by Julie Miller
A bloody hand.
“Trent?” She pushed Tyler behind her and inched forward with a ghoulish curiosity. The man was injured. He needed help. No, she just needed answers. She wanted to ask him why he’d been terrorizing her. “Oh, my God.”
There’d be no answers tonight. She saw the body slumped over in the front seat. She saw all the blood on his clothes and the car’s upholstery.
She clutched Tyler’s face against her chest and spun him away from the gruesome sight as Trent opened the car door and checked for a pulse. “Is that John Smith? Is he...?”
Trent nodded and pulled up his coat to holster his weapon. He held up two fingers, indicating the man had been shot twice, and mouthed the word dead.
“What’s going on?” Tyler’s question came from the face muffled against her breast. “Is that guy sleeping?”
With a heart that was heavy with the knowledge that her son had been anywhere close to this kind of violence, Katie exchanged a silent message with Trent and pulled Tyler toward the heavy-duty pickup with her.
“Katie! Get down!”
Katie heard three little whiffs of sound before Trent came charging around the sports car. By the time she saw the tiny explosions of snow spitting up from the pavement and heard a car door slam, Trent’s arms were around her and Tyler, pushing them into a run. “Go, go, go! Run, buddy!”
Someone by the silver car was shooting at them.
When the side mirror shattered, Katie screamed. Trent swept Tyler up into his arms and grabbed Katie’s hand, jerking her into a detour from the path of the bullets. “Into the trees!”
Mimicking his crouched posture, Katie pumped her legs as fast as they would go. They zigzagged over the open pavement, taking the shortest path to cover. Katie nearly toppled when they plunged into the snow beyond the curb. It suddenly felt as if she was running in water, pulling her boots out of the sucking, frozen drifts. A bare branch splintered beside them, shooting icy crystals and shards of wood into their faces. Trent muttered a curse and jerked them away from the pelting cascade. She felt the blow of something hard against her hip and stumbled, but Trent’s strong arm held her upright and kept her moving. When they reached the fallen trunk of an old oak, he leaped over the mound of rough wood, dead branches and snow and pulled Katie over the trunk with them.
She landed on her bottom, sinking waist-deep into a drift of snow. Trent shoved Tyler into her arms as another thwap of a bullet hit the far side of the tree trunk. “Stay down! Keep him covered!” he ordered.
Katie was already pulling Tyler beneath her, rolling onto her stomach on top of him and digging down into her bag for her phone. Trent peeked over the top of the tree trunk, drawing two more shots that smacked into the old wood before he ducked back down and drew his gun. Katie punched in 9-1-1 as Trent rose up again and fired off several rounds.
“Mom?” Tyler held his hands over his ears. She felt him jerk against her with every shot Trent fired.
“Stay down, sweetie.” Three more shots and the dispatcher picked up. “I’m at Williams College with Detective Trent Dixon. Behind the old auditorium. Someone in a silver car is shooting at us.”
Another shot pinged off a metal light by the sidewalk, turning a silver wreath into ribbons floating to the ground. Katie stayed on the line when she heard car tires squealing for traction against the wet, freezing pavement. A car door slammed and Katie’s heart squeezed in her chest when Trent pushed to his feet and climbed over the top of the tree trunk. “Stay put!”
“Trent!” Katie shouted her fear as the man who meant so much to her left the shelter of the tree and chased after the car peeling out of the parking lot. She heard pounding boot steps as the ground gave way to asphalt. There were two more shots and the screaming pitch of a car sliding around a sharp turn and speeding away into the night. Katie reported to the 9-1-1 dispatcher that she and her son were okay, but that she couldn’t see if Trent or anyone else had been hurt. “There’s a dead body here, too. A man who’s been shot. Probably by whoever was in the silver car. Send an ambulance,” she begged, feeling her extremities shiver with a mix of cold and fear. “Send everybody.”
“Max!” She heard Trent’s long strides approaching them again and knew he was on the phone to his partner, giving him a sitrep on the shooting.
