Tactical Pursuit

by Lynette Mae

  Mac followed Devon down the hallway to the elevator. She stared at Devon with an amused expression, obviously waiting for her to speak. Devon waited until they entered the elevator and the doors closed.

  “Something on your mind?” she asked.

  “As if you don’t know.”

  Devon punched the ground floor button. “Lot of good police work going on.” Mac was still watching her. Devon held out as long as she could, but finally broke into a huge smile. “Jessie told me about finding the key the other night. She was so excited to get praise from Kelsey that she called me right away.”

  Mac shook her head. “She’s smart, too? Wow. Still no accounting for her interest in you.”

  Devon looked at her blankly. “I’ll ignore your failed attempt at humor. She’s sharp, that’s for sure. The print on that key is gonna break this case, wait and see.”

  “Unless we catch the thief in the act this afternoon,” Mac countered.

  The doors slid open and they stepped out into the lobby and through the glass double doors that led to the garage. Several officers passed and they exchanged greetings as they walked to Devon’s car. She grabbed her uniform off the hook inside the back door.

  “You and Jessie are doing well I take it?”

  “I think so.”

  “How was the date?”

  “Amazing.”

  “I’m happy for you.”

  “Thanks, Mac. You gonna see Jill this weekend?”

  “That’s the plan.” Mac nodded.

  “Say hello for me.” Devon switched her pistol from the small holster on her hip to her duty leather, dropped her gun belt over her shoulder and slammed the car door shut. “I’ve got to get changed. But, let’s grab a bite on our next days off, okay?”

  “All right, Dev. So today, I’ll be flying after one. Let me know if you get anything else.”

  “Talk to you later.” Devon was already heading back inside to change, thinking it was only a matter of time before Honeycutt screwed up, and when he did, she would be there.

  THE ROOKIES WERE loading up their gear at the start of the next shift, and Devon noticed that Steph had been watching her closely all through roll call. Paul was once again with Devon for the shift, and even that didn’t bother her tonight. She felt as though she was walking on air. Every spare moment her mind replayed highlights of her time spent with Jessie. Their date had been the perfect start, and each successive night had ended with lengthy phone conversations that fed Devon’s ever-increasing desire. There was no denying that she was in high spirits, but she thought that she’d been able to keep her emotion from showing outwardly. Apparently, she’d been wrong. Steph was Devon’s self-appointed relationship counselor, always trying to set her up with some friend of a friend. Devon almost always declined, promising that she’d let Steph know when the right woman came along. Now she had. Steph must have sensed a change in the air and she was looking like she might burst if she didn’t say something soon.

  “Somebody enjoyed her days off.” Steph gave her the jab, knowing their rookies were within earshot.

  Devon glanced in Paul’s direction and then shot a warning look at Steph. Her friend pretended not to notice, placing her hands on her hips, as if fully expecting a response. Devon only grinned and started whistling a tune as she arranged her gear to make room for Paul’s. She enjoyed making Steph crazy.

  Steph stepped close and whispered, “You got laid didn’t you?” Devon’s laughter was her only response.

  “Aww, c’mon...” Steph gave her shoulder a shove. “I tell you everything about my dates.”

  “Yeah, usually more than I want to know.”

  “You don’t have to tell me everything, just give me a little—”

  Devon’s cell phone rang. She winked and moved away to give herself a bit of privacy when she saw that it was Jessie. “Hello, there.”

  “Hi. How are ya?”

  “Better now. Did you get any sleep?”

  Jessie laughed in her ear. “You mean after we finally hung up this morning?”

  A SWAT call-out had interrupted their plans last evening, but Devon had promised to call when she got home and they’d spent the rest of the night talking. The sun was rising by the time they’d reluctantly said good-bye and Devon still found it difficult to sleep. She thought the day might be tough with the extra hours spent in the wire room with Kelsey, but little doses of Jessie like this would inject an adrenaline burst sure to keep her going. It was all a state of mind.

  “Yeah, after that.” She smiled picturing Jessie’s face.

