Alpha Warrior

by Aimée Thurlo

  Travis, already behind cover, fired at the shooter, hitting a branch of the juniper and forcing him to duck back. Yet the tip of his rifle barrel stuck out, revealing he was still there.

  “Keep this guy pinned,” Nick said. “I’ll cut behind you, then flank him from our left.”

  As Travis fired again, Nick ran toward the house across the street. The shooter held out his rifle and fired blindly twice, without exposing himself. The bullets whined overhead, way high.

  Travis fired three more times, forcing the shooter to stay behind cover, as Nick hurried to the side gate, intending to slip into the backyard. After that, the suspect would be trapped between Travis and him, with nowhere to go without being shot.

  Suddenly the front door of the house opened and a man in his eighties came out. “Who the heck is lighting all those firecrackers? This is October, dang it!”

  The gunman fired, striking a porch post right next to the old man.

  Instead of circling as he’d planned, Nick raced across the old man’s lawn as Travis provided suppressing fire. About the time Nick reached the porch, the old man realized what was going on and ducked back inside.

  Nick moved to the corner of the house and looked over at Travis, who nodded, his pistol aimed just ahead of his brother. Dropping low, Nick ducked and aimed around the corner.

  “He’s gone. He went out the back,” Nick yelled to Travis. “We almost had him,” he added, as his brother hurried to join him.

  “Our job is to protect and serve. You did the right thing by making the old man’s safety your priority,” Travis said, reloading his weapon with a fresh magazine.

  Drew came out from behind cover as Nick walked back across the street to join her. “This whole thing was a setup,” Nick said.

  “But what about Uncle Earl and Aunt Minnie? They could be inside the house hurt—or worse!” Without waiting for an answer, Drew ran to her uncle’s front porch.

  Nick caught up to her before she reached the door and pulled her back. “No! Let me look things over first.”

  He studied the knob and lock without touching either. “Everything here looks intact,” he said. “If anyone broke in, they had to have gone in through the back, or though a window.”

  As a vehicle roared up the block, Nick instantly pulled Drew behind cover. A heartbeat later a truck screeched to a stop and Earl Simmons jumped out.

  “What’s going on?” Earl demanded, looking at Nick, then at Travis, who was on the phone with dispatch. “I heard a police report about shots being fired in my neighborhood.”

  Nick explained why they were there and gave him the details of the shooting incident.

  “I never contacted you,” Earl said, as Drew came over. “In fact, I’ve been having some trouble with my phone. Calls aren’t coming in—” He stopped abruptly and looked around, seeing the broken living room window for the first time. “Where’s Minnie? Where’s my wife?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Earl tried to force his way past Nick, but as big as her uncle was, Nick remained in his way, as steady as Shiprock.

  “Move!” Earl boomed.

  “Her car’s not here, so she’s probably not home,” Nick said in a calm voice. “Before you storm in there, we need to make sure that the people who set up the trap for Drew didn’t leave any other surprises.”

  “If they broke into my house, they would have set off enough alarms to wake the dead. But if Minnie opened the door to an intruder—” The thought slammed into Earl hard, revitalizing his energy. “Step aside. Now!”

  Drew stared at her uncle. She’d never seen him like this. The cold-blooded, calm professional she’d always known was gone. The possibility that his wife was in danger had changed him completely.

  He glared at Nick. “Lead, follow or get out of my way! I need to make sure she’s okay.”

  “If she’s inside—and the door’s rigged—you could kill her and yourself,” Nick said. “We could be dealing with professionals who like to set traps.”

  That stopped him cold.

  “I’m sure she’s okay,” Drew said, trying to help. “Like Nick said, her car isn’t here.”

  Earl glared at her. “What did you do to bring this to our home?”

  Shocked by his accusation, she stood there, speechless. She was trying to figure out how to answer him when a car pulled into the driveway. Seeing her aunt’s old blue sedan, Drew nearly cheered.

  Earl raced past all of them, and as Minnie stepped out of the car, scooped her into his arms.

