Lizzie set the report aside. If this had happened while she was there, it had to be the day she had met Jack! She leafed through the report pages trying to find any mention of Jack’s name amongst them. She knew he had been there because she saw him! Talked to him! For heavens sake, this was how they met!
Lizzie stopped flipping through the pages and stared at a picture in her hand. It was a picture of Jack. But this couldn’t be right? The name on the picture read Frank Barnes.
Chapter Sixty-Five
Lizzie didn’t realize she had stopped breathing until she heard Sam ask, “Mommy? Are you ok?”
Lizzie looked at Sam and then down at the picture of Jack. She glanced at the pile of papers spread out on the couch. Realization slowly crept in. She had to move.
Lizzie grabbed the papers and stuffed them back into the file folder and carried them to her room. She called out to Sam, “Mommy is fine. I just need to make a phone call sweetie. Go back to your movie.” Lizzie closed her bedroom door and dialed Dekker’s cell. She wasn’t sure what she was going to tell him but she knew she had to speak to him immediately. Lizzie paced as the phone rang several times before going to voicemail. She disconnected and tried Dekker again. Still no answer.
She looked down at her phone. Think, Lizzie, think! She dialed her sister. Carly picked up on the second ring. “Are the boys driving you crazy already?”
Lizzie spoke quickly, “Carly, I need you to come get the boys. Its an emergency.”
Carly voice betrayed worry. “What happened? What’s wrong?”
“Just get over here and bring the boys back to your place. It’s work. Something has happened and I need to go in immediately.”
“Lizzie, you’re scaring me. What’s happened?”
“I can’t tell you just yet but I really need you to come get the boys. Can you come?”
“Where’s Jack?”
Lizzie stopped cold. She hadn’t event thought about where Jack was at the moment. “Jack’s working,” she said. “Please, just hurry!”
“Of course, I’m on my way!”
Chapter Sixty-Six
Lizzie disconnected and tried Dekker’s number again. Dammit why wasn’t he picking up? Lizzie heard the doorbell ring and Lizzie ran to let Carly in. “Thank you! I owe you!”
Carly whispered, “What is going on?”
Lizzie gathered up the case file, grabbed her jacket and keys. “Carly, when I can explain, I will. I have to go. Just get the boys to your house and I’ll call you as soon as I get done.” Without waiting for her sister to respond, Lizzie raced out the door and down to her car. If Dekker wasn’t going to answer his phone, she would just have to go to his house. Dekker would know what to do, how to deal with this situation.
As Lizzie drove she struggled to put all the pieces together. That day in the library, Jack had told her he was a police officer! He had been shot in the line of duty! None of this made sense. Had Jack been lying to her this whole time? If Jack was really Frank Barnes then who was the body in the car fire and how did Jacks prints get there?
Fear and confusion permeated the car as Lizzie sped faster towards Roland. She had to get to Dekker. She had to get answers.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Jack drove slowly past Dekker’s house. There were no lights on and no cars in the driveway. The old man was either asleep or not home. Either way, the darkness made it easier for Jack to execute his plan. Jack continued around the block and parked under the shadow of a large oak tree. He grabbed the backpack from behind his seat and closed the truck door with a soft click. He let his hand touch the gun hidden in his pocket. He had only brought it as a safety measure and it comforted him to know it was there.
Jack approached Dekker’s home on foot. He silently made his way up to the garage and scouted the front yard. Nothing stirred. The neighborhood was silent. Jack made his way to the side gate and felt around for latch. He released the gate latch and slowly pushed the wooden gate open, thankful that it didn’t make a sound. Jack tried the doorknob to the side door leading to the garage. It was unlocked. Jack softly pushed open the garage door and stepped inside.
Jack removed a small penlight from his pants pocket and clicked it on. He shown it around the garage and found it surprisingly organized. Cabinets lined the far wall and a washer and dryer stood next to the door leading to the house. Tools hung on pegboards and a large gun safe stood sentry against the wall closest to Jack.
Jack went to one of the cabinets and found it unlocked. He opened it and found camping gear inside. A lantern, a rolled up sleeping bag and a tent still in the box crowded the middle shelf. This looked like a good place to stash the backpack. Jack moved the boxed tent aside and pulled the sleeping bag out of its pace on the shelf. He stuffed the backpack towards the back of the shelf.
A noise stopped Jack dead in his tracks. The door from the house to the garage opened and a hand pushed the button next to the door. The garage lights blazed and the large door began to rise. Someone was home after all!
Chapter Sixty-Eight
“Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dekker yelled at Jack. Jack stumbled back from the cabinet as Dekker took a step towards him.
“I’m a cop. You better stop right there,” commanded Dekker. Dekker took another step towards Jack and Jack fumbled in his pocket for the gun.
Jack pulled out the gun and shakily pointed it in Dekker’s direction and said, “Stop moving!”
“Whoa hold on, kid. The gun isn’t necessary. Why don’t you just put it away.”
“You! You ruined everything!” yelled Jack
“I don’t know you and I have no idea what you’re talking about but pointing a gun at a cop isn’t going to help. Come on kid. Hand it over.”
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt anyone! Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone?”
