BREAKING PROTOCOL
CARA PUTMAN
CHAPTER 1
What should have been a quick stop for dinner after a long day at work shifted with two words.
“Hey, mister.” The voice indicated the speaker tilted toward young, male, and hesitant.
Detective Todd Westmont’s senses immediately shifted to high alert as he scanned the street looking for the source. The darkness pushed shadows onto the street where he stood next to his vehicle. He’d stopped next to his favorite all-night bar and diner, Rosie’s, to grab a burger and fries, on the edge of Lincoln near the airport. It was an area that could use an infusion of capital and life, but it was on his path home and had been part of his beat before he was promoted to detective, so he knew the businesses and the people behind them.
This voice, though, he didn’t recognize.
He squinted as he scanned as if that would help him decipher who lingered just out of sight.
“Over here.” The voice came from somewhere to his right. “This kid needs help. I can’t get her to wake up.”
“Just a minute.” He went to his trunk, got his OD kit. Drugs hadn’t overrun Lincoln like other parts of the country, but he wasn’t naïve. Each officer carried Narcan doses. He hadn’t hadto use his since local pharmacies also had them available for free.
Once he’d retrieved the spray from his trunk and secured the vehicle, he hurried toward the area where he’d heard the voice. “Who needs help?”
“A girl. I just found her.”
“How old is she?” He needed to keep the kid talking. Follow the voice to wherever the trouble was. He should also call dispatch and let someone know he was responding to a request for assistance. Too bad he wasn’t on duty. He’d wait a minute. See if this was anything real.
“I don’t know, dude. She’s a kid.”
Like you, Todd didn’t say. The kid he was following was tall and thin. Too thin. He was either growing fast or not getting enough nutritious food to sustain his body’s development. “Do you know her?”
“Not well.” The kid sighed. “I tried to get her away, but I don’t think I did it fast enough.” He slid to a stop at the mouth of an alley. Things got even darker. Not something Todd would have thought possible. “She’s down there.”
Todd hesitated just a moment, his hand moving to where the butt of his service gun should be. Why hadn’t he carried a weapon anyway? Heaviness pressed against him, but he shook it off. It was dark. Nothing to concern him. “How far down?”
“Not far.”
“All right.” Todd moved into the alley, and only after he’d taken a few steps realized the kid was no longer with him. “Hey.” He looked around, but the kid had melted into the shadows.
All his senses screamed a high alert.
Had someone set a trap? There was no reason for that. Was there?
He shook off the questions but remained aware of his surroundings, using his hearing to compensate for the darkness.
“Miss? You here? A friend came and got me. Said you needed help.” He kept his tone light. Friendly. Infused it with a hint of humor as he edged deeper into the alley.
Silence.
That was it.
He grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight, sweeping the beam across the ground. Near a large dumpster, he saw a pile of what looked like rags. If he hadn’t had the teen tell him someone had been dumped in the alley, he would have kept moving. Instead, he hurried toward the pile and knelt next to it, keeping his attention focused around him. Something still felt off about the whole situation.
He dialed dispatch on his phone and waited for it to connect. “Detective Westmont. I’m off duty but at a potential scene.”
“Do you need backup?”
“I might need an ambulance.”
“Checking status of units.”