Although the dispatcher asked Katie to stay on the line, she stuffed her phone into the pocket of her coat, keeping the connection open while she dealt with the more pressing needs of hugging her frightened son and making sure Trent hadn’t been hurt. “It’s okay, sweetie.” She wiped the chapping tears from her baby’s cheeks. “Trent?”
“Right here, sunshine.” He dropped over the top of the tree trunk and squatted down beside them. He stuck his gun into the back of his jeans before pulling her and Tyler out of the snow and into his arms. “The shooting’s stopped. They’re gone. There were two men. I think we walked into the middle of a hit.”
“What? I wonder if Doug saw it, too. Maybe that’s why he drove away so fast.”
“Well, he didn’t stop to call the police if he did. But Max heard your call on the scanner. He’s already on his way. He’ll get Liv and Jim moving, too, and notify the lab about our extensive crime scene. Everybody in one piece?”
Katie waited for a nod from Tyler before answering, “Wet, cold and scared out of our minds. But we’re fine.”
They were all on their feet now, making their way to the sidewalk and up the easier path to the parking lot. Moving forward and scanning the area for any other unwanted surprises never stopped until they reached Trent’s disabled truck. Besides the shattered mirror, he had two flat tires and a cracked window. He opened the passenger door on the side away from most of the damage and reached inside to check a hole in the dashboard. “Good. We’ll be able to get ballistics and have some concrete evidence for a change. I got a partial plate on the car, too, but it was moving pretty fast.” He turned to pick up Tyler and set him on the seat, facing out, away from the bullet hole. “At least we’ll be out of the wind here. I’m guessing campus security will reach us first. Then we can get a door unlocked and go inside.”
She could already hear the sirens in the distance. Others had probably reported the sounds of gunfire, too. A chill set in as the adrenaline started to wear off and Katie started to realize the full import of what had just happened. But as Trent straightened in the open triangle of the door and truck frame, she saw the deep rip in the sleeve of his coat and the blood soaking into the layers of insulation and cotton underneath. She grabbed him by the forearm and turned his shoulder toward the street lamp above them, on alert once more. “Trent.”
He pulled at the damp material to get a better look. “Oh, man, this was my favorite coat.”
Katie smacked the uninjured side of his chest. “Trent Dixon, you’ve been shot and you’re griping about your coat?”
His leather glove was cold against her cheek. But there was nothing but heat in the quick kiss he gave her before whispering, “I’m okay. We’ll fix it at home.”
She held on, looking up at him, and whispered back, “You’re sure?”
“The shot grazed me when we were running.” He winced beneath the white clouds of his breath and glanced down at Tyler. “There’s a first-aid kit in the glove compartment. Let’s not worry you know who.”
“Then it is bad.” Katie instantly released him and dived inside the truck to retrieve the medical supplies.
“Barely a scratch, I promise.”
But she’d raised a smart kid who knew they were talking about him. Tyler swiped at the tears that were still falling, bravely taking control of his fear and confusion. “I can go to the hospital if we have to. I’ll watch Mom.” He sniffed and rubbed at the red tip of his nose. Katie kissed his cheek and handed him a tissue before tearing open a box of gauze pads. “I’m not scared. But real guns are loud.”
Trent
squeezed Tyler’s knee. “They are, buddy, aren’t they? Dangerous, too.”
Tyler touched the cuff of Trent’s bloody sleeve. “Does it hurt?”
“It stings. It’s raw skin and it burns. But like I told your mama, this isn’t bad. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Like that man in the car?”
Katie’s breath locked up in her chest and tears burned her eyes. No sense hiding the truth from him now. She hadn’t been able to protect him from violence any more than her mother had been able to protect her. Trent glanced at Katie, then hunched down in front of Tyler for a man-to-man talk.
“Guns can do terrible things, Ty.” Trent held out his heavy black Glock where the boy could see it without touching it before sliding it safely back into his holster. “The safety’s on now, so it can’t hurt you. But when it’s not...”
