It was a Friday at 6:30a.m. when the call came in. My partner and I were headed to the station. I was driving nice and slow since we couldn't call a 10-10 until 7a.m. The town would be left pretty much without police service for the next thirty minutes. Cop cars were simply wandering around waiting for shift change. Sure we would answer calls but the dispatchers would hold all non emergency calls for the oncoming officers. No cop wanted to go overtime after a midnight shift, so the on coming officer understood to expect calls when they checked in.

If you want to bust a red light, do it at ten minutes till seven in the morning. Unless you hit an old lady crossing the street, while using a walker, you get a buy. Even if you hit her, it might get an immediate response unless she needed an ambulance.

Annie was the only cop still alert when the radio call came. 10-33 traffic, shots fired and hostages being held at the Mcdonalds Restaurant on main street. I looked over at Annie who had exactly the same expression she had before the call.

"You want to watch me eat an Egg Mcmuffin this morning?"

"Sure why not, they all look the same to me." she replied. Annie was making strides in her slang but she still hadn't learned to sound sarcastic. It was a reference to the fact that Annie never ate.

"421 responding to Mcdonalds," I said into the radio on my shoulder.

"!0-4... 421 be advised there will be two vice squad officers in plain clothes in the parking lot."

"Wonder what vice is doing on the scene? They never answer calls." I said it aloud even though I doubted that Annie would comprehend it. She was still picking up the tiny details.

"What are we going to do there.?" she asked.

"Help seal off the area."

The night shift sargent met us in the parking lot and assigned us to the rear of the building. It was our job to block the rear entrance and keep the road empty so Emergency vehicles could enter.

"One thing for sure sarge, we ain't gonna starve them out any time soon." I said that as I pulled the car to the rear of the building. We switched our radios to tach 2. I would be a closed frequency for us to communicate with the other units on the scene without having to involve dispatch.

I was waiting for one of the day units to relieve us when it dawned on me there would be no relief. The town needed to be policed normally so the guys on the scene would just be getting overtime.

I watched the marked cruiser pull up along side of us. "Edgar the Sargent wants you in front. I'll take over back here. Pull around the block but stay out of the parking lot." The message was from another midnight shift officer.

"Lieutenant Myers wants to see you," the sargent said.

I found him standing outside the mobile command center truck. In the days of cell phones I wondered why we needed a command truck. Probably some electronic whiz bang I wouldn't understand.

"You want to see me Bob?" He hated anyone calling him by his name. He was a college boy who rose through the administration area of the department. He had an inferiority complex as well he should. His street experience was a couple of years of being protected by his rabbi. He almost never got a tough assignment and when he did, he hung back. 'Do nothing and you make no mistakes,' seemed to be his creed.

"Edgar do you know a mooch named Larry Winston?"

It took me a second to place him. "Yeah, stickup guy I busted five years ago. Is he the one in there?"

"Yes, Larry and his two brothers are the ones. He wants to talk to you face to face."

"Probably wants to bust a cap in my ass before he goes back to the joint," I suggested.

"If you don't go in there someone is going to get hurt."

"I'll go in if you do," I replied loud enough for those around us to hear.

"I'm the negotiator it's against protocol. He will trade half the hostages for you."

"My ass, I am not going to die for half. Get them all and I'll go in."

"I tried that, he said no."

"Then I say no." I smiled at the lieutenant. I knew that the punk ass, sissy cop couldn't order me to go in there. I let that sink in then I said, "Hand me the damn phone." He didn't like giving up the symbol of his authority but he knew that everyone had heard. If it went south, it would be on his ass, not mine.

"Larry you piece of dog shit what you want with me?"

"I want somebody in here I know they won't shoot."

"Man are you screwed, I am about the least likely guy to use as a shield. Nobody in the department gives a crap if I live or die."

"Yeah Edgar I figured that, you got all the charm of a pit bull,. You also got a piss pot full of medals. I know that lady TV reporter likes you. They gonna think twice before the blow your ass up."

"You want me, you gotta send out all the hostages. I'll even bring in a lady cop with me. She is worth ten of me publicity wise."

You gonna bring me that robot partner of yours?"

"You betcha," I replied. "These sissy cops might blow my ass up, but a five million dollar toy, no way in hell."

He thought about it long enough that I knew he was going to bite. "No guns edgar," he demanded.

"No Guns, you have my word. I'm wouldn't lie to you."

"Strip to your shorts and tee shirt. I don't trust you."

"How about Annie?"

"She does the same."

I had never seen Annie without her uniform. She would have been attractive if I hadn't known that under her bra there were electrical connections instead of a heart.

The hostages came out and we went in. The next demand was for a car, full of gas and safe passage to the airport. The or else was me and Annie in pieces. The TV news crew would be seeing my body parts come out the door. Annie's would follow. There was no way that Annie's parts were going anywhere. It would take one big assed torch to disconnect her. Still I would be pretty easy to take apart with just the kitchen knives.

I decided that I didn't care to leave my fate in the hands of the sissy cops outside. As quickly as a fat old man could, I moved to take Larry's younger brother Earl out. It wasn't all that difficult. None of my guards were James Bond. The table were littered with those plastic knives and forks that fast food restaurants are infamous for. You can't cut a piece of sausage with one, but you can stab a guy in the throat. Earl went down that way. I ended up with his blood all over me and his Saturday night special. He ended up bleeding to death on the floor.

Annie took out Willie. His pistol had no effect at all on Annie. There having agreed to have a hundred pounds of android, with my killer instinct, in the building was proof positive of how stupid they were. Annie snapped his neck like a twig.

He did manage to get off a single show which bounced off her chest. While Larry was wondering what the hell was happening, I shot him in the eye. It was a lucky shot. I had intended to shoot him in the chest. I am a terrible shot it should have missed him all together but I was close.

When Annie and I came out, at first we were threatened with suspension and dismantling. She was the on going to be suspended, I was going to be dismantled. But when the press told the story and it got picked up nationally, we became bullet proof.

Of course the Sissy cops got all the credit officially, but that ain't how it played on the street.