Name: Suzana Miller
Player: Yanick Champoux
E-mail Address: champoux@IRO.UMontreal.CA
Chronicle: Santa Cruz/Mortal
Nature: Bon Vivant
Demeanor: Deviant
Residence:
Motive:
Method:
Concept: Policewoman

ATTRIBUTES:
Physical: Strength-2, Dexterity-3, Stamina-3
Social: Charisma-2, Manipulation-1, Appearance-3
Mental: Perception-3, Intelligence-3, Wits-4

ABILITIES:
Talents: Alertness-2, Brawl-1, Intuition-1
Skills: Drive-2, Firearms-3, Melee-1, Security-2, Stealth-1
Knowledge: Bureaucracy-1, Computer-5, Investigation-3, Law-2, Medicine-1

ADVANTAGES:
Numina & Other Traits:
Backgrounds: Allies1, Contacts-2, Fame-1, Resources-2
Merits & Flaws:

Faith-?
Humanity-?
Willpower-?

VIRTUES:
Conscience-?
Self-Control-?
Courage-?

Appearance: Now, at 26 years old, Suzana is a police officer of the good little city of Santa Cruz, not very far of her native city, where her parents still live. With her 5'7", 115lbs, auburn hairs and hazel eyes (forever behind little round glasses), she could be rated as pretty, in a tom boy kind of way. An impression not contradicted by her usual civil clothes: tennis, jeans and a snug pull-over.

The Story So Far:

Suzana was born under the hot sun of California, 26 years ago. While growing in her native city of San Diego, she wasn't marked nor embraced by a creature of the night that burn at the sight of the Sun. When puberty hitted her, she didn't found herself covered with fur nor had any particular compulsion to howl at the moon. She didn't die an horrible death either, nor did she suffered an accident that revealed that she was immortal. Her magic talents never went further that the usual 'penny-in-your-ear' trick and she never found out that she was daughter of faries.
All in all, the enfance and early adulthood of Suzana was perfectly, entierely and hopelessly mundane.
For now bachelor, her life rotates around two major poles: her job and computers. Still young, Suzana had shown a real affinity with all that was related with informatic. And when she applied at the Police Academy, she hoped that somewhat she could use her talents in this particular field in her job.
The first years have been a deception. Her special talents went unnoticed, or worse, she was used to do repetitive desk job on the computer that the other untrained agents couldn't do. So she passed the most of these years on the field, where she learned the profession's strings.
Then, one day, a miracle happened. The Santa Cruz police department added an Systems, Informatic and Computers branch at their effectives and Suzana found herself drafted. The title, however pompous, was hiding a less flamboyant reality. The division was all in all composed of three members, Suzana included, and their task was to deal with whatever was related to computers and such. A murder had happened and a detective wanted to find what was on the password-protected computer of the victim? It was a case for SIC. A bank was suspicious that a hacker was trying to get in the system? SIC was called. A security system was to be inspected? Again, SIC entered the scene. In short, SIC was used and abused by all the other departments, and Suzana was loving it.
At the present time, Suzana have a little office all for her. But, more important for her, she also been a computer (nicknamed Frankeinstein by the others cops, because of the multiple modifications that Suzana had brought to it). Her last big assignment was to design and put in operation a security system for the police department's network. There's rumors that she could raise in grade soon, but she prefer to ignore them. Her present position satisfy her completly, and she wouldn't change it for anything else.

Wednesday, June 21st, 1995 1:27 p.m.

Suzana sighed with relief as she typed the last lines of her latest project's code. The program was a prototype on which she had worked on and off for the better part of the spring and summer. When it became functional, it would help the police inspectors to deal with the incredibly huge heap of information that was in the newspapers databanks. The program was designed to hunt these factual jungles in search of patterns, key-words and others more exotic parameters. But the best was that it contained a limited AI unit that would work when the program will not be actively used. This unit would eternally cross-check his informations sources, searching by itself crime patterns that could fit the same modus operandi, that could have been perpetrated by the same criminal.
Suzana saved her file and put Frankenstein at rest. She pushed her chair back and raised her arms, half to celebrate her victory, half to stretch. Without getting up, she opened the file drawer at her right and produced the brown bag that was containing her lunch. She hunted in her listings until she found her good old coffee mug and refilled it with the half-full pot that was resting on its heater, at Frankenstein left side. To have a office the size of an average bathroom was most of the time a pain in the ass, but it was heaven when it comes to have everything under your hand.
Suzana opened her bag. A big tuna sandwich, two carrots and a fruitcake slice was on today's menu. She took a bite of one of the carrot and opened her file drawer again, this time to take the milk cartoon she was always keeping for her coffee. She frowned as she lifted the carton, its lightness betraying the fact that it was empty. She threw it in her (overflowing) garbage can and got up, mug in hand, with the intention to pay a visit to Victor, who was in the next office, and beg him to share with her some of his milk (the man was a reference in the field. The man, a coffee fiend, not only had milk _and_ cream in permanence in his office, he also possessed a micro-refrigerator to keep it cold and a espresso machine).
Suzana took a report that Vic' asked her for, turned toward the door and went nose to nose with chief Norden. She instinctively jerked backward, surprised by her superior's presence. Her reaction prevented her to run directly in him, which could have been bad, but it also catapulted the liquid content of her mug in the air, which was catastrophic. Time seemed to run in slow motion for Suzana. Like in a nightmare, she witnessed the splash of coffee slowly raise off the mug, like a black eruption from the world tiniest volcano.
She looked its short trajectory with a kind of mesmerized horror. Then the black coffee made contact with the chief's shirt and time returned to its normal pace.
"GODAMN IT! FOR FUCKIN CHRISTSAKES!" bellowed the chief.
A smile crossed Suzana face as she saw the almost comical outrage of her boss. But the smile faded soon enough as she realized what she had just done, and to who.
"OH GOD! I'M SORRY, BOSS! Oh God, ohgodohgodohgod. Let me help you. Oh, I'm so sorry..." Bubbling apologies, Sue took the nearest thing (a listing) and begun to sponge her chief's shirt with it.
"Gimme that!" Norden snarled, ripping the listing out of Sue's hands.
He tried to clean his shirt, but the paper had all the absorption quality of a cement block. Cursing under his breath, he threw the listing back at Sue. He looked his ruined shirt, then Suzana, then his shirt, then Suzana again. "You... You..." he began, red in the face, and not only because of the coffee heat. "I'm sorry." Sue repeated, sheepishly.
The chief took a couple of moments, trying to convince himself than a police department was not the best place of the world to commit homicide probably; then took a yellow sheet of his pocket. He gave it to Sue.
"What's that?" she asked, doubting that it was good news, seeing the way the chief was grinning.
"A notice as you are beginning field work. Tomorrow."
"WHAT?" said Sue, her eyes wide with surprise. "It must be an error! I'm... I'm a clerical officer! I've never worked a day of field in my life!"
"Well, I'm sorry baby", rasped Norden. "but our budget has been cut and we must do more with less." He turned back and walked, no, stormed away. "Just try to not get shot - or shoot somebody" he said over his shoulder, "and everybody will be happy."
"But..." said Sue feebly, still holding the yellow sheet in her hand.
A deep silence was suddenly reigning in the corridor. Of course everyone had heard the argument. As it was apparent the show was over; sounds of typewriters and discussion restarted anew. Sue closed her door, no longer feeling like asking milk to Victor. She dropped in her chair, taking her head in her hands. God, she had pissed off her superior. No, she had scalded him with coffee _then_ pissed him off. She had not only thrown her chances of promotion down the toilet, but flushed a couple of time just to be sure... God! And she was beginning field work tomorrow...

Thursday, June 22nd, 1995 2:12 a.m.

