Officer Bill Hardcheck got out of the shower and walked naked through the locker room of the police 
station. He had just got through working out and had a nice pump. He had the big man walk, shoulders 
square, arms pushed out from his sides, massive legs pushing by each other. He liked to think of 
it as the walk of a predator. Bill was a big man, 6’2, 280 pounds of beef. He was the biggest 
officer in the precinct and one of the biggest on the whole force. He knew he was massive and liked 
the way he looked and never missed a chance to flaunt in front of his fellow cops. A few of his other 
veteran cops would make half hearted jokes, but many had learned years ago Bill was not a man to be 
crossed. He had a nasty temper and was not adverse to taking a loud mouth out back in the alley and 
giving him an ass kicking. 

Bill went to his locker, dried off and started putting on his uniform. His proportions made it 
necessary to have it custom made. Since he had his uniforms made for him he could have had them 
tailor where they hid or camouflaged his massive physique. Bill didn’t look for camouflage, he 
wanted the exact opposite. His uniforms were tailored to show off his massive body. Not in the 
underwear model kind of way, but in the in your face intimidation kind of way.  His shirt sleeves 
were shorter and tighter to show off his massive 21 inch arms. The shirts chest and back was cut 
to show off his massive width and thickness of his  pecs and all 57 inches of his chest and back. 
His pants were tighter around his thighs to show his massive 34 inch tree trunks.  Bill pulled on 
his steel toe combat boots and finally his short tight leather gloves he wore all day through his 
shift. Grabbing his hat and rest of his gear he headed to roll call.

Bill was 45 years old and had 23 year on the job. He had been a patrolman the whole time and had 
made the rank of Sgt. He could have retired with full pay 3 years ago but he liked his job and even 
though retirement would give him 85 percent of his salary for the rest of his life, it couldn’t 
come close to paying him the money he made on the street. See Bill was also a crooked cop. Over 
his 23 years Bill learned how to shake down just about every type of crook he ran into on the street. 
Drug dealers, loan sharks, store owners with illegal workers, burglars, muggers, drunk drivers; you 
name it, he had shaken them down at one time or the other. Bill had created a nice nest egg for himself 
for when he decided he would retire. But that would be awhile, as good as the money was, it was the rush 
of getting in peoples faces, taking down a door, pounding on some perp who stepped out of line. Or 
one that wasn’t stepping out of line, but he just wanted to deliver a beat down. His badge and uniform 
gave him the power to do all these things and more if he was smart and careful. Bill was both.

He managed not to get caught for several reasons. He worked alone. He  had a couple partners over 
the years, but he always ended up working it out to where he always had a car to himself. Now being 
a beat Sgt., it wasn’t all that unusual.  Second, he didn’t flash his money around. He lived within 
his salary and never made anyone suspicious by driving a 80 grand car or buying a half million dollar 
house. He could have done both easily with what he had made, but he was smart. Lastly, Bill was smart 
and dangerous. He never shook anyone down that he knew that he didn’t have something much bigger over 
them. Something big enough that the money they paid him was worth him overlooking their crime. Lastly, 
more than a few perps had been known to get shot in the head while being arrested or disappear entirely 
when they wouldn’t pay up or threatened to rat him out. Worse, Bill didn’t think twice about planting a 
gun or drugs on someone who crossed him or pissed him while on the street. 

Some of Bill fellow cops knew he did some of these things, but they didn’t care. They knew Bill always 
had their backs in a bad situation and had won more than a few bravery awards over the years for saving 
his fellow police officers and citizens in harrowing situations.  Bill also scared some of his fellow 
officers, crossing him wasn’t something someone did lightly. Lastly, Bill wasn’t the only crooked cop on 
the force, he was one of a small minority of bad cops, but one that had covered his tracks very well.  
All of this made Bill a damn dangerous cop who’d cross the line when he felt like it for profit or revenge. 
But this is also made Sgt. Bill Hardcheck forget that payback could be a bitch.

Bill drove around the precinct looking in on junior officers during arrest and investigations. Always 
keeping his eye out for a new angle to shake someone down. Bill stopped at certain places to pick up his 
payoffs. For some reason though he had a feeling that something wasn’t right. He felt all day as if a 
shadow was over him. Like he was being followed. More than a few time he was checking his rear view mirror, 
turning around, back tracking his steps. Nothing. Finally he figured he was just paranoid.  It was about 
11PM when he saw Paco Reveria. A mid level drug dealer who had been in prison for 3 years. He had been one 
of Bill’s best shakedown victims, he always had cash and was a pussy when it came to getting taken in. 

Bill turned down the street and when Paco saw the car and headed down the alley. Bill pulled down the 
alley behind him and turned on his strobes lights. Paco stopped and turned to look back at the car. When 
Bill got out he could see the fear in Paco’s eyes. Bill liked that, he liked that a lot. “Hey Paco, when 
did they let your scumbag ass out of the can” Bill said as he grabbed Paco by the shirt collar, lifted 
him up and slammed him on the hood of the police car. “Put your fucking hands up on the car!” Bill yelled. 
He patted Paco down and found a roll of cash and not much else. Bill picked Paco up by his shirt again and 
carried him into the shadow of the building. He slammed Paco into the wall and got into his face. 

