"Look out!" Tim yells at Zara as tires screeched. Sirens wailed as the crash made the cop car turn upside down. Metal scraped as Zara huffed.

"That worked out the way you planned it, Boot?"

It was the first and most definitely the last time Zara would drive the shop.

<<<<>>>>

Zara stood next to Tim who sat one of the desks. She was writing something up in her notes and he was staring at her.

His hand resting on his thigh waiting impatiently for her to finish writing.

"Tim rode with Hawke back in the day." Talia announces, making her and Nolan's presence known.

The two looked up.

"Damn straight. Craziest six months of my life." Tim explains and Bishop hums.

"Mm-hmm. Nolan hung out with him last night." Talia began walking over to her seat.

"Hawke and Nolan?" tim inquiries and Zara nods.

"Oh, yeah. They were pretty tight at the Academy. They bonded over their shared love of old stuff." She explains and she feels bradfords eyes on her making her slightly nervous.

"The beastie boys isn't old." Nolan retorts.

"They formed before me, lucy and jackson were born."

The old rookie rolls his eyes clearly pissed before walking to his seat in the first row.

Tim got up as Grey came in and wanted to pass next to Zara who tried to get past him as well.

She wanted to go left, so did he. They bumped into each other.

That same thing happened when they both tried to go right.

She groaned placing her hands on his shoulders and slightly pushing him out of her way.

"Alright, everyone take a seat. Got some catching up to do."

Everyone sat down as Grey walked up the stage, to the place where he always stood in the morning.

"Let's go. First, let's congratulate Officer Brown for allowing her T.O. to finish his coffee before rolling their vehicle." He stepped up to her, she wasn't amused as she glared at him.

Her gaze said 'i will tell luna about this.' making him gulp.

People laughed, cheered and applauded. Talia looked at Tim who grimaced.

"I see "training" is working out for you. Alright, more pressingly, midnight shift was flooded with calls last night, and they left us with their mess. Let's get started."

He walked back up to the stage as he sighed.

"Our detectives are working on a homicide in Larchmont Village, but there are witnesses that still need to be interviewed. Bishop and Nolan, you'll take that. And burglary has got a search warrant that patrol didn't get around to. Bradford and Brown, you'll take that."

"Come one, why can't burglary's serve their own damn warrants." Tim speaks up clearly annoyed.

"Because they don't have the vim and vigor you have. Officer Bradford. This is yours." he hands the file to Brown.

"All the faces. Don't worry. I have pending calls for everybody! Alright, let's go knock 'em out and show late shift how real police work is done."

Everyone got up and was ready to leave and start this day.

<<<<>>>>

"Alright, we're serving a search warrant. You see door hinges?" he asks as they walk towards the apartment that needs to be checked.

"Uh, the door opens outwards towards us." she responds keeping her hand on her gun.

"And what's a "fatal funnel"?" he inquires and she answers quickly.

"The first three feet in and doorway."

He nods as two people pass besides them.

"Not bad. Here's the real test. Of all people the things Burglary told us about our suspect.. LeShawn Halvorsen, what's the most important?"

He looked his name up and Zara thought for a few moments before answering.

"Uh, history of fighting with police."

"Wrong. This guy's been served seven search warrants, spent half of his life on parole." he corrects and her jaw drops slightly.

"Uh, i'm sorry. Im not sure i follow." she says trying to figure out what her T.O. meant.

"He's been searched a lot. He knows what doesn't work, so to find his stash you'll have to think like a crook. Can you do that?"

"Of course."

He raises his eyebrows at her and she gasps. "You don't think i can?"

Tim huffs.

"I think you were raised to analyse bad guys, not be one, and to be a great cop, you got to have a little outlaw in you."

The two began walking and then stopped right in front of apartment 5.

"Hinges?"

"On the inside."

She steps over to the left side right before Tim bangs on the door. "Police. Open up, LeShawn."

Bradford took out his gun and Brown followed. Muffled music played inside the apartment, making Zara look at the door knowing that he was home.

"What's an acceptable amount of time to wait before we bust in?"

Her T.O. doesn't say anything, instead he kicks in the door with a loud thud echoing through the hall.

The man groaned as the door had hit him. "That had to hurt." Tim states his gun still raised.

<<<<>>>>

Zara had been searching around the apartment for a while now. "Yo, lady cop, you can search my place all day." the criminal grinned as he watched Zaras bend over figure.

Tim turned around to watch what he had been staring at. He walked right up to the man and slapped him across the back of his head.

"Get up. Face the wall before i snatch the other eye out of your head. You need to learn some respect."

He took the criminal up, ripping him from his seat and pushing him close to the wall.

"Jealous?" he utters and Tim rolls his eyes ignoring him.

"Okay, come on, Officer Brown. Think like a crook. When's the last time you hid anything under a couch, 8th grade?"

"You know how many times Lucy had been looking for her phone and it was under there?" she retorts as she now faces Tim.

"This isn't that. You ever heard if the DEAR method? D-E-A-R?"

