Ride or Die.

3️⃣8️⃣

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Officer Lana Moretti
8:08 PM
Brooklyn, New York

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Why do you have to go and make things so complicated? —boomed from the speakers of Dmitri's sedan as he shockingly turned up the volume. 

"Wait! No way, you like this song?"

"Hells yeah," he said before singing along as I joined in absolutely enjoying his company. This was only our third date. Each time I was becoming more & more infatuated with all the things we had in common. Which now included our love for music. 

He pulled into a parking space then we got out and stepped towards the restaurant. Inside, our table waited in the far back of the dim building. We sat and caught up somehow the conversation of our job came up. Which had me recalling what he said about me at the station. "Do you believe it's true now?"

"Excuse me?"

"My need to impress people."

He glanced at the menu "I can't believe you're still dwelling on that."

"You're the first person to think you know me well enough to tell me about myself," I said as we stared into each other's eyes. "So now that I've granted you the opportunity to actually get to know me this past week. I want to know if you think your observation was spot on?"

He sat upright in all of his charming glory. "Absolutely! I think you are a 'pick me' but I can't really judge your situation."

"Why not now?"

"-Because I understand why now and I believe you can change if you let go of your fears. And allow what will happen to happen," he said lamely, making me roll my eyes. "I'm serious if you just surrender a bit of the control that you feel you need to have over every situation surrounding you. Then you'd careless of what others think."

I flipped through the menu without a word to say to that. Not only because it was true. But because it was my truth which was the hardest pill of them all to swallow.

"Oh! Goodness, gracious." A woman seated beside us gasped as the waiter raised the television volume to the local news.

Video footage of the two criminals from the sketches appeared all over the screen. Both stepped off the elevator in white before it shut off. They proceeded to rob the bank.

I couldn't keep my mouth closed—to think we could've prevented all of this before it happened now more innocent lives were taken.

"That's your guy, isn't it?" Dmitri muttered as I simply nodded.

The following day, I literally had to argue with the chief and sheriff to let me travel to Texas, to track them down. They were labeled the modern-day Bonnie & Clyde by the media and praised by crazed fanatics all the same. 

"There's no way I'm letting your frolicky ass step a foot near the big state," he said boldly. "New York is your grounds." 

"Alaska." I corrected.

"Huh?!"

"You referred to Texas as the big state when Alaska is the biggest state in the Un-"

"Are you getting mouthy with me Officer-" he stopped to read my name tag. "You're Greg Moretti's little girl?"

I smiled, "not so little anymore."

He peered at the paperwork on his wooden desk, "say... how about you head on over to Texas and see what you can do." 

"There's no way they're in Texas." One of the jerks from the division felt the need to say. He barged into the office uninvited. "They're probably tanning in Cuba somewhere, no one's stupid enough to want to chill in Texas in this weather."