Tactical Pursuit

by Lynette Mae

  A figure leaning against the side of the green car next to her Jeep stopped Devon in her tracks. It took only a second to recognize Jessie and another millisecond for Devon’s heart to kick wildly in her chest. Jessie’s arms were wrapped around her middle. She stared in the direction of the street, her profile illuminated in the moonlight, looking deep in thought. For a moment Devon considered going back inside, but her legs had different ideas, carrying her over closer to where Jessie stood.

  “Are you okay?” She bent slightly to catch Jessie’s eye, hating the mixture of confusion and sadness she saw. She felt the urge to punch whoever was responsible for putting it there.

  Jessie straightened and forced a tremulous smile. “Yes, Corporal. Thank you, I was just—”

  Devon closed the distance between them and placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “It’s Devon. Please, call me Devon, okay?” Jessie trembled beneath her touch. The sadness in her eyes hurt somewhere deep inside of Devon in a way that she couldn’t quite figure out. At that moment she would have given anything to fix whatever was upsetting Jessie.

  Jessie let out a shaky breath. “All right, Devon.” She gripped herself more tightly around the middle before pushing off the car to move out of touching distance.

  Her sudden withdrawal was puzzling, and Devon glanced around the parking lot wondering if her ex was still around bothering her. The image of that woman with Jessie was irrationally disturbing. She reminded herself it was none of her business and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans to keep from touching Jessie again.

  “You sure you’re okay?” she finally asked, unable to walk away.

  “Yeah, thanks.” Jessie risked meeting her eyes. “I’m just a bit tired, that’s all.”

  “Okay.” Devon suddenly had to ask, to be sure. “Was that your, ahh, girlfriend?” She watched a frown knit Jessie’s eyebrows together.

  Jessie shook her head in obvious bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”

  Devon felt the heat of the blood crawling up her neck and into her face, wanting nothing more than a hole to open up in the ground beneath her feet and swallow her up. She stared at her boots, searching for something intelligent to say. “The woman I saw you with earlier.” She sighed, wondering how much more lame she could sound. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s none of my business. If you’re okay, then I’ll leave you alone.” Her voice trailed off as she backed away toward the safety of her own vehicle.

  “She’s nobody,” Jessie blurted out. “Not anymore—for quite a while.”

  Devon stopped as a crazy sense of relief flooded through her. She felt a stupid grin break across her face. She had an urge to sweep Jessie up in a tight hug, but thought better of it when she saw the look of distress on her face. Tears gathered in Jessie’s eyes and she slumped against the car. Obviously Angela still had the power to upset her. Devon waited, watching Jessie gather herself again.

  “I’m sorry. Can I do anything?”

  Jessie shook her head. “No. Thank you. I’m sorry. I didn’t know she would be here. She can say the most hateful things. I don’t know why I let her get to me.” She heaved out an emotion-filled breath and swiped angrily at the wetness on her cheeks.

  Devon’s heart ached for her. She shifted from foot to foot, wanting to help but uncertain of what to do or say—or more to the point, what Jessie would be comfortable with. “Not that I am in any position to give an opinion, but from what you’ve told me just now, I think you did the right thing.”

  Jessie looked up at her and Devon offered a smile.

  “Angela is an idiot if she couldn’t see how good she had it. Her loss.”

  Jessie smiled gratefully and tucked loose strands of hair behind her ear. Such a simple move that was somehow incredibly sexy when she did it. Devon wanted to be that lock of hair Jessie touched, and her hand twitched with the effort not to reach out for her.

  Jessie straightened and sighed. “Sorry. All of this is probably more than you wanted to know. I didn’t mean to keep you away from your friends.”

  “It’s not a problem. I was leaving anyway. I’m glad I saw you before you left.”

  “Tonight was nice. The pool game was fun.” She leaned back against the car’s front quarter panel, and Devon turned and did the same, nodding and enjoying the closeness of being shoulder to shoulder. The contact felt good. She wanted to put her arm around Jessie and pull her close, and in another setting she would have.

