Summary

In Chapter 1, LAPD Detective Renee Ballard has chosen to park her police car under an overpass leading up to the final moments of 2020. She knows that people will fire guns into the air at midnight without regard for where these bullets will fall. Detective Lisa Moore is complaining about their location because of the homeless people who live here alongside a couple of portable toilets installed by the city. Ballard points out that the homeless have no options. Both detectives are in uniform because of the tactical alert situation due to the holiday. A man without a shirt says someone has stolen from him. Ballard refuses to lower the window because the man has no mask. He curses at them. Moore and Ballard have been hearing a lot worse recently.

In Chapter 2, Ballard and Moore hear a few pops followed by five minutes...