Jim Moon POV

It was a pretty uneventful night for a Saturday evening. Jim and his partner Danny had been driving around the empty streets of their patrol area in one of Miami's residential districts for hours without anything of interest happening. The only disturbance of their endless drive and chatting about old times had been a call by Mrs Lukas who had mistaken her neighbour's cat for a burglar trying to enter her house like she had done so many times before. Still, Jim was happy about the incident, because stopping by at Mrs Lukases always meant a freshly brewed cup of coffee and sometimes even a piece of cake for the officers on duty. He was convinced that she only called, because she felt so lonely after her sons death a couple of years ago and was in need of company, but he did not really care. In fact, no one at the station cared much, which was why she hadn't been arrested for calling 911 multiple times yet.

Suddenly, Jim felt his phone vibrating in his pocket which was followed by the sound of its old school ringtone. His eyes glued on the empty street in front of him, which was only illuminated by the headlights of the police car, he pulled the phone out and looked on the screen. It was his nephew.

„Hey kiddo, what's wrong?", he asked as it was four in the morning which was a pretty unusual time for a phone call.

„Hey uncle Jim", a somebody said on the other end of the line.

„I'm driving with Danny. I'm putting you on loudspeaker", Jim quickly said before his nephew could speak.

„Okay, hi Danny", he said and the sound of his voice echoed through the car.

„Hi Austin", Danny replied before taking a sip of his extra large coffee.

„Jim, I'm sorry for calling you on duty", he apologised and Jim laughed.

„It's okay. There was not much for us to do anyway, right Dan?" Danny nodded and mumbled something, his cup of coffee still at his mouth.

„So, what's the matter?", Jim asked. He could hear his nephew's discomfort.

„Well, Dad's not picking up the phone and you were the only option left." He sighed and Jim grinned. He knew his brother could sleep through anything, so it he was not surprised.

„The problem is, I'm currently at Ginny's Bar on the other side of town, and the kid who was supposed to give us a lift is totally drunk. So…"

„So you want me to come and pick you up and drive you home", Jim finished the sentence and looked at Danny questioningly who nodded.

„We were getting bored anyhow, and I could use some distraction", Danny said and put down his cup.

„Yeah, me and some friends." Jim suddenly noticed the light sound of giggling girls in the background and shook his head.

„Okay. we'll be there in a bit. Ginny's Bar you said?", Jim asked and checked his surroundings. He then turned around and drove into the opposite direction.

„Thanks, uncle Jim", Austin said gratefully before ending the call.

The officers drove for a while. Soon they had reached the far more central and livelier streets of Miami. The facades of the rows of houses were plastered with huge colourful signs, telling passing people the names of the countless bars, restaurants and night clubs of Miami. It was impossible for one to know all of them. But Ginny's Bar had been known to the Moon family since Jim could remember. At some point in the family history, somebody had become the owner of this place and since then, it had been run by a Moon. Jim was happy, that even though a teenager and a very rebellious one at that, Austin still cared for something so important to their family and chose to spend his Saturday night there with his friends.

Soon, they had reached their destination and Jim pulled over. He was able to spot the blonde among a group of people standing outside the bar smoking and chatting almost immediately and was relieved to see him unharmed. Austin had a history of fights due to his hot-headedness and short temper, and Jim was always worried about his nephew. But he seemed to have gone back to his old cheery self and was laughing at something a friend of his had said.

Jim opened the door and stepped out of the car. He knew, he was being stared at by several other people by now, some of them yelling insults with there newly gained courage before merging back into the grey mass of people, but Jim ignored them.

„Hey kid", he yelled, resting his arms on the roof of the car and waiting for Austin to spot him and Danny.

Austin turned around and a wide grin formed on his face as soon as he saw the officer. He said something to his friends, before they slowly walked over to the police car, the only other boy in their company staggering drunkenly. Besides Austin and the boy, who Jim guessed was the kid who was supposed to drive, he spotted three girls who all seemed to be Austin's age. They had all dressed up, wearing short dresses which as the father of a young daughter he disapproved of and had put on a little bit too much make up for his taste, but nevertheless they looked quite beautiful and he knew they knew that.

„Hi uncle Jim", Austin said, giving his uncle a brief hug and friendly clapping on his back.

„Hi officer Moooon", the black girl with long wavy black hair babbled and clung to Austin's arm for support. He grinned apologetically and shrugged his shoulders.

„Come on, get into the car and let's get you kids home", Jim said and opened the door to the car. With some effort, they managed to get all five teenagers into the vehicle and started driving back the direction they had come from. Jim was quite relieved when he learned that they all lived close by their route back to his brother's house, as he wanted to spend as little time with them as possible. But shortly after they had started driving again, they heard about something going on at a local supermarket in their patrol area. Jim knew he had no choice but to go there, even though he hated the idea of having those kids in his car while he and his partner investigated the situation.

He put that aside and drove as fast as possible to said supermarket. It was still dark outside, and even though it was already five in the morning by now, there was still barely any traffic on the streets.

They got there after only a few minutes and as soon as they had stepped out and ensured that nothing would happen while they were gone, they were already being greeted by a woman in pajamas who introduced herself as the manager of the store. She told the men how she had received a call from the store's security system 10 minutes prior which had reported an abnormality. She had called 911 immediately and walked here, as she was only living two streets away, but was afraid to enter the property, let alone the building. Jim and Danny got out there guns and after receiving the keys to the store from the manager to enter, they moved quickly. The entry was not far from were they had been standing, but Danny and Jim, decided to check the outside first in case the intruders had already left the building and were now waiting for a chance to escape.

There were no cars parked on the lot and so Jim guessed that whoever had set the alarm off, had to be on foot or had a car waiting for him somewhere close. Suddenly, he heard Danny yell from the other side of the store.

„Jim, I got her", Danny yelled and Jim hastily ran around the rest of the building to aid his friend. But when he saw the intruder, he was shocked. Standing next to a row of rubbish containers was a young girl, 16 maybe, with shaking limbs and a bruised eye.

„What's going on?", Jim asked, staring at the petite girl that was being held by Danny confused.

„I was about to ask her the same question", Danny said, emphasising the word ‚her'.

„I found her digging in the dumpster over there", he said and pointed at one of the containers.

„What's your name?", Jim asked her and tilted his head downwards to get a better look at her face.

„Ally", she said barely audible. „My name is Ally Dawson!"

- o - o - o -

What a nice note to end this one. Don't you guys just love cliffhangers? ;) As for the pacing, I know this story is incredibly slow paced and it seems like it will take forever for anything to happen, but I dislike stories where things are rushed too much which is why I will take my time with this one. So, don't even bother to complain about that. Anyhow, I hope you liked this chapter and are excited to learn about what is going to happen next.