  The quiet of the moment was interrupted by loud voices approaching from behind them. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder, irritated by the intrusion. A group of guys were carrying on across the lot, arguing about who was the best shot among them. Jessie stepped away from the car and said it was getting late.

  Devon worked to hide her disappointment. “I just wanted to make sure you were all right. Do you need a ride?”

  Jessie tapped the roof of the green Toyota. “It’s not much, but it’s all mine.”

  Devon made a mental note of Jessie’s car. “Guess I better get going, then. Thanks for the game of pool. You sure you’re okay?”

  Jessie smiled and her eyes pulled Devon in helplessly. They stood in silence again as the heat of the night enveloped them until Jessie finally spoke. “Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”

  “No problem,” Devon said quietly. She waited while Jessie got into her car and backed out, raising her hand in response to Jessie’s wave goodbye. When she climbed into the Jeep to head home, Devon was so wrapped up in the high of Jessie that she didn’t recognize the figure slouched against a tree in the shadows across the street.

  Chapter Five

  A COUPLE OF hours into her next shift, Devon was finally finished with the daily training reports and was stoked to be heading out on patrol. She had returned Kelsey’s call earlier and learned about some interesting developments in the auto theft cases. One of the Vice detectives working a wiretap had inadvertently stumbled onto a link to the group jacking cars. Devon had told Kelsey she’d get out to Roy’s place on Broadway to confirm a few facts for her. If the chatter on the wire was correct, this was a bigger operation than they had realized, an organized crime operation with narcotics connections as well. Right now, the cases would be handled separately. Roy and his crew might only be supplying the vehicles, not knowing or caring what his customers did with them.

  As she walked toward her assigned vehicle, movement across the station parking lot caught her eye. She squinted into the brilliance of the setting sun, pleasantly surprised to see Jessie making her way through the rows of marked police units. Her long legs and trim body moved gracefully against the orange glow of the late afternoon sky. A gentle breeze caught her hair, sweeping it away from her neck. Devon smiled absently watching Jessie bend to retrieve a notepad that fell from her hand. The auto theft problem was going to have to wait a few more minutes. Devon changed course to intercept Jessie.

  “Hi.”

  Jessie acted surprised. “Hi,” she said around the thin elastic hair tie she held in her teeth. In another couple of seconds she had efficiently pulled her hair back and wrapped it into a neat bun. She looked around and then chuckled.

  “Did I do something funny?” Devon couldn’t help grinning with her.

  “No. I was just wondering if you always hang out in parking lots or is it me?” Her eyes shone playfully, and the hint of a smile creased her cheek at the corner of her mouth. Thoughts of Jessie had kept Devon up most of the night and seeing her now made all of those inappropriate images come flooding back. When their eyes met, a new smile lit up Jessie’s face and Devon felt her pulse quicken as its effects radiated through her.

  “It’s definitely you.” Devon held her eyes until Jessie blushed and turned to open the trunk of her Toyota. After repeating the action with the patrol car, she loaded her gear inside. Jessie’s trunk could have been a model of organization for Police Magazine. She arranged everything precisely, no doubt for maximum efficiency that Devon had rarely seen in such a new officer. Devon mov
ed to help her and they both reached for the handles on the large canvas duty bag simultaneously.

  Jessie’s touch was like an electric jolt and Devon jerked her hand back quickly. “Sorry.” She glanced sideways at Jessie but couldn’t gauge her reaction, if any. Jessie continued to load her equipment while Devon leaned on the bumper of her car and watched. She wondered what Jessie liked to do in her spare time. Maybe she’d ask her to have coffee later. No. Not coffee at work. She wanted to do this right. Dinner. They could have dinner next week. No. She had training next week. Shit. When she got back into town, she would ask Jessie out.

  Jessie slammed the trunk and turned to face her. “Listen, I hope I’m not being too forward, but my squad and family are having a surprise party for my birthday on Saturday, and I was wondering if you’re free—I mean, you could bring a date…or your partner?”