Tyler listened in rapt attention to every word while Katie went to work, cutting away the shreds of Trent’s coat sleeve, along with the flannel and thermal cotton underneath. “But guns can save lives, too. Someday I’ll teach you how to shoot one safely. Until then, you don’t mess with any of them, okay?”
Tyler nodded his understanding.
“But don’t worry, buddy. Tonight, they aren’t going to hurt you or your mom. I’m glad you’re here to back me up. You can help me keep an eye out for that silver car that drove away, in case it comes back, okay? At least until Uncle Max gets here to pick us up.”
“Okay.”
Before Trent could straighten, Tyler threw his arms around the big man’s neck and held on as he stood. Trent wound his good arm around her son and pulled him onto his lap as he perched on the edge of the seat.
Katie let him cradle her son and reassure him that the nightmare had ended, at least for tonight. Seeing her friend being so tender and protective with Tyler allowed her to breathe a little easier, too. Trent was right—the bullet had only grazed him and hadn’t ripped through muscle or bone. But it wasn’t an injury that was going to stop bleeding on its own anytime soon, so she pulled out a wad of gauze and applied pressure to the wound, willing it to stop, willing this good, wonderful man who clearly meant the world to her son—and to her, she was discovering—to be safe.
By the time she’d tied a longer piece of gauze around his biceps to keep the pressure bandage in place, a campus police car was pulling up. She could see lights flashing off the buildings and trees as KCPD cars and, hopefully, an ambulance arrived on campus.
“You don’t think the shooters are coming back, do you?” she asked. “Are we witnesses now?”
“They won’t be back tonight,” Trent stated in a hushed, sure tone that inspired confidence. “My guess is that they wanted us disabled so they could make a getaway without me following them.”
But she saw that he kept his hand on the butt of his weapon, just in case.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Katie was clean and warm after her hot shower. But even in her flannel pajamas and robe and with a pair of socks she’d borrowed from Trent on her feet, she couldn’t shake the chill that permeated her from the inside out.
“They doing okay?” Trent’s voice was a deep-pitched whisper in the shadows of the hallway as he stepped out of the master suite and came up behind her to peek into the guest room where Tyler slept with Padre on the long twin bed.
Trent had towel dried his short hair without putting a comb through it and had the damp terry cloth hanging around his bare neck and shoulders above the fresh jeans he’d slipped on. She could feel the heat of his shower radiating off his skin, and breathed in the enticing smells of soap and man. But still, she hugged her arms around her waist and shivered. “They shot at my son.”
Trent laid his hand over her shoulder. “The EMT said he was just fine—nothing a good night’s sleep and a sense of security can’t fix.”
She turned her cheek in to the warmth and caring he offered. “You give him that.”
“I think that sense of security comes from a mom who’s always been there for him.”
Katie grunted a small laugh of disagreement, and the tan-and-white collie mix lifted his head at the sound. She was the reason John Smith had become a part of their lives in the first place, although KCPD still wasn’t certain who had hired him or why he’d been following Katie. For all she knew, Smith had been executed because he’d failed to break into her apartment and murder her, or retrieve whatever information she’d found that Leland Asher didn’t want her to. Some security. More like the magnet for trouble she’d always been.
“Katie?” Perhaps sensing the guilty direction her thoughts had taken, Trent tightened his grip on her shoulder.
But she shushed him and walked into the room to pet the skinny dog that had been a blessing for Tyler to come home to. The two had eaten a snack together and played, and had separated only long enough for Tyler to take a bath and brush his teeth. She scratched the dog around his ears, then pressed a kiss to the soft fur on top of his head. “I’m counting on you to keep an eye on our boy, okay, Padre?” Then she lifted the covers and tucked Tyler’s leg beneath the quilt and pulled it up to his chin. She brushed his dark hair off his forehead and kissed his sweet, velvety skin. It was a relief to see the tears had washed away and the frown mark had relaxed with sleep. “I love you, sweetie,” she whispered, then winked at the alert dog. “Good boy.”
