Sugarcane

You lower your gun. "You better live up to your word," you say, threatening Jefferies. You grab your radio and call for EMT assistance. The paramedics arrive and treat Jefferies. You tell the captain and SWAT commander that he was a civilian janitor, who knew nothing about the criminal activity. They believe him, miracoulsy, and Jefferies is free to go after his gunshot wound is treated. Before he goes, he tells you he'll be in touch.\n\nThe police sieze all the heroin stored at the drug warehouse, nearly $80 million worth. It's a big coup for the police and most of the SWAT team gets their picture taken for the paper. You quitely shuffle to the back, hoping Mr. Big doesn't notice you in the picture.\n\n"Unfortunately" for you, there's nothing about The Ox or his murder anywhere in the warehouse, so you go back to the police station to continue running names through the database. Then, you get a call.\n\n"It's Jefferies. We need to meet," a familiar voice says on the phone. "Meet me at the roof of the skyscraper on the corner of West and 5th."\n\n[[You agree to meet your new friend.|Skyscraper 1]]

You're standing looking out the window of your apartment. The city is dark, and a heavy torrential rain is pouring down. It always seems to be raining in this city. You've just come in from the rain and your clothes are soaked.\n\nYou are Hank Jankowski, a homicide detective. You're also a crooked cop, earning a few "part-time" bucks by working security for a local drug kingpin named "Mr. Big". It started out when you needed some extra money on the side. Addicts are going to buy the drugs anyway, regardless if it's you or some hood guarding the dealers, right? Now you're stuck in so deep you can't get out. Your badge feels like it weighs 50 pounds on your chest, like it's trying to get away from you.\n\nYour phone rings. You answer it. It's your precinct captain. There's a murder case, some local hood shot in a dark ally somewhere. It's your case.\n\nYou arrive and find the area filled with uniformed cops and CSI techs. You walk over to the victim's body, covered in a white sheet. With a swift motion, you pull back the white sheet and see the body of "The Ox", a giant of a man, who worked security for you at Mr. Big's drug warehouse. He was an "acquaintance" of yours from your second job. You have a sinking feeling in your stomach. It's going to be a long night. \n\n[[Welcome to...|Title Card]]

You search his pockets and find a cell phone sized lump in one of his front pockets. Waiting for the CSI techs to look away, you shove a hand inside his pocket, grab his phone, and quickly slip it up your sleeve. Your fingers tremble as you wonder if anybody saw you concealing evidence. \n\n"Hey, detective!" One of the uniformed cops yells over. "We got something over here. Dispatch got us an address on the victim. You want to go over there and search?"\n\n"Go ahead, detective, we'll give you a full report on any physical evidence we find here," one of the CSI techs says.\n\nGrateful to be away from the crime scene, [[you head to the apartment|Ox's Apartment 1]].

You head over to a crappy apartment building on the wrong side of town. A squad car is already here, and a few beat cops are on the sidewalk, chatting with an eldery Asian man wearing a green cardigan and holding a keychain with a massive amount of keys.\n\nYou park your car and get out. The uniformed cops wave you down. "Hey detective, we already got ahold of the land lord. He's opened the place up for ya."\n\nYou go up to The Ox's apartment. It's a crappy, run down apartment, with dirty clothes and dirty dishes everywhere. Fitness magazines are all over the place. A punching bag and a bench press are in the corner, taking up precious room in the apartment. \n\nYou turn the place over. You're supposed to be looking for clues that could link you to The Ox or Mr. Big. You find some vials of anabolic steroids under The Ox's bed, as well as some baggies of heroin. Heroin is Mr. Big's #1 product.\n\nYou're satisfied there's nothing here linking back to you. You are about to head out when something on the refrigerator catches your eye - a piece of note pad paper pinned up by a magnet. It contians the address of Mr. Big's drug warehouse. Do you take it, or leave it?\n\n[[Leave The Address|Leave The Address 1]]\n[[Take The Address|Take The Address 1]]

Precipice (Rough Draft)

