Chapter 8: Off Duty

Park Jung Restaurant
Lindsay Circus
Little Seoul
7:25 PM

The now off-duty Troy Harrison's taxi arrived at the Park Jung Restaurant, located in Los Santos' Little Seoul neighborhood and famous for its authentic Korean cuisine, for his dinner date with Anna Barakova. He had reached his destination about five minutes prior to the arrival time on which the two had agreed. Dressed in a light blue tweed suit jacket, a neatly-pressed white shirt, matching tweed slacks, and blue faux alligator shoes, he took a seat at one of the outdoor dining tables and waited patiently for Anna to arrive.

Harrison sat there for a few short minutes taking in the seemingly rare scenery of the neighborhood. He articulated the presence of lots of business signage that featured Korean and Chinese written characters, the unique style of which Harrison had always appreciated. A young Asian woman dressed in a blue button-down shirt with the restaurant's logo embossed on the left side of the chest soon approached him.

"Good evening, sir" the woman said, "My name is Rose. I'll be your server tonight. Could I get you started with a beverage?"

Harrison turned to face the woman. "Certainly, Rose" he replied in a very cordial tone, "Do you happen to have a selection of hot teas?"

"Oh", Rose said, "We sure do. May I suggest the Okusu-Cha tea? It's made from corn and it's quite delicious if I do say so."

Harrison gave the young woman a warm smile in retort. "That sounds great", he replied, "I'll have a cup of that, please."

Rose nodded and wrote down his order on her pad before setting a menu down in front of Harrison. "Will it just be you at the table tonight?" she asked.

Harrison shook his head. "No ma'am", he said, "My date should be arriving in just a few minutes. Could I have another menu, please?"

"Sure", Rose replied before setting a second menu on the empty space across from Harrison, "I'll be back out in a few minutes with your tea."

Harrison nodded before his face was momentarily illuminated by the dimmed headlights from a now stopped car. A white 2011 Toyota Camry had pulled into one of the few small parking spaces allotted to the Park Jung's customers and the driver's side door came open.

The detective was staggered by the stunning sight of Anna Barakova dressed in a very form-fitting dark blue satin cocktail dress that complemented her athletic build quite well. Her strawberry blonde hair was done up in a very tidy bun situated at the back of her head. The lovely ensemble she had put together equally completed and was well balanced by a pair of black suede flat heels.

"My Goodness, Miss Anna" Harrison said with a very affable tone in his voice, "The night is quite lovely, but I have to say its beauty cannot hold a damn candle to how lovely you're looking tonight, my dear."

Anna gave her date a charming smile as she sat down at the table's opposite bench seat. "That's very sweet of you to say, Troy" she warmly replied, "It sounded almost Shakespearean."

Harrison shrugged his shoulders and smirked. "Thank you", he said, "It was the best I could come up with and still be respectful without babbling incoherently." He smiled at her. "Hi", he added.

"Hi", Anna replied, "It's nice to be out here in plain clothes and off the clock."

"I know, right?" Harrison said as he opened and began browsing his menu, "Thank you for accepting my invitation. This restaurant seems really nice."

"Mmmm-hmm", Anna replied, "I love it here. I've been coming here ever since I joined the lab staff three years ago."

With very good timing, Rose returned to the table with her pad in hand, setting Harrison's Okusu-Cha tea in a steaming black mug in front of him.

"Thank you", Harrison said to the young server.

Rose's attention then turned to the man's date. "Oh", she said as she took note of Anna's familiar presence, "Hi Anna!"

"Evening, Rose" Anna replied warmly, "Good to see you."

"Will it be your usual order tonight?" Rose asked her.

"Yes, please" Anna said, "A bowl of your Soft Tofu Stew and a glass of Cheongju wine, if you would."

Rose nodded affirmatively and wrote her order down on her pad before turning her attention to Harrison. "And for you, kind sir?"

"I'll have a bowl of Kimchi Stew, please" Harrison replied.

As with Anna, Rose nodded affirmatively to Harrison and wrote his order down on her pad. "I'll get those orders right in for you", she said in a comforting tone.

The two nodded in gratitude to Rose before the kind and attentive server made her way back inside the restaurant.

"So", Anna said to Harrison, "I have to say I was very impressed by how you picked up on my Russian background when we first met. Do you speak any other languages?"

"Well," Harrison began to explain, "I do speak Russian, as you noted. I also speak Spanish, Czech, Japanese, and even a little bit of Cantonese and Mandarin from when I backpacked through Asia when I was back in college."

Her interest now peaked; Anna leaned forward in her seat. "Wow", she said, "'backpacking through Asia', huh?"

Harrison sipped his tea, after which he realized how good the beverage really was, and set his cup down before replying. "Yep", he said, "My cousin and I got the chance to train with a Ju-Jitsu Grand Master in Japan while we were in college. We decided to space the trip out a bit and do the whole sightseeing thing. We left that first spring and travelled through mainland China and Hong Kong. We'd take in the sights by day, eat the best local cuisine in the evening, and crash in hostels by night."

Anna chuckled. "So, you guys studied Ju-Jitsu in Japan?" she asked.

"We did", Harrison replied, "We got to Japan a few weeks after that and spent a very regimented two months studying our sensei's very uniquely modified style of Ju-Jitsu. It was very hard and strenuous work, day in and day out. It paid off, though. Bill and I earned our blue belts in Ju-Jitsu and we even went back the following summer and trained again."

"Sounds like it was a very enriching experience", Anna said.

Harrison smiled as he mentally reminisced about that very optimistic period of time in his life. "It was", he replied, "I went back to Mississippi a couple months after that and Bill returned back to his school in Vermont. We both got our respective degrees, I got recruited by the FBI, and Bill went overseas for a few years to do some covert intelligence work. He came back stateside after that and asked me to recruit him to the Bureau."