Sue rubbed her eyes as she sipped at the last cup of coffee of an endless series. She returned to her dispatch desk, mumbling to herself "it's just a nightmare... it's just a nightmare... it's just a fucking nightmare..."
When the Chief had said she'd start "tomorrow", she didn't realize it meant the graveyard shift just after midnight. If she had, she surely would had turned the coffee boiler a little higher, after all. The completion of the papers related to her change of shift had taken her far past five o'clock. She had returned to her small apartment, already tired, the moral somewhere below sea level. She had cooked herself a fast meal and had eaten it absentmindedly before the TV. She changed clothes, took a shower and returned to the police department, praying God to give her strength.
At first, Sue thought she had simply entered the wrong post. She resisted the temptation to go outside and look at the post's sign. The post was the same, of course, but it was also different.
The people she crossed was almost all unknown to her. The rare ones she could identify, she had met them only once or twice, or had seen their photos on one of the billboards. She noticed with a slight feeling of discomfort that they were all looking at her in a strange, suspicious, way. She had the foolish impression that someone was going to ask her for her ID in any moment. The atmosphere was also different. It was almost imperceptible, but there nonetheless.
Suzana quickly changed back to her uniform and went to meet Serafin Calderon, the Night Desk Sergeant that was responsible for her. Sue found Serafin, a tall, efficient-looking man, talking to another officer. Sue waited until Serafin was done and introduced herself.
"Hi, I'm Suzana Miller."
Serafin looked at Suzana for a second, an eyebrow cocked, then a smile appeared on his lip.
"Ah! The new one! Well, welcome aboard, Sue. I'm Serafin Calderon. But call me Kitty."
Kitty extended his hand and Sue accepted it quite heartily. It was a welcome sign of friendship in the sea of animosity that she was swimming in. Kitty motioned Sue to follow him as he began to walk.
After a moment, Sue half-said, half-whispered to Kitty, "am I paranoid, or does everybody look like they are ready to frisk me, read me my rights and throw me in a cell?"
Kitty gave a small laugh. "Oh, don't worry about it. We grave shifters are a pretty clannish lot, that's all. We're the ones who deal with the weird shit - and there's plenty of that, believe me. Hey, here's Sam. How'ya doing, Sam? Here's Sue, she's the newest addition to our merry crew."
Sam, a distinguished, grey-haired man, small and muscular, nodded to Kitty as he passed by. But apart of a quick glance in her general direction, he paid absolutely no attention to Sue.
"His partner was disabled in the line of duty.", Kitty said as soon as Sam was no longer in hearing range. "It looks like it might be permanent. So, you understand, he's kind of under the weather."
After a pause, he added, "And don't worry too much about his attitude, or the others', for what matter. Folks around here sort of see you an outsider." He smiled, "They can still smell the sunshine on you. Just give them time." They finally arrived at Kitty's desk. He took a roster list and scanned it. He looked at Sue. "I saw your records. What would you say if put you at the dispatch. for the time being, at least."
"Okay by me," answered Sue, trying to remember when was the last time she had been filling that post. On second thought, had she ever filled that post? Anyway, fifteen minutes later, she was seated before her new desk, listening to the haughty advices of Rachel, the other dispatcher.
An hour later, she began to answer calls.

Friday, June 30th, 1995 2:42 a.m.

As weird as it may sound, things was beginning to look a trifle less black to Sue. Oh, it still wasn't all pink, but her life was now over the "unbearable" level and was slowing crawling toward the "decent" one. The fact that Sue was adapting to her news waking hours and didn't feel totally like a zombie out of one of George Romero's movies anymore helped tremendously.
People was also getting friendlier. Most of them were now nodding at her when they were crossing her in the corridor, and nobody was looking at her as if she was trespassing a prohibited zone. Of course, there was still some, like Sam, who were still ignoring her, but they were fewer as the nights went on. Another sign that she was slowing accepted was the beginning of flirting with the single guys. Some of them were cute enough, and she was grateful to have some attention, but her mind was a thousand miles away from any relationship right now.
In a way, her post at the dispatch was helping her to get accepted. In a remarkably short amount of time, she had mastered the basics of her job and was not half-bad at it. As she was the link between the patroling officers and the post, the others hardly had the option to ignore her. Adding to that that Rachel, the other dispatcher, was a rather aggressive and insufferable woman (Sue soon learned that she was nicknamed "The Voice From Hell"), the men on patrol found themselves appreciating the newcomer. But in some way Sue knew she was still outside the loop.
For example, Kitty hasn't put her on patrol duty yet. She suspected that was because no one trusted her to guard their back out in the field. After all, she was a clerical officer, with no field experience outside the Academy. And worse, she was a "soft" day folk (in her first week, Sue had quickly found out the single most distinctive characteristic of the grave shifters: an ego that wouldn't pass a barn door doubled with a superiority complex of epic proportion). But she wasn't exactly disagreeing with them. Patrol duty was not exactly thrilling her very much. She would be happy if forgotten at her dispatch post. More now that she had installed a laptop on her desk, using it as a terminal to access Frank. This way, the dead hours of the night were passing more faster.
So, it had been a complete surprise when Kitty passed by at the lunch break and told Sue he would maybe have to use her as a back up soon. Before leaving, he added, only half-joking, that it might be a good idea if Sue could spend some extra time in on the gun range.Sue groaned inwardly. That was it. Patrol duty. Happy. Happy. Joy. Joy. Joy. Kitty was right; she should train a little if she didn't wanted to kill anybody, herself included.
Suzana froze. Wait a minute, she thought, where is my gun?
Chewing her sandwich, she tried to recall the last time she saw the weapon. She remembered only as she gulped the last morsel down. She took a sip of her apple juice (she was trying to cut the coffee a little bit, as she had surely had enough caffeine in the past week to last her a lifetime) and ran to her old office.
Officially, the small office was still hers. And Frank was still sitting proudly (if a little hideously) in the middle of it. But she didn't really had the time to work there anymore. She opened the top file drawer and began to remove all the stuff inside. She found in the first drawer three disks boxes, a walkman, three athletic socks and much more, but no gun. Same lack of luck for the second drawer. It's only at the third that she found it.
The gun was at the very bottom of the drawer. In the long months of its exile in this bureaucratic version of a dungeon, it had merged with an equally forgotten opened yogurt pot. One side of the gun was now a small and dubious lawn of mold.
Suzana sighed, wondering what horrible sin she had committed to deserve such a fate.

Sunday, July 2nd, 1995 2:31 a.m.

"So, how's your target practice been going?" Sam asked between two mouthfuls of burger.
"Not bad," Sue replied. "not bad. Far better than I was hoping, anyway. Seem like firearms are like bicycle, after all. Once you know how to, you never truly forget..."
Sue took a sip of her coffee. She looked on Sam's side. The man was looking in the darkness outside the car, munching pensively on his burger. His mind seemed a million miles away. Far, far away from small and uninteresting things like the target practice of a day folk like her. "I'm less and less likely to shoot anyone by accident, anyway." she finished lamely.
"Oh. Great. Fine." said Sam, with his distant, impersonal tone.
Suzana felt a tiny pang of anger. It was not entirely focused on Sam. The poor guy was visibly not at his best and, all things considered, almost treated Sue as a human being since they have been affected to each other sooner this night. The anger was more general. Sue was simply tired of being an outsider, of being guilty of being a poor soft day folk. A part of her brain was whispering that time was all that she needed, that Rome hadn't been built in one day, and all the usual bullshit. The rest of her brain, as angered as it was, couldn't help but agree. So be it, she thought to herself, I will endure a couple of more days. Weeks, even, if it's what it take. But if don't work, God help me because I know a certain mister Norden who will know what the wrath of a Miller means. Sue smiled to herself and took a big bite out of her own burger.
It was the second night she was patrolling with Sam. Kitty had broken the new to Sue the night before her first patrol, along with the additional bonus that she was with mister Conviviality himself. But to be just with Sam, it must be mentioned that he didn't groaned nor said anything when he learned who was his new partner. He had rather been polite, distant as hell, but polite. In the two night she had shared with him, they had maybe exchanged two dozen sentences, for a total of no more than one hundred and fifty words. Happy, happy, joy, joy, joy.
At least nothing bad happened the night before. And by the look of it, this night was going to be as calm. Thank god for small favors. With a small sigh, Suzana peered dreamingly in the blackness of Swift Street. Rachel's voice was pouring information out of the tuned down radio in a droning cadence. Sue closed her eyes for a second.
Suzana's eyes snapped open. Something in Rachel endless litany had caught her attention. A robbery at the corner of Laurent and Mission. Near where they were.
"Did you heard? There's a..." begun Sue. "Shhh!" hushed Sam, having heard too. He turned the radio a little louder as Rachel repeated her message. Sam put what was left of his meal on his lap, gulped the morsel in his mouth and picked up the radio. Here we go, though Sue, her hand already reaching for the ignition key. But as Sam was pressing the radio's button to respond, he looked over at Sue and, after a second of indecision, put the radio down.
"Marvis and Edward are nearer, they can handle it easily." he told Sue, looking in her general direction without quite looking at her.
Sue felt herself going crimson. She wouldn't had been more insulted if Sam had slapped her in the face. He was going to answer, but he had remembered at the last second that he was not with his lost partner, but with her! He did not trust her to cover his back. But she was a 'cop', dammit, not a incompetent airhead. She opened her mouth to vent her ire by telling, no, shouting, him what a cold elitist self-centered paranoid macho bastard he was. But she closed her mouth back. Throwing a tantrum wasn't going to help her case. Not a bit.
So, instead of verbally beating Sam to a bloody pulp, she took two long breathes and asked "Why don't we go anyway. It's pretty close and they could need help. It's not like we are overwhelmed by work here."
Sam chewed on that. He sighted. "Start the car," he told her, "We'll act as backup."
"Yessir", breathed back Sue, turning the key and returning the car's motor to life. Sam took the radio and called into dispatch, telling Rachel that he and Sue were going to act as backup.
Sam flipped the alarm lights on, without hitting the siren, as Sue drove up Swift onto Mission. The radio suddenly barked "Officer Down! Officer Down!". Sue immediately recognized the voice. It was Marvis Purl, a veteran like Sam. She had met him the other day. She hadn't connected the face with his name earlier. An officer down. Oh shit. Without thinking, Sue accelerated.
"Hit it!" said Sam as he turned on the siren.
Sue didn't need
to be told twice. As soon as the siren kicked in, she pressed the accelerator to the floor. The car jumped forward with a roar. Sam took the radio and tuned it to Marvis' frequency.
"Unit ninety-seven responding to officer down."
Sam's voice was tense, but well under control. That's the difference between veterans and rookies, thought Sue. If I was to say anything right now, my voice would probably visit all scales.
Marvis' voice came back onto the radio. He was eerily sounding like Sam had mere seconds ago, calm yet clearly under great pressure.
"There are three suspects, two male Caucasians, about six foot, wearing leather jackets and punk hair styles; and one female Caucasian about five foot five wearing similar garb, with long blond hair. They are armed and are firing. They have been..."
Marvis' voice was abruptly cut off. Another, strange voice came onto the radio, amidst a bunch of grunting sounds.
"Uggh! Sweet candy this PIG is! Oink! Oink! He's our tasty bacon. Yum! - Squeal Piggy!" Followed a scream that sent shivers of horror down Sue's spine. Cold sweat was pouring out of her. What in the name of God was going out there?
Seconds later, Sue's car pulled into the liquor's, tires screaming. As soon as they entered the parking lot, a bullet shattered the windshield. Giving a small shriek of surprise, Sue hit the brakes and turned the wheel madly. The car skidded on a few meters, then stopped. As Sue was recollecting herself, Sam was already out of the car, using the door as a shield and firing. Sue opened her own door and crouched behind it. She heard the sound of a motorcycle revving, followed by a cackling laughter. She quickly took her gun, breathed deeply and raised, ready to fire. She only had time to see the motorcycle peel off onto Mission and scream down the road, heading up the coast. Sam sticked his head over the car's hood. "One's run into the backyard of that house there. You call the paramedics and then tail that one that went down Mission. Don't intercept them! Just keep them in sight and inform dispatch. Let the Highway Patrol take them down, alright?". Sue nodded, but Sam was already running to the side of the downed officers. Sue climbed back into the car, catching a glimpse of the wounded (or killed?) cops. Her stomach twisted at what she saw. There was blood, lots of blood. Their uniforms seemed saturated with it. And Marvis, God, looked like his face has been peeled of.
With a shaking hand, she took the radio.
"Two officers down! Send the paramedics, quickly! Officer Daley is following a culprit that had fled by a house backward. I'm tailing another that's going on Mission on a bike. I'll need Highway Patrol help."
Sue threw the radio on Sam's seat and took the wheel. The car revved, tires screaming. Sue was terrified, a film of sweat was covering her entire body, but her mind was clear. Whoever had done what had been done to Marvis were not petty thieves' they were sick monsters and HAD to be caught.
Sue's car roared onto Mission as the pursuit begun. Her eyes not moving off the culprits' bike, she took one hand off the car's wheel and gripped the radio. With a voice that was not exactly stable, but near, she dispatched her position and direction.

