Lars walked up to the police station steps with his briefcase in hand. His thoughts about the coming actions were very well calculated, but there was still a large underlying risk. He inhaled deeply, the smug wet Louisiana air filled his lungs. He thought to himself, I hope everything in this town is as polluted as the air, taking a step froward he exhaled slowly. Moving up to the large doors he extended his hand grabbing the old door swinging it open.

As he moved into the station lobby the smell of old wood and musk flooded his his senses. This places was falling part It looked like it hadn’t been painted in years, the floors were scuffed and well worn. He approached the reception desk. His eyes studied the woman behind it intently as he did with everyone. She appeared to be in her late forties, skin worn and pale, and her hair had gray streaks randomly growing through it.

“Can I help you?” Her voice was horse and scratchy, probably due to the countless cigarettes that she had smoked through the years,

“I have an appointment with Captain Toav” Lars’ voice was firm but calm. A lot depended on this meeting, if it went well it could mean that he was now in the with captain of the CDPD and would now be seventy-five grand richer after he had finished his payouts.

“Name” her voice was flat and uninterested, her eyes seemed to never leave the screen in front of her. It was probably some soap opera or game show.

“Calhern the captain is –” Lars was cut off mid sentence

“– Through that door” Her pushed towards a large metal door. Lars pushes his body towards the door, a confident swagger that he carried on the outside was well practiced, in actuality he had swarms of butterflies in his stomach. His eyes moved to the door reading the beat up sign Authorized Personnel Only. Suddenly the door opened, exposing the black detective that he had dealt with earlier, looking past the averaged sized man he saw a series of metal detectors, the usual guards were gone, meaning that he was not going to have to answer in unnecessary questions.

“Your gonna’ to have to leave that here” The detective said as Lars approached, “Cap’in’s orders” the detective’s eyes had moved to Lars’ briefcase. Lars not saying a word walked to the corner, bending down setting it on the ground, promptly standing back up turning his body to face the man. Lars then nodded to the detective spreading his arms out wide, turning around in a slow circle stopping as the detective approached to pat him down. Lars knew not to bring gun to this meeting, Lars knew not to bring a gun to the police station for that matter. After the pat down Lars and the detective moved to the elevator, walking through the open doors, Lars turned around holding his hands in front of him. The both stood in the elevator in silence, this was not a social call, Lars’ mind was on one thing, and that was the business in front of him. Breath, Stay Confident, Don’t expose yourself too much, and for good sakes BREATH, Lars thought to himself. Brought out of his thoughts by the dinging of the elevator he followed the detective down the hall stopping in front of a door that said Hathian Police Department Captain, the detective reached out his hand knocking on the door hard three times before turning around and heading back to the elevator.

“‘Bout time!” the voice bellowed from within, Lars just stood outside, he knew better than to try to open the door without permission. There was a bit of russiling of papers inside, and movement before the door suddenly opened, exposing the Captain. “Welcome Mr. Calhern, I hear we have some business to discuss.” Lars looked over the man intently. The captain appeared to be about the same size as Lars but definitely a good deal older, early forties if he had to guess. The man had a deep dark skin, appeared to be like leather well worn and tough, his dark hair had some gray peeking through in spots. His voice was that of confident man, but carried a certain level of southern draw that you would get from living in the south for to long. Dressed in a button down shirt and some slacks, he was rather casual, but he could be it was his office.

“That we do” Lars replied with a business like voice, firm and confident. The captain turned to his left sweeping his left hand across his body towards the center of the room, welcoming Lars in the office before moving to his desk. Lars walked in quietly shutting the door behind him, looking about the room in an attempt to get a better understanding of the captain. The office had boxes that were yet to be unpacked, it appeared that the captain was still moving in, the new brass name plate on the desk simply read Captain Nadir Toav, looking around on the desk there was a few pictures of his family and kids, a few papers with police business that need to be attended to, a desk lamp and a few pens lying around. Lars eyes drifted around the office seeing book shelves half full with law books, and things of that nature, never having an encounter with a captain of any police force this was a whole new level to him. Lars approached a chair in front of an old oak desk as Nadir sat down. Nadir pushed himself down into a plush old leather chair, extending his hand offering Lars a seat. Lars gave a small nod before sitting down himself, leaning back a bit, staying business like.

“So what can I do for you?” Nadir asked as Lars took his seat.

“Well” Lars said, pausing searching for the right words, staying confident he continued “I need a favor.”

“Favors cost money” Nadir paused before letting out a slight chuckle “Different type of favors have a different level of cost. So let me ask you this, Does the size of your wallet match the size of your favor?” Letting a small smirk grow across Lars’ face, money was not the concern, his business kept him with a large sum of money.

“I do.” Lars replied, “I need you to get in touch with the New Orleans Police Department, I have some business to take care of down at the port. I need some sort of assurance that I will get not interference from some local ‘goody two shoes’ trying to make a name for himself.” Lars reached into his chest pocket pulling out one of his business cards, on it was was a hand written number 15,000. Lars set the card down on the desk face up, sliding it to Nadir for him to inspect. Lars studied Nadir’s face for a reaction, all that he saw was a slight nod as Nadir looked up.

“I will see what I can do,” Nadir replied “I got an old friend down there, I will give him a call.” Nadir then let a smile grow extending his hand to Lars “I think that this is the start of a beautiful relationship.”

Lars took the hand shaking it as they booth stood up “I think so,” letting his hands fall to his side he started moving towards the door with Nadir “Your first installment as a sign of good faith is down stairs in my briefcase”

“I will give you a call when its done, and then we will set up the rest of the payment” Nadir said politely ushering Lars out of his office closing the door behind Lars as he exited.

Lars breathed a small sigh of relief as he walked out of the police station. Drawing his prepaid cell phone out of his pocket he typed out a quick message, We’re on, then pressed send. Lars slid the first phone into his pocket then pulled out his personal Blackberry, he always carried two phones, the prepaid was for shady business and he used the personal to keep track of more normal things. Sliding down his contact list to the name Jim, he connected the number drawing the phone up to his hear waiting for the familiar voice.

“Whats up?” Jim’s voice rang through the receiver

“Get prepared we leave in twenty-four” Lars hung up the phone not waiting for a response and headed to his apartment. A smirk grew across his face content that things were falling into place.