"No."

"There are four principles of concealment. First is deception - "D." Deception shows you one thing when its really something else."

She began taking notes as he opened the fridge taking out a can of coke which was something it was not.

""E" is for "elusive." What appears to be nothing us actually something." Tim walks over to an air vent, taking out a box.

""A" for "access." Things hard to get to- high places, low places." She continued to write everything he said down as he walked around and saw something in the lamp.

He took the glass of the lamp down, then he threw the small box of fire matches at Zara who caught it.

"Which brings us to "R." "R" is for "repulsive" Toilets, garbage, porn collection, anything that makes you want to puke makes a crook want to hide things there."

The crook grinned evilly.

"You've got to be kidding me." she sighs taking notes.

"Might want to glove up."

Zara looks up narrowing her eyes.

"Saw a box of sex toys in the master bedroom, and don't forget the toilet. Search before you flush."

She gagged at his words.

"Wait. Uh, why do i have to be "R"? I don't-I don't want to be "R." I could be "elusive" or "deceptive" or something."

He looks at her, with the Tim look.

"You owe me from yesterday." she argues.

"No, i don't now go." he lies as he turns around making Zara groan.

"gilipollas." (asshole)

<<<<>>>>

She reappeared, looking like a monster. Zara was deeply traumatised by what she had found in that box.

She looked at her gloves trying to stop herself from crying because of how disgusting it was.

She looked at the table and saw tim with jewellery. "What the actual hell?" she hisses and he turns to her not knowing she was here.

He shot her an innocent look.

"What?"

"I've been back there for 20 minutes digging through Caligula's toy chest, and you've had this the whole time?" she grits out trying to breath and not throw up.

Tim looks at the crook and then her.

"Well, not the whole time. It took me three or four minutes."

She nods trying to push down the anger and disgust she felt. "You find anything?"

She gags taking off the gloves.

"Yeah. Horrid, filthy things." she exhaled sharply as she saw Tim suppressing his laughter.

Zara sat down at the other end of the room, head in her hands as she tries to recover.

<<<<>>>>

"Dispatch pinged his phone. Shows his location as 10 yards in front of us." she explains getting out of the car before grabbing her radio.

"7-Adam-19, show us Code 6 at riverside and woodman. No sign of suspects Hawke's vehicle. Check Utah plate 6-Mary-Ocean-1-7-Adam."

Tim and Zara approach the vehicle. "I can't believe we're hunting Jeremy Hawke. Man bleeds LAPD. I was first on scene when the guy was taking .223 rounds using the curb for cover."

Both of them have their hands on their guns, being ready to use them if needed.

"Hawke? It's Tim. We're gonna get to the bottom of this. Come out, let's talk."

Zara took her gun out of the holster while her training officer spoke.

"Hey. Sorry. No Hawke here. We met back at the motel, though. Did he do something wrong?" A man began speaking and Tim narrows his eyes.

"Was he ever inside your vehicle?"

"Nope."

He nods at the man before stepping forward. Both her and Tim looked around, he leaned down and checked the wheel.

When he finds nothing there he walks to the front of the car opening the hoods to find Jeremy's phone in there.

"He really is running. He knew we'd track his cell, so he planted it on someone going anywhere he's not." he announces.

"He's thinking like a criminal." she utters and he turns to face her.

"Worse- like a criminal cop. He knows how we do things and what we expect, so he's always a step ahead."

<<<<>>>>

"7-Adam-19, we are on intercept course with Hawke's truck, three blocks out and closing." Tim says into the radio.

"Is this safe with Hawke's kid in the car?" brown asks her T.O.

"Hawke thinks we've fallen back into tracking mode. He doesn't know we blocked the streets, turned the lights green to funnel him towards us. He won't see the roadblock coming. To him, it looks like we've fallen back."

"Yeah, but won't all the green lights look suspicious?" she asks curiously.

"He won't notice. "What appears to be nothing," remember?"

It was silent before she spoke up again. "You're a DEAR method incarnate. You've got a tactic for any situation, don't you?"

"Maybe." he answers.

"What if you get robbed at gunpoint?" she asks raising her eyebrows.

"Easy, deception. I carry an empty wallet. If i ever got robbed, i'd drop my fake, pull my piece and good night, nurse."

She looked around confused by his words.

"So, where do you keep your cards and money?" she asks curiously.

"Money clip behind my belt."

She turns back to face the road slightly shocked. "Okay, you're officially weird." she says and he ignores her.

"Get ready. It's going down."

"7-Adam-19, about to intercept. Make sure you block him in." Tim tells John and Talia.

"7-Adam-15, copy." Nolans voice responds.

"He just did a hard left turn. Its like he knows what we're gonna do." Nolan continues and Tim huffs angrily before speaking into the radio aggressively.

"The SOB must still have his radio."

Sirens wailed crazily as they chased Hawke.

"Hawke, i know you can hear me. You need to pull over right now. Hawke?" Nolan speaks over the radio hoping the cop will answer.