Sunday, July 2nd, 1995 2:36 a.m.

Suzana was still in pursuit of the suspect on motorcycle. Until now, she was succeeding of keeping up with him, which was not a small feat, considering the speed at which the maniac was riding.
The radio crackled and Rachel's voice, as cold and remote as usual, announced that a highway patrol had a unit near Davenport that was coming to the rescue. S.C.P.D. was also sending backup, but it was now far away and would join Sue in a matter of minutes.
"Swell" whispered Sue to herself.
She wiped her sweat-covered brow, took the radio and acknowledged the message.
So backup was enroute. Good, nice, fine. But Sue was still alone. And likely to remain that way for the next few minutes. What was she going to do if she managed to corner the suspect meanwhile? Ask him kindly to be patient until a more qualified officer arrived? Judging by what the bastard had done to Marvis, Sue was sure he was not a gentle, comprehensive type of fellow. Thinking of Marvis reminded Sue of the horror vision she had witnessed at the liquor store. She clenched her teeth while a wave of anger and indignation swept over her. Screw the fact that she was a soft day-folk. One - no - two comrades had badly been mauled by the sick son of a bitch that was ahead. Sue was going to have his ass for that. Oh yeah, indeed she was.
It was easier said than done, though. The suspect was zipping throughout town at more than a hundred miles per hour. Without even slowing down, he cut through the intersection at Swift and Mission while the light was red, causing two cars to swerve out of control, barely avoiding him.
I'm the fan, and here comes the shit, thought Sue. She was but a few meters before the intersection and was going far too fast even to think about breaking. She was going to hit one of the cars and see mister windshield up close and personal. Except if... Against all expectation, Sue hit the accelerator. A fraction of second before her car was going to become One with the blue sedan coming from the left, she turned the wheel as fast as she could. The car jerked to the right, tires screaming, and it crossed the intersection at a blinding speed. Sue wasn't sure, but she thought she had heard the sound of metal kissing metal. Anyway, she had saw the dead-white face of the other drover, a plain-spoken testimony of how close she had been to disaster. The crazy urge to cheer submerged Sue, mixed with a compulsion to puke her guts out.
In the adventure, she had lost a few yards over the suspect. Now on a straight line once more, she gunned her car. She started to close the distance between her and the suspect. As she was beginning to come closer to the bike, the suspect fired back over his shoulder. The firing startled Sue. For a moment, she lost control of her vehicle. Her car started to swerve dangerously. But, wait a minute. There was no sound of impact, nor ricochet - no windshield bursting in a rain of broken glass. The bastard was firing blindly. Sue wrestled back the control of her car to inertia. Another stunt that had cost her precious time. Damn it!
They were now well past town. The biker was now playing a deadly game of chicken with oncoming traffic, causing most of them to spin out of control. As he passed a slower moving pickup, the suspect fired twice into the cab. The truck immediately served out of control and crashed into the ditch, rolling over once.
SHIT! As enraging the idea was, Sue didn't hesitate a second to break the pursuit. Her first goal was to serve and protect, no matter the consequences. Breaking madly, she took the radio.
"Officer Miller here. I'm breaking the pursuit. The suspect has fired at a truck; the driver may need help. Send paramedics immediately! Officer Miller out."
Suzana dropped the radio back on its cradle. She opened her door and stepped in night, half-running toward the truck.

Sunday, July 2nd, 1995 2:43 a.m.

Suzana was now running as fast as she could. Approaching the truck, she smelled gas. The cold grip of fear that was holding her heart squeezed tighter. She peeked into the driver's window, trying to see if someone was still alive in there, but to no avail. Sue was seeing two silhouettes inside, but the darkness within was too dense to be allow her to tell if they were alive or dead. Sue gripped the door's handle and tried to open it, but her sweat-covered hands slipped. She wiped them on her pants and tried again. The door opened a few inches but then jammed. Sue's nostrils were filled with the dizzying smell of gas, and all her senses were sending her messages of alarm. She closed her eyes and pulled furiously at the door. It jerked open with a loud metal-kissing-metal sound, sending Sue on all fours.
Sue got back onto her feet in a record time. She reached inside the cab and took hold of the driver. God be blessed, he wasn't wearing his safety belt. He was maybe 40 pounds heavier than Sue, but her adrenaline-pumped system was not in a state to record that fact. Holding him by the armpits, she dragged him out of the truck. She dragged him a couple of yards, just enough to be safe if the gas should ignite. She dropped him as delicately as she could and turned back to return to the truck. As she was doing so, a broken wire lying beside the truck spat an electrical spark. The truck roared into flames. The heat wave hit Sue like a hammer. With it came horrible screams of agony, coming from the cab.
Sue eyes went wide with horror. She tried to approach the truck, but it was useless. The heat was far too intense to stand closer than ten feet to the truck, let alone enter it. And the screams were already subsiding. Sue watched powerlessly as the inferno raged on. She bit her closed fist without even noticing it.
From afar, the sound of sirens came to her. The ambulance was arriving. 'Good, at least there was still hope of saving the driver.'
Sue forced herself to turn away from the truck and return her attention to the wounded driver. She looked down and gasped. The man's right eye was open and looking at her, while a bloody hole was gaping where his left should be. The man wasn't wounded; he was as dead as they could come.
Sue took a few steps backward, shaking her head as if she were trying to deny what was happening. Falling on her knees, she threw up her last meal. She vomited again, and again with great sobbing sounds until there was nothing to regurgitate except bile. Finally, she wiped her mouth with her hand and got to her feet. Her legs were feeling like damp cotton, but they obeyed when she tried to walk. Composing herself, she walked toward the roaring ambulance that had stopped beside her patrol car.

