RHETORIC ā You are out of time.
SUGGESTION ā Get in there.
AUTHORITY ā Where is your firearm, detective?
You donāt even check. You donāt carry it unless you are patrolling. It is locked in your drawer upstairs.
ESPRIT DE CORPS ā Why would you need it inside the precinct?
HALF LIGHT ā Because you know you have at least one traitor in your midst? Better hope he isnāt carrying his.
Breathing nearly steady, you straighten and open the door from the side, the room beyond goes silent.
DRAMA ā Relax, pretend youāre just here for a file.
You enter the room, eyes darting around, trying to determine the level of threat in the space.
VISUAL CALCULUS ā Jim Jamrock is leaning against a file cabinet casually. He smiles as you enter. There is a shadow to your left, slinking along the floor as it moves to flank you.
āGet an early release?ā You return his smile, but your eyes are trained on the shelf, beyond which you are certain Santos is moving.
SUGGESTION ā You have to stop him before he stops you.
PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT ā Aim low.
You move almost without thinking, slamming your whole body against the shelving unit Santos is hiding behind. A muffled curse is heard beyond the clanging metal, the sliding boxes, the dull roar of hundreds of sheets of paper slipping, sliding, and hiding away.
REACTION SPEED ā Behind you!
Marlen is moving toward the door now. Lurching upright, you stagger toward it, but the man slips past you. āFuck,ā you mutter, your shoulder throbbing from the impact. The old man moves surprisingly quickly through the halls, past the stairs. Where is heā¦
PERCEPTION ā Footsteps echo-
Something slams into your lower back causing you to stumble. You turn, head spinning as you raise your fists.