  “The song on my radio alarm this morning reminded me of you.”

  Jessie’s voice settled in the deep recesses of her soul, filling empty spaces. Jessie had been her first waking thought and hearing Jess say the same thing was delightful. The only thing better would be actually waking up beside her. A shiver rolled through Devon’s body at the thought. “Really? Dare I ask what song?”

  “Maybe later. The lines that got my attention aren’t conducive to a work environment.”

  “Now I really want to know.” Jessie’s warm laughter made Devon wish she wasn’t standing in the police lot ready to start her shift. She sighed and settled for what was possible. “I’d like to see you today. Do you want to try to have coffee later? I’ve got a rookie, but I could meet you after my shift ends?”

  “Sounds good. I’ll need a shot of caffeine to get me through the last couple of hours tonight. There’s this woman who’s been keeping me up past my bedtime.”

  “That woman would love to tuck you in, you know.”

  After a pause, Jessie quietly admitted, “I think about that, too.”

  For a moment Devon was incapable of response. A siren blast made her nearly jump out of her skin as Paul went through the pre-shift equipment test, and she refocused on her surroundings. Better contain her thoughts to coffee before this conversation veered into more dangerous territory. “Great. I’ll call you to see how your night’s shaping up. If you can make it, how about the coffee shop on Central?”

  “It’s a date.” Jessie’s tone was beckoning, and Devon found it more than a little alluring.

  The radio emergency tone blared to indicate a priority call was about to be dispatched. Devon turned up the volume on her radio. “Shit. Hang on.”

  Steph was now standing beside her and they both instinctively cocked their heads toward their shoulder mics. A serious crash had occurred at the other end of their sector. The dispatcher advised that it appeared possibly fatal.

  “Sorry, Jess, I’ve gotta go.”

  “Be careful.”

  “Paul, let’s go!” Devon shouted. She jumped into the driver’s seat and peeled out of the police lot as he was slamming the passenger door.

  “Adam Four en route,” he said.

  The two cars screamed priority one through the afternoon traffic, full lights and sirens blaring their warning. Five minutes later they maneuvered the emergency vehicles across the lanes of traffic at the north side of the intersection. The crash was a head-on collision and both cars looked as though any survivors would be a miracle, with crush damage visible all the way back to the engine block. The closest vehicle was the remnants of an older model brown Toyota. Devon ran to the open driver’s door and was shocked to find the passenger compartment empty, although the windshield had a round splintered impact mark and blood covered the dash. A woman sitting in a car to her left yelled, “The man in that car ran away, officer!” She pointed to the north.

  “Was he white or black? What color shirt?” She had no time to get more than a cursory description for now. The guy had to be injured and should be easy to spot.

  “White guy. White T-shirt, I think. It happened so fast, ma’am.”

  Devon radioed to responding units to be on the lookout for the injured suspect. Then she ran to help Steph, who was at the passenger side of the second car. She smelled gasoline. A large puddle was accumulating on the pavement beneath the car. Paul wrenched open the
driver’s door of the compact Dodge, and Devon leaned in to survey the situation. The driver’s face was covered in blood that ran profusely from a large laceration in his forehead. Of immediate concern, however, was the racing car engine. The accelerator had stuck due to the impact, and the whine of the engine was deafening, not to mention the smell of the rapidly overheating brake pads that spewed noxious smoke all around them. Any spark could easily ignite the fresh gasoline. Devon reached around the driver to twist the ignition to off, eliminating the problem. Next, she turned her attention to administering first aid.

  Steph simultaneously attended to the partially ejected female passenger. Apparently she had not worn her seatbelt. Her face was a bloody mess, bones obviously shattered. A compound fracture resulted in an exposed bone protruding from her forearm. The woman was not moving. Steph’s eyes flashed across the carnage of the vehicle interior at Devon. “This one’s not too good. What about him?” She motioned to the driver who moaned incoherently.

  “He’s mumbling, so that’s a good sign.” Devon attempted to put pressure on the wound and at the same time keep the man’s head immobilized in the event he had spinal injuries.