July 4, 10:10pm
Boardwalk

Suzana wiped her brows with the back of her hand. Her shift usually began at midnight (she was almost used to her nocturnal life, now), but every cop, herself included, was pulling double time tonight. She had been attached to the Boardwalk unit with another young grave shifter, Jim Patterson. For most people, the past hour had been magic. For Suzana, it have been Hell with a revenge. Even if nothing bluntly disastrous had happened, the festivities had brought their share of mayhem. There had been a stabbing, countless small fights and much, much more. And the night was still young and Sue was already exhausted. But she was also thrilled, deep inside. The joyful atmosphere was contagious, stabbing and all or not.
While things were relatively calm, Jim told Sue that he was going to buy himself a snack. Considering her own growling stomach, she asked him to go and buy everything he was going to, but in double.
While Jim was busy buying a couple of tacos, Sue noticed a man with a dog. The dog was without a leash, but it was the guy that worried Suzana. He was walking as if he was hurt, sick or stoned dead. Since he looked like a hippy biker, Sue was betting for the later. She frowned as she saw him stop and put his shoulder against a shop window, eyes closed. She approached quickly.
"Are you alright, sir?" she asked on a concerned tone, but keeping a healthy distance between herself and the man.
"Yes. I am. Thank you." he said with a thick French accent. He opened his eyes and looked at Sue. His eyes were feverish and haunted. "I have been... very ill, lately, that's all. I'm just taking my breath and I will be okay."
"Are you sure, you don't seem quite well. If you want, I could..."
"No, thanks you. It's kind but I'm getting better, honest to God." he said, cutting her off, but not unkindly. There was a short pause.
"You know, you really look like someone I knew." he said in a soft, sad whisper.
Sue didn't know what to answer. She kneeled before the dog and petted his head.
"It's a nice dog you have, mister." she said quite lamely.
The man smiled, and for the merest of instant the aura of sadness seemed to recede around him.
"Did you heard the dame, Omen? What a dog of the world do when given such a compliment?"
The dog looked quickly at the man, then at Sue. With all the grace of a born aristocrat, Omen bowed to Sue, who laughed and clapped her hands at the trick.
"I must go," said Sue as she saw Jim, searching for her. "You're sure you will be okay?"
"Yes. I'm all right. Thank you..."
"Suzana," said Sue, without thinking.
"Raphael," he said, still smiling. "And Omen."
Suzana smiled back, waved and walked toward Jim.

July 4th, 10:20 pm
Boardwalk

Sue was wolfing her second taco when she noticed a Hispanic woman who looked as if she was lost, following one person for a while, then another. Finishing her meal, Sue approached the woman.
"May I help you, ma'am?" she asked her.
The woman looked over at the police officer and smiled.
"No, I'm just looking for someone I was supposed to meet here."
She gestured to the crowd, "I'm afraid I'm not having any luck, though. It's probably a lost cause."
Looking at Sue, she added, "You must be having a tough night."
Sue rolled her eyes dramatically. "Yeah, we could say that. Strictly law enforcement speaking, the only differences between this night and a full-scale riot is that it would be improper to use tear gases tonight."
Sue sighed, then smiled heartily at the woman.
"Ah, don't mind me, I'm a natural born whiner. You are looking for someone, you said?"
Suzana threw a glance at the ever moving crowd around them.
"I fear you're right; it's a lost cause indeed. There's so many people you could be two feet from each other and still not see you. But now that the main attraction is over, people will scatter a little. Give it another half an hour and things will have calmed a little bit. Then, if you lucky, you'll be able to hunt more efficiently whoever you are seeking."
As she talked, Sue found herself intrigued by the woman. There was something in her that was familiar to Suzana, but what exactly, she couldn't put her finger on it.
The woman smiled and offered Suzana her hand.
"My name is Anita. Is it like this every year?"
Suzana gladly took the offered hand. Her grasp was warm and firm.
"I'm Suzana, but call me Sue, everyone does."
Sue paused to throw a look at her partner. He was still munching on his last taco, looking idly around. Knowing that she still had a few minutes to herself, she returned her attention to Anita. She was now sure that she never meet her in the past, but there was definitively something oddly familiar about her.
"If we are to trust the veterans, yes, it's approximately the same madness every year."
She gave an apologetic smile to Anita.
"It's my first 4th of July in the uniform, you see. The other years, I was on the other side of the fence, only worried about watching the fireworks and filling myself up with cotton candy until nausea ensued."
Sue sighed dreamingly. "So it's your first 4th of July here in Santa Cruz? You're new in the area, or just on vacation?"

July 4th, 10:24 pm
Boardwalk

Anita was about to answer Suzana's question when a man walked up. The man spoke to both of them in a friendly manner.
"Sorry to barge in, but could either of you tell me where Pacific Avenue is from here? I think I've gotten slightly lost."
Suzana smiled back at the stranger. "No problems, Pacific Avenue, you said?" She then began to give the man the directions that should bring him to his destination.
The man listened carefully to the directions Suzana gave him and nodded.
"Oh right, thanks very much. You better watch those gangs back there, their starting to get pissed off with one another again."
Sue grinned. "Impossible, you can't start again what never stopped. But you're right, at this time they should have entered the dead drunk stage... Which means that there's plenty of trouble ahead."
He smiled. " You're right there. Watch the scared ones. They're the ones that will start all the major problems. They'll pull guns instead of just fighting. Good luck, you'll need it."
As he left, the man turned to Anita and drew a small card out of his pocket before handing it to her. "I'd appreciate it if you would call the number in the future. I believe we have a few things in common and it would be beneficial to both of us to have a talk. Good night."
Anita took the card and glanced at it briefly before putting it in her pocket.
"Thank you. I'll contact you soon," Anita promised.
"I'll look forward to it." he said.
Suzana raised an eyebrow at the strange exchange that had taken place before her eyes, but didn't say anything. She looked in direction the stranger had pointed and saw, to her dismay, that two small groups of youths had engaged a shouting contest. She would better act now, if she was to preserve the illusion that all was within control.
"Sorry Anita", Suzanna said, putting back her cap on her head, "but it looks like I must return to the job. It's been a pleasure, see ya!"
Suzana waved happily at Anita, then motioned to Jim to follow her.

Wednesday, July 5th, 1995 11:00 p.m.

Sue entered the briefing room. Calderon had called for a general meeting, so the room was fairly crowded and most of the places were already taken.
Not finding better, Sue squeezed herself into a seat at the back of room. She looked around and saw Sam, sitting at the other side of the room and talking to a tall woman. Kate Morrison, Sue guessed, as word that she was back had reached her. Noises around Sue lowered a bit in volume as Kitty Calderon entered the room.
He begun the meeting by doing the debriefing on the fight on the 2nd. A general sigh of relief, of which much belonged to Sue, issued from the assembly as Kitty announced that Dick Shimzu, Purl's partner, was still in intensive, but out of critical. Silence returned when Kitty reminded everyone about the collection for Purl's wife and child. Sue shuddered, images of Purl flashing in her mind. His death had been horrible enough, but the life of the ones he left behind would not be easier. Money would be a problem soon enough, but the worst would be the memories; the trauma that would cling to them for the rest of their lives. Sue reminded herself to give all she could afford to the collection.
Sue turned her attention back to Kitty speech. He was saying that the Internal Affairs' investigation was over and that no police wrong-doing was found to have happened. He finished by citing Sam and Sue for showing coolness under fire. Sue lowered her head, not from shyness, but as an unconscious reaction in trying to hide from her thoughts. 'Coolness? AH!' If she had really shown coolness, she would have seen that the driver was dead from the start, and there would have been only one civilian causality rather than two.
"I want the bastards who did this," added Calderon to his officers.
"I'm not saying shoot on sight. But the Chief is giving you people wide discretionary powers. Don't blow it! But I want the trash that did this to Marvis. Anyone - ANYONE - who lets them get away, I will have their hide as my new desk blotter. Questions?"
An officer at Sue's right, Olivas was his name, pointed out that the suspects were probably long gone. Kitty replied that an APB had been issued across the state and in Oregon, Nevada and Arizona.
'Good,' thought Sue, 'we'll maybe catch the bastards, after all.'
In the days since, Sue had taken her own measures. Her last project had not been submitted to a real test; she had decided it was time to try it for real. She had fed the program with all the details she could remember of about the incident, plus the sketches of the perpetrators faces and had launched it. Even then, 'Frankeinstein' was busy searching all the databases he had access to, newspapers, police reports, medical databanks and all, to find informations related to the case. If the same gang had perpetrated similar crimes in California, Sue would know it sooner or later. 'Frankeinstein' was also using all the videos linked to the web, analyzing pictures at random to find people looking like the suspects.
Unfortunately, information had its limits. Except for the brutality involved, the incident had been typical enough. If a link existed between it and something else, 'Frankeinstein' would take quite a while before finding it. It was worth trying anyway. At worst, it would not work. And at best...
As there were no more questions, Kitty adjourned the meeting. Sue got up and looked again in Sam's direction, only to find that Kate Morrison was looking back at her. Their eyes locked for an instant. Kate nodded to Sue, who nodded back. Then the contact broke and Sue exited the room.

Saturday, July 22nd, 1995 7:49 p.m.

