ALEC

A WEEK LATER

Alec was sitting behind the wheel of his undercover car, watching the street ahead. The case he had been working involved speaking to an old club owner for a witness statement—only the guy they needed had disappeared off their radar not two weeks prior. Intel Alec had gathered stated that the club owner owned a private storage unit, just a few dozen yards from where the detective's car was parked. He, along with another unit of officers had been staking out the place day and night, figuring the guy would be bound to show up eventually.

Suddenly his radio sounded on. "West, two o'clock," the officer's voice said.

His eyes had already spotted their target, as he seemed to check around the street before making his way across to the storage hanger.

"Do we go in cautious? We don't want him running before we can catch up."

Alec chuckled to himself. "Now where's the fun in that?" He held the radio up to give his call. "I'm going in direct. If he tries to make a run for it, cut him off."

With that, the detective got out of the car and began walking quickly in the same direction as their suspect, making his pace fast, but not obvious. The suspect was wearing a dark green coat, walking along the sidewalk with his back facing Alec—who followed at an even pace a few meters behind. But it seemed the guy had caught on, he began moving faster, casting a quick glance behind him. He knew he was being followed.

...screw it.

"NYPD, stop right there!" Alec shouted at once, flashing his badge.

The guy stopped when he heard NYPD, saw the badge, and then immediately took off down the street. The detective rolled his eyes.

"Ok that is the opposite of what 'stop right there' means," Alec grumbled to himself as he pocketed his badge and began running after the guy. Hopefully the other two would be able to cut off his escape when he made a left.

Nope. He turned right.

Shit, Alec cursed as he ran after the suspect. The guy was lost in his line of sight for a moment as he turned the next corner ahead of Alec. Alec caught up quick, but it appeared, not quick enough. When he rounded the corner he stopped in his tracks.

There, was none other than Maize. And she appeared to have his suspect cuffed and gagged on the back of her motorcycle.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, a little annoyed that she had shown up out of nowhere.

"What does it look like?" she replied sarcastically.

"That's my suspect," Alec stated. Amber eyes staring at him through the open visor of her helmet.

"Sorry," she answered indifferently. "He's my bounty."

"Dammit Ember—" he was cut off as her engine roared to life.

"See ya, West," Maize called, giving him a salute before she rode out of the alley at high speed, not giving him a chance to stop her.

Alec slapped a palm to his face and groaned out loud. " Damn that bounty hunter..." He could practically feel her smirk as she drove off, farther and farther away.

At that moment the other two backup officers arrived.

"Where's the guy?" one of them asked, looking a little out of breath as they looked around.

Alec sighed with irritation. "Ember."

The officers looked at each other.

"Oh."

Alec mentally grumbled to himself again. He knew once he got back to the precinct the guy would be waiting for him, but still, that didn't make up for the fact that he had wasted three days waiting for him to show up—only for the bounty hunter to up and nab him right before they did.

Damn you Maize.

Just as he was thinking pissed off thoughts, he got a message on his phone. Muttering his annoyance, the detective dug it out of his pocket, figuring it was probably the Captain, calling to tell him the suspect they were looking for had been 'brought in' already.

However, one look told him differently. The number was one he didn't recognize, which made him hesitate before regarding the message itself.

It was brief, but contained enough information for the detective to freeze where he was standing, staring at the last word of the text.

S.O.S.

MAIZE

An hour after her encounter with detective West, Maize had already dropped off her bounty and was once again in Riggis' office, consulting the Captain about a new job. The one she had been given had lasted a day, and she was disappointed.

"Maize, please, I really don't have time for this today..." The Captain said. "I'm glad you were able to pick up the criminal so fast, but if you want a new assignment, then you know where to find the board. Now, if you don't mind, I still have a police precinct to run and it would be greatly appreciated if you would excuse yourself and let me do just that."

Maize sighed. "Fine," she said, biting back her slight frustration and she turned away. Her heeled boots clicked on the floor as she marched over to the door and swung it open, throwing one last look over her shoulder. "But this discussion isn't over."

"Uh, Maize, look out for—" Before the captain could finish his warning, Maize figured out was he was about to say too late.

She felt her body collide with something hard. Instantly she stumbled back, clutching the forehead which had received the brute of the collision, the interaction followed by a short series of curses from the 'something' in question.

Detective West glared down at her, feeling the left side of his jaw.

"Watch where you're going dammit," he grumbled in complaint. Maize returned his glare with her own as she crossed her arms.

"Could say the same for you, numbskull," she retorted hotly.

"Who do you think you're calling numbskull?!"he exclaimed, sounding rather ticked off as he furrowed his gaze. "Especially after what you pulled this morning—"

"Still being petty? That's disappointing," Maize said.

"You—"

"Hello Detective," the Captain cut in flatly before the heated situation between the bounty hunter and his detective became worse. "Is there a reason for you gracing us with your presence?"

"Or did you just stop by because you're a sore loser?" Maize cut in. West zeroed a fixated glare on her for her remark, before, surprisingly, turning his attention to the Captain, not offering any sort of retort.

