Godzilla smiles his best cheesy smile and takes a selfie with Rodan. Half the crowd passed out in horror. (Again, Godzilla insists on his moment in the spot light. Such a diva. 🙄)

Nie Huaisang came out of the elevator with a spring in his step. Who knew what wonderfully horrible pieces of evidence Wen Chao had laying around? Never guessing it was all just waiting for the teams that were about to invade his territory? His grin had a distinct flair of malicious glee.

Charlie noticed this from across the crowded lobby. The Boss was in a good mood. She was in a grumpy mood mostly because she had three hours of sleep. Add four coffees and she was tired with a caffeine buzz that could kill small mammals. Not a happy combination. She knew once she got home, everything would fade in the quiet of her apartment. A few hours of sleep and she'd be back at the station putting together the last pieces of tonight's op. She had sent Xin Di home right after her report was done. Same with Ouyang Zizhen. Exhausted people make stupid mistakes and they were the ones going in.

She watched Nie Huaisang make his way toward her and wondered again how he managed to work on as little sleep as he regularly did. She had seen him go from an all night op to the office with only a stop to shower and change. It was impressive but she pondered the eventual cost. Maybe he just slept all weekend?

Her ruminations on sleep were interrupted by a cheerful, "Good Morning, Charlie!" Nie Huaisang was all smiles. Charlie couldn't help but smile back. Complain as she might, she liked her boss and his willingness to do whatever was necessary to protect his people.

"Okay, here you go. One caramel latte." She handed it to him and he immediately took a large swallow. Looked like the Boss had a long night too.

"Here are all the Known Associate books and 2 of the Pass Books. We made them a convenient size to tuck in a pocket. Pictures are large with necessary information reasonably sized so no one has to go blind trying to read this shit. The other four may or may not get here today. We need to sleep and then get the last of the op together before we head out for insertion around six-ish." Charlie was blunt and it was something the inspector prized about her.

"Agreed. Good work, Charlie. I appreciate it. Autographs, right?" Nie Huaisang patted his cheek with the closed fan.

"Both of them. Same pic." Her tone brooked no disagreement. He raised an eyebrow.

"Impossible. Their managing companies would never allow it. If they did, and it ever came to light, there would be huge fines for them.  However, I have plans. I think you will find yourself adequately compensated."

Charlie looked at him with a healthy dose of skepticism. "This had better be good."

"I do not think you will find it wanting." he replied with a hint of mischief.

"Better not." She mock growled at him. "I'm headed out. I'll let you know about ten minutes before the briefing starts. Work for you?"

"Sounds good. Sleep well, Charlie. Thanks again." Nie Huaisang smiled.

Charlie just smiled and gave him a wave over her shoulder as she left.

-----

Jiang Cheng was sitting on the sofa dozing. It had been a long night. The only problem was his dreams kept taking him to the evening's highlights. The wails of Wei Yuan panicking as they wheeled Wei Ying away. The pain of waiting for word of the surgery.  The terror in his little brother's voice as he begged Lan Wangji to save his brother and sister from their own mother. His pleas to not return to the hell his mother and Wen Chao had imprisoned him in. The tears of A'Yuan on his shoulder soaking through his shirt. By the time his ShiJie lightly shook his shoulder, he was ready to be awake.

She looked at him. "Did you sleep well, Di-di?" Her tone implied she seriously doubted it.

He shook his head. "Too many dreams and none of them nice." He yawned wide enough his jaw popped.

"Here." She handed him a Coke with his breakfast. "You'll sleep better with a full belly."

"Still have too much to do to sleep but maybe later this afternoon." He glanced at his phone while taking a long satisfying swallow of his soda. Lan Wangji probably hit the district ten, maybe twenty minutes ago. He had already arranged for his men to do drive bys in the area. Now it was just a matter of waiting.