"You guys worked together, then?" Anna asked.

"Yeah", Harrison replied, "Four and a half years running an organized and serial crime task force out of a cramped basement office at Quantico."

"What kind of cases did you work on?" Anna inquired.

Harrison smirked. "I appreciate your interest, Anna" he said, "But honestly, I don't think that's exactly an appropriate dinner conversation. Another conversation for another time, okay?"

Anna put her hands up. "Hey", she said, "Your call. I didn't mean to pry."

"Oh no, dear" Harrison said, "You weren't prying. I just wanted to enjoy this evening with you without having to discuss asshole mobsters and dismembered body parts."

Anna chuckled once again and took a moment to look deeply into the handsome detective's eyes. "You have nice hazel eyes", she said tenderly.

Harrison smiled. "Thanks", he said, "Those green eyes of yours are a thing of beauty as well, if I do say so myself."

Apartment Building of Adam Xander
1802 Forum Drive
Chamberlin Hills
8:00 PM

Adam Xander exited his silver 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck and made his way into the courtyard of the All-Swell Apartments where he lived, grocery bags in hand. His home, Apartment #5, was a bit tucked away in the corner of the building's ground floor adjacent to the courtyard. Xander very skillfully grabbed the second bag and was able to tuck both bags under one arm while retrieving his apartment key with his now free hand. Finding the key, he unlocked his door and entered his small but homey apartment.

The young detective's bachelor pad lacked any trace of a feminine touch, the only furniture in it being a very well-worn brown leather couch, a dusty and scratched up secondhand coffee table made of cheaply imitated cherry wood, a small entertainment center on which his flatscreen high-definition TV, DVD player, and cable box sat, and a shoddy white collapsible card table that functioned as Xander's makeshift dining table.

Xander set his grocery bags on the card table and was in the process of unpacking the various items when he suddenly heard several different male voices coming from out in the courtyard. With the door still being left open, it appeared that Xander had a front row seat to whatever was about to go down.

"Yo man, hook your boy 'Big J' up with half an ounce of your finest green", a very confident male voice said. This first voice seemed very familiar to Xander.

The detective then heard the rustling of plastic in response to the first person's cocky statement. Now interested, Xander put his grocery unpacking duties aside for the moment and made sure he was still carrying his LSPD badge and firearm on him. Reassured that he still was, he carefully and quietly walked across his apartment and hid behind his still-open apartment door.

"This shit is the finest reefer in LS", a second accented young male voice replied, "That'll be two-hundred bucks, dog. You know I only take cash."

"Hey", The first male voice said, "I know you Ballas don't take cashier's checks."

Now convinced that a drug deal was definitely going down right outside his own home, Xander withdrew his gun from his holster and appeared in the open door, pointing his weapon at the four people who had congregated in the courtyard.

"LSPD!" Xander yelled in a commanding tone as he advanced further out into the courtyard with his weapon still poised at them, "Show me those hands! All of you!"

"Oh shit, dog!" The apparent dealer, dressed in a yellow and black Los Santos Panic basketball jersey, black denim jeans, gray sneakers, and a white stocking cap, exclaimed. "Five-Oh!"

His other two cohorts, all dressed in very similar attire, then bolted along with him toward the open rear entrance of the apartment building's courtyard in too fast a manner for Xander to be able to catch up. The third man, a very plump red-headed young man looking to be no older than 18 years old, tried in vain to straddle his neon yellow bicycle and take off.

Now realizing who this ill-fated drug buyer was, Xander smirked and holstered his weapon before making his way over to the young man and his bicycle, with the latter of the two now having given up his unwise attempt at escape. "Nice to see you again, Jimmy" Xander said, "How many times do I have to tell you not to fuck around with those Ballas?"

James "Jimmy" De Santa's head dropped when he realized who his would-be arresting officer was. "Oh man", a defeated Jimmy said, "'Officer Adam'! I swear I didn't know this was your building, dude. I just came to hang out with those guys…"

Xander disapprovingly shook his head, cutting the young man off. "That's bullshit and you know it!" he said in a very stern and almost fatherly tone, "Give me your weed. Now, Jimmy!"

Jimmy sighed before reaching into the side pocket of his shorts and removing a poorly wrapped bindle of what appeared to be dried marijuana. He then reluctantly handed the bag to the detective.

"I'm afraid that I have to advise you that you once again have the right to remain silent, Jimmy" Xander said.

Residence of Dakota and Sarah Michaels
West Mirror Drive
Mirror Park

Meanwhile, across town, Dakota Michaels was sitting on the sofa in the living room of his yellow-stucco home on West Mirror Drive in the quiet residential neighborhood of Mirror Park. As he watched the epic on-screen battle between the Los Santos Panic basketball team and the rival Alderney City Anteaters go into its fourth quarter, the home's front door came open.

Dakota's wife of 3 years, Sarah Michaels, came through the front door and sat down on the sofa beside her husband, at which the couple greeted one another with a mutually passionate kiss on the lips. Sarah, the daytime manager of the O.O.T. Restaurant on the Del Perro Beach boardwalk, was an eye-catching 27-year-old long-haired brunette with a very athletic build, her hair neatly braided in an attractive French braid.

"Hey baby", Michaels softly said to his wife.

"Hey sweetie", Sarah replied, "How are you?"

"I'm good", Michaels said, "What did the doctor say?" For the past week or so, Sarah had battled nausea, frequent early morning bouts of vomiting, and recurring hot flashes, among other symptoms.

Despite having gone through this ordeal, a wide smile came across Sarah. "I have something to tell you", Sarah said.