"I need to speak with you, sir. It's serious."

The Captain frowned. "I'm listening, Detective."

Yet even after his proclamation, West didn't utter a word. That's when Maize realized he was, once again, glaring at her.

"Weren't you leaving just now?" he asked pointedly.

Stupid Alec fucking West, what's his problem?

Maize opened her mouth to speak but the Captain beat her to it before she got the chance. "Detective, like I told Maize, I don't have time for this today. Quit wasting it and get on with it."

West didn't look too happy about it, but he let out a compliant sigh. "Fine. But we need to leave, there's something important you need to see."

The Captain wore a considerate look before he nodded his head and rose from his desk. "Very well." He followed West's lead out of his office and through the precinct, Maize tailing silently from behind. Though she only got about as far as the front door before a certain detective finally noticed her following.

Alec suddenly whirled on her, bracing his arm against the side of the front entrance to block her way. "This is police business, there's no reason for you to come, bounty hunter."

Maize scoffed with a hint of amusement. "I'd like to see you try and stop me," she said as she met his cold gaze without expression.

The detective scowled at her further, looking only a second away from snapping, before the Captain once again intervened.

"That's enough you two," he scolded impatiently. "Detective, I am giving Maize my permission to accompany us, now quit your bickering and lead the way before I lose my patience with you both."

"Tch," Alec scoffed under his breath, looking once more at Maize's now satisfied smile as he muttered under his breath and turned away, once again proceeding to lead them away from the precinct.

We're leaving the sector, Maize thought curiously. She and the Captain continued to follow behind as Alec walked calmly along the street, heading deeper and deeper into the older half of the city. With that, her confusion only grew.

"West, where the heck are we going?" she demanded. Without turning to acknowledge her, he gave his gritted teeth reply.

"You'll see."

His tone made it clear that he still didn't like the idea of her tagging along. But that, in truth, only made her that much happier to be there.

They rounded the next corner of the street, taking a short cut through an alley until they were standing directly in front of the city's old abandoned Marché Hotel. The ten-story building towered well over them. Half the structure itself was already caved in on itself—windows, walls and even the entrance doors themselves—all torn down by a construction company whose contract had been terminated and resulted in them giving up the project before the job could be finished. Now, it was just a relic of the city that most people avoided.

"We're going in there?" the Captain questioned doubtfully, eyes warily trailing over the—most likely—unstable structure.

West kept his eyes ahead of him as he nodded. "Yep."

"...do I ask or—"

"Sorry Chief, but it'll be easier to explain things after we're inside."

Maize rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, West. Enough with the secrecy already, just spit it out and tell us what the hell this is about."

The detective sent her a look of irritation. "I don't need to listen to someone who wasn't supposed to be here," he retorted bitterly.

The Captain cleared his throat loudly, followed by a warning glare shot at each of them.

"I swear, if I have to tell you two to knock it off one more time—"

"Ok, ok," Alec interrupted before he had to finish, hands raised in a sign of surrender, "we'll behave. No need to send us to the principal's office," he replied sarcastically.

"West—" the Captain began menacingly, but the detective had already ruched on ahead, kicking aside a broken slab of wood that looked like it used to be the door, as he entered the building.

They walked through the musty foyer, avoiding the stray pieces of rubble littered around the corners. Maize felt a chill of discomfort at the the numerous dark shadows around the room, as well as the light scrape of pattering feet as stray rats scurried out of their path. This place sucks, Maize thought with disgust. And she wasn't the only one feeling uneasy.

"I don't like this, Detective," Riggis muttered aloud, still glancing around cautiously.

"I know," Alec replied regretfully, "but this morning I was sure...this is the right place."

Why can't he just tell us what the heck is going on? Maize wondered with an internal groan, suppressing a sigh of frustration at the detective's seemingly over-dramatic antics. Usually he was never this cryptic, about anything.

West looked at his phone as they moved down the nearest hallway and began to pass a series of numbered rooms. "109, 110, 111..." he was muttering the numbers of the doors they passed, ticking them off in his head. He was looking for something. "112...113."

He stopped. They all stood in front of a dark green battered down room door, the paint so old and faded that only a faint shadow of the number 113 rested on its surface, barely recognizable.

"Why are we—"

West held a hand up to silence her as he motioned for them all to keep their mouths shut. Why was he acting so weird? The detective listened for a moment before leaning forward and rapping on the door lightly, once, twice, three times. Maize just watched with a skeptic look on her face. Who does he expect to answer—someone's ghost?

"I think you forgot to say housekeeping," Maize said when, not surprisingly, nothing happened. West didn't seem to appreciate her little jab of humour, but he didn't snap back at her either, didn't even look at her—and that's what suddenly worried her. Rightfully so. Not a second later and West pulled his gun from the hidden hostler at his back, posture rigid and body tense. Maize was now on alert. Something was wrong here.

Alec sent them a look to have their guards up before raising his gun higher and silently prying open the door.