Murder in the City: Blue Lights by Clare Tatum Read Free Book Online Page B

couldn’t understand his words, so intent was she on everything around them, all senses focused on danger and possible threats.
    “What happened?” he said loudly and clearly, his voice becoming even deeper as if to impress itself into her mind.
    “A cop’s hurt.” She pointed down the path, remembering what had originally taken her into the dark woods. “Then, a man came out of nowhere. He chased me.”
    Brice immediately pulled a radio from his belt, and called for backup. “Officer down, officer down,” he said distinctly into the device.
    Lainey knew from experience that nothing got police moving faster than those two words.
    “What’s your exact location?” dispatch answered back.
    Brice described the location and asked for an ambulance, though that was a given in his initial call. As well as Lainey’s call.
    “We have to go help the officer,” she said.
    Brice nodded. She’d never seen him so intent, so dangerous. Masculinity oozed out of him, with a sense of purpose that had insured the survival of the species for thousands of years.
    “Get in your car and go home,” he said, turning his eyes on her for just one second. But in that second, those eyes speared into her soul with a commanding and forceful gaze, his cop expression. A man used to ordering people around.
    But it wasn’t gonna work this time. She wasn’t leaving him alone out here. There wouldn’t be a second cop lying on that dirty path, the blood oozing out of him.
    “Do you have a second gun?” she said clearly.
    “Get outta here,” he said.
    She shook her head. “Do you have a second gun?”
    He mumbled a curse but leaned down to his ankle and pulled out a gun. “Do you know how to use it?”
    She glanced at it. “Yep. And I’m fully motivated to use it, too.”
    A dark grin crossed his face. “Just don’t shoot me.” Then, a blue light rounded the corner, siren blazing, and another flew around the opposite corner.
    “Back up. The most wonderful words in the police lexicon,” he said.
    The police cars bathed the street in blue light, painting the block with safety. “Big men with guns,” she said.
    “Big, little, man, woman. I don’t care. Just so they’re on our side of the badge.”
    More sirens could be heard getting closer. Within minutes, the area was awash with cops. Lainey’s heart rate struggled to stabilize.
    But, the memory of the injured cop and the terror in his eyes combined with her own fear as she was chased through the woods said it would be a long time until she felt normal again.
    * * *
    Hours later, the police had just about wrapped up the initial investigation. Other detectives had arrived, interrogating Lainey as well as walking the path and the surrounding area.
    Police had searched the woods and dogs were scheduled to arrive soon to look for trails out of the woods. But the chance of the dogs hitting on a scent had slimmed down as cops had poured into the woods in the initial heat of the search and investigation.
    There was nothing like one of their own being injured to get cops’ blood going. A frenzied pack mentality surged through them and they pulsed through the woods looking for the guy who’d clubbed their colleague and threatened an assistant district attorney.
    There was a reason people became cops. A driving sense of justice sent these men and women in blue out onto the streets where they faced danger every day.
    As the lead detective walked away from Lainey, after telling her she could go home and shower and get on with her day, Brice walked toward her.
    Thank God, he’d shown up when he did.
    She’d always known she would die one day but that concept had never seemed more real than when a man was chasing her through the woods. If Brice hadn’t shown up…
    “Thank you,” she said.
    His eyes flashed with such intensity that she knew he got the immense sentiment behind her words. “You’re welcome.”
    Thank you , such simple words. Thank you for saving my life, for keeping