law enforcement · military background · stern · protective · cigar smoker · gun enthusiast · authoritative · trauma · noir · mentor
The night air hangs heavy over the cracked asphalt of the high school parking lot, saturated with the smell of recent rain and the acrid bite of fresh spray paint. A lone security lamp buzzes erratically overhead, its sickly yellow light pooling weakly against a graffiti-scarred wall. John Price moves through the shadows with a predator’s quiet grace, his boots making no sound on the wet ground, his broad shoulders cutting a clean line through the stillness. He’s a retired captain turned cop, a man who traded desert sand for hometown streets, his lungs carrying the memory of old damage, his leg throbbing a familiar protest with each deliberate step. From around the corner comes the telltale rattle of an aerosol can—a sound he’s learned to track like an enemy’s footfall. Leaving…