Delilah

Delilah, who was now sited at a table in one of the bar's corners, reached for the inside of her bag, taking out her Bluetooth earpiece and placing it on her right ear. The car they'd used for transportation live streamed the surrounding sound to the piece, allowing her to be on the lookout for possible ambushes.

Taking advantage of Hera's authorization, she pulled out her hybrid laptop and began reviewing the report she'd have to submit the next day. After proof reading the first three pages, she broke off her straight posture ever so lightly, so that she could re-adjust the turtleneck around her skin.

The humidity that lingered in the atmosphere from all the sweat, bodies and alcohol cramped up in such a deep and closed space made her extremely uncomfortable. Since Hera had requested her assistance right after she got off work, she didn't had time to change her outfit, still wearing the black suit and black turtleneck combination she often worked in.

She thought about catching Pyxis attention, so that she could get her a bottle of water, but the girl was so focused on tutoring Skip in his math homework that she wasn't picking up any of the signs. Or maybe she was doing it on purpose. No way Pyxis would be so withdrawn from what was happening around them. As soon as that thought crossed Delilah's mind, Pyxis glared at her, almost as saying "do it yourself" with a slight smirk. Therefore, she adjusted her posture and regained focus on the task ahead. Between suffering with thirst and spending her energy and words with primal-minded men, the first wasn't something she couldn't endure.

Analyzing the stats that the interns had sent her it was blatantly obvious that the number of 911 calls made from underaged kids had risen in comparison to the previous month. Besides that, only 48% of the calls resulted in any type of arrest or heavier penalty. If that wasn't a sign of the work that still had to be done, she didn't know what would be.

Be it fate or just an overall terrible karma, her work phone buzzed with a text message. After making sure the location was disabled, she opened it:

"Sorry to bother you, Lieutenant, but we have an extremely difficult situation in hands and Captain Pritchard hasn't arrived yet. May I call you? Anna."

After a deep sigh, Delilah quickly got her USB and placed it on her computer, running the program she had previously created. It was essentially a copy of the one used at work, with a couple of catches that she had programmed herself. For example, the phone number's signal at use would self-destroy every 5 seconds whilst generating a new one. As soon as it was set, she disconnected her earpiece from the car system, logging it into the program, placing her full trust in Pyxis' abilities if something happened.

The beep began, as she read through what Anna had written in her register: a domestic violence situation disguised as a restaurant order, to which the 911 operators requested immediate assistance. The husband got upset and required to speak to the management multiple times. Since the 911 number would be easily spotted, possibly making the situation way worse, Anna asked if it was possible to create a disguise for when the husband would pick it up.

Delilah quickly typed a new code into the program and, almost immediately, she heard the woman's voice.

- Good night, I'm Abby, Deli Delight's general manager. – she said, using a fake scenario as she read the indications that Anna was writing. – How can I help?

She heard a muffled voice and a loud bang before a man's voice came to the phone.

- What the fuck is taking you so long? My wife has said it 2 times now. The correct order is the one with extra pepperoni, you dumb bitch.

- Sir, we apologize for the inconvenience, I am making sure that everything is ok with your order. – she said, in a calm manner, noting that the man was armed and realizing that the police were still 15 minutes away as she followed the patrol's GPS sign. – I am seeing here in our tracking system that your order is still 15 minutes away and I'm following its location as we speak. I'll have to inform you that if you still wish to cancel the request, our refund policy isn't appliable since the staff has already left our premises with your meal.

- The fuck is wrong with you?! You're telling me I will lose money thanks to your incompetence, you fucking dumb whore? How old are you, 16? These part-time kids are lacking a good beating, I tell ya'.

- We deeply apologize, sir, but our store has been having an unusual inflow of orders tonight. We're making sure that, with every delayed order, we send a 20-dollar gift card so that you can enjoy a free meal whenever you want.

- You better! Incompetent capitalist pigs. I wish all of you sluts and your daughters would be raped one time for every order you get wrong. I betcha' it would be a party tonight, heh?

- Sir, is it possible for you to pass the phone to your wife? I'll need to double check the credit card information so that we can correctly associate your identity to the gift card.

She overheard yelling and a very subtle sound that signaled the call had been moved to speaker.

- Miss Owen?

- Yes, I'm here.

- Have you heard about our gift card offer?

- Yes, yes, my husband just explained it to me. – she said, as her voice came out hoarse and painful, clearly struggling to speak up.

- We'll just have to double check some information so that you and your husband can enjoy the free order as soon as possible, is that okay?

- Yeah…

"Possible neck injury, perceived tracheal trauma." Delilah wrote down as she continued to chat with the woman.

Soon enough she saw, on the geolocation system, the patrol's car GPS system signaling at her door.

"The police are at her apartment door, but you need to try and get her away from it", Anna texted.

"It's easier to send the husband to them. Let them know that, as soon as the door opens, they can charge."

- Miss Owen, our delivery man has just arrived at your door, can you please open? It seems that your doorbell isn't working properly. – she stated, knowing that if it was a recent beating the woman would have signs of it all over her skin that he would want to hide.

- Fuck off, I'll go, I'll give your "delivery man" a piece of what he has coming! – exalted the husband, falling right into her idea.

Seconds later she heard a loud bang and the man screaming to be released. She texted Anna a brief good night text, as she shut down the program and removed the USB. The less time it was active, the better.

A fleeting wish crossed her mind, hoping this time would count for the 48% of successful calls. Closing the laptop's screen, she restrained the sigh that urged to leave her chest.

- Another one? – Madam Hera's voice came up from above her, standing in front of her table.

- Yes.

- Do we need to follow up, dear?

- No. Not this time. The patrol has gained control, but I'll follow up tomorrow when I report to duty.

- Good. Let's hope for the best.