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Then a commotion towards the front of our car brought our attention back to the hair pulling match that’d continued while we were speaking.
That’s where we found Luke talking to the ladies.
Although I couldn’t hear what he was saying, I knew it wasn’t nice.
“What do you think he’s saying?” Paige asked
I turned to look at her, only to find her staring straight at me, startling me.
“Probably that one girl’s hair is fake, and she needs to pull her shorts out of her vagina,” Baylee quipped.
Of course, my eyes couldn’t help themselves. I had to look.
And the girl did, indeed, need to pull her shorts out of her vagina.
“I’m fairly positive that those words would never come out of your brother’s mouth,” I assured her.
Baylee laughed. “Oh, my dear, what you have to learn.”
And for some reason, I believed her.***“I’m not a fan of pumpkin pie,” I said, eyeing the plate with disgust.
Luke stared at me like I’d grown a fourth head. “What?”
“It reminds me of snot and baby food,” I made a gagging gesture.
He looked at me for a few long moments before shaking his head and devouring the piece he brought to me. In two large gulps, he finished it off and washed it down with a gulp of beer.
“Pumpkin’s my Luke’s favorite. You’ll have to learn to make it if you plan on cooking for him. He’s got one hell of a sweet tooth,” Paige said, smiling fondly at her son.
The disgusting man.
I was fairly sure he’d have to brush his teeth before I could stand to be next to him again.
Hell, who was I kidding? All I had to do was look at the man and any and all disgust would melt away.
“Where did your parents end up getting stuck?” Luke’s father, Travis, asked.
I turned to him and smiled.
I liked Travis.
He was a large man, much the same as Luke. Except where Luke had only tightness at his midsection, Travis had the smallest of guts. His hair was also no longer blonde, but a silvery gray that made him look incredibly sexy.
A loud screech echoed through the room and Luke’s head snapped around to take in the little black box on the counter across the room from us.
He sighed and stood, walking straight over to the little black box and picked it up. He read quickly then clipped the device on his belt before walking towards us.
He kissed his mom on the cheek first, ruffled Baylee’s hair, and gave me a soft kiss on the lips.
“I’ve got to go. Be back when I can,” he whispered against my hair.
Then, without further ado, he disappeared out the door.
I saw him running across the house, then he jumped into his police cruiser, flipped the lights on, and barreled down the road.
“Was that a pager?” I asked into the stillness of his wake.Chapter 16So you’re a police officer? Do you do anything with that baton besides hit people with it?
-Reese to Luke
Luke
“What’s going on?” I asked as I walked into what we called the command room.
Really it was just a room off the side of my office that had two computers and two televisions lining one wall. As well as a large U shaped desk allowing for the other members of SWAT to sit down and see the computers in the middle of the room.
In the center of it all was John Atoms, our information specialist and director of all things that took more brain than brawn. In fact, he was borderline genius according to his IQ test.
He’d been a hacker in his teenage years, but had chosen to be on the law’s side when his little sister had been shot down in front of him when he was seventeen.
I trusted the man with everything.
“A shooter at a residence on Templeton. Neighbors called when they heard what sounded like a tommy gun going off at the neighbor’s place. Said it sounded fake, and they’d thought at first it was their kids outside playing. When they realized it wasn’t, they found the front door of the neighbor’s place covered with bullet holes,” John said, keeping his eyes on the computer. “They called the police when a few more shots came from inside the house. Only person there that they know of is an elderly man.”
My eyes went to the map up on the screen, and my gut twisted.
That was the neighbor that’d called in the burglary at Reese’s place the night before.
Knowing I wouldn’t accomplish anything by letting the panic setting loose inside my chest out, I tamped it down viciously and stared impassively at the monitors
“There any cops on scene?” I asked, going into business mode.
“Yes,” John hesitated. “They’re the ones that said that SWAT would be needed. Whoever’s in the house started shooting the moment Atlas Stoddard pulled up in his cruiser.”
Atlas Stoddard was one of the oldest and most respected beat cops on the force. He was fifty one and could pass for thirty five, easily.
I’d trust his opinion and instincts over nearly everyone on the force.
While John had been speaking, the other members of the team started piling in. First James, then Downy. Followed by Nico, and Michael.
Finally, bringing up the rear, was Bennett Alvarez, the newest member of the team.
“Alright, boys. Here’s what we got,” I started, outlining what we were going to do. “Any questions?”
They all shook their heads.
“Good, let’s get moving,” I instructed.***“Let’s move in,” I said. “Guru, you’re on standby.”
John, or ‘Guru,’ had remained in our operations center back at the station.
The boys called him Guru one night after an eight hour long bust, and the name had stuck. Although it was only ever used while we were performing a raid or a bust.
John didn’t like to be called anything but John, although he tolerated it.
Although he was a fully trained part of the team, he served us better there. The man was too good at what he did not to utilize those talents, like tapping into their home security system or webcams, with little to no effort.