  It wasn’t just the look on her uncle’s face that touched her so deeply, it was what she saw on her aunt’s face. Etched there was the utter and debilitating relief that came from realizing a loved one was safe.

  “You nearly scared me to death!” Minnie said, suddenly angry. “You texted me to meet you at the bank and said it was urgent. I went right over, thinking you were in terrible trouble, but you never showed up!”

  “You…got what? Text?” Earl looked at her in confusion.

  “I got a text message from you, too, Uncle Earl. I tried to call you back, but I couldn’t even get your voicemail,” Drew said.

  Minnie nodded. “That’s exactly what happened to me. I couldn’t get through. What’s going on, Earl?”

  “First, I’ll need the keys to the house so my brother can check things out,” Nick said, interrupting them.

  Earl tossed Travis his keys but kept his arm around Minnie.

  Travis jogged to the back of the house, having decided to enter through the back instead of the front, for safety reasons. His Marine Corp training in handling explosives and IEDs gave him the necessary expertise, though he didn’t serve in that capacity in the Three Rivers department. As soon as he checked the interior and gave them the all clear, Nick urged them all inside.

  They gathered in the living room, avoiding the shattered glass on the carpet. As Nick and Drew explained what had brought them there and into the shooter’s trap, Earl’s face mirrored a blend of disbelief and confusion.

  “I don’t know what’s wrong with this idiot phone,” he said, waving it around in his hand. “You all say you’ve been trying to call me, but I swear, this thing hasn’t made a sound. And what’s this about texting? If I need to speak to someone, I talk.”

  “Let me see your phone,” Nick said. Earl handed it to him and Nick pressed a few of the buttons. “There are no preprogrammed telephone numbers in here,” he said. “Is that the way you set it up?”

  “No, I have a few in there, like my wife’s cell, Drew’s, the main number at the PD, and my barber’s.” Taking back the phone, he pressed the button on the left, and when nothing happened, tried it again. “What the—”

  “What’s your number?” Travis asked, and dialed as Earl recited the numbers.

  Earl’s phone failed to ring or even register the call.

  “Are you sure that’s your phone?” Nick asked him. “Take a closer look at it.”

  Earl studied it. “You’re right. This one isn’t mine. My phone is chipped on the side.”

  “Take it over to Koval. I’ll call him and give him a heads-up,” Nick said. “The lab boys can track it back to the original owner.”

  “You’re thinking that someone switched my phone on purpose?”

  Nick nodded. “You take it off when you’re sitting in your truck. Where else, away from home, do you set it down?”

  He thought about it. “At the barber’s. I set it on the counter so it won’t poke me in the side while I’m in the chair.”

  “When’s the last time you were there?” Nick asked.

  “Yesterday morning.”

  “But what about the house phone?” Minnie asked. “Drew said she tried to call home.”

  Nick went to the closest desk phone, picked up the receiver and listened. “Nothing. It’s dead.” He traced the line to the wall. “It’s still plugged in.”

  “What about the outside? The connection leading from the street to the house box can be unplugged in
a second,” Travis said.

  “That’s probably our answer,” Nick said, still on his feet. “Check that after we leave,” he told Travis. “Right now, Drew and I are going to have to hit the road again. The shooter escaped, and he knows where we are.”

  “First, let me go talk to the officers outside. I just saw a department car pulling up across the street,” Travis said. “While I’m out there, I’ll also check the phone connections. Wait until I’m done, then I’ll follow you till you reach the highway to make sure you don’t pick up a tail.”

  FIVE MINUTES LATER, according to plan, Nick and Drew were on their way. Drew shifted in her seat, loosening her seat belt so she could face Nick. “It took time and trouble for the ones after me to switch my uncle’s cell phone, disconnect his home phone, and even mess with my aunt’s and uncle’s heads like that. But I still have no idea what would make me worth all that.”

  “Whoever’s behind it has turned this into a game,” Nick answered. “He’s trying to show us that he can get to you no matter what we do.”