You head over to a crappy apartment building on the wrong side of town. A squad car is already here, and a few beat cops are on the sidewalk, chatting with an eldery Asian man wearing a green cardigan and holding a keychain with a massive amount of keys.\n\nYou park your car and get out. The uniformed cops wave you down. "Hey detective, we already got ahold of the land lord. He's opened the place up for ya."\n\nYou go up to The Ox's apartment. It's a crappy, run down apartment, with dirty clothes and dirty dishes everywhere. Fitness magazines are all over the place. A punching bag and a bench press are in the corner, taking up precious room in the apartment. \n\nYou turn the place over. You're supposed to be looking for clues that could link you to The Ox or Mr. Big. You find some vials of anabolic steroids under The Ox's bed, as well as some baggies of heroin. Heroin is Mr. Big's #1 product, you wonder if The Ox was sampling from the boss, and if that was the reason for his demise.\n\nYou're satisfied there's nothing here linking back to you. You are about to head out when something on the refrigerator catches your eye - a piece of note pad paper pinned up by a magnet. It contians the address of Mr. Big's drug warehouse. Do you take it, or leave it?\n\n[[Leave The Address|Leave The Address 2]]\n[[Take The Address|Take The Address 2]]

<html><center><font size="12">Precipice</font><br>\n\nBy Kevin Schram</center></html>\n\n[[Continue|The Crime Scene]]

You decide it's time to take matters into your own hands with whoever was on the phone, and you're not going to do any jobs for anybody you don't know.\n\nYou arrive at the skyscraper and head up as high as you can go in the elevator, before finding a staircase to go to the rest of the way to the roof. When you get up there, you find the door to the roof unlocked.. You head out to the roof. It's raining harder up here, it seems like and the wind sheer feels like it could blow you off the roof.\n\nYou see a tall, slender blond man, standing alone.\n\n“Detective Jankowski, I think we need to talk.”\n\n"Who the hell are you? How do you know I'm on the take?"\n\n"That's what we need to discuss, Hank. I'm Internal Affairs. Investigator Mike Jefferies," he says cooly. He opens up his trenchcoat to reveal a recording device. Your heart stops.\n\n"You don't have me on anything. You don't proof of anything."\n\n"We've been on to you for weeks, Detective Jankowski. I'll admit, you've been a slippery catch and you've managed to cover your tracks well. But, this is where that ends. Uniforms are already on their way up to take you into custody. We've been onto you for weeks, Hank. The Ox murder tipped our interest, we knew it was time to act. Tell me, what really happened that night with The Ox?"\n\n[[Tell Jefferies The Truth|Ending 3]]\n\n[[Shoot Jefferies|Ending 4]]

You arrive at the skyscraper and head up as high as you can go in the elevator, before finding a staircase to go to the rest of the way to the roof. When you get up there, you find the lock smashed in. You head out to the roof. It's raining harder up here, it seems like and the wind sheer feels like it could blow you off the roof.\n\nYou see Mr. Big, standing in the center of the roof, with two bodyguards behind him.\n\n“Mr. Jankowski, you've been a very busy boy, haven't you?”\n\n“Just trying to come out of this without anybody going to prison.”\n\nMr. Big laughs. “That's good. That's very good.”\n\nA pregnant silence hangs through the air. \n\n“So, do you mind telling me what happened that night with The Ox?” the crime boss asks.\n\nYou stand there for a moment, considering your options. You could tell him the truth, or, you could grab your gun and try to shoot the crime lord and end your link to the criminal world once and for all. \n\n[[Tell Mr. Big The Truth|Ending 1]]\n\n[[Shoot Mr. Big|Ending 2]]

You arrive at the skyscraper and head up as high as you can go in the elevator, before finding a staircase to go to the rest of the way to the roof. When you get up there, you find the door to the roof unlocked.. You head out to the roof. It's raining harder up here, it seems like and the wind sheer feels like it could blow you off the roof.\n\nYou see Jefferies, standing alone\n\n“Detective Jankowski, I think we need to talk.”\n\n"We don't need to talk about anything," you bark at Jefferies, "You just get me out of this without the police finding out I work for Mr. Big and we'll all be golden."\n\n"That's what we need to discuss, Hank. I'm Internal Affairs," Jefferies says cooly. He opens up his trenchcoat to reveal a recording device. Your heart stops. You've been figured out. You don't know how much time you have left.\n\n"Uniforms are already on their way up to take you into custody. We've been onto you for weeks, Hank. The Ox murder tipped our interest, we knew it was time to act. Tell me, what really happened that night with The Ox?"\n\n[[Tell Jefferies The Truth|Ending 3]]\n\n[[Shoot Jefferies|Ending 4]]

