Li Yang scuttled backward until his elbow brushed Tang Ying's sleeve, emboldened. "Captain Tang!" He jabbed a finger at the idling RV. "You're letting these rabble-rousers trample the law?"
Tang Ying sidestepped his spittle. "You're the one trampling the badge."
Xiao Yang leaned against the armored vehicle, crunching a freeze-dried apple. "Need a megaphone for your tantrum, princess?"
The RV's reinforced tires crushed ice crystals as Li Yang's face purpled. "My father will—"
"—build you a coffin if you keep yapping." Xiao Yang tossed the apple core. It bounced off Li Yang's forehead, leaving a sticky trail. "Now scram."
But Li Yang clung to the door handle like a barnacle. "Captain Tang wouldn't abandon a fellow officer!"
Tang Ying's gloved hand paused on the assault rifle slung across her back. Moonlight glinted off the safety toggle flicked to fire.
Xiao Yang smirked. "Sure, Officer Li. Hop in." His smile didn't reach his eyes. Let the rat enter the trap.
——
The RV reeked of gun oil and roasted rabbit. Li Yang elbowed past Mu Wanqing to claim the shotgun seat. "A civilian driving police-grade armor? Bet you've got contraband in here."
Yang Yang, the German Shepherd police K9, growled low in its throat.
"Even the dog knows trash when it smells it," Xiao Yang muttered, flooring the accelerator. Li Yang's head smacked the bulletproof window.
——
Floodlights bathed the villa gates at dawn. Li Yang lunged for the door. "Captain Tang! Our shared duty—"
Mu Wanqing grabbed his collar. Her biceps flexed beneath rolled sleeves, scarred from blade practice. One fluid toss sent him sprawling into a snowdrift.
"Door's that way," Xiao Yang called as electric gates hummed shut. "Try not to freeze solid before your daddy's goons arrive."
Li Yang's sputtering dissolved into a shriek. "THAT FUCKING DOG WALKED RIGHT IN!"
Yang Yang trotted past the security cameras, tail wagging at the thermal scanner's approving beep.
Xiao Yang crouched to scratch the shepherd's ears. "Good boy. Now guard the perimeter from... vermin."
Through the villa's heated glass walls, they watched Li Yang pound his fists bloody on the gates. Tang Ying accepted a steaming bowl of venison stew from Lu You.
"Regrets?" Xiao Yang nodded at the raging speck outside.
She sipped broth, watching Yang Yang lift his leg on Li Yang's abandoned service cap. "Just one."
"Hm?"
"Should've let the dog bite him."
Laughter echoed through the safehouse as snow began to fall—thick, silencing, final.
Somewhere beyond the walls, a pistol shot rang out. Then silence.
Mu Wanqing lowered her binoculars. "Rabid strays never last long."
Xiao Yang raised his mug. "To civilized company."
Yang Yang barked approval, his snout glistening with stolen bacon.