooked grin. "Nice doing business with you." He tossed a pack of Juicy Fruit gum on the counter and then reached back over his shoulder for one of the large pandas. "Enjoy."

Kogami took the bear and held it out to Akane. With open arms, she embraced it and buried her face in the toy that was nearly as tall as she was. "Does this make up for my driving?"

"Yes!" she replied, dragging out the final syllable. "I love him!"

"We've overstayed our welcome." Kogami put his arm about Akane's waist and led her behind the game booth toward the outskirts of the carnival and the seclusion of the beach.

Despite a beautiful night sky full of stars, the boardwalk was practically empty with the exception of a few couples on the pier. Glancing over his shoulder to make certain that no one was watching them, Kogami looked down off the boardwalk at the sand some fifteen feet below them. He took the panda from Akane's arms and dropped it over the side.

"Kogami!" she protested. "Why would you do that? There are signs down there saying no trespassing."

"Couldn't be helped," he said. "You accidentally dropped your panda, and we had to go get it."

"Down there?" Nervously wringing her hands, Akane peered over the edge until she found her panda laying in the sand. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Kogami took off the fedora and put it on Akane's head. He then crossed his forearms in front of him and tightly grasped her wrists as he led her toward the edge. "Step off. I've got you."

"Kogami," she whined. "What are you doing?" Knowing it was of no use arguing with the Enforcer, she stepped off the edge of the pier and found herself dangling above the sand.

Using his weight to counterbalance hers, Kogami bent down on one knee. His motions were deliberately slow and calculated to avoid swinging her against the weathered, wooden dock. With some effort, he then lowered himself onto his chest and stomach. It was as close to the ground as he could safely get her without risking both of them falling. "You'll have to jump the rest of the way. Don't try to stick it. Let yourself roll."

He held his breath when she let go at the same time he did and fell to the ground below. With a yelp that made him smile, he watched her land beside the panda and then roll to the side before getting back to her feet. "You alright?"

She held her hands out in front of her with a smile. "Ready to catch you."

Kogami laughed. Using the metal bracket of a loudspeaker, he found a sturdy handhold and secured his grip. As music played softly through the unit, he braced himself and rolled over the edge until he was holding himself in a reverse pull up. Once balanced in that position, he dropped to the ground and rolled to absorb the impact.

"This is as good a place as any to make our last stand," Kogami said. He brushed the sand from his fingers and clothes.

"Kogami, what are we supposed to do down here on the beach?"

"I have a few ideas," he replied.

Retrieving his fedora from her, Kogami tapped the hat back down on his head. He hooked his fingers in the waistband of Akane's mini kilt and pulled her close to him. The ocean waves clashed and rumbled beside them, the noise echoing beneath the pier. He reached beneath the mini-kilt and ran his fingers across the small of her back and panties. As he tugged at the fragile material, he felt Akane stiffen. Breathlessly, she arced her back beneath his arm.

She gasped softly, emotions unguarded, and shuddered uncontrollably in his embrace. "Why do I let you do this to me?" The night air coming in off the ocean chilled her bare arms and legs, and she pressed herself against Kogami and his warmth. Running her hands along his waist, she flinched in alarm. "Kogami, what is that in your pants?"

"What do you mean?"

"Something large and hard."

"Consider it my appreciation for you." He grinned down at her and kept her close.

"Kogami!"

"It's a gun, Akane, a 9mm Beretta to be exact. Rodriguez gave it to me."

"Is it loaded?"

"Of course it is, but the safety's on. If that makes you feel any better."

Above them the sky lit up with a prismatic array of fireworks. Kogami looked up into the dark canvas of night above the boardwalk to watch the explosions race and splash across the starlit sky to a cacophony of noise and dissonance. "Fireworks? Always a good sign. Wouldn't you agree, Inspector?" Kogami pulled his gaze from the sky to the only two stars in the universe that mattered to him. He could get lost in her eyes and remain there for eternity if she would let him. Laying his forehead against her hers, he closed his eyes and smiled. "Are we having fun yet?"

"You have a very odd definition of fun, Mr. Kogami." Drawn to him by his uncompromising confidence and utterly irresistible charm, she slipped her hands inside the shoulders of his leather jacket, pushed it back from his shoulders, and watched it fall to the sand.

"Certainly keeps things interesting, doesn't it?"

Soothed by the gentle roar of the ocean behind him, Kogami kissed, tenderly at first, and then took a moment to look deeply into her eyes. Her cheeks flushed with a warm shade of crimson, an encouragement to answer his advances, so he kissed her a second time, more passionately, drinking in the taste of her.