You manage to keep from outright panicking as you stare at the dead body of the criminal you've worked with before. It isn't like you were close or anything, but you've never had your two career paths cross before.\n\n"He knew the perp, detective," one of the CSI techs says. "He was shot at point-blank range in the stomach. My guess is he was having a conversation with the guy."\n\nYour mind races. Conversation. Your number is in The Ox's cell phone. He had to call you for business for time to time. How would you explain that? Are you going to try to get his cell phone out of his pocket and conceal it from your fellow police officers, or do you let them find it and hope by the time they dsicover your number that you've come up with some reason for why your number was in his phone?\n\n[[Steal the cell phone]]\n\n[[Leave the cell phone]]

With the plastic-wrapped hard drive in hand, you arrive at the skyscraper and head up as high as you can go in the elevator, before finding a staircase to go to the rest of the way to the roof. When you get up there, you find the lock smashed in. You head out to the roof. It's raining harder up here, it seems like and the wind sheer feels like it could blow you off the roof.\n\nYou see Mr. Big, standing in the center of the roof, with two bodyguards behind him.\n\n“Mr. Jankowski, you've been a very busy boy, haven't you?”\n\n“Just trying to come out of this without anybody going to prison.”\n\nMr. Big laughs. “That's good. That's very good. Do you have the hard drive?”\n\n"It's right here," you say. One of the bodyguards comes and takes it.\n\n"That was the last piece connecting you to me, Mr. Jankowski," Mr. Big says. "I had an Internal Affairs investigator on my payroll. An insurance policy for when I employ cops like yourself. He got a little mouthy and needed to be taken care of." \n\n“Speaking of being taken care of, do you mind telling me what happened that night with The Ox?” the crime boss asks.\n\nYou stand there for a moment, considering your options. You could tell him the truth, or, you could grab your gun and try to shoot the crime lord and end your link to the criminal world once and for all. \n\n[[Tell Mr. Big The Truth|Ending 5]]\n\n[[Shoot Mr. Big|Ending 6]]

With the apartment searched, you head back to the police department to run The Ox's name through the database. You know hits will come up, and it'll ultimately lead back to Mr. Big.\n\nYou're running his name through the computer as slow as humanly possible, when your phone rings. It's another detective. They found the address on the refridgerator. Narcoics has known forever it was a drug warehouse for Mr. Big, and now with The Ox's death, they have linked it to a crime and have a reason to go in guns blazing. The SWAT team is suiting up for a full assault, and the captian wants you on the team in case there's something relating to The Ox's murder.\n\nYou head down to the warehouse, where a temporary command post has been set up. The SWAT goons are all too happy to give you body armor and an assault rifle. Looks like there's no way to avoid this, your regular job is about to launch D-Day against your moonlighting gig. \n\n[[Lock and load, cowboy.|The Warehouse 2]]

The SWAT team prepares their guns and smoke grenades and takes up position outside the warehouse. The word is given via the radio from the captain, and they storm in. Guns are fired, and grenades go off. Your 'colleagues', the hired goons that protect the drug warehouse, are no match for the SWAT team, and are torn through like a hot knife through butter.\n\nYou make it look good, running around, pretending to shoot your way through the warehouse with the SWAT team. But, you know the real objective. You make your way to the second floor, to the small warehouse office. That's where you were paid and that's where you can see if there's anything connecting you to this mess. You head upstairs.\n\nWhen you walk in, you are shocked to a survivor of the SWAT blitzkrieg. A man is laying on the office floor, wounded, shot in the stomach by an errand bullet. He is unarmed and bleeding to death.\n\n“Helpppp me, please! I surrender!” he pleads with you.\n\nYou stand there, considering him. “I know you who are!” he says, “You're that cop. Jankowski. You're crooked. I'm Jefferies, I'm a bookkeeper for Mr. Big. I can help you cover up everything, please, just get me an ambulance.”\n\nYou stand there, watching him bleed out. You could end him now with your high-powered assault rifle, and he would never have a chance to connect you to Mr. Big. Or, you could call him an ambulance and use his help.\n\n[[Kill him|Shoot Jefferies]]\n\n[[Save his life|Save Jefferies]]

