My hands flew so fast across the keyboard that I never noticed Lucas walk into my office. “What’s up, bitch?” he said, sliding into the seat across from my desk. He stretched his long legs out in front of him, crossing his feet at the ankles.

I lifted my head to greet him. “Hey, what brings you around?” I asked, pushing away from my computer, grateful for the interruption.

When he didn’t answer, I grinned. “Let me guess, you were in the neighborhood.”

Lucas arched his eyebrow. “What has you so fucking cheeky today?”

I swirled around in my chair and laced my hands behind my head. There was only one reason why he would be on the Internal Affairs floor and considering that he was one of my frequent fliers when it came to internal disciplinary actions, I assumed it wasn’t a good one.

Lucas was not only big in size, but big in personality as well. He didn’t take shit from anyone and consequently, he had a personnel folder that was about four inches thick, filled with complaints from his ‘customers’. He was one of our best undercover officers on the street and got away with more than most. He, on the other hand, attributed this to his charming personality.

He rolled his eyes and leaned forward, resting his arms on his legs. “Nah, just pissed somebody off and got sent to the principal’s office.”

“I’m afraid to ask. What did you do?”

He picked at an imaginary piece of lint off his dress pants. “Some fuck nut was trying to proposition Jasmin.” Jasmin Miller was one of our undercover officers. She was a big reason why our prostitution stings had been so successful.

Sensing that this story was going to get good, I placed my feet on my desk top and settled in for the rest of the ride. “Go on.” I waved my hands in the air signaling for him to continue. I was trying not to sound too eager but most stories that involved Lucas were pure entertainment. I know. I was an asshole.

“The John was a fucking 17-year-old kid and a complete tool. The stupid shit was still carrying his Pokémon backpack when he tried to pay for her services by offering her a 5-ounce bag of marijuana. Dumb fucker pulled it right out in broad daylight on a sidewalk right on Wall Street.”

I shook my head in disbelief. Hearing these stories made me miss my old job even more than I already did. I hated sitting behind this desk, doing paperwork every day, but I knew it was necessary to advance my career.

“So, how did this escalate into you getting written up and visiting my office?”

Lucas’s lip twitched, his eyes were twinkling in amusement. “Well, funny you should ask…” He laughed. “I really didn’t want to arrest the poor kid, so I had him throw his bag of weed on the ground and piss on it. Guess the poor shit was humiliated cause his dick was so small.” He brought his two fingers together to demonstrate the size. “So, when the captain showed up and saw his pecker pulled out and pissing on a bag of weed, I ended up getting in trouble. The kid claimed I forced him, which is not exactly the way it went down. The only thing I did was scare the piss out of him.”

I coughed out a laugh. “So basically, he got himself arrested and you have to take another sensitivity class. Am I right?”

“Actually, no. I’m good. Captain was feeling rather generous today.”

I gave him a pointed look. “Bullshit!” There was no way Captain Turner would have turned a blind eye to the incident. He did everything by the book and made a point to let everyone know that when he was promoted that he was going to clean up all the nonsense that went on in the department. He was tough but fair, and you were glad to have him in your corner when the chips were down. Guys like Lucas made his job more difficult, but he would never let this slide without any type of discipline.

Lucas silenced his ringing cell phone and looked up at me. “Okay. You got me.” He held up his hands in mock surrender. He looked over his shoulder to make sure no one else was listening. “You know how his 85-year-old mother lives with him, right?”

I bit down on my bottom lip, trying to fight the twitch in the corner. Captain Turner liked to hand out unique punishments.

Lucas sighed then plowed his hand through his hair. “I have to fucking watch her next Saturday night so Captain and his wife can have a date night.” He air quoted, “it includes bingo and a sponge bath, man.”

My feet dropped to the floor and my hand flew to my stomach to control the belly laugh. Lucas sat there and glared at me. “What the fuck, Morgan?” He said, holding out his hands. “This shit isn’t funny.” He picked up a piece of paper, balled it up with his fist and shot it at my head.

I wiped my eyes, picturing the look on his face when Captain told him the news. “I’m sorry, man. Look on the bright side. It’s probably been a while since she has been with a man. Maybe you’ll get lucky.”

