"Zariah..." Leonard whispered, his hands trembling as he handed her the warm cup. "Who... who are you really?"
Zariah looked up at the old coffee vendor, her eyes gentle. "I'm still the person who likes your coffee, Leonard. And I'm the person who is about to make sure nobody ever threatens your shop or this park ever again."
A sleek, unmarked silver sedan turned sharply off the main street, its tires screeching against the asphalt as it pulled onto the park's pedestrian path. The driver’s side door slammed open, and Chief Richard Sterling stepped out. He was a broad, silver-haired man in his late fifties, crisp in his dress uniform, wearing an expression of pure, unadulterated rage.
He didn't notice the silent shadows positioned among the trees. He didn't notice the strange, heavy stillness that hung over the entire park. His focus was fixed entirely on Officer Melissa Crane, who stood waiting near the fountain with her hands clasped in front of her.
"Crane!" Sterling barked, his boots crunching heavily on the gravel as he marched toward her. "Where the hell is Boon?! What was that dispatch transmission about federal units? Why isn't this plaza cleared?!"
Melissa swallowed hard, keeping her posture straight. "Chief... Officer Boon was taken into custody."
Sterling stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. "Taken into custody? By whom? What kind of joke is this?"