You're either very smart, or very stupid, you think to yourself. You leave the cell phone, and your mind starts racing for reasons why the perp would have your number on speed dial. Maybe he was an undercover informant.\n\n"Hey, detective!" One of the uniformed cops yells over. "We got something over here. Dispatch got us an address on the victim. You want to go over there and search?"\n\n"Go ahead, detective, we'll give you a full report on any physical evidence we find here," one of the CSI techs says.\n\nGrateful to be away from the crime scene, [[you head to the apartment|Ox's Apartment 2]].

“Sorry, buddy. I can't take the risk.” You raise your assault rifle and pull the trigger.\n\nThe rest of the SWAT team hears the gunshots and discovers the body, but nobody asks too many questions. Once again, it looks like you get off, although this time it makes your stomach drop even further.\n\nThe police seize all the heroin stored at the drug warehouse, nearly $80 million worth. It's a big coup for the police and most of the SWAT team gets their picture taken for the paper. You quietly shuffle to the back, hoping Mr. Big doesn't notice you in the picture.\n\n"Unfortunately" for you, there's nothing about The Ox or his murder anywhere in the warehouse, so you go back to the police station to continue running names through the database. Then, you get a call.\n\n“Hello, my friend. Do you recognize my voice?” a chill goes through your spine. It's Mr. Big's voice. You never met him, but the drug kingpin got acquitted on a few high-profile criminal cases and you recognize his voice from TV.\n\n“Yes, I do,” you say softly.\n\n“I think it's time we meet in person. Meet me at the roof of the skyscraper on the corner of West and 5th."\n\n[[You agree to meet your “boss”.|Skyscraper 2]]

You sigh and rub your forehead. You suppose it's time to stop lying.\n\n~\n\n“What do you want, Ox?” you say impatiently. It's starting to rain and you're cold.\n\nHe looks unwell. He shivers and crosses his arms. “Hey, Jankowski, I need $1000.” \n\nYou snort out a laugh. “You think I got that kind of money to loan you?”\n\nHe gives you a mean snarl. “I wasn't asking for a loan.”\n\nYou take a step back. “What are you talking about?”\n\n“Give me a thousand dollars, or your police buddies find out about your little moonlighting job.”\n\nYou stare at him in disbelief. This walking muscle has the gall to try to roll over on you. But, you're no pushover. You're hardboiled and as hard as they come. “Extort this,” you say, yanking out your revolver, you fired a round directly into his chest.\n\nYou quickly disappeared and headed up to your apartment. You stood there, your clothes still dripping. Your captain called about 15 minutes later.\n\n~\n\n“So the cops have you working on the murder of the guy you murdered? I guess there's a certain efficiency in that!” Mr. Big says with a thundering laugh. The two bodyguards chuckle along with their boss.\n\n“So, what happens now?” you ask the crime boss.\n\n“Well, we have a problem, Mr. Jankowski. You just let your SWAT team stormtrooper buddies raid my warehouse and take millions of dollars. I'm practically ruined. Most of my stock was in that warehouse.”\n\nYou start to back up from him and his goons. “Please, you have to understand, I have no choice-….”\n\nSuddenly, from behind, two more bodyguards grab you.\n\n“Right. No choice. And I have no choice to but to do this. Sorry, bud,” Mr. Big said, turning away. The two goons drag you away towards the edge of the roof. You kick your feet and drag them, but they manage to manhandle you to the edge.\n\n“Sayonara,” one says carelessly, as they both chuck your shoulders over the edge. You fall down 40 stories to the sidewalk.\n\nRemember, it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the end. \n\n\n\n\n"We are born and then we die. And in between lies only this strange darkness that we can’t break." - Cristian Mihai\n

