James sat in silence for a while, unsure of how much time had passed. Reaching into his pocket, he wanted to grab a cigarette, but felt the photo Xavier had given him. Pulling it out, he looked at the brothel owner and sighed, taking out his burner phone. "Xavier." His voice was tired as he spoke.
"James. You sound sad. Is everything alright?" With his usual calm, he asked. James didn't answer and pulled out his cigarettes, lighting one up.
"I need to know now. This man you want gone. Why? What is so bad about him that you are making me do this?" Xavier stayed silent.
"What do you know of the sex industry, James?" Xavier asked another question instead.
"Not much, just that it exists." Xavier sighed.
"I can assume you don't frequent these places then. What you want isn't to know why I want him gone but why it would be right to do it." Xavier waited for a reply, but getting none, he carried on, "These owners, bar the highest class of establishments, are all scum, James. Debt trapping, grooming, blackmail, they have many ways they get their workers, and once they have them, they never let go. You name it, and he has done it. Of course, it's all perfectly legal on paper, but that's on paper."
"So he's a bad guy?" James asked, making Xavier chuckle.
"He is quite insidious with it. Finding the most desperate women and offering them a salvation that will never come. As for why I want him gone, let's just say it's personal."
"Personal enough to start a war?"
"Do you know when men are most loose-lipped. It happens when they are lying next to a woman. Drugs, weapons, foot soldiers. None of that is real power. Information is. And he hoards that stuff like no one else." Xavier said with certainty. James stared at the man's picture.
"I do this, and you will give me what I want?"
"You do this, and our friendship will be even stronger than you can believe." James took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Thinking back to what Rose said, he knew it was his last chance to let it all die, to step away. The moment he said yes, he would be everything she said he was.
How much did he want it? James looked back on his entire career and life: his failed marriage, Peter, Rose and George. His dealings with the captain and the many times he has already stepped on the blurred line. No matter how much he told himself that he was different to the vigilantes who did as they pleased, he knew he was more like them than a regular cop.
Opening his eyes, he looked at the ad for Hopkins and took a deep inhale of his cigarette. How much did he want it? It was a question he could ask himself an infinite number of times and always get the same answer. "Deal," James flatly said and hung up the phone, letting it drop out of his fingers.
Telling himself it was all for the city at the end of the day couldn't convince him anymore. He knew that part of him did it for that, but that part of him, the need to be the one to solve it, was equally as strong. He could only bitterly laugh at himself. It was, as Rose said, a drug to him. She had only noticed now, but he knew it had always been there. When he ignored his plans with Vannessa, when he chose to drown himself in work rather than drink with Peter, when he made his deals with the Captain and turned a blind eye to Rose's actions.
All of it was just to fuel his need to be right, to solve one more case. Every time, he could tell himself that it would be the final time, that after that, the need would be filled, but it was a lie. Taking another smoke, he looked up at the ceiling of his car and sighed, "If it can protect one more smile, so be it."
-----------------
Rose heard a knock on the door and couldn't help but jump. Running her ability, she crept towards the door and looked through the peephole. Seeing George, she sighed in relief and opened the door for him.
"You alright?" George said, stepping past her and removing his hat. Rose sighed and went back to the sofa, curling up on it and blankly staring at the TV.
"I'm done with him now, and you should too," Rose said with a sadness in her voice.
"What do you mean?" George asked, taking a seat on the other sofa.
"We were never his colleagues, George, just people whom he could use to feed his needs." Rose said with an empty voice, "He's such an asshole."
"That's not true." George warmly said, "How many times has he helped us when he didn't have to?"
"George, when have we ever been invited to his house? Has he ever let us see more than he wanted us to? He kept us around, but only because we were useful. Even today, it was all for the mission. I thought maybe there was more, but no." Rose sighed, "We're idiots."
George looked to the ground, not sure what to say. Taking a deep breath, he smiled, "We can't just leave him alone. I know what you mean, Rose, but he does care about us in his own way." George fiddled with his hands, "We can't leave him alone. If we do, you know what he's like. He will get himself killed."
"He's way over his head this time. Even if we wanted to help, we can't." Rose grabbed her face and held back her tears, "I don't want him to die, but I think this time it will actually happen. And maybe before today, I would have agreed to help, but if it comes down to him and us." Rose couldn't believe what she was about to say and struggled to speak, her voice shaking, "It's us, George."
"You can't be serious."
"I am. He's lost it. Ever since he spoke to Xavier, I think the dam that held back his desires has broken. All that he avoided and hated has now become a way for him to get what he wants." Rose chuckled, "He knows it as well, which is worse."
"Rose, we are the ones who protect this city and all its people. He's included in that." George said it seriously, making Rose smile.
"I know. Which is why I've already spoken to whom I need to. I've done all I can now. Now we can only wait." George looked at her, wondering what had happened today and who she had called. He could tell it wasn't anyone related to the station but something bigger, yet when he thought on it, he came up blank.