McNulty walks into a depressingly bland yet file-crowded office space that has GOT to be some cop shop or other. In the foreground, a guy is on the phone trying to get a quote on pressure-treated lumber, and from what we can hear of his side of the conversation, it isn't going quite as he had hoped: "That's your price? That's the price that you were going to quote me." He sits down to deliver the finishing blow: "Well, do you feel that, Mikey? Do you feel it? Because that is my fucking dick in your ear." And, indeed, the guy is holding the phone receiver to his groin. Anti-bacterial wipes were made for offices like this. Seeing McNulty, the guy -- presumably Barlow, the detective on the Barksdale case -- briefly puts Mikey on hold to ask what he wants. McNulty says that Barlow's case "just hit the wall": "Barksdale's crew. They turned it." Barlow doesn't believe it, based on the two eyewitnesses and statement; McNulty raises his eyebrows and ambles off, leaving Barlow to abuse the lumber guy some more.

In a dark SUV parked at the curb of a street in what looks like a neighbourhood "in transition," Det. Shakima "Kima" Greggs (Sonja Sohn) is conferring with what looks like an informant "in transition." From being high to crashing crabbily. She's squawking about some guy who screwed her over, and Kima's trying to calm her down as they surveil him. The radio crackles with the voice of Det. Thomas "Herc" Hauk (Domenick Lombardozzi), and Kima tells him they need to wait. Because she's basically always right, as soon as Kima's said it, a Mercedes pulls up beside the guy. "That's him," says the crackhead informant. Kima tells her to chill, and checks with Herc that he can see whatever deal is in the process of going down. The informant -- whose name is Tiff -- says that someone is "Ghost," and that he's going to go get "Li'l Mike," who'll come back with the money. A guy up the block scuttles down to the car, and Kima walkies that they need to swarm the car deep into the block, to avoid a foot chase. As soon as the Mercedes starts to pull away, we hear sirens, and the law descends. A guy pops out and starts to run, but he's fenced in with cop cars front and back, and soon gets tackled. Also part of the gun-wielding detachment is Det. Ellis Carver (Seth Gilliam), looking intense. Also, cute. The driver gets out of the car without a fuss and surrenders; Herc puts him down on the ground, while Carver does the same with a female passenger in the back seat. In Kima's car, Tiff cheers, "That's it. Take his ass to jail." Herc reaches into the car and pulls out a shotgun, spilling the cartridges (or whatever the hell) onto the road. Kima pulls up, telling Tiff to stay in the car, which she does, reluctantly. Herc pulls a wad of bills out of the...neck? Of the guy's coat? Which seems like a pretty insecure hiding place, but what do I know. Kima checks the car and finds a couple of...pistols? Or is that only what they're called when you're trying to shoot Aaron Burr with them? "Handguns"? She shoots Herc a disgusted look: "Two guns. Remember?" She turns around to face Carver, shrugging, "Two." Looking shamed and alarmed, Carver asks her to "ease up." Ease this, fool! She's ALWAYS RIGHT. Also, oh my God Herc has put on a lot of weight since Season 1 -- all on his head. Herc and Carver look at each other like puppies who just got caught shitting the bed. It's a look we'll come to know well.