His glare sharpened. “Fuck you, asshole.”

“Relax,” I said, finally getting myself under control. “She’ll probably pass out after Wheel of Fortune, anyway.”

Lucas blew out a frustrated breath and stood up. “Yeah, that’s what I’m hoping for. Maybe I’ll slip some Benadryl in her Earl Grey tea when she isn’t looking.” He turned around when he got to my office door. “You wanna come keep me company and hold the luffa sponge?”

“As much as I would love to, I have a young hot blonde waiting for me at home. Actually, you gave me a great idea.” I stood up and snapped my fingers like a light had just gone off. “Maybe I can convince her to let me give her a sponge bath, too… you know, right before I put her to bed.”

If looks could kill, I would be a dead man. “I hope your dick falls off.” He said, as he threw me the middle finger and walked out.

Shaking my head, I stood up to go grab some files out of the metal filing cabinet in the corner of my office. I pulled the two case files I had been working on and threw them on my desk. My eyes ran over the first report. It was about a cop leaving a bar in Staten Island who’d gotten caught sitting in his patrol car smoking crack cocaine with a prostitute. The other one involved an officer over in Brooklyn who had a hook into some organized crime. He and his wife had set up gambling operations in six spots in Manhattan and Queens. They were arrested along with her parents, and 10 others, when our investigators had shut down the individual gambling spots and raided their home in Weehawken, N. J. They seized over $100,000 and a half kilo of cocaine, neatly hidden under the bassinet in their baby’s room.

History tells us that there will always be bad cops, but the vast majority of them are honorable and decent. I felt sorry for the ones that made bad decisions when life gave them troubles, but I was happy to shut down someone when they abused the power of their badge. My eyes glossed over the reports when I heard a slight tap on the door. I looked up as my chief walked into the office.

Chief Brown was a short African-American man who had over forty years on the force. His balding head and round beer belly made him look more like a factory worker than someone in charge of the IA department. He was a good guy, and one of the funniest people I had ever met. That’s why when he slid into the seat across from me with a serious look on his face, I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to tell me.

“What’s up?” I asked, and leaned back in my seat crossing my arms.

Chief played with his lanyard dangling around his neck and folded his hands around his round belly. He was wearing his usual black polo and grey dress pants. “I know you have personal shit going on right now, but I need you to go to Baltimore next Tuesday for the Ramirez case.”

The Ramirez case involved a couple of our officers who’d helped a Mexican drug lord escape during transport. I scratched the top of my head and looked around my desk filled with folders. I was already up to my neck in case files, “I thought Bobby was working that case.”

“He was, but Audrey just had her baby this morning so he took a couple weeks of FMLA off.”

“Shit!” I blurted out. Normally I didn’t mind doing what needed to be done, but the thought of going out of town and leaving Lexi alone was not sitting well with me. I was in a tough spot.

This was my career, and I knew I couldn’t just pick the cases that worked within my personal life and turn down the ones that didn’t. Chief and I were close. He knew my situation and he wouldn’t have come to me if he’d had a better option.

I plowed my hand through my hair. “How long will I be gone?”

“Not sure. You take as much time as you need. Though, I would plan on a couple nights, at least.”

I wanted to tell him no, but Chief had been very good to me. If Lexi’s crazy ex wasn’t out there running around Manhattan stalking her, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. I tried to convince myself that this would all work out. I knew she couldn’t come with me and I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing someone wasn’t there to protect her. Talk about being split in two. I could always ask Sawyer and Lucas to step in, but beyond that, I didn’t have much of a plan.

The remainder of my day was spent on the phone. By the time 5:30 rolled around, I had gotten a reasonable amount of work done and set a plan into motion for while I was away. Everyone assured me that they would all pitch in and take care of things while I was gone. Lexi had it in her head that she could take care of herself, which made me all the more nervous.

I guess she’d have to learn to deal with it. There was nothing more important to me than her safety and given how unpredictable Colton was, I wasn’t taking any undue risks. I prayed the people I was counting on wouldn’t disappoint. I really had no other choice because I couldn’t be in two places at once.