As soon as Katie backed away from the bed, Padre laid his head down over Tyler’s legs and she knew her son would be watched over through the night. If only she could let go of the uncertainty of these past few days and sleep so easily.
She looked up to see the big, half-dressed man filling the doorway. The gauze and tape on Trent’s shoulder stood out like a beacon in the shadows cast by the lone night-light in Tyler’s room, mocking his claim that she didn’t screw up relationships, that the people around her didn’t get hurt.
But it was too late and she was too raw to have that discussion again. So she grasped at the friendly banter and mutual support system that had always been there between them. “Okay, mister. You’re next.” She nudged him out into the hallway and pulled the door partly shut behind her. “The doctor said I should replace your bandage after your shower.”
She stopped in her bedroom to retrieve her bag, where she’d stowed the extra supplies the doctor in the ER had given them, then followed him through the quiet house into the en suite off the master bedroom. While Trent hung up his towel, she filled a glass with water. “Antibiotics first.”
“Yes, ma’am.” With a weary grin on his unshaven face, he dutifully took the pill she handed him and swallowed it.
She got the distinct feeling he was humoring her when she closed the toilet lid and had him sit so she could peel the tape off the tanned skin of his upper arm and toss it and the soiled gauze beneath it into the trash. He only winced once and never complained about the pain he must be in as she made quick work of cleansing the open wound and applying a new layer of ointment before covering the injury with a clean gauze pad. But the tape twisted and fought her as she pulled it off the roll and tried to tear the pieces she needed.
“Where are those scissors?” After securing the gauze with one mangled piece of tape, Katie squatted down to open the bag and pull out the contents inside to retrieve the smaller items that had fallen to the bottom. “Just give me a sec.” Wallet. Sunglasses. Squashed breakfast bar. Laptop. Mini toy truck. “There they are...”
Katie gasped. She’d been so intent on fixing up Trent and getting back to her own bed, where she prayed a dreamless sleep would claim her, that the damage done to the cover of her laptop almost didn’t register. But then she trailed her finger over the small, perfectly round dent in the metal cover. A frightening realization swept through her with such force that it made her light-headed. She wobbled and sank onto her knees. She set the laptop on the tile floor and dug into her purse again. Not for
scissors this time. It was... Oh, my God. There. Perfectly round and just big enough to slip her finger through. A bullet hole.
“Is something broken?”
Turning, she held up her bag with her finger still sticking through the hole. “I could have been killed. Tyler could have been killed. You could have...” Her voice faded with every sentence until there was barely a breath of sound. “I don’t understand why this is happening.’
“Ah, Katie.” Trent tossed the bag aside and pulled her onto his lap. “Sunshine, come here.”
Dressing the wound was forgotten as she curled up on top of his thighs and leaned into him. His arms came around her and wrapped her up with the heat of his body.
With her ear pressed to the strong beat of his heart, Katie shivered. “I’m so cold.”
His big hands moved up and down her back and arms, creating static friction as he rubbed flannel against flannel. But even that electricity couldn’t seem to pierce the shroud of despair closing in around her. “You’re going into a little bit of shock. Let’s get you warmed up.”
When he lifted her into the air, she remembered herself. “Your arm. What if it starts bleeding again?”
“Screw that.”
“I need to finish dressing it.”
He carried her out of the bathroom to the king-size bed where he slept. “Right now, you just need to let me take care of you.” Her toes touched the floor only long enough for Trent to pull back the covers. Then he swung her up into his arms again and set her near the middle of the bed. Before she could think to protest, he’d stretched out beside her and pulled the sheet and thick comforter up over them both. He gathered her into his arms and threw one leg over both of hers, aligning them chest to hip, with her head tucked beneath his chin and their legs tangled together. “Think of it as doing me a favor.” With her arms caught between them, he pulled her impossibly closer, wrapping her up in the furnace of his body. “I need a break, sunshine. This whole investigation is wearing me out. It’d be nice to not have to worry about you getting into trouble for a little while.”