Kogami wanted to devour all of her in that instant, but restrained himself so that he could savor every sensation. He dug his fingers into the firm flesh at her hips. Akane gasped again, drawing the breath from his mouth as her body shuddered again in response to his touch. She wanted to be devoured, and to devour him, but held back with a coy hesitation that only tantalized him.

Working together on the CID floor, he was so used to seeing her dressed in that prim gray blazer and skirt. Modestly hiding her hidden treasures, the suit was such a tease. But the red and black mini-kilt and the white crop top left very little to his imagination, and it was that hidden bit that he wanted.

As the fireworks display roared above them, the music playing beneath the boardwalk shifted to an old, slow song. Kogami listened intently to the words. Such provocative music was not permitted by the Sibyl System and with good reason. The lyrics would raised stress levels as well as other things, breaking down all inhibitions. Considering their volatile history, the words seemed aptly appropriate as Tyrese beckoned the accompany female, Jewel, to hold on and make the moment last.

"I know, that we can hold on (I know)

I know that we can just stay strong (I know)

I know that we can make it last."

Kogami let the words guide him and his hands as he quietly caressed Akane's back with his fingers. He felt the goosebumps rise beneath his fingertips and race across her skin. He closed his eyes as she laid her head on his chest. Swaying slowly from side to side in an intimate dance, he reveled in the feeling of her body against him.

Brushing her lips against his chin, Akane reached up and put her arms around his neck. Playing in his hair, she ran one hand along his shoulder. Her heart was racing so fast that Kogami could feel it beating against his chest. The warmth of her breath penetrated the fabric of the t-shirt he was wearing, and he fought to control himself.

"We can so make this moment go forever.

If we just hold on.

My soul is lighting off the ground.

If this is real then why am I dreaming, now."

Leaving feather-soft kisses on her skin, Kogami brushed his lips down and across her neck as if she were a canvas waiting for an artist to begin his masterwork. He slowly reached down behind her thigh and lifted her knee onto his hip. Balanced in his arms, she pressed her leg against his lower body. Avoiding the 9mm Beretta, her hands reached inside the back of his jeans, and she eagerly ran her fingernails across his skin.

"Freeze!" a loud voice shouted from behind them. "I said freeze, lovebirds, and get your hands up! Hands up where I can see them! Now!"

Kogami recognized Rodriguez's voice and cursed the cop for his terrible sense of timing. Hands up in the air, he glanced over his shoulder, his eyes narrow with indignation at the intrusion.

Her hands clinging to Kogami's chest, Akane looked around him to the half-dozen cops running into defensive positions on the beach head. Beyond them, red and blue lights flashed in the darkness, and three police vehicles raced toward them, precariously spinning on the wet sand.

"Ma'am, get your hands up and come out where we can see you!"

"Remember to play the part," Kogami whispered. "McNeill might be watching."

Akane stood on tiptoe and salaciously licked Kogami's lips before stepping to the side of him with a flirtatious swagger in her gait. It was the Enforcer's turn to shudder with desire. Impetuously, he kissed her passionately, ignoring the armed police officers on the beach behind them.

"That's enough, sir!" Rodriguez barked. "Ma'am, you will comply."

Hands pressed to the sides of her head, Akane straightened her back and pushed out her chest in a seductive pose for the officer. With one foot planted and the other cocked up against her ankle, she shimmied her hips from side to side. Judging by the shock in Royce's wide, astonished eyes, she knew that the act had an authentic look, and she giggled at his reaction to it.

Genuinely livid with the abrupt intrusion, Kogami grasped on to that fury and put his hands in the air. With evident annoyance in his expression, he slowly turned to face the armed cop. "Nanda?" he asked in Japanese. It was a grating, irritated question that was posed with contempt and disrespect.

"We don't speak Ramen, pal!" Rodriguez jeered.

"Isn't Ramen Chinese?" Royce asked.

"Like it matters. It's the same gibberish." He glared at Kogami and pointed to himself as an example. "We speak American here."

"Eigoga hanasenai?" Kogami grabbed his jacket from the sand and handed it to Akane, gesturing all the while for her to help him shrug into the leather coat as if she were a house servant. Playing the role, Akane played along with him. Kogami then reached into the jacket's beast pocket.

"I said freeze, buddy! Do you have some kind of death wish? Get your hands where I can see them!" Rodriguez warned.