  Nick picked up his phone, pressed Koval’s cell number, and updated him on recent events. “Former Chief Simmons will drop off the bogus phone. Let me know what you get from it. I’m staying mobile so no one can pin us down.”

  Instead of an answer there was silence on the other end. Then suddenly, Nick heard Koval curse. “That maggot’s on me again.”

  “Who?” Nick asked.

  “Someone’s been tailing me ever since I left the mayor’s place up in the mountains. I’ve tried to turn the tables on that son of a gun four times, but he vanishes into thin air whenever I double back on him.”

  “Where’s he at right now?”

  “He’s three cars back. No, make that four. I could call a cruiser for backup, but he’d disappear the second he saw it coming.”

  “Give me your twenty,” Nick said, asking for Koval’s location.

  “I’m about a mile west of the Thunderbird Bar, heading east into town and the station,” Koval said. “As soon as he realizes where I’m going, he’ll peel off on a side street and I’ll lose him again. Wish we had a copter. We’d nail the punk then.”

  “I’m not far from you. We can set him up.”

  “You’ve got your own assignment, so back off,” Koval snapped.

  “Your tail might be connected to Drew’s case. If we can nail this guy, we might be able to break this case wide open.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he said, at last. “I’ll change my destination and head to the bank. I’ll cash a check, then walk across the street to Petra’s and order lunch.”

  “I’ll be there in five minutes, but I need a description of the subject’s vehicle,” Nick said.

  “He’s driving a Chevy Nova that must date back to the seventies. It’s pale blue.”

  As Nick headed toward the downtown area, he called Travis and updated him.

  “You’ve got no one on your tail now, bro, except me, so you’re free and clear. You’ll have plenty of backup where you’re going, so I’ll have to break contact for a while. I just got a lead on one of my cases and I need to follow through,” Travis said.

  “Go for it. I’ve got this now.”

  As he hung up, Koval called. “We’ve caught a break. I’m on foot now, on the way to the restaurant. The subject also left his vehicle and is about a half block behind me on the opposite side of the street. He’s thin, wearing regular glasses and is carrying a laptop beneath his left arm.” Koval paused. “He’s taken a seat on one of the park benches and opened his computer. Probably pretending to work while he keeps watch.”

  “I’m less than a block from you, coming up from the south on Jefferson. I’ll leave the car by the cleaners then approach on foot.”

  Nick picked up an old Redskin’s baseball cap from the back of the SUV, then glanced at Drew. “I need you to change your appearance a bit. There’s another baseball cap in the glove compartment. Take it. And how about tying your hair back in a ponytail?”

  A moment later, they were walking toward the park.

  As Nick’s phone rang, he flipped it open with one hand.

  “He’s changed position. I can’t see him anymore,” Koval said.

  “If he’s really following you he’ll still be close by. Head on over to Petra’s. When he picks you up again, we’ll spot him.”

  Drew looked up and down the street. “I don’t see anyone who fits the description you were given. Maybe he took off.”

  Nick glanced around and spotted Koval heading east toward Petra’s. As they turned the corner, Nick suddenly spotted a young man wearing a hooded sweatshirt and holding a pea green laptop. He was less than a hundred feet away, heading straight toward them.

  Although Drew’s hat concealed her face somewhat, he knew they’d both be recognized once the guy got closer. Nick quickly pulled Drew into the alley between a travel agency and yarn shop. Pressing her back to the wall, he took her mouth in a hard, searing kiss that left no possible room for objections.

  As his tongue danced with hers, Nick felt her melt against him. Heat slammed into him with gale-force strength. His body tightened, and suddenly he found it difficult to remember what else was at stake.

  Hearing their target scurry past them, he tore his mouth from hers and took a shuddering breath. His body was ready and aching for more, but he forced himself to step away from Drew. “I think that worked,” Nick said, through clenched teeth.

  “What?” she managed, her eyes still hazy, her mouth wet from his kiss.