You sigh and rub your forehead. You suppose it's time to stop lying. \n\n~\n\n“What do you want, Ox?” you say impatiently. It's starting to rain and you're cold.\n\nHe looks unwell. He shivers and crosses his arms. “Hey, Jankowski, I need $1000.” \n\nYou snort out a laugh. “You think I got that kind of money to loan you?”\n\nHe gives you a mean snarl. “I wasn't asking for a loan.”\n\nYou take a step back. “What are you talking about?”\n\n“Give me a thousand dollars, or your police buddies find out about your little moonlighting job.”\n\nYou stare at him in disbelief. “Ox, you don't want to do this. I know enough about you and Big to sink the whole operation. Don't even think about turning me in.”\n\nYou turn and started to walk away. But then, you heard The Ox rush up behind you. He turn around and he was charging you, his hands aimed at your neck. Years of police training and experience kicked in, and you drew your police revolver and fired into his chest.\n\nYou quickly disappeared and headed up to your apartment. You stood there, your clothes still dripping. Your captain called about 15 minutes later.\n\n~\n\nJefferies whistles in astonishment. "So, you were assigned to your own murder case. That's got to be a first."\n\n“So, what happens now?” you ask the cop.\n\nAlmost on cue, the door to the staircase busts open and three uniformed cops run in and grab you. One handcuffs you while another takes your badge and gun. They turn you away and start leading you down stairs when you turn back to Jefferies and yell, "Hey, Jefferies, you know what they do to cops in prison?"\n\nHe says nothing, and stares at you solemnly.\n\nFive months later, you find yourself, shod in an orange jumpsuit, being led down a cell block to your new home for the next 15 years. As your pass the various cells, you are greeted by a variety of cat calls. Word of your arrival has spread fast.\n\n"Looks like we got some bacon in here tonight."\n\nThe guards lead you into the cell and uncuff you.\n\n"Hey, cop, you're going to get shanked!"\n\nThe cell door slams behind you. The small dimensions of the room sink in.\n\n"Hey, piggy piggy piggy."\n\n\n\n\n"All trials are trials for one’s life, just as all sentences are sentences of death" - Oscar Wilde

“You want to know what happened that night?” you ask with a snarl. “I've got the answer right here.”\n\nYou yank your revolver out of its hip holster, draw down at Mr. Big, and fire. The shot hits him square in the stomach. He darts for cover while his two bodyguards draw their guns and fire back at you. You duck for cover yourself, while you keep firing at the bodyguards. One gets hit in the shoulder and goes down. \n\nSafety behind the cover of a utility shed on the roof, you check your revolver, you have 3 rounds left. You grab your cell phone from your pocket and quickly dial the number of your precinct, though you doubt anybody will get here in time to save you.\n\n“You're dead, you fuck!” Mr. Big shouts from across the roof. You can barely hear him from the wind and rain.\n\nOne of his bodyguards rounds the corner for the shed looking for you. You aim the revolver at his face and pull the trigger before he can react.\n\nTwo rounds left.\n\nYour captain answers the call on your cell phone. In hurried tone, you call for backup on the roof before hanging up.\n\nYou walk out of your cover and start heading towards where Mr. Big went. You keep your gun drawn, and low. You turn around and see one of the bodyguards, leaning against a radio antenna, holding his wounded shoulder. He sees you and scrambles for his gun. You quickly end his life.\n\nOne round left.\n\nYou walk a little further and see Mr. Big, laying on the edge of the roof. His stomach is bleeding black blood from his liver.\n\nYou aim your revolver at him.\n\n“You think you'll win this, you cheap cop fuck? You think I made it this far by losing to you?”\n\nA gunshot rings out.\n\nA sharp pain like a hot knife goes through your gut. Mr. Big is holding a smoking gun weakly at you. You collapse to the ground.\n\n“You don't quit, Jankowski, do you? But it ends here. I guess we'll see who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.” \n\nMr. Big props himself up with one arm while his free arm aims at you. Suddenly, another gunshot rings out. A second bullethole rips open in Mr. Big's chest. He collapses, dead for good, this time. You look over, a uniformed cop, standing near the staircase door, his gun out and smoking.\n\nThe last thing you remember is him calling for an ambulance as you passed out.\n\nYou wake up in a hospital a few days later. You'll survive, the doctors say, despite a pretty serious gunshot. You're a hero, an interview on TV as the man who brought down Mr. Big. Cops from all over the city come bringing cigars and bottles of scotch for when you're out of this place. \n\nOne night, you're laying in the hospital bed, watching one of the twenty channels they get in the mediocre hospital. There's a knock at the door, and Jefferies walks in.\n\n“What the hell, I killed you!” you shout at him.\n\n“You tried, didn't you,” he says with a smirk. \n\n“You're dead. What the hell is this?” You demand, your heart racing.\n\n“I guess you got everything you wanted, didn't you, Jankowski. All the links to your criminal moonlighting are gone and you're the big hero,” he says, watching you carefully.\n\n“What do you want?”\n\n“It'd be a shame if somebody ever found out that you really were a crooked cop,” Jefferies said before walking out of the hospital room. \n\nStill in your hospital gown and connected to an IV, you get up and run out of the hospital room. But, when you sprint out of the room, you don't see any sign of Jefferies. It's like he disappeared into thin air once he got into the hallway. \n\nWas he really here? Or did you really kill him?\n\n\n"I trust no one. Not even myself." - Joseph Stalin

