"Come on Hans we gotta go!"
Gideon yells at his brother while furiously packing his bags with as much as he can fit. He looks over after not hearing a response to find Hans grinning ear to ear as he stuffs T-shirts and briefs into a duffle bag. Hans pauses what he's doing and looks over at Gideon wide eyed and still grinning. He starts to chuckle in pure adrenal excitement.
"We did it, Gideon. We fucking did it." Hans cheers quietly.
Gideon joins his brother with a chuckle and a head shake, continuing to pack.
"Come on idiot, we need to finish here and leave ASAP before dad gets back."
"BOYS!" a thunderous roar and heavy footsteps were heard in the hallway.
"Gideon! Hans! I know you're both in there. Come out now. We need to talk." Canon, the owner of SRE Enterprises, the largest in the state, had just finished a phone call with his assistant. Someone within the business had stolen millions of dollars from his company without his knowing, only to find out that day when the money had been withdrawn from his accounts.
"Canon honey, what's wrong? Why are you yelling? Where are the boys?" Their mother quickly emerged from her room sounding scared after hearing her husband furiously banging on the door to the boys' bedroom. Canon looked at her with concern and guilt, breathing heavy. He wasn't sure if his sons were the culprits. They were supposed to be the heirs to his business, but never showed genuine interest. Canon worked with Gideon and Hans since they were in their early teens. Teaching them the ins and outs of everything they needed to know to continue their family business.
"I think the boys ran off with the company's money." Canon said, standing up straight from the door with a hand over his mouth.
"We need to call the police! How could they do such a thing!?" Jocasta burned red with anger, the money she married into being stolen by her own kin. As she turned to make the phone call, Canon caught her by the arm.
"What are you doing!? We have to report this!"
"No," he growled as he stopped her. Thinking. "I'll make the call and keep the details to a minimum. I'll let them run. They won't get very far with dirty money."
Phones are ringing, people are yelling, some crying. The smell of stale coffee and printer ink wafts through the air. Cassian makes his way through the precinct to meet the officer who is temporarily transferred for disciplinary measures. Walking with confidence in his step, head held high, he knows he's the best detective in town, graduated top of his class. His colleagues greet him as he passes. He tips his head and raises his coffee mug as a greeting. Rounding the corner, Cassian is met with his boss and the transfer, Kells. His boss turns to meet Cassian with a grim smile.
"Cassian, good morning. I'd like you to meet our temp," he reaches to put a hand on his shoulder "Kells this is Cassian. You'll be working under him for the time being. I'll let you two get to know each other." He flashes a smile at the men before disappearing into his office. Cassian reaches his free hand for a shake and Kells obliges.
"So, what'd you do?" Cassian asks, taking back his hand and putting it in his front pocket. Kells snorts as he looks away, surprised by the confrontation. Cassian keeps his eyes locked on Kells as he takes a sip from his mug.
"Let's just say my colleague started internal investigations and didn't like how good I was." He crosses his arms and stands up tall. Cassian was interested in the details but kept any questions to himself as he wasn't too much a fan of the sass that loomed from Kells. They would be working together for some time and he wanted that time to be smooth.
He takes Kells around the precinct to his office and reaches across his desk. Retrieving a stack of paperwork, he plops it onto the coffee table sitting in front of two leather arm chairs. Turning to face Kells, Cassian is met with more unwanted sass.
"The fuck is all this?" Kells asks, furrowing his brows, giving Cassian a one up.
"Your job," Cassian retaliates, making his way back around to his desk.
"I'm better than a pile of paperwork, come on."
"You answer to me," Cassian says as he takes a seat and powers on his computer, "and I answer to my boss."
Kells shakes his head in annoyance but sits down across from Cassian and starts to organize the stack he was given into different piles. Cassian looks up from his computer screen, scanning Kells, and realizes he looks awfully familiar. Not being able to shake the idea, he starts to research the databases and news for anything on Kells. Murders, missing persons, robberies and even kidnappings he's solved them all, alone, with imprisonment for the right offenders, all with solid evidence. Why was he here? If an officer this good was transferred for disciplinary action he must have done something unquestionable. Cassian chews the edge of his lower lip as he continues to catch glimpses of Kells from around his screen.
"I can feel you staring daggers into me, pretty boy," Kells says, not looking up from what he's doing.
"Why are you really here?"
"You searched me up didn't you?"
"Couldn't help myself. Thought I saw you on the news not too long ago. Wanted to do my own internal investigation."
Kells let out a single laugh under his breath with a smile and looked up at Cassian, raising a brow.
"Like what you see?"
Cassian thought about everything he just learned and everything he already knew. Nothing was adding up. A perfect record should not have gotten him punished. So why?
"It is impressive," Cassian says as he leans back into his chair with his arms crossed, "You did something that landed you here but I can see you aren't gonna tell me what it is."
"Telling you straight up would ruin all the fun," Kells says, still smiling. As Cassian was about to answer, the phone on his desk rang. It was his boss. He uncrossed his arms and reached for the phone to take the call. Kells watched, intrigued, as Cassian was calm and composed throughout the entire conversation. His ears perked up when he heard his name and the word 'case' in the same sentence. Cassian shifts his gaze to Kells, to the stack of paperwork on the coffee table, and back up to him, silently telling him to get back to work. Kells rolls his eyes and pretends to continue organizing while listening as best he can. Picking up any hints from the conversation taking place just a few feet in front of him was his biggest interest. Not the stack of papers. The random shuffling with his head down did not seem to work. Cassian hung up the phone abruptly and rose from his seat. Kells looked up to see the face of an excited detective.
"Boss wants to talk to us in his office"
He motions for Kells to follow him and they make their way back around the precinct to the bosses office. Cassian taps his knuckle on the glass door to knock as they enter, noticing his boss is on another call. He looks up from the phone and points at the small couch that's in the middle of his office. As Cassian and Kells both take a seat, the boss hangs up to end his call. He looks up at the two men and pauses briefly, not sure if what he is about to propose will upset his best detective. He locks eyes with Kells.
"Kells"
"Sir," he answers immediately.
"You are here on temporary leave from your home precinct and I was informed of what we are not allowed to assign you. One of those being solo cases." He interlocked his fingers and rested his forearms on the desk. He looked at Cassian for him to acknowledge where this was going who, to his surprise, nodded in agreement.
"Cassian here told me briefly about your work as a detective. All solo cases. All solved, catching the right guy," he unlocked his fingers and stood from his seat to round his desk and stand in front of the two men who stood with him.
"There's a very special case that was just called in and I want you both on it, as partners."
Both Cassian and Kells were solo investigators. Solving cases by themselves in just as much time as those partnered. They didn't like the idea of being assigned to a case with each other after climbing the ladder to do their work alone. The two men listened intently to their boss as he continued to explain. It was either this case with a partner, or more paperwork.
"It's gonna be a tricky one, but I think you two can pull it off."
Cassian and Kells felt a flame of excitement rush through them.
"8 million dollars was lost in fraudulent embezzlement funds from our man Canon over at SRE Enterprises. We do not know any names nor do we have any faces to go off of. You two are to go into the city, undercover, and investigate any potential inner circles..."
The boss continued to explain the details and expectations as the two men thought about working with each other. Cassian sees Kells as flirtatious and egotistical, someone he'd have a hard time getting along with. Kells sees Cassian as closed off, possibly a 32 year old virgin, also someone he'd have a hard time getting along with. Being partners meant nothing but business to the boss and who worked with who was not his problem.