Sue was early at the job, as she had a few things to do on Frankeinstein before her shift. She turned on the terminal as she entered her office. She began to do a little cleaning while the computer was booting. 'Frankeinstein' bipped, signaling to its mistress that its was ready. Sue dropped in the chair before the screen and entered her password. The computer accepted it without any problem. Following routine, Sue typed the command that gave her the administrator status and passed in revue the logs of the past month. She frowned when she saw a log that wasn't hers, occuring when she well remembered being on patrol.
Well, well, thought Sue, another wiseass who tried to use you, Frankie. But the frown deepened as she looked on the details of the log. The sucker had entered the system! But that was improbable. Nobody knew Sue's password except herself. Furthermore, she was using a password system of her own design that also included the cadence with which the keys were typed in the password. Her curiosity aroused, Sue asked for more information about the log.
The logon occured Saturday, June 24th at 3:25am. If the log was to be trusted, the hacker had used the computer to access that night's arrest records. Sue immediately asked for a hardcopy of these, for it could give some clues at who the impertinent guy was. While the printer begun to hum lowly, Sue felt her blood temperature rise. That someone was hacking HER computer was the very last straw. A grim grin marked Sue's face in as she cracked her knuckles.
Oh boy, the hacker was going to pay, oh yes...
Sue opened one of the desk drawer and produced a little vid-eye that she used for her internet communications. She plugged the wire into 'Frankeinstein' and hid the small device in the mess that covered all her furniture. She then installed some electronic watch-dogs. First, a program specially designed to keep an exact log of all that was done on the machine. The program was a good one, but was largely known in computer circles. If the hacker was an amateur, he wouldn't even notice that it was there; but a professional could detect, and even counter, it. That was why Sue also installed another log spy, but this time one of her own making. She left the first one only partly hidden but hid the second as deep inside the computer as she could. When she was finished, nothing short of an integral examination of the core register could show that the second log spy was there. Now, as soon as anyone would try to log on, the program would kick in and record everything entering and outputed by the computer, plus the vid-eye images. And in case the hacker was tempted to format 'Frankeinstein', all the info was going to be encrypted into different computers in the department at every ten seconds. Once logged on, the only way to disappear without leaving evidence would be to nuke the police station off the map of the world.
As a final touch, Sue searched in her packsack. She found and took what she was looking for: a modified pager. She pushed a button that was on its side and Frankeinstein bipped in answer. She typed a command and grunted with satisfaction. Now, Frankeinstein would shut down after five minutes while honking an alarm that should ashame the trumpets of Jericho if it were used without the pager being in a radius of five feet. The beauty of it was that it was a pure physic device. No hacker without a crowbar could
counter that .Of course, Sue could have timed the alarm to go on as soon as a wrong password was typed in, but she wanted to know what her computer was being used for.
"Hey! Miller!"
Sue jumped from her seat. It was Kitty.
"Don't do that." said Sue, trying not to laugh at her jumpiness. "The last one who did got a cup of hot coffee on his white shirt... And I got exiled to the graveyard shift."
"Relax," said Calderon, "you have no coffee and, as for graveyard, you're already here. So what can happen?" He paused, then added, "You're here early.".
"Yeah, I had a couple of things to do on 'Frankeinstein.'"
"Frankeinstein?" echoed Kitty, looking at Sue quizzically.
Sue waved in direction of the mass of wires that was resting in the corner of the office. "My computer. By the way, will I got out on patrol soon?" she said, a note of eagerness in her voice.
She had been desk-bound since the beginning of the month. To be precise, she hadn't been on patrol since the 4th, when almost everybody short of the janitor had been put on patrol.
"Not as yet." he told Sue.
Sue tried to hide her disappointment. Sue knew that Kitty was having a hard time finding a partner for her, since Sam has returned to his old partner, Kate Morrison. She wondered if the other cops still thought she was too new. Most surely did. She would remain new to their eyes until she patrolled enough, and she would only patrol when they would accept her as something else than a pathetic newbie. The sophism was perfect in its perversion.
"But I'm putting you back out on the street to cover for Sam when he goes on vacation. You'll be riding with Morrison." added Kitty, bringing hope to Sue's heart.
A snicker was heard from the next booth. A man's voice twittered to someone, "Great! Calderon's Angels, ha, ha!"
Kitty walked and posted himself in the opening of the booth.
"You got something to say, Davis?"
"Uh, no Sergeant.", replied the voice in a submissive tone.
"Well, until you do," Calderon told the unseen officer, "shut it!"
He turned back to Suzana, "I'll let you know when you're going out."
He then nodded to Sue and left.
Sue waved back, and then returned to her computer. Patrolling with Morrison? Why not? Sue was just hoped that Sam hadn't gotten his style of conversation from her.

Monday, July 24th, 1995 10:00 p.m.

After Suzana and Kate Morrison were formerly introduced, Kitty gave them their beat patrol. They were to patrol the area around Natural Bridges and work the West Side (the area above West Cliff Side up to Mission Street).
After Kitty had left them, Kate turned to Sue an initiated conversation.
"Hi. You're Suzie Miller, right?"
Sue gave Kate a radiant smile and offered her hand. "Yeah, but call me Sue, everyone does. And you're Kate, if I'm not mistaken?"
" Yeah, and you can call me Officer Morrison, Rookie." she said with a big grin. " Don't worry, only kidding."
Sue jerked at Kate's reply. She relaxed a bit seeing her teasing grin. "Oh." she said, her smile creeping back at her face. "Understood, Officer."
Kate sighed. " Look kid, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. Try to completely relax now because you're not going to get another chance to really relax for about another eight hours."
Sue winced inwardly at the "kid" but let it pass. She nodding at Kate's comment instead. "I'll try."
" That's all anyone's asking of you just now."
"Sam's told me a bit about you, not all of it complimentary. Don't worry, he doesn't like change."
Sue's smile faltered. "Nice to know." she muttered, her voice a couple of degree colder than before
Kate shook her head, laughing inside at the reaction. " Don't worry, it wasn't that bad, and rookie's always get that until they get used to the routine. With all that's going down, the last thing we can afford are rookie mistakes. Remember that, it's important. As it is, I think Sam's just tired. I can't remember his last vacation."
"Oh." said again Sue. "I see. Excuse me if I'm a bit edgy. It's just that everyone is acting like graveyard shift is a private club and I don't have a membership card. It really gets on your nerves after a while."
"It is a bit, more so recently. If your lucky you don't get on graveyard and your fast tracked right into another area. Usually, only the hard bitten cops or the problems get dropped into this shift. Now, by the sound of it, we need to start bringing in the National Guard at night!"
Sue passed her hand through her hair.
"No, it's not true, I'm dramatising. Some of the guys are treating me like I was a human being. It's more the veterans like, well, like Sam, and their way of looking at me as if I was a sheep trying to be a wolf..."
A shadow crossed Sue's face. She bit her lip, remembering the awful night when she tried to save a life, and failed. Maybe they're right, she thought, maybe I'm really a soft day-shifter and should return to my paperwork before anyone else gets hurt, or killed. Sue forced herself to banish those thoughts. It was no use to think like that. Useless and painful.
"You are a sheep." Kate said " Question is, whether there is actually a wolf hidden underneath, or mouse in disguise. By the sound of it, you'll probably get the wolf after a few weeks of this. Either that or one of us will be dead." Kate's voice trailed off as she answered leaving her looking out one of the windows.
Again, Sue nodded. One thing was sure, the woman was direct as Hell! But she was talking, at least. After her patrols with Sam, the wall that walked like a man, it was a blessing.
"Anyway, we'd better get going. Do you want to drive?"
Sue nodded and took a well-worn knapsack. "Let's go, then."
"What's in the sack?"
"My lunch", sparkles lighted In Sue's eyes, "and parts of 'Frankenstein's' little-sister-to-be, 'Delphi.'"
She giggled at Kate perplexed glance.
"I'm modifying a laptop to sustain my... particular needs. I brought some parts with me so I can tinker with them when I have the time."
Kate arched an eyebrow. " Still some tech in you then. You'll get plenty of time to tinker, as long as you keep your eyes open at the same time, but not whilst your driving."
"Oh. But I'm primary a tech. My true field of operation is before a computer."
She grinned. "Which gives you an idea of the twisted sense of humor that someone in the affectation department have."
"Yeah, maybe but your also a Police Officer and as such when there are problems they'll pop you out of your desk and into the action, like now. Mind you, we don't usually have this many problems."
Sue nodded vehemently. "I hope so! I'll tell something, the graveyard shift club members are right in a way, there's really a dichotomy between day and night shift. Oh, sure, we were in a kind of crisis when I got transferred, but it was nothing like what we are going through. I don't know if the moon really influences us, but the night surely does!"
Kate just nodded looking out the window.
"And don't worry, I never tinker while I'm driving. Well, let say I'm never using the blowtorch behind the wheel..."
"I'm glad to hear that!"
Sue smiled mischievously, "...I always wait for a red light to do that."
"Perhaps I'd better drive then if you're too caught up in your tech to let go for a few hours."
"Hey, relax." said Sue, not without savouring the situation reversal. "The backpack's in the trunk and my hands on the wheel. 'Frankenstein' and 'Scylla' can take care of themselves and 'Delphi's' only a pet project. My mind is entirely focused on driving, keeping my eyes open and thinking positive thoughts, nothing else."
Kate nodded and scratched her head. " Just remember that in an hour or two when your thoughts start to drift. You can bet that's when some stupid fool will walk out in front of the car or decide to knock over the local liquor store."
Sue winced, bad memories flowing back to the surface at the mention of liquor store. "Understood, boss."
" Keep the boss for someone else who has the rank. You can call me Kate as long as you remember who's in charge."
"Hierarchy's in the eye of the beholder, oh fearless leader." said Sue, all grin.
"But Kate suits me fine...." Sue raised one finger. "...with one condition. Namely, that you return the favour. No more 'kid' or 'rookie', just plain Sue." She threw a side glance at Kate. "Deal?"
"Maybe, we'll see. You do your job and I'll try to remember."
"I'll take that as an affirmative kind of answer."
Kate and Suzana headed down to the car, picking up the keys from the desk on the way. Once in the car, (Sue's knapsack having been dropped in the car's trunk), Sue coughed.
"So... How it is to be back in the service?" she asked, trying to engage in a conversation.
" Better than you could ever know. I never realised how much I missed being out here and being able to walk about. Plus Daytime TV is really awful."
Sue laughed. "Yeah, I kinda rediscovered this jewel of American culture in the past month. Before, I was leaving the TV on while doing other stuff, but after three episodes of Santa Barbara, I decided silence wasn't so bad after all..."
In a monotone voice, Kate said " I hated the silence even more than the soaps."
Sue bit her bottom lip. Eeetch! That seemed to be a touchy subject.
"You missed being able to walk about? Ah, yes, I heard you were injured. Was it bad?"
Kate seemed to pick her words carefully. "Should have been. I got lucky with a new experimental treatment. It managed to fix my back up in no time. It was a bit weird, but it did work."
Yup, it really looked like a subject best left aside for now.
"Well, 'seem like another kudo to modern medicine. Say, you've been working on the graveyard shift for how long?"
"Something like that. Yeah, I've been working it on and off, depending on my shifts, for a good few years now. It takes some time to get used to it I can tell you. You never know the full extent of a city until you see it alive at night!"
"Getting used to? Even if I stopped drinking coffee right now, it would take years for my metabolism to get all traces of caffeine out of my system! I'm beginning to get the hang of it, though. As for the city, I indeed learned a few thing about Santa Cruz that I didn't know... Not all of them nicey-nice. I guess I'm discovering what people feel who learn that their nice and polite neighbor is in fact a serial killer."
"Don't worry, give it a few weeks and you'll be given an earlier shift for a short time. They usually move the shifts around every few weeks so that you get a chance to see the sun. Take it from me, caffeine is the last of your problems."
"The sun? Ah! You mean that great ball of fire that I remember vaguely from the old time? Well, I'm happy to learn that. A little exposure to sun rays would be cool."
"Yeah, it makes a bit of difference on occasion, but don't look forward to it, because it may not happen the way things are going."
Sue munched on her lower lips.
"How bad is the situation? I know the whole department seems like it could use a three month vacation; and some more. I also know it's bad enough to have people like me drafted for a job usually reserved for, and I quote, 'tough as nails cops'. But I don't think I've grasped the scope of the crisis."
"It's very simple. We are losing good experienced cops, dead or injured every week. That shouldn't be happening. These are my friends, dammit" she spat angrily.
"People who have had years of experience and training and lived through all that time without too many problems. Now their dying, not being shot, but dying, and there seems to be nothing we can do about it. With what's happening, it wouldn't surprise me to see us get issued with body armour soon. It might deter the criminals from shooting first hopefully."
Sue nodded, understanding Kate's rage and frustration. Sure, she couldn't call anybody on the graveyard shift her friend yet, but cops were cops and she was one of them, even if some would disagree on that point. She had been in the first row to witness Purl's death and had found with surprise that this first true experience with death had not roused sentiments of fear in her, but anger instead. Purl's had been a bad death, a senseless death, and it could - no - would, happen again and again until the bastards who did it were caught. The whole incident had shown to Sue her own frail mortality, but also the duty that she had as a cop. Even if she wasn't aware of it, there was something deep inside Sue's psyche that was awakening. Old instincts stirring, confined until now in Sue's subconscious by her eventless and civilized life.
Sue smiled at Kate. "But here I go again. I swear I'm not usually this glum!
"I'll take your word on that!" Kate said shrugging.
" Say, are you native of Santa Cruz? Myself, I'm from San Diego."
" Nope, I originally came from San Diego as well. That was just a long time ago."
"Really? Me, I moved out only four years ago." Sue smiled. "I thought Santa Cruz would be calmer and all that."
" Oh boy, were you ever wrong. Make that the last major mistake you ever make in your life"
Sue nodded. "I should have known better that to choose a cute little city like Santa Cruz. The next time I will know better. I will aim for a big decadent metropolis. New York, perhaps."
"Yeah, you might get the peacefully little haven that is Harlem."
"Or the Bronx. Or Queens, yeah, Queens looks good. But no, I think I would miss the beach, the heat and the sun too much. Beside, 'Frankeinstein' is department property and they would never let me bring him with me."
"Yeah, I'm sure they wouldn't be keen to lose something like that. These days they count the pens that we get." Kate sat back in the car passenger seat and sighed, closing her eyes. She could tell it was going to be a long night!
The discussion seemed to have reached a natural ending, and Sue didn't try to keep it alive artificially. She already had exchanged more words with Kate than with Sam in all their short assignments together. To ask for more would be to tempt the devil. Kate seemed all right, all things considered. Maybe a little bossy, and not the happy-go luckiest person she'd ever met, but okay enough. For now, that's all that Sue was asking for.

