Luhan jumped as the phone rang and Haruki threw him an amused look as she picked it up. The smile dropped off her face, however, the moment she answered the call. “This isn’t a good time,” she hissed. “You don’t know- yes, but- I can’t. Tomorrow’s too risky. It’ll have to be tonight.” A pause as she listened to the response and she glanced at Luhan, nodding. His shoulders relaxed instantly. “Good. Tonight it is.” Pause. “I know, I know. Two thousand units. I promised didn’t I?” She rolled her eyes at whatever the person on the other end was saying. “Yeah, yeah. Just don’t bring the cops.”

She hung up and Luhan twiddled his thumbs nervously. “Well?” he asked.

“The sting’s set up for tonight,” she replied. “I bring the fake heroin, you be ready to back me up.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?” he asked.

“Honestly?” Haruki sighed and turned the phone over in her hands. “I don’t know. It’s been a while since I’ve done something like this.” She looked hard at him as her fingers clenched the phone ever so slightly. “That’s why I need you to be on your game. If anything doesn’t go as planned, we stop the operation. Got it?”

“Got it.” Luhan swallowed nervously. It was his first sting operation. He should have been excited, but instead, he felt like the time he’d downed a shot of vodka without realizing what it was. An hour later, he’d been in the bathroom, emptying out his dinner, lunch, and possibly dinner from the night before.

Haruki stood up and took off her suit jacket, picking up the scruffy leather one she’d bought for the sting. “I should go and prepare, then. Are the camera and mic working?”

Luhan checked the visual and audio signals he was receiving on his computer and nodded. “Don’t get…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Um, what’s that saying again?”

“Don’t get made.”

“Right.” He offered her an attempt at an encouraging smile. “Don’t get made.”

“You’re late.”

Luhan watched the guy approaching Haruki through the camera hidden in her button, scrambling a bit with the mouse and keyboard in order to begin recording. Unfortunately, this was angled so that he could only see the man’s burly chest and found himself swiping at the screen in an attempt to get an image of the man’s face. The laptop screen was shaking as he tried to adjust it.

“Sorry,” came the man’s voice, which sent an unpleasant crawling sensation scurrying up Luhan’s spine. “I had a little business to take care of. Where is it?”

Haruki sat down and kicked her feet up on the table, leaning back in her chair so that Luhan could finally see the guy’s face. He saved away a photo for evidence and pressed his ear against the speakers so he could hear every word. “It’s right here,” she said, opening up her jacket and patting her back jean pocket. “Have a seat. No need to rush business.”

The guy glared at her suspiciously before sitting opposite her. “Have a drink?” she offered.

“I don’t drink on the job,” he replied.

“Good for you.” Luhan scowled as Haruki placed her full glass right in front of the camera. Then, she seemed to remember this and casually shifted it off to the side. “Hey, I got a little problem I could use your help with.”

The man laughed. “That has to be a new one. Tough chick like you asking for help?”

“I was under the impression men like a damsel in distress,” Haruki said, sliding her feet off the table and leaning forward. Luhan wondered how she’d even forced the words out; he was gagging just listening to them.

“Well, then.” The man leaned forward.

Haruki hesitated a bit before beginning, “There’s a kid giving me a bit of trouble. Little ’s getting scared, and you know the kind of trouble that brings.” The man grunted. “I’ve been thinking about…removing him from the equation.”

Luhan’s heart was pounding as he leaned closer to the screen, and not just because of the chilling effect of Haruki’s words. Seriously, his partner could play the bad guy much too convincingly. But this was it, this was the moment where either she coaxed the confession out of him or she didn’t. His hand hovered over his walkie-talkie as he forced himself to relax slightly. If he pressed too early or too late-

The man snorted. “That’s not a problem, honey, that’s an easy solution. Every heard of cyanide? Greatest poison ever invented. A man gets a whiff up into his nose and bam! He’s had his last breath.”

“You ever smelt cyanide?” Haruki retorted. “It’s easy to detect. Besides, scientists these days have all sorts of tests for poisons and drugs.”

“By the time they know what to look for, the smell will be gone.” The man eyed her suspiciously. “How do you know about those tests, anyway?”

Luhan froze, his shaking finger moving closer to the walkie-talkie, but Haruki merely laughed it off. “Please, how do you expect to stay a step ahead of the cops if you can’t keep up with them?” She shifted slightly. “How do you know it’s so good?”

“I’ve used it hundreds of times,” the man boasted. “That dead man they found in the river three months back? One sniff and it looked like he had a heart attack. Also, the dead homeless man found one block over last week? He was my old partner. Had to get rid of him, though. Like you said, a man’s no good once he’s getting nervous.”

“Really.” The man looked alert at the sudden change in tone of Haruki’s voice, but it was too late for him. At the same time that Luhan had jammed his finger on the panic button of the walkie-talkie, Haruki had whipped out her gun, which had been the supposedly concealed drugs.

“It takes a special kind of idiot to mention hundreds of counts of murder to a cop,” she said. The man got up to run, but was slammed back into his seat by the drug team, who nodded to Haruki.

“Great job, Morita. We’ll take it from here.”

As Luhan leaned back in his chair, breathing a sigh of relief, a voice came over the walkie-talkie, snapping him upright again. “Luhan? You there?”

“Here,” he said quickly.

“Did you get all of that?” Haruki asked. “The confession? I couldn’t get him to say the guy’s name, but-”

“I recorded it all,” Luhan replied. “He admitted to killing the guy, described him exactly, and even admitted the partnership. It’s as good as a full confession.”

“Great job. I knew I could count on you.”

Luhan rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and smiled.