Another Win For The Police Duo

Raphael crouched down, cocking his gun. His left hand strayed over to rub the spot on Zeus' head between his ears.

The dog made no move.

Raphael continued to watch the small mud-brick house. The cloth door was swaying in the slight breeze.

He knew they were in there. He was just waiting for the right moment.

Raphael counted to 30 after he saw the small bit of movement behind the door. The shuffling of feet.

"Vado, Zeus!" Raphael commanded in Latin.

Zeus, a large German Shepherd, took off running into the house.

Raphael heard shouting and gun shots, and then a loud bark - one that indicated Raphael to come. Zeus seemed to have made quick work.

Raphael swiftly entered the house and surveyed the four men laying on the ground with their hands on their head, guns kicked away.

They must have seen Zeus' police uniform and gave up.

Raphael gave a small smile to Zeus. "Good boy. Maneat!" (Stay)

Raphael walked around the panting men and pulled up a hatch door. The small area revealed couldn't have been bigger than eight feet deep and 10 feet wide. Inside, drugs and guns were packed to the brim.

Raphael called his unit in before arresting the four men.

Not five hours later, Raphael and Zeus were on a flight to New York. Home.

Zeus and Raphael were a very good pair. Raphael had been a cop for 5 years. He graduated top of his class when he was 20, and had been a cadet since he was 18. Now, he was the Deputy Chief. His father was Chief. And Zeus is only 2 years old. He had been training since birth until Raphael adopted him. Zeus isn't needed much in New York, but he goes a lot of places with Raphael if criminals leave the country. For 1 month, Raphael had been tracking these people but then they disappeared. He found out they were in Afghanistan. So he followed them. And so did Zeus.

Upon leaving the airport after reaching New York, Raphael spotted his mother. Sofia was 54 years old, married, and had three kids. But she was divorced once. The first time, she divorced Raphael's father - Manolo - because she felt he loved his job more than he loved her. Which, of course, wasn't true. Manolo just had an extremely hard time communicating which eventually led to later problems. While therapy helped, it was too late to mend things with his wife. Raphael was 6 when they divorced. One year later, he had a half-brother. Michael. Three years after that, Andrea.

Raphael was 7 years older than Michael, and 10 years older than Andrea.

Sofia was Italian and she liked to use the traditional names, but Manolo was Spanish. Raphael learned both Italian and Spanish. Not to mention, English and Latin. He was born in the US and didn't pick up any accents of his other ethnicities, but when he spoke a certain language, you could tell he was fluent.

Sofia was the daughter of a CEO and she eventually inherited the business from her parents. Now that she was getting older, she wanted Raphael to take over. But Raphael was stubborn and liked his job now.

Eventually, he planned on co-owning the business with Michael, but Michael was only 18 right now. Raphael wanted to wait a couple more years until he was ready.

Sofia smiled brightly at her son and walked up to give him a hug.

Zeus sat down patiently next to Raphael's feet. He didn't bark, growl, whimper, etc. He made no noises aside from his occasional panting. He was a very disciplined dog.

Raphael set his black duffel bag down and embraced his mother. Between him, his mother, and his father, he looked more like his father. With dark brown hair, medium length as it barely reached halfway down his neck. He had dark grey eyes, but what made them so interesting was how they looked almost white. He inherited that from neither parent.

Standing at 6'5, he towered over his 5'7 mother. Besides his height, he was very physically built with only 7.9% total body fat. He worked hard to keep his body in shape and it showed. Most women in the airport discreetly ogled him. And his dog who was just so stinking cute.

"Oh, my baby boy!" Sofia exclaimed, stepping back.

Raphael gave the smallest of smiles.

"Come, come!" Sofia said, leading them towards the car. "Michael and Andrea came, too."

When Raphael opened the side door for Zeus, Andrea squealed and jumped onto Raphael.

Raphael staggered back, wrapping his arms around his sister.

Sofia was watching the exchange from the driver's seat with a loving smile.

Raphael set Andrea on the ground.

She was 5'4. She looked like an elf compared to Raphael.

Andrea had more of her father's looks. At first, Callum was just a sperm-donor (for Michael), but then he reconnected with Sofia and married her later. After their marriage, they had Andrea.

Callum had light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a 5'11 build. He had much fairer skin than Sofia. And Michael took more after Sofia. They shared the same darker hair, dark eyes, and tan skin.

Michael, at 18, was 5'10.

Raphael never liked Callum. Callum was and never would be good enough for his mother. But he backed off and didn't say anything because she was happy.

"Oh, hello, Zeusy!" Andrea cooed, dropping onto her knees to pet Zeus.

Zeus glanced at Raphael as if asking questions.

Raphael chuckled, always marveling at how smart Zeus was.

Michael stepped out of the car as Andrea continued to pet Zeus and make baby noises at him.

"Hey, man," Michael said, grasping Raphael's hand. "How was the flight?"

"Fine. How was Mom?"

Michael chuckled, picking up Raphael's bag and placing it in the car.

"She worried day and night," Michael said. "We had to take away her phone because she kept tracking you."

Raphael sighed. Yep, that sounds like his mom.

"Did you get them?" Andrea asked, standing up.

"Yup," Raphael said. "Now hurry up and let's go."