  Steph tossed a pair of surgical gloves to Devon. “Put these on,” she said flatly before turning back to her victim. “I can’t find a pulse on her, Dev.” Her serious tone was mixed with a touch of fear that indicated precious seconds were slipping away. She tried to shift the woman’s head to open an airway.

  Devon yelled over her shoulder to Paul, “Go get the CPR mask out of the trunk! Hurry!” The command tone was unmistakable, and he scrambled to do as he was told. As the young man ran back toward the two training officers, the fire department’s first units arrived on scene. The paramedics from the advanced life support unit rushed to help Steph. They extricated the woman swiftly and got to work. Two additional paramedics appeared at Devon’s side, and she gratefully relinquished her grasp on the driver’s head, allowing the experts to take over the rescue responsibilities of the scene. Cops were trained in basic CPR, but it was clear that these people needed professional medical care if they were to survive.

  With the injured victims taken care of, Devon turned her attention to the investigative portion of the crash. She scanned the area for witnesses, finding only one car pulled off on the far side of the road. It was the woman who had given the information on the missing driver. The woman was shaken but not injured. Devon quickly gathered additional information and updated the radio alert for the suspect.

  The next order of business was securing the crime scene. Traffic was now snarled in both directions on the busy, four-lane thoroughfare, and Devon knew she had to come up with a plan. Their patrol cars were a quick fix while they assessed injuries, but now they had to lock down the entire road in order to preserve evidence for the rest of the investigation and clean up.

  “Paul!”

  “Yes, ma’am?”

  “Start stringing up crime scene tape. Go from the light pole on the north side of the intersection and take it around the far side of our car to the south side. I want this entire area sealed, got it?” Paul immediately set to work. Now Devon looked for Steph’s recruit, who was looking a bit confused as to what he should do next.

  “Mike! Come with me!” Devon walked purposefully to the north side of the intersection. She assessed the traffic situation. If the site was not controlled properly, other vehicles would invariably try to squeeze past, and the scene could become another tragedy. A rescue worker could be injured, or worse.

  “This is important,” she instructed the recruit. “We have to set up flares to direct the southbound traffic onto the shoulder of the road. Once we have the flares in place, you will stay here and direct the traffic down the west shoulder—got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am.” When they’d completed the task, the roadway was lined with red glowing sticks that would detour the traffic around the crash. The sulfur burned Devon’s eyes as she walked through the smoke. She was still surveying the area, reviewing tasks, ticking off her responsibilities in her mind, wanting to ensure she hadn’t forgotten anything. Everything checked out, and she relaxed a little now that the scene was secure.

  The crime scene van worked its way through the snarled traffic to the crash site, squeezing in between a red truck and a black Mercedes before stopping outside the yellow tape. “Mike!” she hollered. “Stop the traffic a minute. I gotta let them in.” Devon raised the barrier police tape to allow the van to enter. She noticed a couple of flares had gone out on that side, and quickly darted to the spot near the shoulder, lighting fresh ones and setting them into place.

  The crime scene tech exited the van and called out a question. Devon turned toward him, her back to the traffic lane momentarily. She heard someone else yelling and swiveled her head in the direction of the voice. Simultaneously, an engine revved to her left, just before a dark flash skirted her peripheral vision.

  A sharp pain sliced into her left side as a crushing jolt catapulted her into the air. The world flipped upside down and then she crashed onto the hood of a vehicle. Her head bounced off the windshield. The driver’s smile flashed past her vision as she careened off the left side of the car, striking the exterior mirror with her side. It snapped off with a loud crack that sent a stabbing pain across her chest. In the next instant, she hit the pavement hard with her head and then her shoulder. In the midst of the spinning above her, she saw Steph and Paul. Steph’s mouth was moving, but the loud buzzing in her ears drowned out all other sound. Steph’s face was contorted in an agonized expression. Devon attempted to ask her what was wrong, but everything went dark.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “TURN OFF THE damn siren,” Devon grumbled. An excruciating pain pounded in her head, threatening to crack her skull from the inside, and she couldn’t figure out why that rookie wouldn’t turn off the incessant damn noise. Something was on her face. She tried to reach up to get it off, but her arm didn’t obey the command. Vaguely, she recognized that she was lying down and she felt the swaying of motion. Her body pressed hard to the left and then shifted back into place. Everything was blurry, and blinking didn’t help clear her vision.