You sigh and rub your forehead. You suppose it's time to stop lying.\n\n~\n\n“What do you want, Ox?” you say impatiently. It's starting to rain and you're cold.\n\nHe looks unwell. He shivers and crosses his arms. “Hey, Jankowski, I need $1000.” \n\nYou snort out a laugh. “You think I got that kind of money to loan you?”\n\nHe gives you a mean snarl. “I wasn't asking for a loan.”\n\nYou take a step back. “What are you talking about?”\n\n“Give me a thousand dollars, or your police buddies find out about your little moonlighting job.”\n\nYou stare at him in disbelief. “Ox, you don't want to do this. I know enough about you and Big to sink the whole operation. Don't even think about turning me in.”\n\nYou turn and started to walk away. But then, you heard The Ox rush up behind you. He turn around and he was charging you, his hands aimed at your neck. Years of police training and experience kicked in, and you drew your police revolver and fired into his chest.\n\nYou quickly disappeared and headed up to your apartment. You stood there, your clothes still dripping. Your captain called about 15 minutes later.\n\n~\n\n“So the cops have you working on the murder of the guy you murdered? I guess there's a certain efficiency in that!” Mr. Big says with a thundering laugh. The two bodyguards chuckle along with their boss.\n\n“So, what happens now?” you ask the crime boss.\n\n"I always take care of my friends," Mr. Big says. "I don't know if the police had a chance to look at that hard drive, but either way, they're probably on to you already, or just about to be. I think it's time for you to disappear."\n\nOne of the bodyguards goes around a corner and returns with a steel briefcase. He hands it to you. It feels heavy.\n\n"What's this?" you ask.\n\n"$1 million in cash. Disappear. Get out of town. A corrupt cop working for me going on trial is bad for everybody." Mr. Big says.\n\n"Thanks," you say, unsure of where you'll go or what you'll do.\n\nMr. Big and you don't exchange much of a good bye and you quitely disappear into the staircase. \n\nYou head into the parking lot and get into the car. Driving to your apartment to pack, you pass a school yard. A drug dealer is dealing small baggies of something to kids that couldn't be more than 14- or 15-years-old. Nearby, a police squad car sits parked, where a uniformed cop counts money from a brown enevelope. You look at your own steel briefcase next to you - only a slightly larger brown envelope. Your car quietly disappears into the dark, rainy night.\n\nCongratulations, you've won. Question is, were you the good guy or the bad guy in the story?\n\n\n\n\n\n"No man is rich enough to buy back his own past." - Oscar Wilde