“Do I know you? You look familiar.”
“You don’t know me. No one knows me! I don’t even know me anymore.”
“Yeah, I know you. You’re Frank Barnes!” Dekker took a single step closer to Jack.
“Not one step further!” Shouted Jack in alarm.
“I thought you were dead. What are you doing here kid?” Dekker looked over at the cabinet Jack had been rummaging through. He saw the backpack and ignoring Jack’s gun he walked over and pulled it from its hiding spot.
“Leave it alone! Just leave it!” Jack yelled as Dekker unzipped the backpack and viewed the contents.
“So this was going to be what, a set up? What did you think was going to happen here?”
“Just let me go and we wont have a problem,” said Jack.
“That’s not going to happen kid. I want to know exactly what you thought you were doing here. Are you working with Werner? Did he put you up to this?”
Jack didn’t know what to say and he was starting to sweat profusely. This wasn’t supposed to happen. His plan was going to hell. He had to think of a way to get out of here. “Please, I just need to leave. I promise I wont come back but there’s no way I’m going to jail. I can’t go to jail.”
Dekker took a step closer to Jack. “I don’t know what’s happening here, Barnes, but I need some answers and you’re not going anywhere until I get them.”
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Lizzie pulled onto Dekker’s street and found a parking spot half a block away. She saw the garage door was open and the light was on. Good, he’s home. Lizzie got out of her car and grabbed the file from the backseat.
Lizzie made her way up the sidewalk trying to think of exactly what she would say when she got to Dekker’s house. Lizzie jumped at the sound of a gunshot. It was coming from Dekker’s garage! Lizzie dropped the file and pulled her off duty weapon from her ankle holster. With her weapon drawn she ran towards the open garage.
“Dekker!” Yelled out Lizzie as she approached. “Dekker are you in there?”
“Here!” came Dekker’s voice.
; Lizzie rushed into the garage and found Dekker on floor, blood seeping from a bullet wound to his left leg.
Lizzie frantically pulled her phone out of her pocket to call 911. “What happened?”
“He shot me!”
“Who? Where?”
Dekker replied through clenched teeth, “He ran out the side door.”
Lizzie left her phone beside Dekker and ran through the side door into the darkened backyard. Lizzie could hear Dekker yelling for her to stop. But she has no intention of stopping. Someone shot her friend, another cop and she was not about to let this bastard get away.
Chapter Seventy
A small amount of light streamed from the garage side door. It was just enough to illuminate the silhouette of man as he jumped over the back fence.
Lizzie yelled, “Stop right there! Police!” Lizzie ran to the fence line and without thinking twice she reached up and vaulted herself over it.
Lizzie came down on the other side with a soft thud. She could see no movement in the yard and she wasn’t sure where the suspect had fled. She held her gun down low as she slowly made her way through the shadows.
Lizzie yelled out, “I know you’re here! Come out with your hands where I can see them.”
A small crunch of branches made Lizzie swivel around. She pointed her gun in the direction of a shed and the dark figure that slowly emerged from behind it.
“Hands! Let me see your hands!”
“Lizzie?” said the figure.
Lizzie yelled, “Come out of there with your hands up!”
A light went on in the house and shone through the side window into the yard. Jack stepped into the sliver of light. “Lizzie it’s me.”
Lizzie dropped her gun to her side. “Jack? What are you doing here?”
Jack took a step closer and Lizzie saw the gun in his hand. “Jack. You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t just shoot Dekker.”
“It was an accident, Lizzie. It just went off.” Jack took one more step towards Lizzie.
“Stay where you are Jack!”
Jack looked down at the gun in his hand. “Are you afraid of me? Do you really think I would hurt you?” he asked. “Do you really think I could shoot you? What kind of a man do you think I am?”
“I’m not sure I know what kind of man you are. I read the file, Jack. I know who you really are.”
“No you don’t. You don’t anything. That information, that somehow I had something to do with Jimmy getting shot, its all lies. Werner’s lies!”
“Not all of it is lies, Jack. You lied. That day in the library you told me you were a cop!”
Jack laughed, “No I didn’t. You assumed I was a cop, and I just let you believe it.”
“And somehow that’s not lying?” yelled Lizzie.
Jack shifted his gaze towards Dekker’s house at the sound of police sirens. The sirens echoed off the fog that had crept in and Jack knew his time was running short. The cavalry was coming.
“I have to get out of here, Lizzie. I can’t go to jail. Why don’t you come with me? We can walk out of here together and start over somewhere else. Somewhere no one knows us.”
A rage began to boil inside Lizzie. She had been a fool to trust him so blindly. “I’m not going anywhere with you Jack. You’re going to stay right here with me and we are going to bring everything out into the open.”
A voice from Dekker’s yard yelled out, “Lizzie? Lizzie where are you?”
Jacks expression pleaded with Lizzie not to say a word. He spoke in a whisper, “Please, Lizzie, If you love me don’t do this.”
Lizzie steeled herself and raised her weapon towards Jack. “Put your gun down, Jack.”
Jack turned his own gun towards himself. He pressed the barrel to his temple and yelled, “Is this what you want? Huh Lizzie? You want me dead? Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen if I go back to jail!”
