But Tara was still trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. Warren stood nearby, talking to a local officer before walking back over to her. She felt ashamed and embarrassed that she had let her guard down, and that again she had put them both in harm’s way.

“Thank you,” she uttered when Warren was close enough to hear her.

Those were the only words that came to her mind. He saved her life after all, shooting James in the leg. She would’ve never been able to react quickly enough, and that thought terrified her beyond measure.

“Don’t thank me,” Warren said as he walked past her, toward the front door of the house. “We’re partners. We protect each other.”

Tara followed behind him, wondering why he wasn’t as angry as she thought he would be. But just when Warren was close enough to the door, he turned around to face her, looking her straight in the eyes.

“Don’t you ever put your guard down like that again. Do you understand me?” He waved his finger at his words. “As much as you think you understand a situation, you don’t. A mistake in this job could cost you your life, and all it takes is one split second of misjudgment.”

Tara nodded her head as the shame and horror of the situation flooded through her body, twisting her stomach into an anxious knot. She should’ve known better. He was right.

But just as quickly as Warren reprimanded her, he was opening the door of the house, fully focused on their mission in front of him. By doing so, Tara knew he was sending another message, whether he was aware of it or not. They needed to stay on track, stay focused, and he was going to let this slide. And at that, Tara shifted her focus too.

Warren pushed the door wide open, revealing the mess inside, and it was immediately clear that the man was certainly a hoarder. As they stepped in, Tara scanned the wall for a light switch and flipped it on, making the mess even more visible. They stood in the living room, boxes piled in every which way. Tara bent down and carefully opened one of them, sending a cloud of dust into the air. She coughed uncontrollably.

“How do people live like this?” she asked, as she gained control over her coughing fit.

“I have no idea,” Warren said as he did the same from across the room, reaching into one of the boxes to see what was inside. “What did you find?” he added.

Tara opened the box wide. Inside lay piles of DVDs.

“Just a bunch of DVDs of old movies,” she said as she dug deeper before standing back up. “What about you? Find anything?”

“Nothing interesting.” He pushed a bunch of stuff around in the box he was digging through. “Just some more DVDs and CDs.”

He stood up and moved onto another. Tara did the same, and then moved onto another after that, and another after that—continuously moving around the room, digging through more meaningless objects until Tara finally looked up in surprise.