  Devon mentally scrambled to catch up with the conversation. Jessie just invited her to a party, but thought she had a girlfriend? She held up both hands. “No rings. I don’t have that kind of partner.”

  “But people say that you had a live-in girlfriend.”

  “Jess the first thing you have to understand about this place is that cops love to gossip. They feed on it. They all think they know everything about everyone and they don’t.” Devon couldn’t hide her irritation at the thought of people telling Jessie things like this about her. She’d been involved a short time with the coach of the women’s university fast-pitch softball team the previous year. Devon had allowed Nicki to stay longer than she’d known was advisable. It was amazing how the rumor mill had picked up the story and it spread like wildfire. She clenched her jaw. Didn’t people have anything better to do than to speculate on her love life? She knew it wasn’t Jessie’s fault so she pushed the anger away.

  Wanting to see the light back in Jessie’s eyes, she smiled and returned to the original topic. “So, if this party is a surprise, how come you know about it?”

  Jessie sighed. “My family isn’t very good at keeping secrets.”

  Devon watched in fascination as Jessie’s thoughts played in the landscape of her eyes, and it occurred to her that Jessie had no idea that she was beautiful. Blood rushed in Devon’s veins. She took a deep breath and stepped back, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. “Wow,” she breathed. Pheromones were surely undermining her brain function.

  “Beg pardon?” Jessie leaned closer.

  “Sure,” Devon said quickly before she thought about it too much and changed her mind. “A party would be fun. But you haven’t told me how old you’re gonna be.”

  “Adam Four.” The dispatcher’s voice interrupted.

  “That’s me.” Devon keyed her shoulder mic. “Adam Four, go ahead.” Copying the details of the next call, she frowned. “Sorry.”

  “Duty calls.” Jessie climbed into her vehicle and started it.

  “By the way,” Devon said. “You still didn’t say how old you’re gonna be.”

  “I’ll be thirty.” The smile Jessie flashed before she turned the corner made Devon’s heart skip a beat.

  DEVON KILLED HER headlights and pulled up behind Nate’s patrol car two doors down from a domestic disturbance call. She hopped from her vehicle and jogged to catch up with him as he approached the front porch of the raggedy duplex. Jessie’s cruiser drifted to a stop from the opposite direction. All was quiet. They made their way across the tiny patch of dirt that at one time might have been a lawn. The battered screen door yawned open, its spring mechanism long since broken, leaving it to hang askew by one rusted hinge.

  Dispatch background information regarding the address indicated that officers had responded out here for numerous calls ranging from disturbances to assaults. In this neighborhood she wasn’t really surprised. These apartments turned over quickly, so the history could have pertained to previous occupants, but it was best to be cautious just the same. Nate went around to the rear while Devon scanned the front of the house. She and Jessie stepped onto the porch, looking for signs of movement. She peered through a small tear in the pull-down shade at the corner of the front window, hoping for a hint of where the couple might be in the house, but she saw nothing. She and Jessie stopped on either side of the doorway listening for sounds of a struggle inside. Silence.

  A look of acknowledgement passed between them. Jessie reached out with her large metal flashlight to hammer on the front door with authority.

  Devon yelled, “Police, open up!”

  Rustling and what sounded like a faint whimper came from somewhere inside. Jessie banged harder this time. More shuffling and movement from the interior, followed by the sound of a male voice saying something they couldn’t make out.

  “Police!” Devon repeated.

  “What do you want?” The male voice shouted now.

  “We need to talk to you,” Jessie said. “Come to the door.”

  “We’re fine. Go away!”

  “Can’t do that,” Jessie told him. “You need to talk to us. We’re not leaving until you do.”

  Devon tried to see through the small grimy window just to the left of the door. Now the unmistakable sounds of a woman crying were audible and they heard footsteps coming toward the front of the apartment. Devon could see him now.

