Prequel Teaser: A short scene from "Cartoons, Crime, and Coincidence"

Vin waited impatiently for the clerk to return with his cheque. The bounty he'd brought in was not worth much, having only been wanted for running a successful fraud scam, and he'd been very compliant about his capture, but he'd also been incredibly boring. Vin was tired, mentally and physically, and longed for nothing more than a hotel room with a hopefully comfy bed.

He was leaning against the counter, idly watching the people coming and going through the busy police station lobby. Cops and hookers, junkies and juvenile delinquents. Witnesses and complainants, reporters and lawyers. Nothing he hadn't seen a million times before in one place or another. The usual types expected in any law enforcement department, doing the same thing here as those like them did everywhere.

Then in walked someone he wasn't expecting at all. The man, tall and dark-haired, entered with a woman of Native American descent. They moved with purpose across the active thoroughfare, undisturbed by the chaotic flow of pedestrians. Vin stiffened imperceptibly, lowering his eyelids so he could observe the pair without attracting attention.

He watched covertly as the man said something to the obviously distraught woman, then raised his head to scan the room. Vin knew the moment the man spotted him, though he could figure no passing observer would be able to detect the minor change in the man's demeanor. He and the man locked eyes from across the crowded lobby.

Holding that cold blue-eyed gaze so much like his own, Vin nodded slightly and flicked a few fingers in the other man's direction.

The man saw the motion, narrowed his eyes, and blinked twice in reply.

Then the clerk was handing him his cheque, and Tanner turned to deal with the bureaucratic rigmarole. When he looked up again, the man and woman were gone.

Mind spinning, Vincent Tanner collected his money and headed for the nearest exit. He still longed for that bed, but he knew he wouldn't be seeing it for awhile.

Something else had come up.