Kogami spread his fingers wide with an equally wide grin. He pointed to the pocket, reached in with his thumb and index finger, and pulled out the packet of Juicy Fruit gum. Opening a stick and crumpling the wrapper, he put the gum in his mouth and chewed it. Defiantly, he let the wrapper fall to the sand where the wind blew it across the shore.

"That's littering, man," Royce said. "Add that to the list."

Feigning a distinct Japanese accent, Kogami said, "Private Party." He indicated Akane as the party and then, cupping his large hands about her face, he drew her in for a prolonged, sloppy kiss.

When they eventually parted, Akane leaned provocatively against Kogami, as if she were intoxicated. She flashed a twisted grin at the perplexed cops and revealed that the gum was now in her mouth. Chewing noisily, she stretched a long strand from her mouth and then curled it back on her tongue.

Kogami shoved her toward the flabbergasted policemen. Mustering all the baritone that he could, he said, "Joocie Frui-toe?" He purposely exaggerated his accent. "Want some? Is very good."

"So you do speak English?" Rodriguez said.

Kogami held his eye for a fierce moment as a subtle communication of understanding between them. He grinned, if they were in Japan, the two men would make a formidable team of Enforcers.

"I've had enough of this shit," Rodriguez sneered. He reached for Akane's arm and swung her around in front of him. Slapping a cuff on her wrist, he advised, "You have the right to remain silent."

Lunging to prevent the arrest, Kogami grabbed Rodriguez by the wrist and with little leverage threw him to the ground. In response to the throw, Rodriguez swiftly was up on his feet and speared him. The maneuver caught Kogami in the midsection. In a flurry of fists and elbows, the two men went down in the sand as Rodriguez took control of the fight and pinned Kogami in the sand.

With a high-pitched growl, Akane leaped onto Rodriguez's back. While the cop rained down blows on Kogami's chin, she wrapped her arms around his neck and locked her lithe legs around his waist. Throwing her weight to the side, Akane hauled back on him with all of her weight. The momentum was enough to knock the startled cop off balance and out of a superior position.

Kogami rolled into a crouched position and took carefully aim with a revenge punch to Rodriguez's face. They continued exchanging blows until the other cops pulled them apart and forced Kogami down onto his knees. Still fighting, Akane spouted a stream of obscenities in Japanese as Royce and another officer struggled to get her down on the ground to cuff her.

"He's got a gun!" Rodriguez yelled.

With a dozen weapons unholstered and aimed at him, Kogami relented. Laughing at their reactions, even as Rodriguez roughly threw him to the wet sand, he laid in the sand and was still. From the corner of his eye, he watched the officers still struggling to contain Akane. When they tried to push her against the car, she deftly kicked free of them and continued to insult them in their native language.

It was only because the profanity was in Japanese that she was even capable of such behavior. If Inspector Akane Tsunemori even suspected that any of the officers could speak their language, she would have been mortified. With the threat of a drawn taser, she was quiet, though still somewhat resistant.

Splitting blood from a cut in the corner of his mouth, Kogami grinned as Rodriguez jammed a knee into the back of his neck and leaned in it with all his weight.

"Helluva a nice job, Ko," Rodriguez whispered.

"You're not so bad yourself. Need some work on that takedown though."

Rodriguez snatched him up from the sand, but kept him on his knees. "It was two against one. Damn that girl is strong!"

"Nakimushi."

"What's that mean?"

"Crybaby."

Rodriguez dragged Kogami to his feet and began searching him. "You're in cuffs, buddy. Are you trying to get your ass kicked? You've seen my file."

"Wouldn't be the first time," Kogami whispered. He saw the abandoned panda laying on the beach alone. But hardly forgotten. "Mind grabbing Akane's panda? We need a better souvenir than bruises to take home with us."

"No problem."

Bleeding, covered in sand, and cuffed into compliance, Kogami was thrown in the backseat of a police car. Rodriguez slammed the door and glared at him through the window. Ahead of them, he watched as a subdued Akane was placed in the backseat of another official vehicle by Royce. Her panda was thrown into the trunk, which was left open, so that he lost sight of her.

On the hood of the car, officers inspected the 9mm Beretta taken from him by Rodriguez. One of them removed the mag and cleared the chamber as Kogami watched on from the confinement of a cage.

It was their third day in Los Angeles. He never imagined he'd find himself in handcuffs in the back of a police car, even for an undercover operation. This was police work. Hard. Fast. On the edge. He was loving it. With a grin, he sat back in the seat, harboring only one regret: a craving for a well-deserved cigarette.

