Tom walked into his apartment and shut the door, falling against it. Running a hand through his dark hair, he sighed heavily. Moving to the couch, he picked up the phone and dialed Penhall's number.
"Yeah?" a sleepy voice croaked on the other end.
"Hey Doug, this is Tom." There was a silence, so Tom jumped headfirst into his apology. "Sorry about earlier. I was a head case. Guess I was stressed."
The chuckle on the other end made him release a breath he hadn't known he was holding. "It's okay man," Penhall intoned. "I should'a been there quicker anyway. Sorry bout that."
"So we're cool?" Hanson asked.
"Yeah, unless you get off the phone and let me get some sleep." Penhall yawned into the phone and Hanson laughed.
"Okay, but you owe me." Hanging up the phone, Hanson moved toward his room confident that he could actually get some sleep now.

* * *
Judy Hoffs and Harry Ioki walked the dark streets of L.A. looking to the left and right every so often to check if anyone noticed them. They were dressed in jeans, and Harry had a grunge T-shirt on while Judy sported a tight blue top. His hair was spiked in the front, and her hair was in a ponytail at the side of her head. To those passing, they looked like any other minority couple out past curfew.
"You know?" Hoffs turned to Ioki. "You don't blend in very well with the high school crowd anymore."
Harry kept in step with her as they turned down an alley on their way to an underground club. "What are you talking about?" he asked with a perplexed look on his face.
"I mean, how old are you now?" Judy looked on bemused as Harry looked up, counting in his head. "25 right?" she supplied for him.
"Yeah, I guess," he said and shrugged. "What does that have to do with anything?"
"You're getting old!" Judy giggled as she entered the club. Harry stopped just outside the door. Looking at the retreating back, he just smiled and shook his head in exasperation, then followed his partner into the thumping music and young crowd.

* * * "What have you got for me?" Fuller asked expectantly, searching the faces of the four officers in front of him. Hanson was the first to speak. "None of the teens from the drug bust will talk. Someone's got em scared for their lives. I think their boss is pretty powerful, which means he may be one of the hard hitters we've been after for a while. I'm going through all of our files, but none of them fits this kind of ring. If this guy is new, he needs to be taken down fast." He looked over at Penhall to see if he agreed and he shook his head in consent. Fuller also nodded then turned to Hoffs and Ioki. "And what about you two?" he moved behind his desk and took a sip of coffee while waiting for their report. "Well, Coach," Ioki started, using Hanson's nickname for the captain, "we found a crowd of users at the club, but the seller was just another kid. The heroin was the same mix as that found by Hanson and Penhall, but the kid also won't talk." Hanson's eyebrows raised when he heard about the heroin match. This meant that this guy was not just pushing at the uptown schools they had been looking into, but all over L.A. That kind of drug ring was the most profitable, and the mastermind usually had a lot more at stake, making them very dangerous. And now they had busted two of his business fronts. Whoever was orchestrating the illegal drug distribution was not going to be happy. Apparently, this thought was crossing everyone else's minds; their foreheads were wrinkling and Fuller's eyes narrowed. "Maybe you four should move on to new cases until things cool down," he suggested, already holding up his hand to Hanson's protest. "I know. But I can't risk sending you out there on this now that they know who you are." The four of them nodded glumly, and shuffled out of the office.

* * * Once Hanson reached his desk, he kicked the corner in anger. I was so close! He thought in anger. We have to catch this guy. If we don't, how many more kids are gonna die?