The next morning, I wasn't sure whether I expected to see Bradford or not.
Part of me knew he'd show up if we were taking Vance down, but a part of me thought he may stay with his wife.
Sitting in the briefing room, I watched as Bradford entered the room. He took a seat beside Lopez.
I tuned my mind back into Sergeant Grey, as he explained that Vance's girlfriend Cesiah Olivo lived in Brunson Estates. But we were unsure which apartment she lived in, so that meant we'd be knocking on doors until we found her.
"This has the potential of being a very dangerous operation. Vance is a heavy hitter. He has a well-armed crew. He will not go down easy." Grey informed.
All the cops started exiting the room, I immediately headed to kit up the shop for Bradford and I.
All three patrol cars pulled into the parking lot of Bronson Estate. Bradford, Bishop, Lopez, Chen, myself and West all climb out of our cars.
"Let's gear up. Got your backup piece?" Bradford asks.
"Yeah of course." I commented, but Bradford handed me a metal piece. I furrowed my eyebrows, "you really think we're gonna need trauma plates?" I asked.
"You do know why this is called the Bronson Estates?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at me.
I shrugged, "I spent a lot of time in New York, not Los Angeles." I replied.
"You really do live under a rock. There was a movie called 'Death Wish' and it starred Charles Bronson." Bradford informed, attaching his own little insult to the information.
Once we were all ready, and had to convince Bradford to leave the rifle, we were getting ready to head in the direction of the building.
"Okay. Hale and I will start on three. Bishop and Chen take two. West and Lopez, take ground floor. We must stay in constant radio contact." He instructs us all, before holding open the door for us all to enter the building.
"What a gentleman." Lopez mocks.
After what felt like years of knocking doors on the third floor, Bradford knocked on one of the apartment doors, saying "Gas company" to hopefully throw Cesiah off if it were her apartment.
Suddenly, Cesiah opens the door. But she quickly tries to shut it when she sees myself and Bradford. But luckily, Bradford is quick enough to stop her and step inside.
"Cesiah Olivo. Just the woman we're looking for." He speaks.
Cesiah appears worried, I don't know if that's because of Vance or because of our presence. "Marcus isn't here." She's which to tell us.
Both Bradford and I work to clear the apartment, eventually clearing any possibility of Vance being there.
"When's the last time you heard from Vance?" Bradford asks. I now realise the woman is heavily pregnant, and she doesn't seem that old.
"Yesterday. He was supposed to come over last night. He never showed up." She informs.
I wonder why. Not like he was out trying to kill an ex undercover cop.
"You know who he is? What he does for a living?" I ask her.
"Yeah." She utters, clearly not proud.
"And you're okay with that?" I ask again.
Cesiah reveals that Vance made her move in to the Bronson Apartments so him and his men could keep their eyes on her. I feel devastated for the young girl, but push my own emotions aside for the sake of the task at hand.
I listen as Bradford proposes that we can keep her and the baby safe if she were give him up. Bradford instructs her to just tell him she doesn't feel well, that she's worried about the baby. This was all a plot to lure Vance to the apartment.
I watch as Cesiah calls Vance, I can tell just by the way he speaks to her that he has no means to keep her around after the baby is born. She is just a means to an end to him.
I pause at the sudden sound of gunfire. I lift up my radio, "7-Adam-19. Shots fired at Bronson Estates." I speak into it. Something doesn't seem right as the static hisses, "control, respond." I speak.
Cesiah looks at me, "marcus had a frequency jammer in the basement. One of his guys brought it back from Iraq." She informs.
I pull out my phone, seeing no signal. "No signal." I inform Bradford.
As Cesiah begins to pack, Bradford attempts to rush her. "I need things for the baby. I can't leave here without them." Cesiah admits.
I nod, "it's okay. We're going to get you to a safe place. When are you due?" I ask.
"A week ago." Cesiah informs.
Before I can respond, Bradford is looking out the peephole. "Vance." He mutters, before he looks to Cesiah. "Your boyfriend's here." He announces.
One of Vance's men knocks at the door, causing me to tense. "To the police offers inside, I'm here for Cesiah. She walks out, you walk away. Otherwise, we're gonna come in and take here." Vance threatens.
Bradford shakes his head, "no, you're not. Cause you can't risk her getting hit in the crossfire. You give up and we'll make sure she goes to the hospital when the baby comes." Bradford attempts to reason.
Vance proves he has no motivation to even attempt to negotiate with us, shutting down Bradford's ideas and telling him that he will not leave without his child.
"What are you doing?" I ask Bradford, unsure of what his plan is.
"I brought us a little time. But they're going to come through that door soon enough. And I'm not sure we can stop them." Bradford admits.
I look through the peephole, seeing three gunmen in the hallway. My skin crawls. They're definitely not going down without a fight.
Whilst I'm standing as Cesiah lays on the couch, I hear her make a noise. "You alright?" I ask.
"I just had a contraction." She reveals, I mentally curse the police force. And life in general. Of course when there's three gunmen outside, a baby decides to come. "A really big one." Cesiah adds.
"Okay," I speak, thinking about what we can go.
After they blocked the peephole, Bradford used my body-cam to make a hoist for the camera so we could see out. Then, we used the app on the city issued phone to view the footage.
I held the phone for Bradford to see the hallway outside. Bradford crouches in front of the door with two handguns aimed at it. When he sees the men in the hall come at the door, Bradford fires a row of shots through the door and wall; bringing down at least one of the gunmen.
They return fire, and Cesiah screams from the couch due to being in labour.
We hear Vance worriedly call it off, as they become distracted with trying to find another way into the apartment.
After working hard to deliver Cesiah's baby; although she was working 10x harder than me, the baby has arrived. I hand the wrapped up baby in a towel to Cesiah. "It's a girl," I announce.
I look to Bradford as he looks on the phone, where the body camera app is. He seems lost in thought for a moment.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"Somethings not right." He comments.
Then suddenly, the sound of crashing comes from the next room.
"Look out!" He yells.
Pony comes through the door behind me, and I turn. Pony shoots, and I fall to the floor. My gun goes flying. Laying there in shock for a moment, as I feel paralysed. I was only semi conscious.
Did I actually get shot?
But suddenly, I remember my trauma plate. I climb up from the floor; seeing Bradford battling the gunmen whilst Vance is trying to take the baby from Cesiah's arms.
I kick the gunman behind the knee and he falls to the ground with a thud. I pepper spray the next thug, and I hear Bradford hollering out the Miranda rights.
"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney present. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you." He informs.
Luckily, someone from our crew was able to disable the jammer by turning the power off. Therefore, we had ambulances, backup teams and helicopters all present out the front of the estate.
I walk beside a gurney with Cesiah seated on it, I talk her through what's next as she asks. She seems to be unable to entirely process the fact that she is now free. Whatever's next is entirely up to her.