The Detective

As I prepare to knock on the door, I realize that my hand is tight on my holster. Ever since I had been shot it had only gotten worse.

~two months earlier~

I was with the Manhattan South Task Force, and I had been chasing a drug dealer named Mike "the Kremlin" Romanowski, and according to my sources, he has resurfaced.

I was on patrol with my partner Catherine Palmer, and we had stopped to get coffee. "Hey," Catherine taps my shoulder, "there's your caller." And there he was, walking down the sidewalk, not a care in the world. He's sure gonna have something to care about, I think.

I pull out my badge which was hiding behind the inside of my sweater, and put my hand near my holster. "Hey, you-" I don't get a chance to finish. His hand goes to his waistband. BANG! And I black out.

Catherine nudges my shoulder. "Hey, you okay?" I relax a little. I've known Catherine since we were little kids. We went to the same schools, same college, went through the Academy together. She's my best friend, but only a friend...

I take a shaky breath. "Yeah... yeah, I'm fine." I knock on the door and speak into the door, "NYPD." No response. I sigh. Why does it always end up like this.

I knock again, but it's more of a pounding. "NYPD, open up!" Putting a little more authority in my voice. Once again, no response, but I hear a little shuffle and the sound of a window moving.

I take my gun out of my holster, and hold up three fingers to Catherine. Three, two, one. I pivot on my foot and bring my leg up. BOOM! The door comes off it's hinges and falls to the ground.

I guess the guy didn't know how to open his own window because he's just climbing through onto the fire escape. " I'll head him of!" Catherine yells already halfway down the hallway. I nod. "See you down there!" I yell back.

I vault over the couch and slide under the window, landing on my feet but not without a little stumble, and look around. To my right is west 37th, to my left west 35th. These are my streets, this is my city.

It's pretty easy to spot him. He's wearing a neon orange shirt, no hoodie, and blue track pants. "Freeze!" I slide down the ladder movie style and immediately bound towards him. I pick up my feet and use my giant legs that won me 5 300 meter sprints in a row too good use. This guy won't be running for long.

I turn the corner, the first thing that I see is a giant clump of Chinese tourists. I can see him pushing through the wave, and I try to follow but I'm quickly swamped by the sheer mass of the blob.

I finally swim my way out, and see he's already a block ahead of me, but Catherine is right behind him. I take a shortcut through a back alley to east 25th, because I know exactly where this guy is going.