You stand there, the tempest of rain and wind howling around you, and look at Jefferies, the smug look on his face. You wish you had blown his brain out in that drug warehouse. You can't stand the sight of him.\n\n"If I'm going to burn in hell, you're coming with me, asshole," you say, reaching for your revolver in your belt.\n\n"Hank, don't do it-..."\n\nYou ignore his pleas and draw your revolver out, you bare down on Jefferies and this time, you pull the trigger, killing him. You spin around and see three uniformed cops coming up the staircase. Bang. Bang. You take the first two out. The third already has his gun drawn and fires at you, hitting you in the left side of the stomach. You collapse to your knees and put a bullet in the third uniform.\n\nThe sharp pain in your stomach doesn't go away. You look down. Black blood pours from the bullet wound, you know the bullet hit your liver. You don't know how much longer you have to live.\n\nYou stagger to your feet and somehow manage to make it down the staircase to the top floor of the building, leaving a trail of black blood along the walls. Once in the elevator, you jam a finger for the parking level and lean slummed against the wall of the elevator. Your heart starts beating slower and slower.\n\nYou emerge from the elevator into parking structure. Your car is thankfully parked nearby. Keeping pressure on the wound, you manage to get into the car and start the engine. You grab a dirty rag from the back seat of the car (used for cleaning up McDonald's drive-through messes - hey, nobody said you had champagne tastes) and shove it into your bullet wound to stop the bleeding. It tears and burns and quickly soaks into a deep red color. You start the car, your hands feeling so weak, and drive out of the underground parking level of the skyscraper.\n\nYou head out onto the open highway, out of the city. Bleeding from a gunshot wound that piereced your liver, and with a half a tank of gas, you wonder how far you'll make it.\n\n\n\n\n"I rather die on my feet than live upon my knees." - Emiliano Zapata

“You want to know what happened that night?” you ask with a snarl. “I've got the answer right here.”\n\nYou yank your revolver out of its hip holster, draw down at Mr. Big, and fire. The shot hits him square in the stomach. He darts for cover while his two bodyguards draw their guns and fire back at you. You duck for cover yourself, while you keep firing at the bodyguards. One gets hit in the shoulder and goes down. \n\nSafety behind the cover of a utility shed on the roof, you check your revolver, you have 3 rounds left. You grab your cell phone from your pocket and quickly dial the number of your precinct, though you doubt anybody will get here in time to save you.\n\n“You're dead, you fuck!” Mr. Big shouts from across the roof. You can barely hear him from the wind and rain.\n\nOne of his bodyguards rounds the corner for the shed looking for you. You aim the revolver at his face and pull the trigger before he can react.\n\nTwo rounds left.\n\nYour captain answers the call on your cell phone. In hurried tone, you call for backup on the roof before hanging up.\n\nYou walk out of your cover and start heading towards where Mr. Big went. You keep your gun drawn, and low. You turn around and see one of the bodyguards, leaning against a radio antenna, holding his wounded shoulder. He sees you and scrambles for his gun. You quickly end his life.\n\nOne round left.\n\nYou walk a little further and see Mr. Big, laying on the edge of the roof. His stomach is bleeding black blood from his liver.\n\nYou aim your revolver at him.\n\n“You think you'll win this, you cheap cop fuck? You think I made it this far by losing to you?”\n\nA gunshot rings out.\n\nA sharp pain like a hot knife goes through your gut. Mr. Big is holding a smoking gun weakly at you. You collapse to the ground.\n\n“You don't quit, Jankowski, do you? But it ends here. I guess we'll see who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.” \n\nMr. Big props himself up with one arm while his free arm aims at you. Suddenly, another gunshot rings out. A second bullethole rips open in Mr. Big's chest. He collapses, dead for good, this time. You look over, a uniformed cop, standing near the staircase door, his gun out and smoking.\n\nThe last thing you remember is him calling for an ambulance as you passed out.\n\nYou wake up in a hospital a few days later. You'll survive, the doctors say, despite a pretty serious gunshot. You're a hero, an interview on TV as the man who brought down Mr. Big. Cops from all over the city come bringing cigars and bottles of scotch for when you're out of this place. \n\nOne night, you're laying in the hospital bed, watching one of the twenty channels they get in the mediocre hospital. There's a knock at the door, and Mr. Big walks in.\n\n“What the hell, I killed you!” you shout at him.\n\n“You tried, didn't you,” he says with a smirk. \n\n“You're dead. What the hell is this? How did you get in here?” You demand, your heart racing.\n\n“I guess you got everything you wanted, didn't you, Jankowski. All the links to your criminal moonlighting are gone and you're the big hero,” he says, watching you carefully.\n\n“What do you want?”\n\n“It'd be a shame if somebody ever found out that you really were a crooked cop,” Mr. Big says before walking out of the hospital room. \n\nStill in your hospital gown and connected to an IV, you get up and run out of the hospital room. But, when you sprint out of the room, you don't see any sign of Mr. Big. It's like he disappeared into thin air once he got into the hallway. \n\nWas he really here? Or did you really kill him?\n\n\n\n"I trust no one. Not even myself." - Joseph Stalin