  “Jessie,” she whispered, “he’s got something in his hand…kitchen knife…right hand. He just put it behind his leg. He’s almost to the door.” She keyed her radio. “Nate, the male half is armed with a knife. Standby.” Devon made a quick visual assessment of the suspect, shocked when she recognized him. The questions in her mind would have to wait until they disarmed him and resolved tonight’s issue. He turned the knob, and Devon slammed her shoulder into the door with all of the force she could muster.

  The suspect yelped in surprise, sprawling backwards onto the floor. Devon and Jessie charged through the opening and immediately dove toward him. He was a huge man, well over six and a half feet tall, with a thick, muscular body. Prison thick. With surprising agility, he scrambled to regain his feet as they landed on him. All three pitched onto a wooden coffee table. A sickening crunch, and the table collapsed beneath them, splintering into a pile of sticks.

  With the swing of a meaty fist, a garish nugget ring connected with Jessie’s temple. The blow sent her rolling away. Her flashlight bounced off the wall beside them and landed on the floor. In a flash, Devon was on her feet, but the man wasn’t far behind. She delivered a right hook to the point of his jaw that dazed him. A follow up knee to the solar plexus drove him to the floor gasping for air.

  Nate appeared and jumped into the fray as the suspect continued to fight. He had to be amped up on drugs because he showed no signs of feeling the pain of any blows. His next punch grazed the side of her head. Nate ducked, narrowly escaping a roundhouse swing. He immediately drove his elbow into the guy’s jaw. Blood flew from his lip, but the man was oblivious and continued to fight, his eyes wild like a rabid animal. Devon vaguely heard Jessie radio for additional help.

  He head-butted Devon. Pain and shards of white light momentarily immobilized her. The suspect broke free and lunged for the butcher’s knife that he’d dropped when the door struck him.

  Through hazy vision, Devon saw Jessie draw her collapsible baton from its scabbard. She heard the metal slide as Jessie swung it in an arc to fully extend the weapon. Holding the handle double fisted, like a baseball player swinging for the fence, Jessie drove the silver ball at the tip into her target. She connected with the suspect’s elbow with a loud thwak. He screamed as the bones in his forearm splintered and his useless hand hung at an unnatural angle.

  “You broke my arm, you bitch!’ he shrieked, underscoring his disbelief and pain.

  Nate and Devon again jumped on the man, taking him to the floor. Although his right arm was obviously broken, they couldn’t let up until he was secured. Injured suspects who continued to fight hurt too many officers, and Devon didn’t intend to be one of them.

  The man howled in pain when they cuffed him and sea
rched for additional weapons. He begged them to stop and just take him to jail.

  “Nate, you got him?” Devon asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Devon breathed hard, trying to get some air into her lungs in the stale, smoky apartment. She brushed her sleeve to remove the remnants of soot from an ashtray that had toppled off the coffee table during the fight. She tasted blood and realized her tongue was bleeding a little. Her vision was clearing, but a monster headache was building behind her eyes.

  “I’ll go check on the woman.” Jessie headed toward the back rooms and Devon followed.

  Chaotic noises erupted from the front of the house. Additional officers responding as backup descended upon the residence, radios squawking, and voices shouting. Devon and Jessie located the female half of the couple huddled in the corner of the tiny bedroom. She was bleeding from a deep laceration above her left eye and an inch-and-a-half split in her lower lip. Devon called for the paramedics to check the woman’s injuries. Meanwhile, the suspect was cuffed to a gurney for transport to the hospital and treatment for his broken arm.

  Devon met Jessie as she retrieved her clipboard and paperwork from her trunk. She grimaced at the large contusion on the side of Jessie’s face. The lump on her temple had grown and her left cheekbone and eye were already beginning to bruise. Devon reached for the clipboard. “Jessie, you need to go with the medics and get yourself checked out. I’ll take care of the paperwork. This guy and I need to have a chat anyway.” She tried to remember if she’d ever arrested him prior to this, but didn’t think she’d ever seen him before the night in the police lot.