The Heiress

Knelt down with her gun out as she hung around a corner of an underground parking lot, Grace Morris looked over at her partner, Roger Gibson, and nodded.

"Freeze, dirtbag," Grace said as they came out from their hiding spots, and pointed their guns at the criminals caught stealing red-handed.

Bang. Grace shot one of them in the hand when they reached for their gun.

"Arg!" they cried out in pain and held onto their injured hand.

"We told you to freeze! We have this place surrounded, so don't even think about running." Grace and Roger inched closer to them. "Umph—"

Another man grabbed Grace from behind and put a knife to her neck, making her drop her gun. "Put your guns down if you don't want me to slit her throat," he warned them.

Roger cursed under his breath and went to drop his gun.

"Don't! We've been after them too long to let them go," Grace yelled and glanced upwards to give him a signal.

"We can't lose you, Grace!"

"Tch, I said, put it down!" the attacker yelled at him.

I have to do this right... Grace thought as she braced herself. In one fell swoop, she pushed the knife away from her, twisted his arm, knocked the knife to the ground, and downed the attacker. With his arm still twisted back, she kept him on the ground with a knee to his back.

"Arg." He wiggled around, but she wouldn't give him an inch. "You'll pay for this!"

"Catch," Roger said as he tossed her his spare gun and kept his gun locked onto the other two, who had gone still.

She caught it mid-air. "Thanks."

The sirens blaring in the background were getting louder.

"It's over." Grace laughed.

Eight cop cars pulled up surrounding them. Once one of the other cops came over to cuff the man who attacked her, Grace stepped back and watched the others in action.

"That was dangerous back there." Roger came up beside her. "You've got to stop doing things like that, or you'll give me a heart attack."

"You're only thirty; a little young for that." She rolled her eyes.

"You'd be surprised how young one can be and still have a heart attack."

"Well, we're cops and partners, so you should be used to it by now."

"I should be, but I never get used to it. Maybe I should get a less reckless partner. It might be better for my health."

Grace's jaw hung open. "You'd abandon me after all we've been through?"

"Ahem..." Their chief cleared his throat as he approached them. "Good job, you two. I expect your report to be written up tonight."

"Tonight!" Roger looked at his watch. "You've got to be kidding me..."

"Problem, Roger?"

"No, sir." Roger saluted and waited until their chief walked away before deflating. "I don't think he likes me..."

"Because you're always complaining," Grace said, and let out a giant yawn.

"And you're ready for bed."

"Yes, but we have work to do still. Let's go." She nudged him along towards their car.

"Can I drive this time? You can take a nap on the way there."

"Sure..." She yawned again.

They hopped into their squad car, and she was out almost instantly.

"You've got to stop pushing yourself too much, or you'll either find yourself in a no-win situation or drive yourself into the ground." Roger sighed and kept his eyes on the road.

"Wake up." Roger nudged Grace. "If you keep sleeping here, I'll draw on your face with a permanent marker."

She swatted his hand away and stayed asleep.

"Grace, someone's stealing your sandwich!"

"What?!" Her eyes shot open, and then she remembered where she was. "What was that for?" She punched him in the arm.

"Ow! Damn..." He rubbed his arm. "Why do you hit so hard?"

Grace held her fist in front of her. "Because I am a woman of steel!" She laughed. "I've trained more than you."

"You're kinda small for that, aren't you?"

"Tiny tank?"

He nodded. "I think it fits you. Ow! What? I just agreed with you..."

She glared at him and headed into the department, straight to her desk. Her computer was on and waiting for her. She started to type up her report, but couldn't stop yawning.

A can of iced coffee appeared in front of her face. "Can't have you passing out here." Roger wiggled the can.

"Thank you. Ah... Tastes good." Just the right amount of sweetness. Now, hopefully it's enough to keep me up. They both refocused on their work.

"And, done!" It took a while, but they both finished their reports.

"If the chief liked me, I'd swear I'd be up for a promotion," Rogers said as he loosened his tie.

"What promotion are you looking for? Are you hoping to become a detective? Because you have to do extra training and whatnot for that, and you know how you get."

"But at least I'd be moving up. I feel like I've been in this same position for so long."

"Me too..." Grace nodded and tossed her empty can in the recycling bin.

Roger looked at his watch. "I think you missed the last bus... Do you want a ride?"

"Na; I don't live that far, so I'll walk. Thanks, anyway."

"Walk home alone at this time of night? I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"I just want to get some fresh air. And don't you dare offer to walk me home; I'm already good enough to take you down, and you know it."

"Everyone in this precinct probably knows it... Maybe I should start training again... Ugh, but I'm so tired..."

Grace patted him heavily on the back. "Quit worrying about everything so much and go home. I agree to more training for you, not that you'd beat me even with it." She snickered and took off, grabbing her jacket off the back of her chair on the way out.

