Dispatched || Maddie Buckley

Chapter Two- Comradery

"We need all available units, please report to 673 Leland Way. We have a K-9 attack in progress."

Michael smiled up at the woman standing in the window of the drive thru and grabbed his bag of food, "Was hoping to eat this myself but duty calls."

The woman smiled at him and he drove off, turning on his sirens as he headed to the location of the attack. He and another officer had arrived at the scene at the same time. Getting out of his car he rushed next to Sergeant Grant, "Same idea huh?" He said, holding up his bag of what was supposed to be his lunch.

"Boy- if you don't." Athena said, turning her focus to the firefighter named Hen who was working on the scene. "How big are they?" She asked, walking closer to the sliding glass doors.

Hen motioned towards the door, "Take a look."

"Ah crap, full bag. I was hoping to save one for lunch." Athena groaned, shaking her head.

Michael held up his bag, "You can have one of mine." He said looking over at her innocently with a smile painted across his face.

Athena smacked him in the chest with her bag of food and looked towards Hen, "You ready?"

"I got your back." Hen said as she made her way through the sliding doors.

Michael and Athena followed behind her, taking their positions.

The man on the counter looked over at them terrified, "You got guns?"

"Nah, shooting them will only piss them off. We got something more effective." She said, holding up the wrapped burgers.

Michael tossed one across the room and Athena did the same. Once Hen had crossed the room and opened the pantry doors, they tossed another for each of the big dogs to try and trick them into running inside. They did as the trio thought they would and Hen quickly closed the door behind them.

"Got 'em." She said with a big smile. "Phew." She sighed out, chuckling at their victory.

Michael fist bumped the air and smiled, "Teamwork makes the dream work baby."

The man standing on the counter finally sat down on the countertop and glanced over at them, "Thank you. You are a beautiful genius."

Michael shrugged and glanced over at Hen as if to ask, 'Are you seeing what I'm seeing?'

He walked away and back out to his patrol car to wait for animal control.

-

It wasn't long until they arrived and he informed them of the doberman's whereabouts.

The team quickly got to work and brought them outside to load them into their truck.

A job well done in his opinion.

-

Eventually, a car pulled into the driveway and something soon felt off.

Michael followed behind the car and was greeted with Athena. He was curious to know who this man was and why Athena and Hen looked so suspiciously at each other.

"Sir is this your house?" Michael questioned, following Athena's lead back to the glass door.

"Yeah, is everything okay? What happened? Where are my dogs?" The man questioned, glancing between the three people still on the scene.

"Uh- The Doberman's?" Hen asked, glancing at Athena.

"You'll be happy to know that they have been fed and they are safe. Problem is, you've been burglarized and we let him get away."

-

The rest of the day, Michael spent searching the streets and anywhere the suspect could possibly be hiding out at. He had offered to patrol the area while Athena was dealing with some personal things for a few hours. He had the man's description and had an eyewitness account of what the man looked like, now all he had to do was find him.

He was there, how could he have missed this? He and Athena were both made out to be fools.

It had been hours and there was no luck in finding the man until the radio blared through his car letting him know that Athena Grant was in pursuit of the suspect. He raced over to the scene and found Sergeant Grant aggressively arresting the man.

"Sergeant Grant, easy! Easy!" He said, rushing over to finish the arrest. He pulled the man to stand straight up and walked over to Sergeant Grant.

"Listen, I don't know what kind of personal stuff you've got going on right now but that was a bit too rough. You know the kinds of trouble we can get into for pulling stunts like that." He leaned over and whispered, "If you need someone.. Maybe a friend, someone to talk to. I can do that. Just don't bring home into work, it's the same as us leaving the job behind after we take off this uniform at the end of each shift."

Athena scoffed, not wanting to listen to this younger man spew advice her way.

"It's your choice, Sergeant Grant." He shrugged and led the suspect away to his patrol car.

-

Michael had made his way back to the station and filled out the paperwork used for booking the suspect he had brought in a few hours earlier.

He was just heading back out to finish his shift on patrol when the radio perched on his chest went off. It was an address he was familiar with yet didn't know how so. Quickly, he got into his patrol car and drove off to the location.

Within minutes he had arrived and the reality sunk in, this was Athena Grant's home. His questions were about to be answered once he made his way through that front door.

He was met with a frantic Athena running over to him, he gulped and shook his head to rid himself of any anxiety.

"Sergeant Grant.. Hey, calm down. Breathe okay? I need to know what happened here."

Athena shook her head with tears filling her eyes, "Don't you tell me to calm down."

Michael nodded his head, "Okay.. Okay.. The medics are right behind me okay? Let them come in and have a look. You stay with me so I can get your statement. You know the drill."

Michael wasn't aware of how bad the situation was until he watched the medics wheel Athena's daughter out on a gurney. He knew that she was having some personal problems but he wasn't the type of guy to pry when it came to those types of things. He rested a hand on Athena's shoulder, "I am sure they will be okay. We will finish this some other time. Go be with your daughter." He said, closing his notepad.

He watched as the medics left with Athena following behind them. He learned something valuable that night. He learned not to pretend as if he knows someone's story, no matter how they come off or appear.