The Danger Within
Chapter 1
It was another beautiful morning in San Francisco. The sun was shining and Lieutenant Mike Stone had just arrived at the office. He was in a good mood as Jeannie had called last night to say that she was planning to visit that weekend from Arizona and the thought of seeing his beloved daughter was enough to put a spring in his step. It had been a relatively quiet week at the office compared to normal. The latest case had been solved and the culprit was nicely tucked up behind bars. Yes, Mike thought, it was going to be a good day! Downtown in the apartment of Inspector Steve Keller things were not going as well. When Steve had finished typing his latest report at the office just after eleven pm last night he wasn't feeling too good. His stomach had been out of sorts all day and Steve as usual was blaming Mike's decision to buy them greasy hot dogs for lunch. Instead of their usual haunt Mike had bought the hotdogs off a street vendor outside the Golden Gate Park where they had just apprehended their latest suspect. While Mike as usual had wolfed down his lunch with gleeful abandon Steve had eyed up the grease filled hotdog with disgust and had only reluctantly eaten it after Mike lectured him about his ingratitude and his lack of appreciation for real man's food. Mike could never understand Steve's preference for salads and health foods instead of the normal diet of SFPD's finest which mainly consisted of hotdogs, pizza and doughnuts. Steve was more content chewing on his regular handful of sunflower seeds a habit that Mike would definitely never understand. "That's parrot food buddy boy, not policeman's food! " he would regularly say to Steve's amusement. On this occasion Steve had been unlucky with his hotdog as while Mike had the constitution of an ox and had no ill effects from his, Steve had spent the entire night after arriving home getting reacquainted with his stomach contents. Finally spent and exhausted Steve had practically crawled into bed at five am and fell into a deep sleep not even hearing his alarm clock as it went off.
At eight thirty am Mike had just finished his second cup of coffee and his good mood was starting to turn sour as he stared out at Steve's empty desk. While Steve had dutifully finished his report like always and had placed it on Mike's desk before going home last night as promised, Mike hoped that the young inspector hadn't forgotten their ten o'clock meeting with the Captain to update him on their latest arrest. It was usual for Steve to be late sometimes in the mornings especially when he was meeting one of his many female admirers after work but Steve hadn't mentioned any plans last night and although it was normal for Steve not to say anything when he was feeling unwell, Mike had found Steve to be off form and unusually quiet last evening and wondered if there was something wrong with the boy. He had planned to broach the subject with Steve but had finally put it down to the fact that their last case had been particularly draining and that the young man was tired and needed a good night's sleep. Mike's thoughts were disturbed by the ringing phone on his desk. The Captain's voice greeted him and he made a mental note to call Steve as soon as he had finished assuring the Captain of their readiness for the upcoming meeting. Damn it Steve where are you?...
