Kamau Kenyatta

Since Pandora had agreed to turn herself in, with the intent to become a confidential informant, Mau felt better about keeping...everything to himself. Soon enough, what he knew would become what his bosses knew too. He was sure that, given their relationship, he would be asked if he was aware beforehand.

He was going to tell them the closest thing to the truth possible. The only fib, he supposed, would be that becoming a CI was Dora's idea. He'd discussed that with her as well, to make sure they didn't contradict each other. It was...borderline illegal, and parts of it made Mau uncomfortable, but it was nothing he couldn't handle.

Sunday, Pandora went over the plan with Dominic, and as far as Mau knew, the man had been less than pleased, but resigned to his fate. Mau would've liked to be able to say that only Dora needed to turn herself in, but he couldn't. Dominic was with her, they were a partnership, and he wouldn't have the same immunity she had. In fact, if Dom didn't get in on this, both Panda and Mau could get in trouble if it ever came out that they lied about Dora having a partner.

And Dominic knew that.

So he'd begrudgingly agreed.

That he still managed to be begrudging towards a plan that saved his ass just proved Mau's opinion; that Dominic sucked, okay.

But, Dom was Pandora's friend, and...literal partner in crime, so Mau had to deal with that.

Come Monday, she was nervous as they went into work that day, with Dominic huffily in the back seat. Mau held her hand reassuringly as he drove, and when he came to park, he leaned over and kissed her lips with a soft, "It'll be okay." She had a good lawyer, she and Dom both, and Mau was confident that everything would be just fine.

Pandora nodded her head, still anxious, but trying to take her boyfriend's words to heart.

After a few more moments of reassurance and...to be honest, stalling, they all made their way inside the police department. Mau clocked in like usual, but...instead, Dora made for Sergeant Kingsley's office, with Dominic behind her. Despite the fact that the jig already may as well have been up, Dom was still sweating like a pig, being here.

As Mau was heading into the locker room, Scottie and Vito were exiting, and noticed just as Pandora was disappearing into the sergeant's office. "Uh-oh," said Scottie, gesturing. "Something up?"

"Who's that guy?" Vito asked, referring to Dominic.

Mau exhaled. The thing about CIs was that, for their safety, the general police populace didn't know about it unless they needed to. It made set-up arrests look and feel more authentic that way, and it made it harder for them to be ratted out accidentally.

The less that knew, the better. Even if Mau would trust his friends.

"Dunno," said Mau with a shrug. "You guys heading out?"

After receiving confirmation, and exchanging goodbyes, he retreated into the locker room, before going out on patrol.

As he'd done many times before, Mau tried to focus less on making a lot of arrests, and stuck with...tamer duties. After all, he couldn't help but be preoccupied with what was going on back at the station. He hoped Sergeant Kingsley took this opportunity. Hoped that he didn't look a gift horse in the mouth.

Because if Mau was wrong….

He'd just put his girlfriend in prison. For a very long time.

And the thought of that broke his heart.

Controlling said thought was proving difficult, which was why he was avoiding putting himself in a position where he had to make snap judgments. Because he could easily foresee himself falling into a pit.

He didn't want to be the next Scottie.

It was a good while into his shift that he was called back to the PD, and it wasn't exactly difficult to imagine why. Sergeant Kingsley wanted to have a...conversation. Unsurprisingly, regarding Robin Hood.

Which really meant Pandora, obviously.

Who...wasn't at her desk, which was a bit worrisome considering he hadn't heard from her yet.

However, Kingsley just wanted Mau's perspective on this. He wanted to know if Mau had known, for how long, what his thoughts were, and if Dora's proposal was in fact Mau's idea.

Mau told the truth on all accounts except for the last, something he and Dora had already gone over, and something he trusted she went with.

And Kingsley believed.

However he also said that he couldn't tell Mau anything about it. He couldn't say if Dora was getting her wish, or the opposite either. That much, Mau understood. He hadn't expected to hear it from Kingsley.

Despite the sergeant expression that technically Pandora couldn't say much either, Mau still expected to hear it from her. And...he was pretty sure, deep down, Kingsley expected that too.

The man wasn't the cleanest cop in the world, truth be told.

Thankfully, at some point, Dora did text Mau that everything went...okay. At least, she thought so. She wasn't in a cell, so that had to mean something. Mau told her her that he would see her soon, before heading home.

He said that, but he didn't expect it to be...so soon.

Mau was both surprised, and...not surprised to find that his door was unlocked and Pandora was already sitting in his apartment, casually sat on the couch watching television. When he entered, she looked over the back of the couch and gave a smirk in his direction. "Hey," she said, the full knowledge of what she'd done clear in her tone.

"Hi," Mau responded, shutting the door and locking it again. He went over to her, deciding to just...ignore the fact that she'd broken in again, for now, and leaned over to kiss her softly. "How did it go? You're here, so I assume not terribly."

Dora chuckled, slipping from the couch and walking around it to wrap her arms around his neck. "Sergeant Kingsley said he had to take it up with the FBI. He, uh…kept me there until they got back to him. It was really boring."

Mau snorted.

"But, then they said they would review the case, which is...kind of acceptance. I won't...know for like, four months, but Kingsley also said he didn't think I was a danger to the community and decided to just send me home." Pause. "I didn't go home."

"I noticed," Mau chuckled, squeezing her waist. "You didn't get the sack, did you?"

She shrugged. "I don't think so. He didn't really mention that."

He hummed, leaning his forehead against hers for a few moments, letting himself be relieved that she would be alright. Considering that she was hardly a dangerous criminal or a flight risk, Mau had a hard time believing the FBI would pass up a chance to have someone like Robin Hood on their side. So he decided to leave it at that, and not worry about it.

There was something else Pandora needed to worry about.

"You broke into my apartment again," he pointed out.

Dora giggled. "I did," she admitted, shamelessly, smugly even. "Going to arrest me, Officer Kenyatta?"

Mau reached for the cuffs still at his belt. "I'm a man of my word."

….She looked surprised as he quite literally started to take her hands and cuff them. "...Mau, what—"

"You have the right to remain silent," he started, a bit of a smirk crawling across his face as he began to pull her away from the couch and toward his bedroom door. "...But I doubt you will."

Thank you for spending your time reading Vigilante!

Alexis and I write quite a bit and we currently have dozens of books that we have completed and we are still currently writing together. If you enjoy any of our novels, reviews of support and following only encourage us to post and share the stories that we write together. Little feedback diminishes our motivation. Therefore, anything is welcome! Please let us know if there is an interest in us possibly writing a sequel. Otherwise, feel free to enjoy other novels that we have posted on Alice's account, ChemistryOfLife.

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