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I moved until I could kick it out of the way even more, then walked up to where the man was sprawled.
“Ummm,” I hesitated. “That’s not where I would’ve hit him.”
I couldn’t help the laugh that tinged my voice.
“I would’ve hit him in the face, but he jumped,” Justice said with a laugh.
There was a door clicking from behind me, and I knew without turning around that it was Oakley.
I turned to see her with her phone to her ear. She was speaking into it, and she looked a bit dazed for a few seconds as she took in the scene before her.
I winked at her, causing her breath to leave her in a rush.
“Who hired Chips to come in here and play rent-a-cop?” I heard said from the doorway. “I totally got all of that on camera, too. You’re going down, dirtbags.”
It was then that I realized that there was a young man in the doorway filming everything that went on.
I rolled my eyes and returned my eyes to the man on the floor. The man that was now wide awake, struggling to breathe, and reaching into his pants pocket again.
For what, I didn’t know, but I wouldn’t be allowing him to pull out a pistol again.
I moved forward and stepped on his foot with the blade of my prosthetic.
“Don’t,” I said in a low, deep voice. “Keep your hands up above your head. If you so much as twitch…”
There wasn’t a need for a threat because the man understood my meaning just by me placing the metal blade against his vulnerable forearm.
Justice bent down and flipped the guy over onto his belly, bringing his arms up high over and behind his head in the next second.
I kept my weapon—the one that I’d pulled almost on auto-pilot—trained on the would-be thief as I waited for Justice to clear him of any potential weapons.
He had three more on him.
Three.
One in his pocket—a small twenty-two. And two more Glocks. One on each ankle.
He’d definitely come prepared, that was for sure.
“You got him?” I asked just as the head of the SWAT team, Lachlan Downy Senior, walked in the door.
He sized up the situation with one sweep of his hard gaze and settled it on the man that was still filming. “Please leave.”
The man shook his head. “I know my rights. I got rights. I also have to deposit a check. I’m not leaving until I have that in my account.”
“The bank is closed pending investigation,” I said as I replaced my service weapon. “You can deposit checks online through the bank’s app.”
I was trying to be helpful, but obviously the man didn’t think the same.
“I don’t know why you’re even talking to me. That other cop really hurt that man!” he said.
I looked at the man in question.
“You’d have been more comfortable if he had shot someone?” I wondered idly.
“I’d have hoped that he wouldn’t have used so much force,” he said. “He wasn’t hurting nobody.”
Downy rolled his eyes. “You have three seconds before I bodily remove you from the premises. There are cops outside. One is a detective. He’ll take your name and number as well as your video of what happened.”
“They ain’t takin’ nothin’,” the man smarted off.
Downy didn’t waste time after that. He just took the man by the arm and led him outside.
Justice stood up and looked over at the woman behind the counter. “You the manager?”
She nodded, pointing to her name badge. “Says that I am.”
I snorted.
I looked at the name on the nametag. “Francesca?”
The woman’s eyes turned to me. “That’s me.”
“Do y’all have the video equipment” —I gestured up at the dome on the ceiling— “on the premises? We’d like to see it if you do.”
“Sure thing,” she said. “I’ll go pull that for you now.”
With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the back.
I looked over at Justice. “I’d offer to help but you look like you got this.”
Justice discreetly flipped me off by scratching his nose with his middle finger.
“Back ‘atcha.” I laughed.
He sighed. “This is going to be so much paperwork.”
I turned my gaze to Oakley.
“You on the phone with the cops?” I asked her as I moved toward her.
“I was,” she said. “Just wanted to give them a play-by-play of what was going on just in case something happened. Are you okay?”
I was.
Grinning, I pulled her into my arms. “I’m okay.”
“That really scared me,” she said. “For some reason, I kind of thought you’d never respond to stuff like this. I thought it’d all be traffic stops and working red lights when they’re out.”
I squeezed her tight. “So, you think I’m a glorified traffic control person?”
My teasing had her grinning despite the tenseness of the situation.
“Vineyard,” I heard said from behind me. “Tell me what the fuck happened.”
I turned to find the chief of police there as well.