“How long you been out the can Paco?” Bill asked. “Three weeks, Sgt, Hardcheck”. Paco said, his voice 
quavering.  Normally Paco was a hard ass, he had a bad ass rep on the street. But 5 years ago, Bill had 
caught him and nearly beat him to death when he got a smart mouth with him. Paco had been in the hospital 
for 4 months after that. Since then Paco had been a quivering pussy when Bill came around. Bill was the 
one that put him in the can for 3 years when he caught Paco holding a gun. Bill wasn’t sure Paco would 
live through the experience. A badass on the street is not a badass in prison.  Bill interrogated him for 
a few minutes more. Finding out who Paco’s probation officer was, who he was working for now and what 
his role on the street was.  Each question was punctuated with Bill either slamming Paco into a wall or 
punching his fingers into Paco chest or for head. 

“What are we gonna do to keep you out of trouble Paco?” Bill asked, looking at the roll of  20’s in his 
hands. If they were all 20’s then it could be close to a grand. “I mean you are not out of jail for a 
month yet and you are out here selling drugs, carrying guns.” Paco immediately picked up on what Bill was 
saying. Paco had neither drugs nor a gun on him, but Bill was telling him he could at a moments notices 
if Bill wanted him too. “Maybe you are an incorrigible criminal. Maybe you and I should talk like we did 
4 years ago, maybe a little more time in the hospital will help you figure out how to stay out of 
trouble.” Bill said leaning all 280 of his pounds on Paco, his nose right next to Paco’s face. He could 
feel the little man shivering in fear. It turned Bill on big time.  Paco could be a source of income, but 
Bill’s mood was pushing for a beat down. Maybe not enough to put him in the hospital for months, but enough 
for him to remember that Bill was at the top of the food chain and Paco was at the bottom. 

That’s when it started. Paco could see it Bills face, he wanted more than a promise of money tonight. Bill 
could feel Paco’s fear rise up another couple of notches. “Listen Hardcheck, can’t we …” was all that Paco 
managed to get out of his mouth before Hardcheck back handed him and knocked him down on the ground. Paco 
saw stars behind his eyes and was holding his face when Bill kicked Paco in the stomach with his steel toe 
boots. Paco almost screamed out in pain, but Bill had already reached down and pulled him to his feet.  
Paco felt Bill’s hand close around his throat. “I see prison hasn’t taught you how to keep you fuckin mouth 
shut.” Bill said as he gave Paco a right hook to the ribs.  Bill’s hands clamped around Paco’s throat kept 
him from yelling out in pain. Bill could hear him groan. Paco saw the sadistic smile on the cops face and 
new that nothing he could say was going to stop this beating. Hardcheck slammed his fist into Paco gut two 
more times, watching the pain cross the man’s face and the fear in his eyes. Bill was debating on how far 
to take this, was it worth the money he would get from this fucker or should he just get a good work out 
beating him within a inch of his life.

Then there was the sound of a step behind him and Paco eyes moved to look over his shoulder. Bill started 
to turn, drop Paco and reach for his gun when he felt a massive blow in his lower back, hard enough arch 
Bills back. Looking up Bill saw a massive shadow just when a fist hit his jaw. Bill had never been hit so 
hard before in his life. He started to fall to the ground when those big hand caught him and slammed a 
knee into his ribs. All the air rushed out of Bills body as his assailant spun him around and slammed his 
knee into Bill’s temple.. Everything went black.

“Man, I though you would never show up!” Paco said to a massive man still in the shadow of the building. “That 
fucker was going to kill me any second.” Paco kicked Sgt. Bill’s side, barely moving the big unconscious man.

Paco was about to kick the policeman again when that shadow reached out and grabbed him. Soon he was face 
to face with the big shadowed man. “You are done with this. As of this fuckin moment you don’t know shit 
about Office Hardcheck or me. Especially me. If you think what this pussy was going to do to you was bad, 
remember what you know about me. You wanted payback for this fucker and so do I. You know I’m going to make 
him pay. But if I think you can’t keep you fucking mouth shut..” the shadow said as his massive hand encircle 
Paco’s neck, squeezing it so tight that a mere twitch he would have snapped it. “Do you understand me! There 
is nowhere you can hide from me. If I can’t get to you I will get to everybody you know until I get to you. 
You fuckin understand me!” Paco feet were completely off the ground and everything was getting dim. The shadow 
dropped him to the ground and stood over him. 

Rubbing his neck Paco said “Yeah Vito, I don’t know shit about shit. I ain’t stupid. I’ve seen what you’ve 
done man, I don’t want none of that.” Vito stood over him for a few seconds then turned, walked over to the 
Bill bent down, picked the big man up and put him over his shoulder. Paco watched as Vito handcuffed the cops 
wrist, manacles on his feet, gagged his mouth, blind folded him and stuffed him in the trunk of the police car. 
Paco watched as Vito put the cops hat on his head, got into the front seat and drove off. If no one walked over 
the car they could never tell that Vito wasn’t a cop. Plus it was almost midnight and few people who would care 
was out in this neighborhood. Paco almost felt sorry for Hardcheck, almost. As much as he wanted to get back at 
Hardcheck for the years worth of shit, Vito wanted it more. There was no man Paco was more afraid of the Vito and 
that was with good reason.  Paco walked back out to the street and to check on his boys at his corner. 

End of Part 1…