System Jazz

"You have the right to remain silent. You don't have to answer any questions, but if you speak it counts as evidence in court."

Boobs or not, this is bad. If they throw me in the car with the Salduz rights, it's serious.

"Day one and you got your first baddie, congrats, Aspirant Lee."

"That's the commander's daughter for you."

The cops celebrate my captor in the rain. She sits in the navigator seat and the lights won't reveal more than her shy smile.

She smells like cinnamon, even nicer than that previous vanilla scent.

Girl or not, she didn't pull her punches.

The sensation of her breasts still lingers on the palms, - heart and face throbbing in rhythm.

Calm down, calm down, they don't have shit.

As they suggested, I won't talk. Not even for the cutie, trying her blonde hair into a short ponytail.

We look the same age.

"Beginner's luck, Sir." Her voice is pleasant when she's not screaming.

The others won't give a fuck about me now, she alone steals glances.

The guy who recited the rights has a receding hairline and an old-school mustache. The crown on his shoulder means he's an Inspector.

That's the highest rank here, the others have two or three lines, and the Girl only has one. Focus, Arnim, It's not important.

The Kid got away, and they have three credits worth of shit as proof.

It sounds ridiculous to take someone in for that. It wouldn't pay for a pack of smoke.

The Girl's the only one who knows about the Kid and keeps it to herself.

If they treat it as a single suspect, simple theft, it should end with a warning.

They should drop the case - especially against a minor - if they don't figure out the cameras.

Like come on, they can't sink that low, right?

This heart rate's crazy, and things only get worse when another police car rolls in and hits the brakes next to us.

An Old Fox steps out with more hair than the Inspector, only all grey.

His shoulder patch has a line underneath a crown.

"We got him, Chief!" The cops jump to attention.

"At ease. Was he alone?" His upper lip pulls up in disgust when he looks here, almost screaming 'trash'. Damn, he can't be more clear about how much he hates me from the start.

The Girl hesitates before the moment of truth, and cold sweat drips on my face.

"Yes, he bumped into me and dropped the stolen goods. The barcode matches what's missing from the warehouse." She avoids the Old Fox's eyes.

Why did an angel like her lie? This increases the heart rate even further.

"We found three second-grade rations."

"Rations?" He looks this way again, raising his eyebrows, then back at the Aspirant.

The Girl has my undying gratitude, whatever her deal is. He still wants blood though. Oh God, please, somebody, a cigarette.

"What did the biometrics say?"

"Um, we haven't done it yet." She blushes, and the cops look nervous.

Oh shit. If he wants them to do it by the book it will leave a trace and they'll have to take me in.

She can't even protest and rushes to get the scanner.

All it takes is a beep, and she gets everything for her report.

"I-it says Arnim, one, thirty-six, forty-two." She stutters and turns the screen towards the Fox. Again, that expression with his upper lip. Yes, fuck you too.

Even if he plays the tough guy, what can he do? After running the maths, the odds favor me.

"A numbered one, huh? And it's his birthday."

Oh. I forgot.

Shit. Oh fuck.

By law, they can incarcerate me. Oh, fucking fuck. It was a dumb mistake. Shit. With this heart rate, if they don't have a cig, I'll even get a stroke before that.

"Where is his phone? GPS data?"

"W-we haven't checked." The Girl blushes even more and looks unsure of what to do. It's easy to pity her when she skipped these for my sake.

She leans into the car after a short pause and as she fumbles with my hoodie the Old Fox drags her away with a scolding.

"Don't touch him, Lee." He's so irritating, if they didn't come with the usual 'remain silent' thing, a shouting match would be on its way.

"What are you doing? Let an officer of the same sex conduct the body search as in the manual. And next time do it the moment he's handcuffed."

Regulations or not, they won't hear a protest if she does it, there's nothing to find anyway.

They drag me out for the search and Baldie pushes against the door.

The phone he's looking for is on the inner-city bus, their lost-and-found is near Container Park.

"It's not there. Do a GPS scan on his biometrics." Old Fox barks another order before he finishes. One more beep and the display shows the traveling phone.

He sees through our safety measures right away.

"It's a falsified tracker data, meaning he planned it."

"I uh, forgot it on the bus!" The 'remain silent' deal's off.

Not that he'd buy the plausible deniability. This adds stomach cramps to the beginning stroke as he raises his upper lip to drive me mad.

Protesting won't solve anything, and they shove me back in the car.

"Send someone to pick it up and check the data. Bring him in and give him a proper birthday party." Comes the verdict, and Baldie with the Girl takes the front seat.

The other two stay with the Old Fox and we drive away for the yard.

For fucking second-grade rations? There's nothing to say. This is a disaster. How could I fuck it up this bad?

The Kid is like eight, if they got him, they would have let him go.

They stay quiet for a while, only Baldie's eyes flash in the rear-view mirror, looking at the shaking. He has this pitying look.

"Did the little one get away?" What did he ask? The Girl nods in silence, and Baldie smiles. So they knew? This might be a chance.

If he wants to play the good cop, it's all the better.

"Good, he would have taken him too. You guys are idiots." He can't help another remark first.

"C-can you give me a cigarette?" Whatever he expected me to say, this is the one thing that could stop passing out with this blood pressure.

He scoffs and looks away. It's all the Boss' fault, this job smelled like shit from the start, but hindsight is a luxury.

"You're too young to smoke."

He flat-out refuses. Still, a moment later the Girl's hand comes into view. The same that slapped so hard now offers a premium nicotine gum.

"And you're old enough to get into jail, for God's sake. Were those three rations worth it?"

We both know they weren't, and it's too late now.

To get caught for something petty like this; things always went great with the same losers for years.

And is she for real? Those things cost a fortune and taste like sin. She isn't looking back; her face is only visible from the side.

She's... Blushing?

The hands feel clumsy while locked together, and her palm trembles as a finger brush against it.

It didn't quake during the slap or when putting the handcuffs on.

What's her deal? With gum in my mouth and mumbling thanks, they speed for the station.

"Have you heard of CineMraft?" Baldie asks without transition, and the gum almost chokes to death.

The name rings a bell from a YouCube ad, but why does he want to talk about games now? Are they both sick in the head?

"We'll have to hook you up with a controller."