Jiang Yanli and Jin Zixuan were waking A'Yuan and Wei Ying. A'Yuan had flinched when he woke to Jin Zixuan but relaxed a little as he became more alert and recognized his uncle. Wei Ying had smiled at his sister.

"Do I have to get up, ShiJie?" he had whined. She laughed at his silliness. Growing up, he had asked the same question every morning as they did their best to haul him out of bed. Bodily on occasion.

When both of them were awake, A'Yanli pulled the rolling table over and put their breakfast on it. Porridge for both of them. Bland, easy to digest and filling. A'Yuan dug right in more than pleased with the fare. Wei Ying looked at the bowl as if it had been garnished with bugs.

"Wei Ying, small slow bites. You are recovering. This is what your body needs." ShiJie smiled at him with such affection it was hard to stand his ground. Grumbling, he picked up his spoon. He sampled it with a tiny nibble.

"At least it has honey in it." he muttered before he took a decent sized bite.

A'Yuan smiled with full cheeks. After he emptied them, he announced, "I like honey. It's very yummy!"

"I'm glad you like it, Zhizi!" His aunt smiled at him and then looked rather pointedly at her brother. "See, Wei Ying? It's a very good breakfast."

"I'd rather have hot pot." he muttered but he was surprised when he had to admit it only took a dozen bites for him to be full. ShiJie shook her head.

"Hot pot? What a silly man." she teased him as she picked up his breakfast. ShiJie gave him a firm look. "When they say you are fully recovered, we'll have hot pot to celebrate. Until then, you are eating healthy things that are easy for your body to process, Di-di."

Wei Ying knew he was sunk. When his ShiJie used that tone, forget it. It was just time to give in.

He sighed and leaned back as the door opened. Nie Huaisang was carrying an empty bag and behind him were two nurses. Yu Bin looked up from his breakfast and grinned at Nie Huaisang.

"Your breakfast is here, A'Sang." he said. His brief nap had done him a world of good. The turmoil and conflict from earlier seemed to have been left behind. 

Jiang Yanli had set up his porridge as well with special care to place things in easy reach of his right hand.  Unlike Wei Ying, he was almost done with his porridge and was looking at Nie Huaisang's breakfast.

"I passed out the books to those on guard duty." the inspector said to Jiang Cheng who gave him a thumbs up as he chewed his food.

Nie Huaisang sat on the edge of Yu Bin's bed and took another swallow of his caramel latte before placing it on the table.

"It's not nearly as good as yours but it'll do until you can make them again." he said with a fond smile. Yu Bin blushed, pleased his small effort was so appreciated.

"It shouldn't be too long." he said trying to stay positive.

"Good. I've only had one but I'm totally spoiled to them. It would be horrible if I fell into fits from withdrawal." Nie Huaisang teased.

Yu Bin laughed. "I will do my best to be in top notch barista form asap**."

As they chatted over their breakfasts, the nurses quietly moved through their routine checking both men's vitals and incisions. They seemed to have come up with a consensus in how to deal with the protective officers in the room and it worked. Quiet efficiency with no disgruntled patients was the key.

As they were finishing their food, Jiang Cheng and Nie Huaisang's phones beeped with  simultaneous notifications. The men were talking and casually glanced at their phones. Both stopped dead and looked at each other.

"The attic?" Jiang Cheng asked as confused as Nie Huaisang.

"Do we trust him and wait or send in reinforcements?" Nie Huaisang asked.

Jiang Cheng was thinking hard. "I say we wait. He has a level head on his shoulders and won't take unnecessary risks. If we just barge in without knowing the circumstances, we could cause more harm than good."

"Agreed." Nie Huaisang was fanning himself slowly. A sure sign he was deep in thought. "I say we give him thirty minutes. If we haven't heard from him by then, we text him back. See what the situation is and make a decision from there."

"Thirty minutes can be an awfully long time." Jiang Cheng cautioned.

