The night had long fallen over the small town north of San Francisco; its store fronts darkened for the day and locals fast asleep, except for a few detectives who had chosen this sparsely populated area to trap an unpredictable monster and doing so with as few innocent civilians in the crosshairs as possible.
Drawn back to the days when he was a Sergeant in the Army, Mike had spent the past few hours holding vigil near the two windows of their second story motel room, watching the parking lot and the wooded hillsides across the street for any suspicious activity.
So far, everything seemed deceivingly quiet, which, he was certain, would change soon.
Behind him, Steve had begun to talk in his sleep again, his taxed mind undoubtedly processing their precarious situation over and over again. A couple of times, when things seemed to become too violent, he'd walk over and gently shake his partner awake, then returned to his assigned spot.
Finally, after the third time, the young Inspector had calmed down enough that he decided to leave him sleeping.
Mike knew well enough that the situation was wearing heavily on both of them.
He hated sidestepping standard operating procedures for fear of indictment issues, departmental confusion, unforeseen circumstances even.
But then again, special cases demanded special considerations.
"Inspectors 57 to Inspectors 81, do you read?"
The radio coming to life in the dead of night made him flinch, and Steve nearly jump out of bed. Frantically reaching for his revolver, the young Inspectors blinked sheepishly a few times, before fully coming to and realizing what was going on.
With a faint smile, Mike grabbed the radio off the nearby nightstand.
"This is Inspectors 81, go ahead Sergeant Sanders."
"Lieutenant, we just wanted to let you know that there's been a change in staffing over here."
Mike frowned, the wording not quite going along with the seemingly lighthearted tone.
"What do you mean, Sergeant?"
"Well, it seems that two of your own detectives have become available to relieve myself and Sergeant Dawson. Inspectors Haley and Haseejian are saying hello. They want you to know that they insist on taking over the assignment from here to ensure that nothing happens to the most important people in this case."
A faint smile spread on Mike's lips as he glanced across the street at the presumed hiding spot of his additional set of support, Team B, somewhere inside the second story of the old farm house B&B.
And then there was a long lost, quite welcoming warmth spreading in his heart at knowing the people who had his back in this dire situation- and that of one of the most important people in his life alongside with it.
"Sergeant Sanders, you tell them that they are quite welcome up here. Have a safe trip back to San Francisco."