# # #

It was highly unusual to see a suspect on the MWPSB's CID floor. The in-take process generally took place at a mental care clinic or, for the very worst of cases, an isolation facility. So the three-ring circus that was the criminal investigation floor in the LAPD was a spectacle unlike any Kogami had ever seen in his career as an Inspector or an Enforcer.

A homeless drug addict had taken a turn for the worse. Having overdosed on narcotics while in custody, he was seizing violently on the floor across the room. Paramedics immediately administered a counter agent and were desperate to keep him breathing until the drug could take effect, reverse the drug interaction, and save his life.

Oblivious to the fragility of life, a pair of irate prostitutes were tag-teaming the officer who had arrested them. Though cuffed to each other and the bench in front of his desk, one of them feigned a reckless charge, while the other defiantly spit insults at him. Neither women held the slightest regard for the officer's authority.

When they tried to launched their shoes as projectiles, another policeman stepped in to take control of the situation. A third officer threaten retaliation for any behavior that might result in injury to staff. He wielded a stun baton in his hands as evidence of the threat. The real instigator of the pair tried him and took a high dosage of electricity to the inner thigh. She spent the next few minutes hunched over with drool pooling in her lap.

Tightly cuffed with his hands behind his back, Kogami took a deep breath. Shoulders hunched forward in half defiance, half submission, he let his hair fall into his face. From the shadow of the tousled forelock, he observed a colorful world that had been rendered obsolete by the black and white veil of the Sybil System.

Well, he thought, not obsolete.

This horror show still played out across the island nation of Japan, but it had been sterilized and quarantined from public view. The sheep lived in manicured pastures with Sybil as their shepherd and the MWPSB sheep dogs to protect them. They were unconscious of the wolves circling in the shadows beyond those boundaries and often within them.

It was all a farce.

Here in this menagerie of violence, iniquity, and sorrow, Ginoza could make every argument in favor of the Sibyl System, if only to bring some semblance of order. But there was no convenient synchronicity to nature, only the symmetry of chaos. In the midst of this unseemly bedlam, there was order. Two Los Angeles policemen were down on the floor with the overdose patient. One officer talked softly to him with encouragement, and the other assisted the harried paramedic with CPR as they fought to keep the man breathing.

A female officer consoled the frightened prostitute, the conscious one, and uncuffed her to take her to another bench and away from her unresponsive companion. A second female officer laid the unconscious girl down on the bench and covered her with a blanket.

"Enjoying the show?" Rodriguez asked. "Welcome to the madhouse."

"How do you keep your head above water in all of this?"

"It's the madness that helps me keep my sanity," he replied. "I don't think I make a difference. I know I do. And knowing that I make a difference, even a shitty little difference, is enough to keep me on the job."

"If forensics traces that gun, how much of a job will you have?"

"Not to worry," Rodriguez replied with a laugh. "The gun is registered. Just not to you. When you get out of here. Check in with Special Agent Iazzetti. She'll make sure you get it back."

"How's the face?" Kogami scrutinized the bruise swelling beneath the cop's right eye.

"About as good as that mouth of yours." Rodriguez eyed him skeptically. "You're lucky Akane came to your rescue. I was about to rearrange that perfect face of yours."

Kogami bowed his head and laughed uncontrollably. The cut in the corner of his mouth stung unmercifully. "Did we attract the right kind of attention?"

Rodriguez printed out the arrest papers and laid them in front of Kogami for a signature. "Someone is clamoring to pay your bail, as we speak, and it's not even posted." He stood up to remove the handcuffs.

Kogami rubbed the feeling back into his wrists. "McNeill?"

"One of his law dogs. Chief's running interference. Can't let them get you without a fight. Which means, we're going to put you on ice in the holding tank for the night. You'll be arraigned in the morning."

"And Akane?"

"She's already in the tank on the women's side."

"Is that wise?" Kogami felt his chest tighten with worry.

"Akane's a big girl, Ko. She may not have her big, bad Enforcer with her, but she's not alone. I have an undercover vice officer in there with her. Knowing Dottie, she and Akane are probably down there raising hell about the food." Rodriguez forced Kogami to his feet. "You want a baby sitter, too?"

"I'm good."

"Throwing down with a cop like that in public? You're more than good, buddy. Royce made sure word got to the tank. I doubt anybody's fool enough to mess with you." Rodriguez roughly took Kogami by the shoulder and led him in an adjacent corridor. "Come on, time to put you in the dog house."