"It can be but I trust him. He's smart and he can - " A quick peek at the civilians, Wei Ying especially. They weren't paying much attention to the two officers. Probably assuming they were discussing some police situation. "Let's just say he has skills."

"Okay, thirty minutes but no more."

------

Lan Wangji woke up with a start. He hurriedly looked at his phone's lock screen. It had been a little over an hour. He just hoped he hadn't snored. Sprawled out on the dusty floor of the attic with his head pillowed on the bag with A'Yuan's blanket, he was waiting for the men below to leave. Or had been when he fell asleep.

He listened and rolled his eyes in annoyance.  Obviously, Wen Chao's men were more interested in the entertainments available at the brothel than finding Wen Chao. He looked at his phone again. There was still grunting and moaning after an hour?

Wei Ying wasn't going to do well if he was gone too long. So what were his options? Lan Wangji carefully considered and came up with three he thought were viable. First, he could just wait it out. Eventually, they would surely be done and leave. Two, try and sneak past them. There were two problems with that idea. If anyone came out as he was sneaking by, he would be caught and things would get ugly quickly. Worse, if he was caught there would be ramifications for the women. Then three. See if any of the windows would open then try to go across the roof tops. He could then collect his car and leave.

'Three it is.' he thought with some excitement. He had never done this sort of thing before but it promised to be interesting. Slowly and with great care, he crawled over to the first window.  A moment to secure the safety strap on his gun. Placing the bag next to him, he tried the window. It didn't even creak with his efforts. 'Probably painted shut.'

One by one he went down the windows trying each one. The fourth one moved. He looked around the edge. Scraping at the edges with a bit of loose planking, he cleared away a lot of embedded grime. Another good shove upward and it was three quarters open. Gauging the space with a critical eye, he decided one more effort might open the window enough for him to get out. Putting his shoulder under it and using his legs, he heaved himself upward. The window leapt open with a wood-on-wood shriek that could be heard for three city blocks. He grimaced.

At least it stopped the moans from downstairs.

"What was that?" was repeated by multiple men. Definitely time to leave.

Quickly crawling out of the window, he held on to the bag with one hand and the roof's edge with the other. He looked around deciding the best building to jump to. He shut the window and was disgusted when it closed without a sound. 

The roof was a reasonable slope but not for dress shoes. Fighting to keep from slipping, he managed to at least get away from the windows. He sighed and removed his shoes and socks. A few steps proved the efficacy of the idea.

Slipping his socks and shoes into the bag with a mental apology to Wei Yuan, he moved closer to the edge. It was a five foot leap. Not a big deal. Except it was three stories up. The other side was flat. If he made it, he might have to roll but it would work. He backed up and took a running start before he jumped.

There was a moment when he was midway between the buildings when he questioned his judgement. He landed with a roll that scraped his cheek but the exhilaration overshadowed the discomfort.  He would never admit it but he was grinning like a mad man when he stood up.

Looking for a way down or to another building was the next step. The roof door was locked. Sitting on the far side of it in case Wen Chao's men actually figured out what had happened, he slipped his socks and shoes back on. Peering around the small shed housing the roof door, he couldn't see anyone on the roof top of the building he had just been on. A few minutes wait and still nothing. He took it as a good sign and began looking over the edges of the building he was currently on.

The front of the building had a fire escape. It only went to the second floor but it had possibilities. He trotted down the steps and discovered an open window on the second floor. An elderly woman was watering her plants there.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Police." Lan Wangji said with dignity as he held out his badge. She looked at him with her mouth open. He had spider webs in his hair, dust and dirt all over his clothes, a smear of something on his jaw and a scraped cheek. She backed away from the window allowing him to enter her small apartment.

Her mouth never closed.

Opening the door, he turned back. "Thank you, Ma'am. It was much appreciated." A somber look and he closed the door.
~♡~♡~♡~

asap = As Soon As Possible

Sending you smiles, laughter and cool breezes! ❤️

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