Tuesday, July 25th, 1995 1:45 a.m.

Sue and Kate were still patrolling the West Side. They had just turned off of Delaware onto the edge of the industrial area on Swift. Next, they would turn onto Mission (via Bay and California) which should get them to West Cliff. Or, at least, that's what Sue was hoping. As she was herself without a car, she always had seen maps as useless curiosities. Her opinion had greatly changed since she had been put on dispatch service. Thank God she hadn't made too many mistakes (she was already having a hard time enough without that), but some cops were still nagging her with the time she dispatched a nonexistent car to the intersection of two nonexistent streets. One thing for sure, she had studied maps thereafter and didn't wouldn't makethe same mistake again. Now that she was on patrol, she was discovering a whole new world. What she had learned in terms of North, South, East and West, she was learning again as left, right and after the third light. To her credit, she hadn't goofed once yet, and was determined to keep her score to zero until the end of the night.
Not in a hurry, Sue was driving at an easy speed. She was taking advantage of the situation to take a good look at her surroundings, as her feet never lead her to this part of Santa Cruz. For now, she was happy that it was so, because she found the place a little too creepy for her tastes. Going towards the ocean, the right side was composed of old California Bungalow style homes, run down and seedy, while the other side (across a landscaped island in the middle) had large and small industrial buildings, marking the beginnings of one of the industrial areas of Santa Cruz, complete with food processing plants, electronic, and chemical firms. The whole atmosphere reminded her of the Batman comics she'd read when she was young. The thought brought her a smile despite herself. Gotham in California; who'd had thought of it?
Between the two officers, the radio was clicking on and off, spitting out bits of discussions and morsels of information in a sea of static. Things had been busy that night. A spree of armed bank robberies had taken place in the area. Two in Watsonville and one in Capitola. To ice the cake there was a rumor that the perps were in fact the same bikers who'd killed Marvis Purl. The bottomline was that every patrol unit was on alert. To keep eyes and hears open was the prime directive.
Unconsciously, Sue wiped her right hand on her pant's leg, then her left. The day had been a roaster and it was only now, in the early morning, that it was starting to cool off. Even the fog was denying its fresh humidity to the city. It was lying offshore, providing a subtle torture to the sweltering masses who thronged to the beaches that Tantalus would had approved.
But the heatwave was having dark side effects. Domestic incidents, violent brawls and minor fracases of all sorts were on the rise. A veteran had asked Sue if she knew how one could know if the heatwave was 'a bad one'.
"Nope, I dunno. How?", she had replied.
"Not how, but when." had replied the man. "When you get the first report of a dog going crazy and attacking someone, then you know it's gonna be a bad one. A real bad one..."
A few hours back, the radio had come to life to announce that a German shepherd had been put down up on Mission. It had bit its master's son, whose only sin had been wanting to play on the wrong day. Sue hadn't said anything to Kate, but had clutched the car's wheel a trifle harder.
'...then you knows it's gonna be a bad one...'
Next to Sue, Kate wiped the sweat from her brow. She sighed. "Thank God its getting cooler. With luck it'll cool off the hotheads for a few hours." Shaking her head, she turned away to look at the far side of the street whilst still talking. "The heat always seems to bring out the worst in everyone. You get more domestics, violent brawls and just general irritability from everyone. Hell, those gang fights in Watsonville and Salinas probably wouldn't have been as bad if it hadn't been for this damn heat."
Sue nodded and opened her mouth to answer. That's when something cought her attention in the bushes near the road. She saw a shadow, a human shadow, ducking in the bushes. She wasn't sure, but she got the distinct feeling it was carrying something.
Without informing Kate of her action, or even asking herself what she was up to, Sue stepped hard on the gas while her right hand sought the switch to turn on both the alarm and the headlights. The patrol car that was slowly cruising an instant before suddenly exploded into a Pandemonium of lights and sounds. The tires screamed in indignation as Sue accelerated while turning as much as she could. The car got off the street and jumped toward the bushes as some kind of mechanical banshee.
Sue's idea had been to surprise the person (would've be successful, judging be the expression on Kate's own surprised face) by cutting him off. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The car's lights cought him for a second, running the other way. Sue saw him drop some of his bundles, but it didn't matter for now. She wanted the bastard, nothing else, accepting no substitute.
"What the hell is it?" cried Kate. Sue wasn't in the mood to answer. She didn't have the time either, if she didn't want to lose her prey. She sprung out of the car and ran in the direction the suspect had taken. She heard Kate shout behind her, but didn't catch what she was saying. Trying to see in the darkness, she pursued the chase. But, after a few strides, it became apparent that it was useless. The suspect had vanished without leaving any trace. The best thing Sue could do was to go a direction at random and hope he had taken the same. The trail was cold, the suspect gone.
Sue broke her run into a walk, then stopped. Anyone who could have seen her right then would surely not have recognized her. Her teeth were barred in a grin of frustration and a endless flow of curses were falling of her mouth. Again she had failed. Again she would return empty-handed. At least nobody had been shot or maimed this time. Her fists closely shut, Sue looked up. Her eyes caught the bare light of the sliver moon. The vision of the nocturnal luminary calmed her somehow. Her muttering stopped, her stance became less tense. Slowly, she turned and returned to the cruiser.
As she was returning to the car, Kate walked to her. "What were you doing? Trying out for the Olympics." she asked.
"Nah." replied Sue. "I saw a suspect. Tried to pin him with the car, then to catch him. Failed on both accounts."
With a look like thunder, Kate launched into a tirade. "It's lucky you didn't hit the guy or we'd have had a lawsuit as soon as look at him. I'll make this clear once and once only. NEVER run off without telling your partner what the hell your doing. That's basic police procedure and you should know that well enough. You notify and it gets called in, right?!! It's damn important you remember it. The guy you were chasing could have had a gun or some friends. Without any back-up you could have been dead or worse. Don't play the hero. Better cops than you are dying out here and we can't afford to lose anyone else if we're to do this job right?"
Sue made an annoyed gesture. All this was going nowhere. There were more interesting thing to do, like seeing what the suspect had lost in his hurry.
"Ok, lets see what the little rat dropped. We might get a lead from that," Kate said just an instant before Sue could say the same.
Kate advanced and picked the bundle the man had dropped. Sue approached. It was a dirty old jacket tied around something. Kate opened it, revealing what was looking like unlabeled CD-ROM's. There was also a small vial of pink liquid. Even if Sue had never heard of drug of this color, she hadn't much doubt that it was indeed a kind or another of artificial dream that rested there. Kate also dug into the pockets, fishing out a used syringe.
"Well, its your lucky night, Suzie." said Kate. "I know who owns this jacket. Its owned by a little creep called Billy Leonard. He's on parole but I'm fairly sure he breaks into places to feed his habit. Get back in the car, I think I might know where we can catch him."
Sue was immediately on her feet. "What are we waiting for? Let's go." she said while rushing to the cruiser.

