Chapter 1

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Chapter 1

Sam’s day since the mistaken raid went from bad to worse-much, much worse. Once they reached the correct address, someone must have passed along a tip or something since the whole of the warehouses were cleared and no-one on their watch list seemed to be present.

Disappointed, annoyed and frustrated Sam slumps in her seat having already slammed the door to her office. Were it not for the paper thin walls, she’d be screaming in anger right about now. Instead it burns in her heart and clouds all her thoughts. Before she can compose herself and allow the red beneath her eyelids to fade, the Chief himself storms into her office. On a good day the Chief’s sarcastic and cynical with an intolerance of any bullshit. On a bad day...well, everyone skits around him on his bad days. 
“Torres!” he yells, hands forcefully planting on the desk.
“Chief,” grunts Sam, mentally sighing in her mind.
“What the hell is this about you letting Santiago go?-”
“Well, Chief, I didn’t exactly ‘let him go’-”
“No, you just fucked up and got the wrong building. And not just any old building but the Carter’s building! Torres, do you have any idea how much power they have? Of course you don’t you just-,” he stops sighing in frustration whilst running a hand over his balding head. Sam too is trying to breathe deeply and use some of the skills she learnt in a compulsory anger management course they’d briefly made her do.
“Look, kid...I know you mean well, I know you didn’t mean to screw this up but the thing is we can’t be getting on the wrong side of an organisation that big....I see you’re torn up about this Sammie but...if Mr Carter complains I....I would have no choice but to...seriously take that into account and follow it up with...consequences, mainly for you-Torres. So either pray hard or find some way to convince him, without harassing him, to drop any charges he may file.”

Sam listens with a pounding heart, surprise flowing through her. She’d expected Chief to go ballistic, especially since Santiago is their number one target at the moment. As the surprise quickly burns through, realisation of the Chief’s words disperses in wake.
“Wait, what?-”
“This is your mess Torres, you better fucking fix it,” sums up Chief Daniel’s, ending the discussion with another slap to the wooden desk and storming out of the room. He really is like a thunderstorm, Sam murmurs mentally to herself.
Groaning, Sam tries to push it all the back of the mind, at least momentarily so that she can actually get some work done. Even if that work is writing up boring reports, she’d rather do that than start worrying about whether or not her ‘mate’ is going to be pressing charges that could cause her to lose the job she’s worked so hard for all these years.

“Sammie! Sammie, Sammie-”
“Louise? Lou it’s only 8 o’clock in the evening, how are you drunk already?” exasperates Sam opening the door to her apartment. She sighs seeing her drunken neighbour slumped against her own door, off her fucking face and giggling like a maniac.
“Sammie, they locked me out!” pouts Lou referring to her equally rowdy friends.
“Dear God, Lou...Alright, come on, let’s get you on your feet,” smiles Sam dumping her rucksack in the hallway of her apartment and allowing the door to fall close again, before taking a stride over to Louis. 
Grasping Louise’s skinny pale arm, Sam tries to haul her up but Louise only giggles and let’s her entire weight drop making the process even harder.
“Lou, come on, seriously, get up. I’m not leaving you here barely dressed,” and especially, not in some seedy block of apartments like theirs. Sam somehow manages to get Louise’s lanky frame to lean half against her and half against the wall. She gazes down at Louise’s tiny pyjama shorts and finds herself thinking how amazing it is that only skinny girls could get away with wearing...well, practically underwear. And with Louise almost non-existent chest she can easily just wear a strappy top and be done at that. Oh how, Sam wishes it were that easy for her.

Knocking on Louise’s door, it opens to allow loud music through while a pair of girls stand at the doorway. They take one look at Sam in her uniform with Louise slumped at her and immediately tries to look more sober.
“Oh hey, Of-Officer. What brings you to-”
“Girls come on now, cut the crap. Get her inside and safe,” instructs Sam with a roll of her eyes and helping Louise into her apartment. The girls sheepishly give Sam a quick goodbye before closing the door.

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