AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The danger hadn’t yet passed.
“What is it, Bud?”
Bud barked, then stared off into the distance. Kane crouched down to his level, trying to see what had drawn his dog’s attention.
Traffic weaved alongside on this, another typically sweltering day. Shoppers went in and out of the row of stores that made up this particular strip of the street, some to incur major damage to their wallets while others only wanted respite from the relentless sun. There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary that he could see.
Except for the stationary figure made hazy by the heat coming off the sidewalk.
The man was noticeable as not only was he not moving, he seemed to be staring directly at them. He was far too overdressed for the weather in the baseball cap that shaded his face beyond the dark sunglasses, long-sleeved shirt and jeans he wore. Barely an inch of him was left uncovered.
Something glinted in his hands, a metallic object that he held onto. It took a moment to register what it was.
A camera with a wide-zoom lens.
The hairs on the back of Kane’s neck rose, apprehension flooded his spine sending his nerves shrieking.
It was him, the man making threats to the family.
Kane knew without a moment’s hesitation. He started toward him, determined to catch the bastard who was the cause of Lexi’s current distress.
“Where are you going?”
The puzzlement was clear in her question. He froze, torn between going after the guy, but it wasn’t safe to leave Lexi alone. What if the perp wasn’t working on his own as all the evidence had suggested? There could be one or more of them, and this could all be a trap.
He spoke into the radio receiver that was clipped to his shirt as he pulled out his phone.
“Johnny, I need you.”
He didn’t bother to mask the urgency of his request. Activating the camera on his phone, he snapped picture after picture of the man who had turned around and was now leaving at a brisk pace.
Lexi’s eyes turned uneasy. Wrapping her arms around herself, she took a step closer to him. “What’s going on?”
His mind worked through what explanation he could give when Johnny’s worried voice came down the wire. “What’s up?”
“I’m sending you some pictures now. I need you to head down Melrose, find and tail this guy.”
“Got it, Boss,” Johnny replied. “Swinging back onto Melrose now.”
“Kane. Please. If something is wrong, I deserve to know.”
He held up a hand to her, unable to answer her question just yet. He needed his full attention on the guy who was heading into another street.
“He’s turned left onto Robertson Boulevard,” he told Johnny. “I’ve lost eyes on him now.”
Johnny’s voice came over the line, “I see him. I’m moving up. You want me to just follow him?”
Kane stared at the junction their perp had turned off into, filled with a burning rage that he couldn’t go after him. “No. I need you to detain him, but only if it’s safe to do so.”
“Got it,” Johnny replied. “He’s just ahead of me, maybe fifty feet or so… Wait… I think he made me… Dammit…”
“What’s happening?” Kane demanded, shoulders stiff with tension.
There was no response from Johnny for several moments. When he came back on, he sounded out of breath.
“He’s gone. Sorry, Kane. He ducked into an alley that’s too small for me to get the car into. By the time I’d gotten out of the car, he’d vanished.”
The crushing disappointment took his breath away.