Your heart races as you head down to the evidence room. It's behind a locked door, and the typical access is through a plastic partition where a desk cop with a computer guards everythig going in and out.\n\nYou walk up and head to the desk. "Hey, I need to check out Evidence #5187-C."\n\nThe desk cop punches it into his computer. "I don't have that on file."\n\nYou pretend to be annoyed. "Jesus, it's got to be in there, check again."\n\nHe punches it through his computer again. "Sorry detective, nothing."\n\n"Can you manually check? Maybe the computer is messed up." \n\nThe desk cop agrees, and returns. "Sorry, nothing there."\n\nYou sigh a heavy affected sigh. "Please, let me in there to look."\n\nThe desk cop gives you a sideways glance. "Sorry, you know the rules. Access to the evidence room is strictly forbidden."\n\n"Listen, I'm working on a big murder case, it's related to Mr. Big, we're looking for any lead, and I need to check something from a previous-" you start to explain exasperatedly.\n\n"Fine, fine. Get back here."\n\nThe desk cop unlocks the hardened metal door leading into his domain and you two go inside. He leads to you the evidence bin for case #5187, which has just a few obsecure items in plastic baggies. The evidence cop starts going through the baggies, showing you that exhibit C doesn't exist, but your real attention is on the bin for case #5191. You see 5191-B laying on top of the bin - a laptop hard drive in a plastic bag. You quickly grab it and shove it down the back of your pants - not the most elegant smuggling spot.\n\n"Jesus, I must of written down the wrong case number. I'll be back," you tell the desk cop, before heading out. He watches you go and sighs.\n\nNow that you have the hard drive, it's time for the meeting.\n\n[[Go to the meeting|Skyscraper 4]]

Nervously, you snatch the small piece of paper from the refridgerator and shove it into your coat pocket. You're up here alone, so there's no risk of being caught. Satisified that your police buddies will never connect The Ox back to Mr. Big, you head back to the police station.\n\nBack at the office, you start running The Ox's name through the police database as slow as humanly possibly, with the hopes that that the case will eventually die a slow death as far as the police are concerned. Suddenly, you're startled when your desk phone rings.\n\nIt's another detective. They found the cell phone on The Ox. He doesn't mention your number, but they Patriot Act'ed the GPS coordinates of where the phone had been and discovered that The Ox had spent most of his nights at Mr. Big's drug warehouse. You silently curse yourself, stealing the address was pointless now.\n\nNarcotics has known forever it was a drug warehouse for Mr. Big, and now with The Ox's death, they have linked it to a crime and have a reason to go in guns blazing. The SWAT team is suiting up for a full assault, and the captian wants you on the team in case there's something relating to The Ox's murder.\n\nYou head down to the warehouse, where a temporary command post has been set up. The SWAT goons are all too happy to give you body armor and an assault rifle. Looks like there's no way to avoid this, your regular job is about to launch D-Day against your moonlighting gig. \n\n[[Lock and load, cowboy.|The Warehouse 1]]

Kevin Schram

Nervously, you snatch the small piece of paper from the refridgerator and shove it into your coat pocket. You're up here alone, so there's no risk of being caught. Satisified that your police buddies will never connect The Ox back to Mr. Big, you head back to the police station.\n\nBack at the office, you start running The Ox's name through the police database as slow as humanly possibly, with the hopes that that the case will eventually die a slow death as far as the police are concerned. Suddenly, you're startled when your desk phone rings.\n\nAn unfamiliar voice is on the other end of the phone. "I know who you are, Jankowski, and I know you're crooked."\n\nPanic streaks through your heart. "Who is this?" you ask.\n\n"A friend. I know all about you, enough to sink your career and get you time in prison. But, we can help each other out. I want you to go into the evidence room and steal evidence #5191-B. Nobody will miss it. Bring it to me, at the skyscraper roof on West and 5th and everybody will walk away fine on this."\n\nThe voice on the other end hangs up. You stare at the phone a minte. You could check out the evidence as a detective, but there would be a log. No, you'd have to steal it. Do you steal the evidence, or go to the meeting empty handed?\n\n[[Steal the evidence]]\n\n[[Go without the evidence|Skyscraper 3]]