Hank parked his cruiser around the corner from house where Clancy lived. Clancy went by the street name of Hardball and was known for mostly petty crimes. It wasn't much of a stretch for a petty thug to graduate into a drug dealer. As officer Katts exited the patrol car he spotted the black firebird in the alleyway behind the house. He quickly called it in and decided to walk down the alley and inspect the car before going to the house.

As the officer approached the car he noticed that windshield was smashed and the driver's side window was down. Looking inside the car he spotted what appeared to be blood stains on the inside. Peaking out from under a baseball hat was the barrel of a handgun. Hank didn't want to disturb the crime scene, but he couldn't let the handgun sit open while he left the scene to look for Francis. With the blood inside the car Hank knew that Francis could be in serious trouble and couldn't wait for backup to arrive. Hank pulled the firearm out of the car and gave it a quick inspection.

It was a small .25 caliber handgun colloquially known as a Saturday night special. The chrome plating and the imitation pearl grips belied its status as a low cost, cheap handgun that was increasingly favored by punks and hold-up men. It was as cheap as fifty dollars and could be quickly disposed of after a crime. The seasoned police officer checked to see if the magazine was loaded and put the Raven pistol in his pocket.

"Find him pal, find him." Hank didn't really need to give his partner orders as the police dog had done this many times in the past and knew exactly what to do. What Hank didn't expect was that Rudy didn't run toward the house, but rather took off toward a run-down industrial park that was a few blocks away. Given that it was now Sunday afternoon, there would be few bystanders in that area.

Rudy led Hank to a non-descript warehouse in middle of the industrial park. The officer called for back-up on his mobile radio and scouted the outside of the building. Hank found a window and while he couldn't see people inside, he could hear that a commotion was going on. He moved to the far side of the building and found a door that was unlocked. Hank unholstered his service pistol and quietly opened the door to enter the warehouse.

The yelling came from the front of the warehouse and Hank was going to move there slowly. He looked up to find a walkway that overlooked the warehouse floor. He motioned for his partner to go up the stairs and moved behind a wooden crate in order to move toward the commotion.

When officer Katts made it to the front of the building he surveyed the scene. Clancy was standing next to the Russian man from the boardwalk. The Russian man was holding a pistol and standing over Francis yelling with a thick Russian accent. All three were standing on a tarp. Hank knew what was going to happen.

"How could you do something so stupid!? We don't need this kind of attention right now!" The man looked at Clancy with a mean stare. "Do you know what I'm going to have to do now, because of you?" He turned back to Francis, who was now breathing heavily. The Russian man raised his gun.

"Stop, police!" Hank yelled as he pointed his gun at the Russian man. The Russian man quickly stooped behind Francis and put his gun to the boy's head.

"Ah, mister Stasi." It almost seemed as though the man was amused by the turn of events. "Put your gun down or I shoot him." The man threatened.

"No one has to get hurt today. There's no reason for more violence." Hank knew his bargaining was doomed to fail.

"Your gun, now!" He yelled.

"Okay, okay. No one needs to get hurt." Hank slowly put his gun on the ground.

"Now kick it to me." The man ordered. Hank complied and kicked his service pistol several meters out of the way. The man now stood up. "I almost hate to have to kill you." He chortled.

The Russian man took a few steps toward officer Katts and began to point his gun toward the officer. Before he could bring his gun to bear, Rudy leapt from the walkway and bit down sharply on his arm. The Russian man howled in pain. The weight of the German Shepherd caused both man and dog to fall to the ground, but Rudy never let go of his mark. Before Clancy knew what was going on, Hank was two meters away and pointing the small, shiny at him.

"Step back and get down on the ground." Hank barked an order. Clancy was overwhelmed by how quickly the circumstances had changed. "Now!" Hank yelled.

With Clancy on the ground and the Russian man subdued, Hank retrieved his service weapon. He also picked up the man's now discarded pistol. Hank couldn't immediately identify the make of the pistol. He thought that it must be of Russian origin.

"Break Rudy, break." Hanks voice no longer exhibited any haste. "If you move a muscle he'll eat you!" Hank warned the man as Rudy growled menacingly a few centimeters from his face. As Hank finished his warning he could hear the sirens of the approaching police cars.

"You know that Francis kid is still in the interrogation room, right? He's been in there for about an hour now." Sgt. Phillips reminded Hank.

"I'm giving him time to think about what he did. He needs a few minutes to reflect." Hank replied. "I'll take care of him shortly."

Hank walked into the interrogation room with a stack of papers and some coffee. He ignored Francis as he sat down across the table and started to look through his papers. Every movement, every paper shuffle, every breath was calculated for effect. Francis began to speak, but Hank held up his index finger to stop him. After about three minutes Hank began to speak.

"Hmmm… Dealing drugs, illegal possession of a firearm, money laundering, attempted murder- you're going to prison for the next sixty years." Hank knew that this wasn't the case, but he was looking to get a response from the young man. Hank put his papers down and leaned into Francis' personal space. "Three days ago I found a dead girl just a few years older than you. Was it your drugs that killed her? Did you sell her the shit that did her in? Let's not forget to mention that you almost got your brother killed!"

Francis hung his head and put his face in his hands. "I don't know how this happened. I'll tell you everything. I'll tell you everything and how to find everyone involved. I just want to be out of all of this." Hank could hear the young man start to break down. Officer Katts got that focused look in his eyes as he recorded all that Francis had to tell him. Hank knew that he was about to begin to take down what could be an international drug ring. Hank loved being a cop.