  “Just lie still,” a male voice said from somewhere. The wail of the siren continued, and from the recesses of her mind it registered that it sounded different than the police siren. Ambulance. An abrupt bump sent a searing shot of pain through her entire body and she heard herself moan. Hands grasped her arm, and then pressure built around her biceps for a few moments before it eased again. Something stuck her arm, a quick pinch.

  Another voice, or maybe it was the same one. “Rescue Five en route with a thirty-three year old female, motor vehicle accident. Head injury, loss of consciousness on scene, semi-conscious now. Blood pressure eighty over fifty-five, we are treating for shock.” The man’s voice drifted away.

  A strong jolt. She bounced, and the jarring to her body made her head feel like it might explode. The jerking stopped and she was moving again. Backward. Urgent voices from every direction competed for attention.

  “Head trauma…”

  “Closed tibia fracture…”

  “Possible rib fracture…”

  She tried to open her eyes to see what was going on, but the world spun and she closed them again immediately.

  “One, two, three.”

  Devon was lifted briefly. She felt hands all over her. Pressure on her leg. She cried out. Someone called for scissors. Fabric fell away from her shins leaving her legs cold. Her right eye was forced open, then her left, with a bright light blinding each in turn.

  A male voice called to her. “Officer James can you hear me?”

  She could. Her eyelids flickered as she tried to say yes. But suddenly all motion and sound stopped.

  In the quiet, Jessie held her hand as they walked along the beach, content to be together. They stopped and watched in awe as the sun burned a final crimson line along the horizon before disappearing into the water. Devon reached for Jessie, but sh
e drifted away with the ocean breeze. “Devon?” Jessie’s voice sounded uncertain. “Please, don’t go.”

  “I’m here, Jess.” Devon couldn’t see her through a strange fog that suddenly separated them. Nothing was clear, and she strained to see where Jessie had gone. “I need you.” Her voice sounded frightened and more muffled.

  Devon pushed forward, attempting to reach her by following the sound. “Jess?” The thick mist dissolved into a black void.

  Beep, beep, beep... Each tone prodded, coaxed her out of the darkness. She fought through the haze that still enveloped her. Soon Devon recognized voices murmuring softly. A hand gently squeezed hers. A feather-light kiss on her forehead was accompanied by the sensation of warm breath on her face.

  “Baby, can you hear me?”

  She knew that voice. Jessie. Devon clawed her way through the murkiness, determined to find her this time. Her eyes fluttered open. Slowly the world came into focus on Jessie’s face. Tears streamed down her cheeks even as she smiled.

  “Welcome back.”

  Devon ignored the tubes tethering her. Reaching up with her free hand to touch away Jessie’s tears with her thumb, she croaked, “Jess, please don’t cry.”

  “I’m trying,” Jessie’s lip trembled.

  Devon’s throat felt as though she’d been gargling with sand. She winced and looked around. “Water?”

  Jessie filled a plastic cup and held the straw to her lips. She tried to sit up, but the effort shot a razor sharp pain through her midsection. She groaned.

  “Take it easy,” Jessie said in a soothing voice. She picked up a remote control and pressed a button. The bed slowly elevated Devon into a more upright position. Every breath was like a hot blade driving into her side and she closed her eyes against the pain.

  “I’ll ring for the nurse.” Jessie fumbled with the remote, then set it down and took Devon’s hand again.

  “Thanks.” Devon now recognized the beeping as the monitor next to her bed. The antiseptic smell of the hospital registered. Eyes tightly shut against the pain, she tried to recall how she had gotten here. An accident? She remembered setting out flares on the road— nothing else came to mind. She opened her eyes again. Jessie looked worried and Devon managed a weak smile for her.