Tuesday, July 25th, 1995 2:54 a.m.

Kate directed Sue to pill into the parking lot of Z's Liquors, on the corner of Laurent and Mission. As Sue stopped the car, Kate pointed at a group of young men. They were lounging around in front of the liquor store, even if the majority of them looked too young to be of drinking age. Must be approaching customers to get them what they want, thought Sue. Or, at least, they did before we arrived. The crowd outside the store was indeed looking rather distressed by the sudden apperance of a police cruiser.
Sue scanned the faces in the crowd. One of them caught her attention. She pointed him pit to Kate.
"That's the one." she said on a low voice, eyes never leaving the man in question.
"Yup, that's him alright." said Kate, taking the radio.
She radioed the dispatch, reporting their position, then got out of the car. Sue did likewise. The group of young men were looking at them with very little kindness in their eyes. Knowing that Kate had had much more experience (everything was more than nothing) in the field, Sue let Kate do the talking. For her part, Sue remained close to the cruiser, her hand on her gun, ready to react if the need was to arise.
"Hey Billy, come here." shouted Kate to the suspect.
"Whad'ya want?" he replied, still remaining amongst his circle of friends.
"We need to have a small chat about a couple of things." answered Kate.
Billy eyed a nearby dark alleyway and whispered something to one of his friends. This done, he came over. Sue's hand was resting steady on her gun's butt.
"Recognize this, Billy?" Kate said, holding out the dirty old jacket. "You should do as you dropped it when you were making your getaway from my partner here. Hold out your wrists, your going down town for a chat."
Billy shook his head. "What I'd need a jacket for tonight? It's a little too hot for a jacket, don't you think?"
"Dont play games, Billy. Your fingerprints will be found all over the syringe in the pocket."
Billy snapped his fingers. "Yea, I remember that jacket now. It was stolen from me about a month ago. Hey, I'm glad you found it."
"It won't work Billy. This time you're going down, no matter what you say. After all, you know you can't do 72 hours in the cells without your little habits and we can and will hold you that long."
Billy took a good look at Sue and Kate. Sue didn't like the arrogant smile that was floating on his little rat's face.
"Hey, we can cut a deal," he said at long last.
"Maybe, depends what you had in mind. I don't plan to give up a solid collar on the likes of you for some useless information." replied Kate.
No, no discussion, Sue wanted to say. We get you in and will lose the key somewhere.
"Well, I know where those bikers are that killed that cop." Billy looked at his watch. "But , you'll have to act fast. They won't be there long." He looked at his watch again. "In fact, I'd say you have about five minutes before they split. What do you say? Is it a deal?"
"Ok Billy, I'm interested, but your coming with us to make sure that your not lying. If we hit trouble, you hit it too, so you better be sure your not jerking us around!" Kate told him.
But Billy wasn't for it. "No way, Jose. These are some bad bitches that I choose to steer very clear of. I'd rather take the rap." He looked at his watch. "I'd say you have abour four minutos if you care to change your mind."
"And your looking at a 5 year stretch Billy so don't try it on. If this doesn't pan out you will be wishing you had done so. Give me the address now!"
Billy shook his head. "I'll call your bluff, officer. Take me in…" he looked at his watch and smiled, "or three minutes with your siren and you just might catch them. Let me go and the address is yours."
Sue, who had remained silent until now, choose this moment to speak up. Her tone was all milk and honey and a polite smile was on her face. But the hard glint on her eyes told that that was only a superficial calmness and that danger was lurking underneath.
"I'll tell you something, boy, and it ain't a bluff so listen hard." she began. "If you don't spit all that you know right here and now, here's what I will do. We'll take you in. As soon as your nice ass touches the cell bed, I'll begin to write my report. It will relate you're a petty thief, all right; but the main event will be how you chose 'not' to help us to catch Marvis' killers. I'll make sure everybody takes notice of this interesting trivia in a record time. Marvis was a veteran, kiddo; he had 'lots' of friends. You know how cops are - a big happy family... Anyway, there's plenty of them that want the balls of whoever butchered him. Plenty of cops that will be real pissed at you when they learn what a bad decision you made..."
Her smile widened, conveying absolutly no warmth at all.
"As Officer Morrisson told you, we can keep you in at least seventy-two hours. Seventy-two hours, that can be a long, long time... You have ten seconds to do the right thing, kiddo."
"I've got a lawyer now," Billy beamed. "She'll have me out in twenty-four hours - tops. And your case against me is circumstantial and I doubt the busy D.A. will give a rat's ass about some two-bit burglar. As for your threats," Billy nodded to Sue, "go ahead and break my face. I'll sue you and the Force and be set up for life. You'll just be out of a job."
Billy smiled at Kate Morrison. "Been doing a bit of studying in my spare time. Impressed?" He looked at his watch and shook his head, as if disapproving.
(Sue - (Intelligence + Law = 1 success). Sue had a sinking feeling that her threats weren't going to impress Billy. He seemed much too educated than a young drugged out punk should be.)
The punk smugness fueled Sue's rage. Unconsciously, she bared her teeth and issued a low growl.
"Break your face?" she whispered very lowly, as if to herself, "Ooooh, no, sweetie. Nothing so crude, nothing so temporary. You'll be under the spotlight forever. Nothing like persecution, smart boy, for you will give us plenty of reason to do so, eh? Petty stealing, drug and all. Cain found the eye of God to be a nuisance, I wonder how you will find ours."
She toyed with her handcuffs. "So, do we bring the bastard in?" she asked Kate.
"I'd love to, but we've got bigger fish to fry. I want the address Billy and it had better be right!" she said almost looking straight through him.
"Billy, give me the address and you walk on this one, ONLY! Don't give me the address and I'll make sure your lawyer is very
busy. The address NOW!"
Billy smiled, the effect leaving a dirty oily feeling on the two police officer. "Alright, it's a deal. He leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, "825 Meder Street."
Suzana flew to the radio, announcing their intent to proceed to 825 Meder and also to request backup."
"See you," Sue vowed to Billy, before getting in the passanger seat beside Suzana.
Billy leaned into the car. "Hey, no hard feelings ladies. I'm just doing business; - you know, the American way."
"Get your hands off the car before I break them off," Suzana growled.
"Hey, easy there tiger. I just wanted to tell you that it's a grey stucco house with a green roof. It's next to the cemetary. You can't miss it. It's the one with plywood all over the windows."
"Crack house," Kate nodded. "Probably abandoned with plywood over the broken windows."
Billy nodded. "Was until they moved in. We've been using it since the earthquake when it was condemned."
"Thanks Billy, but I'm still not going to forget this. You'll be seeing me," Kate told him.
"Only in my dreams officer." He leaned down to look at Suzana also. "Oh and you too. Kind of a menage a trois?"
Suzana gunned the cruiser and proceeded to drive off, nearly knocking Billy off his feet.
Suzana guided the cruiser next to the house. Billy had been right. There was no mistaking it. It was a run down affair with a attatched garage and a gate to the backyard. It was grey stucco and had probably been built in the 50's or 40's. Sirens sounding the distance told Kate and Suzana that their backup was on the way. A woman screamed inside the house. This was repeated two more times, a terrified blood chilling scream which was muffled as if something were being stuffed into her mouth and then only silence.