"Hey, I could totally beat you if I trained!"

"In your dreams," she said in a singsong voice.

Grace walked outside and looked up at the bright moon in the sky as she took a deep breath of fresh air. Finally, this long day is over.

Grumble.

And I need to get some grub. She rubbed her stomach.

The streets were mostly empty on her way home, outside from a few cars and a couple of people lounging in the park nearby.

"Grace Morris?" a man called out to her as she walked by an alleyway.

"Nope..." She kept walking and braced herself for an attack.

A large hand grabbed her shoulder from behind. She grabbed his hand and twisted it as she turned and flipped him over her shoulder.

"Arg!" He hit the ground hard.

"Big one, ain't you?" Grace heaved and pulled out her phone. "You attacked the wrong woman."

Smack. Her phone went flying out of her hand, and arms wrapped around her from behind.

Grace swung her head back, cracking him in the nose, stomped on his foot, elbowed him in the gut, and flipped him over onto the other guy.

I need to be more careful. A chill ran down her spine, and she could feel more people behind her. She glanced back and ran as soon as she spotted the group of people heading her way.

Crap! What the hell did I do wrong?! Scratch that; I'm a cop. I've done plenty for bad guys to want me dead. She ran down the alleyway, quickly hopped over the metal fence, and headed for the park. Once she had a bit of distance from her pursuers, she climbed one of the trees and sat on a thick branch, hoping it'd hold, and that no one would find her.

A hand over her racing heart, she steadied her breathing as watched the men run through the park searching for her.

Grumble.

Oh, shut up, you! She cursed at her stomach, always wanting food at the wrong time.

The group of men searching for her spread out. A bunch of them used their phones as a flashlight as they scoured through the park.

"Where'd she go?"

"There's no way she could've vanished."

"Boss is going to have our hides!"

"You shouldn't have grabbed her like that." He shoved the one who spoke to her earlier.

"How else was I supposed to stop her?"

"And you, you grabbed her from behind; what were you thinking? We need her safe, not running scared."

"Did you see how she took him down? I was afraid of the same happening to me."

"And yet it still happened..."

What's with these guys? Sounds like they wanted to capture me... without hurting me? That makes no sense.

Even after they were long gone, Grace waited in the tree in case anyone lagged back to keep an eye out for her. Once she was certain no one was around, she climbed back down.

I can't risk going back for my phone... And if they know my name, it's possible they know more, like where I live. I can't go home. Ugh, I don't want to bother him at this time, but I don't know who else I can go to now.

Still being careful, she tiptoed through the park, heading for her friend's house.

Ding-dong. Grace kept looking around as she waited for her friend to answer the door to his townhouse. "Come on... Hurry up..." I probably look like the sketchy one at this time of night.

When they didn't answer, she spammed the doorbell.

The door swung open and an angry Roger was about to go off on her until he realized it was Grace. "What are you doing here? I thought you went home." Roger glanced outside and urged her in.

"I... got attacked on my way home." Grace rubbed her face and mentally cursed them.

"I should've walked you home... No, I should've driven you home." He tugged on his hair and paced around his living room.

"This wasn't random."

He froze for a moment and turned to her. "What are you talking about?"

"They knew my name... and who knows what else. They were after me specifically."

"Do you think it had to do with today's bust? Those guys were bigger fish, but still not the top ones."

"I have no idea, but they... It sounded like they didn't want to hurt me." Although having a gang of men like that makes me wonder.

"Maybe they were only saying that in hopes you were listening and hoping you'd come out."

Grace sighed and shook her head. "They weren't that organized at that point. I was hiding in a tree in the park by then."

His eyes widened. "Geez... How many were there?"

"At first, two men. Afterwards, I don't know. It seemed like there was an entire gang after me." Grace sighed and combed her fingers through her hair. "From those I did see, I didn't recognize any of them from the recent gang bust, including all the files I looked into."

"Have you seen any of them before at all? Like, were they stalking you before this or something?"

"Not that I've noticed. Everything's been normal for me."

"As normal as your life is, anyway."

"True."

"Well, I don't want you going home until we find out what's going on. You can stay here," Roger said and pointed at the stairs. "There's a guest room you can use."

"Thanks, I'll use it for today, but I can't avoid going home forever. I need clothes... and my toothbrush, at least."

"Don't worry about the toothbrush; there're new ones sitting in the cabinet under the sink. Feel free to use one."

"Thanks..." Grace sighed again. "I'm sorry to dump this on you."

"If you can't go to your partner, who can you go to?" Roger grabbed a beer from the fridge, popped it open, and held it out to her. "I'd give you something stronger, but we have work tomorrow."

Grace nodded and took the drink. She downed the entire bottle and sighed. "We have to look into this."