  He was fighting the temptation to kiss her again and forget everything else, when his phone rang. Suppressing a groan, he answered it.

  “Nice diversion. Now it’s time to close the trap,” Koval said. “I’m heading into Petra’s via the side entrance. Stay on him.”

  “This guy doesn’t come across as a pro. He gets too close, for one,” Nick said.

  “Maybe he’s a last-minute replacement,” Koval said. “We can find out, once he’s in custody. I’m going in now. Let’s see what he does.”

  Nick watched Koval enter. The suspect crossed the street, hesitated for a moment, then went inside as well.

  “So what now?” she asked, as Nick walked to the pedestrian crossing, waiting for the light to change.

  “We’re going in through the kitchen door, then catch him from behind as he tries to follow Koval back out. Stick close to me and don’t interfere.”

  “I won’t—unless you need my help.”

  He cursed softly. “If I need your help, I’ll say so.”

  As they went in through the back, one of the cooks looked over from the grill. Nick nodded to him and held up his badge, and the man went back to his work. A moment later, they entered the dining area and saw Koval paying for his carry-out at the cash register. Their suspect had seated himself at a bench just inside the door and had his laptop open again. When Koval went out the front door he closed the laptop and followed.

  Nick intended to cut him off at the door, but the man suddenly spotted Nick closing in and ran outside, racing down the sidewalk and dodging people in his way. Nick was on his heels, Drew right beside him.

  “Stop! Police officer,” Nick yelled.

  Seeing that Nick was catching up, the man suddenly hurled the laptop out into the middle of the street. Drew knew that as soon as the light turned, and traffic got underway again, whatever information the laptop contained would be destroyed, if it wasn’t already. Holding her hand up high over her head, signaling drivers to remain at a stop, she darted out into traffic. The light turned green but the cars remained in place, though horns blared and angry drivers yelled out curses.

  Drew scooped up the laptop and raced toward the sidewalk. As a motorcycle came rushing around the corner, she heard the squeal of tires inches from her. Drew jumped the last few feet to the curb, her heart in her throat.

  Hands shaking, and gasping for breath, Drew looked down at the computer and smiled. It was a sturdy machine, and though scratched and scraped, ther
e was no major damage that she could see.

  Hearing footsteps closing in, Drew turned and saw Nick running up, his wrist attached to his handcuffed prisoner’s.

  Onlookers had stopped, curious what was going on, but as Nick joined her with his prisoner, people stepped back, giving them lots of room.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Nick yelled. “Don’t ever do something that crazy again!”

  “I’m fine. Relax. I figured that he tossed the computer into the street, hoping it would get run over. Then he wouldn’t have to explain whatever was on the hard drive. Now that it’s safe, we can find out what is so secret.”

  As she got a close look at Nick’s prisoner, Drew realized that he was more boy than man. He was seventeen at most—maybe even sixteen.

  “I’m telling you. You got the wrong guy. I don’t know nuthin’,” the kid muttered.

  Nick tightened his grip on the boy’s arm. “You’re in a world of trouble, kid. Holding out on us now isn’t going to do you much good,” he said.

  “You’ve got me confused with someone else, dude.”

  “Where’s Koval?” Drew asked, looking around.

  “He helped me corral the kid, then went back for his vehicle. He should be here in five.” Nick stared into the boy’s face, but the kid wouldn’t make eye contact. From the way he’d tried to get rid of the laptop, Nick knew he was guilty of something, maybe theft. But whether he had anything at all to do with Drew’s case remained to be seen.

  Nick quickly mirandized the young man. “If you cooperate with us and answer our questions truthfully, I guarantee the district attorney will cut you some slack. That’s your best chance right now,” Nick said.

  “Does that mean I won’t be arrested?” the kid asked, quickly.

  “I can’t just let you walk away. But if you cooperate with our investigation you should be out of jail in a few hours.”

  The kid shook his head. “No deal. Promise to let me go, and I’ll tell you whatever you want.”