Round 1

Kate grabbed the shotgun in front of her and turned to Sue.
"Call it in. Full backup and tell them to cut the sirens," she said as she began to open the door and look out into the dark.
Sue nodded as she unhooked the radio. "We're parked before the suspects' house." she transmitted in a hushed voice. "There's a woman screaming inside. We're going in. We need a FULL backup. No sirens. Officer Miller out." Without waiting for an answer, she dropped the radio. She began to open her door with one hand, while the other went to rest on the butt of her gun.

Round 2. (O.K. We'll go with your actions as stated in Round 1 but now I want seperate mailing. Now that the screaming had stopped, everything was dead silence.)

(Suzana: Perception + Alertness = 1 success. Suzana notes some interference with her broadcast and is not certain it went through. It could be a sunspot or someone with a more powerful transceiver interfering with her call - illeagal to use on a police bandwidth but it sometimes happens.)

Round 3

Kate crept around the side of the house with her gun drawn, motioning for Sue to follow. Drawing her own gun, Sue followed, eyes wide opens and ears listening for any noise. Approaching the house, she noticed a motorcycle parked to the right of the garage. Sue was going to pass the bike without much of a second thought, but Kate put her gun down and started to fiddle with it. Sue could have slapped herself if her hands weren't on her gun.
Cut all the bastards' means of escape. The fiddling was taking precious time. Sue was very worried about the screamer, but this action was necessary. A jacknife would have been handy to slash the tires and cut the ignition wires. Sue made a mental note of acquiring one of these as soon as she could, while her eyes went to Kate, to the house's door, to return to Kate.
Quick, Kate quick, she begged silently.

Round 4

Finally Kate jerked herself to her feet. To Sue's everlasting dismay, she motioned Sue to go to the front foor, while she herself headed in back. Sue mouthed the word "No", but it was too late. Kate had already turned the corner. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Bad idea Kate, thought Sue; real grade-A bad idea. You didn't see what these bastards did to Purl, did you? They're fast and dirty, and now on their turf. No, we shouldn't have split up.
Nevertheless, Sue approached the front door. Kate's decision was maybe a bad (maybe? was!) one, but to hesitate now would be stupid. And lethal, added a voice at the back of Sue's head, don't forget lethal.
Sue was at the front door. She carefully tried the door. Locked. Cursing under her breath, Sue lit the door with her flashlight. It was badly painted, but the cracked blue paint revealed still solid oak wood underneath. Fine, if she wanted to enter, she would have to blow the lock open. So much for discretion.
Sue moved to the nearest window, to see if there was a means to enter by that way when she heard a terrible grating squeak coming from around the house's side, where Kate was. A rusted gate, thought Sue. She opened a rusted grate and had telegraphed her position for everyone to know. Sue waited for awhile, all ears, ready to sprint to her partner's help at the faintest alarming sound. Nothing seemed to happen. Not believing that the people in the house were blind and deaf, she hurried to the window.
Suddenly someone down the street started honking their horn. Sue turned around, biting her lips not to scream. She looked down the street. She estimated that the car doing the ruckus was half a block away, but without being able to tell which one of the parked junkers was the culprit. Was some kind of guard, signaling to the freaks inside that Sue was there? Well, fuck it, thought Sue. He's too far to investigate right now, and there's no way I will leave Kate alone here. She threw a last look at the street, then returned to the window's inspection.

Round 5

The windows were locked as well. She half-walked, half-ran back to the door when she heard a faint sounds coming from inside. She stopped and glued her ear to a boarded window. There was someone moving inside, then the unmistakable click of a pistol's hammer. Kate's inside, thought Sue, and someone is waiting for her. Knowing that every second counted, she rushed to the door. She lowered her gun at the lock and fired. Knowing that it wasn't the right procedure to apply, but knowing also that there was no time for subtlety, she threw herself at the door. Sue gave a small cry of pain and surprise when it didn't open, sending her staggering a few steps back. Her eyes caught the door lock. It was intact. One inch over a bullet hole was still smoking.
"Shit" was the only thought that had the time to cross her mind before the door peppered with one gunshot after another coming through it. Sue felt something like a hammer hit the side of her right hip, then a spreading warmness. Her left hand flew to her right hip. She cried in pain as her hand landed on something raw and sticky. Sue felt all her blood drain of her face. She had been shoot.
More of the door exploded in spliters as more shots were heard. Sue screamed and crossed her arms before her face. This time the hammer struck her left arm, sending her swirling onto the ground. The deafening sound of the pistol, the mixed scents of burned wood and blood (her blood), the hard ground kissing her face; all that was maddening, bringing Sue to the very brink of terror.
A strident noise pierce throught Sue's pain. It was... It was... A car burning rubber? Sue's head snapped upward, teeth bared in a heinous snarl.

Round 6

The car passed by, honking furiously as it did so. Sue raised her right arm, still clunching her gun, but it was useless for the car didn't stop but speed off into the night.
An image flashed in Sue's mind. A killer slowly aiming at her through the holes in the house's blasted door. Then, when the killer was sure that the bullet would splatter her brain on the ground, his finger would begin to flex on his gun's trigger...
Mustering all her fading strength, Sue jerked on the left, hoping to roll out of sight. But she only managed to move of a foot or two. White flares exploded in her brain as she landed on her wounded arm. She almost howled in pain, but bit her lips instead. She immediatly tasted blood as her teeth sank in.
But still she clung to her own gun.

Round 7.

Clenching her teeth tight, Sue steadied herself for her life's biggest task to date - getting up. Using her right arm as a support, she raised her torso. Gently, she flexed her legs. The wounded one objected painfully. But it was not the pain that alarmed Sue, it was the throbbing wetness that expanded with every heartbeat. Don't let it be the artery, she prayed silently.
"Miller, you ok?" shouted a voice (a woman's voice. Kate?) behind her. The question was so mundane, so out of context that Sue didn't immediatly grasp it. Then it finally sank in. Was she okay? Sue would have laughed if she hadn't been so weak.
"SHUT UP AND COVER YOURSELF!" she shouted back with a harsh voice she barely recongnized as her own. "The perps are still around and armed!"
She licked her lips. "I'm hit," she continued, "only a flesh wound." Liar, liar, pants on fire, she thought. But the perp wouldn't have the satisfaction of knowing the state she was in. Oh no, no way. "Can't move fast," the understatement of the years, "still have my gun", a little truth to atone, "and wits.", and a damned lie to conclude.
"How many your side? Are you in or outside?" Kate asked.
A pause. "I don't know. I'm outside, the bastard shot me through the front door. That means he's inside so watch out!" Suzana warned
"We already met!" Kate replied.
Sue looked at the house. She was crouched, a little like a panther preparing to jump on a prey. It's now or never, she thought.
Then she leaped toward the wall of the house. With her leg's condition, she didn't think she could get up and walk there and she wasn't very hot about crawling all the way (can you say 'sitting duck'?), so she simply leaped from her crouched position and rolled using the momentum in the hope it would be enough.

Round 8.

Sue's momentum brought her against the wall. Her wounded hip took most of the impact, sending a riveting jolt of pain to her brain. She closed her eyes and swallowed her scream of agony. As she opened her eyes again, she was surprised by the blackness around her. Had a light gone out? No, the phenomenum was not static; the darkness was still growing, her vision field smaller and smaller.
NO! Sue's mind roared as she understood that she was blacking out. Of all the times, this was not the time to faint like a no-good damsel in distress. Breathe in, breathe out, she commanded herself. Be calm, relax, think happy thoughts. Her vision was now pitch black darkness. Then the light slowly crept back. At first she only saw blurry halos, then objects.
"Almost out, but not quite", whispered Sue to herself.
Using the wall, she brought herself to a standing position. Fun was over; it was time to give Kate a hand. Clamping her teeth together, Sue progessed toward the blasted door, a shoulder on the wall for support, her hand holding while she flexed its fingers. A part of her heard the sound of sirens in the distance. This part estimated that back-up should be there in two to three minutes. The rest of her didn't gave a damn. Three minutes was the far future. Many things could happen in three minutes. A cop could die, for example. It was not unheard of.

Round 9

Sue reached the door. Holding back her breath, she peeked through one of the gunshot holes. In the darkness within, something was moving. Kate?, thought Sue, trying to see more clearly. It was too dark to be sure, but Sue's instinct told her that it wasn't her partner. If she had stopped to think at this moment, she would had been paralyzed by hesitation. Instead, she let the same instinct guide her, praying that she was making the right decision. Without warning, she raised her gun and shot twice in the shadow's direction.
There was a cry followed by the sound of a body dropping to the floor.

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