“I know a shortcut,” Joe said.
He made a left and drove down an alley behind an old warehouse, then out the other side onto Dorset Ave.
Luca’s heart was beating fast. He hoped Dawn was okay. If there was one thing he knew from his training and experience, it was that sometimes a situation could escalate in a matter of seconds.
They arrived only a couple of minutes later, just as another police cruiser was arriving.
Joe radioed the officers in the other car. “You guys cruise the main drag, and we’ll go on foot and check out the houses on North. Over.”
“Copy that,” Amanda Tillson replied from the other vehicle. Luca had met her the other day. She was a ten-year veteran on the force and before that was in the Air Force, with two tours in Afghanistan under her belt. She was one badass chick. Her partner was Delvin Jordan, who, like Luca, was a trainee. Luca liked Delvin and thought he was a good guy. They came out of the police academy together. He was married with twin boys.
Amanda and Delvin drove away, and Joe and Luca stayed in their car and started cruising along the street, keeping a lookout.
A chair smashed through a window just down the street from where they were.
“Change of plans,” Joe radioed Amanda. “We may have found the location. Double back.” Joe gave them the address as they got out of the car and ran toward the disturbance.
“Copy that.”
As they approached the run-down three-decker, they could hear shouting and cursing. The house was just two doors down from where Dawn lived. Luca wanted to go check on her, but he had to do his job first. Luca and Joe ran toward the steps at the front of the house. A man was standing by the broken window.
Joe called out, “This is the police. Lay down any weapons and put your hands in the air.”
The man on the porch followed Joe’s orders immediately. Luca was behind him in a split second and cuffed the man.
A woman screamed for help from inside, followed by a man yelling at her to shut up. “I’m not going back there again,” the same man’s voice shouted.
“If you come out, we can talk this through. Just put your weapon down and come outside with your hands up.”
“Fuck you!” Gunshots riddled the front door, followed by more screaming.
Luca and Joe stood on either side of the door, looking at each other.
“Go around back and see if there might be a way in,” Joe said.
Luca nodded and took off around the back of the house.
When he returned, he said, “Joe, I can get in from upstairs. There’s a second-floor window next to the flat porch roof. The window is open a few inches.”
“And then what?” Joe countered. “Get shot on your way down the stairs? This is your first week on the job, kid. I can’t risk it.”
“Joe, please, I know I can do it.”
He sighed. “All right, go ahead. Then we’ll proceed from there. Don’t get shot. That’s an order.”
“Yes, sir.” Luca stayed low as he ran around to the back of the house. The postage-stamp-sized yard was full of junk: Luca could make out old tires, a rusted-out wheelbarrow, and a mattress. He glanced up and spotted the open window on the second floor of the house. In a split-second decision, he did what he had to do. He opened the top button of his shirt, transformed into his phoenix form, grabbed his uniform, including his duty belt, in his beak and talons, then flew onto the porch roof. As soon as he shifted back, he opened the window wider and slid right in. He dropped his clothes on the bedroom floor, changed back into his phoenix form, then glided down the stairs, where he spied a man with his arm wrapped around a woman’s neck.
“You bitch.” The man pressed the gun to the woman’s temple. “You made me do this. You fucked my best friend when I was in jail. In my own bed. MY BED!”
The young woman whimpered, tears streaming down her face. “Please don’t hurt me.”
Joe called, “Why don’t you come out and we can talk about it,” from the other side of the front door.
The man pointed his weapon at the door and cocked the gun again. “I’m not coming out, and I’m not going back to prison! You figure it out!”
Luca took the opening and swooped in. He landed on top of the man’s head and dug his claws in.
“What the fuck?” The shooter screamed and began flailing at him. Luca let go, circled the man, who by now had covered his head, and plucked the gun out of the shooter’s hand before he even knew what hit him. The suspect ran out of the room, cursing all the while. Luca flew back up the stairs with the gun in his beak, then dropped it out the window.