“”Jack don’t!” shouted Lizzie.
Suddenly another figure jumped over the fence. The dark figure moved into a triangulated position so as to get a good view of Jack and Lizzie. “Drop the gun! Do it now!” yelled Werner.
Jack whirled towards Werner, “Stay back! I’ll do it!”
Werner couldn’t hide the disgust in his voice, “Barnes. I knew you’d turn up one day. You don’t have the balls to kill yourself. Just put the gun down.” “You! You are the reason I’m in this position!”
“Listen, kid, maybe I was a jerk but I never made you do anything you didn’t want to do.”
“You made me do that hand to hand! You left me no choice!” Jack was screaming now.
“If you hadn’t been selling in the first place you wouldn’t be here.”
“You took advantage of me. I was a broke, scared kid and you bullied me into this!”
“And I made you shoot Dekker too I suppose?”
Lizzie was having a difficult time registering the scene before her. Jack holding a gun to his head, tears streaming down his face. She tried once more to reason with Jack. “Jack, please. We can work this out somehow.”
Jack looked at her with blank eyes. He turned his attention to Werner and pointing his gun at him Jack snarled, “Screw you, asshole.”
Chapter Seventy-One
In the split second that it took for Jack to shoot Werner, Lizzie had raised her own weapon. Lizzie could hear the voice of her range masters in her head, “Never point your gun at anything you aren’t ready to destroy.” Lizzie fired three rounds in quick succession. Boom! Boom! Boom!
Jack dropped to ground and suddenly there were cops everywhere. Lizzie stood there in disbelief. A uniformed officer ran to Jacks body and kicked the handgun still clutched in his hand. The cop rolled Jack over and handcuffed him.
Lizzie startled at the hand on her outstretched arm. Camden slowly took her gun from her and turned her face to his. “Kid! You ok?”
“When did you get here?” she mumbled in shock.
Camden smiled his crooked grin, “When the bat signal goes up, I come running! Come on, let’s walk.” Camden took Lizzie gently by the elbow and led her through the side gate back around to Dekker’s garage. Police cars and an ambulance crowded the street but Camden bypassed them all and led her to his patrol car. He opened the passenger door and sat Lizzie inside.
Lizzie turned to him suddenly, “Dekker? Is he ok?”
“The paramedics are with him now.”
“What about Werner? And Jack? Camden, I…I think I killed him!”
Chapter Seventy-Two
The next six months following the shooting and were rough on Lizzie. There were investigations, coroner’s inquests and administrative investigations galore.
The DA’s office had served a searched warrant on Lizzie’s apartment and since then she had refused to live there any longer. She and Sam moved in with Carly and her family for the time being and Lizzie took a little comfort in the fact that Sam had real family to help him adjust.
Explaining Jack’s absence to Sam had been the hardest part for Lizzie. She refused to tell him the truth, that not only was Jack dead but that Lizzie was responsible. That night still haunted Lizzie. She had frequent nightmares of the shooting and often awoke from her dreams in a cold sweat. During the daylight hours, Lizzie managed to compartmentalize her turmoil.
Lizzie finished her training despite all of the rumor and speculation surrounding her employment. She started out as a cop determined to build a good reputation for herself but now, now she would forever be known as the rookie who killed her own boyfriend. The rookie who was naïve enough to be fooled by a drug dealer. The rookie who had gotten another cop shot.
Though Lizzie had been cleared in the shooting, the other cops looked at her as if she was tainted. Yes, in the last six months, Lizzie had lived ten years.
Today marked a first for Lizzie. Today she had been called into the captains office and informed that she was being cut loose to solo patrol. She had successfully completed her training and was clear to go 10-8, on duty. Lizzie was b
eing assigned to her own beat; beat 6.
Lizzie had gotten dressed in her uniform, twisted her hair up tight in a bun and checked out her car and shotgun. She had inspected her vehicle from top to bottom and inside out.
Lizzie started her patrol and sat behind the wheel staring at the busy city ahead of her. She knew this job was for her. Lizzie knew that if she could survive what she had already been through, Roland couldn’t hand her anything she couldn’t handle.
Lizzie turned on her car computer and checked for any details holding in her beat. She pulled the radio mic from its pin on the dashboard and keyed it, “2L6.”
Dispatch responded, “2L6, go ahead.”
“2L6, carry me 10-8.”
THREE DAYS GONE - BOOK 2
This story is dedicated to all the badass female cops who go out there and put their lives on the line for justice. Ladies, keep kicking ass and taking names; I might be able to use them in my next book
Chapter Seventy-Three
BOOM. The explosion is muffled but somewhere between layers of consciousness I register the sound. Muffled shouting. Pounding. Everything sounds like I’m under water. Dark, blurred figures rush past me. More darkness.
Someone is shaking me, forcing me back to consciousness. A second loud boom and now my ears are ringing. Shots fired. Yelling. I can’t make out the words. Hands on me. Too many hands on me.
“Sarge, are you ok? Wake up! Wake up! Stay with me!” the voice commands.
I try to open my eyes. I try to speak but a dark fog is pressing down on me.
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