"I'm not good at calling quits, Nolan. You know that. A lot of boy at Pelican Bay can attest to that." Jeremy's voice was finally heard over the radio.

"So, what, you gonna join them?"

"That is never gonna happen."

"What's your endgame here, Hawke? You just gonna escape the pursuit and live happily ever after?" Nolan inquires.

"Didn't you learn anything in class, Nolan? This is a tactical situation not a strategic one. Long term isn't about the conversation. The initial obstacle is the pursuit. Once I lose that, just focus on the next step." The suspect explains.

"What about Logan? Are you prepared for something to happen to him?"

"Leave my son out of this."

"Don't use me against my dad! He said you'd try that and that you'd lie about everything. But it won't work. We're in this together. Whatever happens to him, happens to me." Logan announces after he had ripped the radio from his father.

"Im not lying, Logan. Your father is. He's lost control."

"You're done."

That was the last thing Jeremy said before he stopped responding to Nolan.

"Logan? Hawke?"

<<<<>>>>

Zaras cellphone rang, she saw Nolan's name and picked it up. "Whats his plan?" Tim asks the two cops on the other side of the line.

"We were just trying to figure that out. How would you get away?" Talia responds.

"Job number one would be to lose air support. No way to escape the eye in the sky. What about you?"

"Go somewhere packed with people. Overwhelm out resources, switch cars."

"Does every cop have an escape plan?" Zara asks confused as she glances at Tim.

"Most." Talia answers.

"Hawke and I worked a car one summer. We were a two-man wrecking crew. Took down some heavy hitters. We talked about how we'd run from the cops because it made us better hunters." Tim explains.

After that it was silent for a few moments. "Covered parking, tons of people. He's going to the mall."

"We need to get him now."

A car parked in the middle of the street stopped the shops. "Suspect headed for the Fair Street Mall. Need additional units. Code 3." Tim speaks into the radio while driving past the car parking back into the plot waiting for the cops to pass.

<<<<>>>>

Tim and Zara ran into the shop, following after Jeremy who escaped through the back door, locking it behind him.

Tim grunted angrily as he tried to open it. Zara placed her hand on his lower arm to stop him from trying to waste his strength or hurt himself.

"He must've blocked it with something." He states as she glances up at him, her eyes not leaving him.

Omg, stop gawking at him crazy bitch.

"Where does this door lead?" Talia asks the mall security man.

"Interior hallway. From there you can go anywhere in the mall, places the public can't access."

Each cop other than nolan began rushing out of the shop.

<<<<>>>>

They stood there gathered, trying to figure out what the criminal cop would do next.

Sergeant Grey appears.

"Time element since we had a visual?" he asks immediately and Nolan answers.

"Four minutes."

"Perimeter?"

"Thin, but we have units moving in at every exit. We'll have full containment in a few minutes." Talia explains.

Zara speaks up.

"If i were him, i'd head back to the parking garage and just steal a car, get lost in the stream heading out."

"I'd change clothes, pull the fire alarm, blend in with the fleeing crowd." Talia says.

"Sewer system. That's the way to go. Dogs can't track him, good current, be in Chinatown in 15 minutes."

"All units, be advised, man with a gun at Lowington Financial. Code 3." The dispatch told them.

"Thats six blocks from here." Tim utters.

"Description of the gunman?" The sergeant asks.

"No, sir. 911 call cut off before we could get more information."

"That's how i'd do it. Call in a false report. Pulls manpower away, divides our resources, it frees up an exit. That call's not real. That's Hawke." Nolan explains.

"And if it's not? If the call's real and we don't divert units over immediately, what happens then?"

<<<<>>>>

"Hey!"

Talia yelled causing Hawke to turn into her direction, with no hesitation she sprays pepper spray on his face. Causing his head to collide with the truck.

Zara appeared, her taser clicking as she used it on him. His body thuds as he fell to the ground shaking.

"You were supposed to arrest him, nit get in a brawl." Talia scolds.

"We had him." Nolan huffs in pain.

"Mm-hmm." His T.O. hums.

Handcuffs clicked as they got put onto the suspect. Tim got up from his seat on the floor and Zara patted his back, he turned around to face her smiling.

<<<<>>>>

"Yeah, Bradford." His voice answers the phone and his rookie chuckles.

"Never tell a crook where you hide your money." she says making herself known.

"Zara?" he was clearly confused making it even more enjoyable for her.

"You told me to think like a criminal, so after you got your ass kicked, i grabbed your money clip." she laughed.

"I wonder how you're gonna pay for your bill." she wonders while she holds his money in her hands, locking at the big money wad.

"You're in so much trouble." he hissed and she giggled.

"Uh-huh. You know what? Maybe you could wash the dishes. But you might want to glove up."

It was silent a few moments.

"Goodnight."

With that she ended the phone call walking to her car, laughing.

<<<<>>>>

new chapter!!

hope y'all enjoyed this, even though it is really short. lmk what you think🤍

-nicole

2950 words