Maddy waited as she was told, holding herground until the right moment. He backed away toward the door shehad come up through, the moon’s reflection off the gun a handylocator in the darkness. Reaching behind, he opened the creakingdoor and stepped slowly back as she did as she was told. She wasn’tstupid, getting shot was not on her to do list for the night.
Nor was she letting him go. As soon as thedoor clicked, she sprinted flat-out down the main stairs, out thefront building and reached the back of the building just in time towatch him making a run towards his car. No way, not tonight.
Continuing her silent sprint, she reached himwell before he reached the car and threw her body on him, tacklinghim to the ground.
With a howl of pain as he hit the pavementface down, he tried to spin the gun towards her. Anticipating themove, she dug her knee into his spine.
As he instinctively tried to throw her off ofhim, she cracked her elbow into his eye and knocked the gun fromhis grip. Stretching his arm beyond her reach, he went for the gun.Rolling off him, she kicked his gun completely out of reach andturned back him.
Cussing, he came at her with a closed fist.His angry response worked to her benefit, and she used his momentumand threw him over her hip as she ducked.
His huge figure crashed into the concretewith a dull thud. Without a blink, he kicked his leg out straightinto her gut. Her body flew back several feet and she hit theground.
Dammit, he wasn’t going down easily. Wincing,she grabbed her bruised ribs, waiting for him to get closer. As heneared, she flung her legs around like a helicopter and knocked himto the ground.
Immediately, she leaped back to her feet. Hegrabbed a smaller knife from his boot and rose to the ground, knifeswinging like a windmill. With a swift kick of her foot, sheknocked away the knife, spun around and threw her cuff on one hand,twisted, and had both hands cuffed before he could recoil.
After a swift kick to the backside, he was onthe ground howling.
Now, with both hands behind his back, he wassignificantly limited. “Want to give up now, or keep going?” Maddysmiled. She knelt down and picked up his fallen sidearm. Hisshoulders hunched, giving up.
Siren blasting, lights blaring, Andrea’s rigsped into the area. Maddy nudged the perp until he rose to hisfeet. As instructed, he hobbled to the waiting rig and ducked intothe backseat.
Ian raced back, his own rig now loaded withthe other perp. “Got him?”
“Of course. Didn’t feel like lending a hand?”She panted breathlessly, smiling all the while.
Ian shrugged, “Thought I’d let you have alittle fun first. Come on, let’s get these guys booked and finishup. I’m hungry.”
“Fun? Maybe. Guy was a fucking giganticmartial artist with a fist bigger than my skull. You got the wormyelectrician that rolled over and showed his belly. Let’s trade nexttime, my ribs are killing me.” She dramatically grabbed her sideand limped. Laughing, he nudged her until she gave and shoved himback.
Andrea, her boss and chief of police, dashedover to check on her officers. “You ok?” After seeing Ian hadhardly broken a sweat, she checked Maddy for injuries like aworried mama bear.
“I’m fine.” Maddy answered with a smile,shrugging off the attention but appreciating it all the same.
With a smile, Andrea looked down at theinjured perp on the ground, “That all of them?”
Maddy bantered back, “Was this not enough?This big guy put up a hell of a fight,” she grinned back, “butseriously, I believe this is it, but I can’t say for sure. We’llhead in for a final sweep.”
***
Glued to his front grill as instructed, Chasetried not to imagine all of the horrible things that could bewaiting to jump Maddy inside. Once he’d been notified that thealarm had been triggered and police were on the way, he’d quicklytossed on some clothes and tore out of the garage, fearing theworst. The chief of police had arrived a few moments before he hadand warned him that he’d better not take even a step away from hiscar or she’d arrest him for interfering.
When Maddy walked around the from the back ofthe building, alive and well with a grin on her face, although herhair and uniform a bit disheveled, he’d never felt such anoverwhelming sense of relief. He knew she was no slouch; shewouldn’t have made detective so quickly back in Seattle if sheweren’t an exceptional cop. But still, it was hard not to bescared. Or tear down the front door of his own office to get to herand pummel the jerks that hurt her.
Now, he was forced to watch her go back in,weapon drawn and body on high alert. Not wanting to affect herconcentration, he stood incredibly still at the front of his truck.Occasionally, he’d see she or Ian cross by the window. Finally,after what seemed an eternity, she and Ian came back out, lookingquite a bit more relaxed.
“All good, chief,” she hollered over theAndrea, who stood by their SUVs that contained the perps.“Building, docks, and boats clear.”
“Nice work officers. Ian, you’ve got one inyour rig, Maddy, you’ve got the other. Go process these guys. I’llstart the investigation here and interrogate once I’m finished, butI may call you over if I need anything.” Turning to Chase, sheheaded his direction. He watched as Maddy gave him a quick wink anddrove away, all efficiency as she got the job done. “Mr. Anderson,I guess you’re in charge tonight?”
He nodded, “That’s me. Frank’s out of thecountry. What can I do?”
“You can come with me. Let’s do awalk-through and see if you notice if anything has been disturbed.”He followed as directed. Halfway up the stairs, she stopped to ask,“You have security cameras?”
Chase nodded, “Sure do. The only access islocked up in Frank’s office.” He led the way. Immediately at thetop of the stairs, he saw some destruction from the arrest. Ahead-sized indentation in the wall near Brent’s desk. Paperworkscattered on the floor. The desk shifted out of place and thecomputer monitor on the ground next to it. “I’m glad I saw everyonewalk out of here ok, or I’d be worried.”
Andrea agreed, “I’m glad Maddy was ontonight. As well trained as my officers are, she’s one of the fewwho could have gotten this done without any shots fired.” Passing ahuge Bowie knife on the way toward Frank’s office, Chase took adeep breath to calm the rage that was boiling up inside. He hadlittle doubt Dylan was behind tonight’s activities, after theircomments in the office, and the break-in was on one of the fewnight shifts Maddy had worked lately. He shared as much withAndrea.
