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“Don’t try to be a hero if he shoots your lock and comes in firing. Take your best shot. I don’t want to lose an officer tonight.”
“And if he knocks?”
“Don’t do anything unless he tries to breach. We’ll nab him when he exits. I’m in front of your building now. Stay frosty.”
The phone went quiet. Kelly waited, her gaze glued to the monitor showing the hallway, her breath ragged and harsh in the quiet of her apartment. She sent a silent thank-you to Trey for installing his security system. Without it, Chandler could have accessed the building last night and caught her asleep.
It had been ten minutes. Where was Chandler? Maybe he didn’t know her unit number. Had her fellow officers already nabbed him or—oh, God. Had he done something to the woman who’d let him inside? Would he have followed her and killed her so she couldn’t identify him?
No, that made no sense. But nothing Chandler did had any logic to it.
The elevator doors slid open. Kelly tensed.
Chandler exited still carrying the flowers, a prop to make him appear harmless. Striding toward her door, he reached into the arrangement and extracted a weapon. With a silencer attached. He dropped the bouquet.
Kelly bit her lip. This was it. What would he do? Where was backup?
She raised her own weapon, held it steady in a two-handed grip and aimed it at her front door.
She glanced to the monitor. Chandler leaned forward and peered in the safety peephole. He nodded, raised the gun and fired at her lock.
He kicked the door open, making more noise than the gunshot. Chandler entered fast, holding his weapon in one hand.
“Freeze. Police,” Kelly shouted.
Chandler swung his gun toward her.
Take your best shot. Kelly squeezed the trigger. She aimed for center mass. Exactly as she’d been taught.
She hit Chandler in the right chest, and he went down.
She heard a crash in the hallway but didn’t move her weapon or focus from Chandler. He lay moaning on her carpet.
Uniformed officers in riot gear holding shields appeared in her doorway.
“Stand down, Officer Jenkins,” one barked.
Kelly lowered her weapon.
She’d shot a man.
She didn’t think the wound was fatal, but still. She released a breath. She had a long night ahead of her.
But she’d done her job. A dangerous man was off the streets.
It was finally over. She couldn’t wait to tell Trey.
So maybe it wasn’t over after all.
* * *
I SHOULDN’T BE doing this. This is a really bad idea.
Repeating that thought over and over, Kelly drove Trey’s SUV off the Collins Island ferry and into the spray of water that washed away any salt residue from the short ride. She wished she could flush away her nerves as easily.
She should have stuck with her original plan to dump the car on the Miami side and let Hans retrieve it. Trice promised a ride to the car rental agency, or she could call a taxi.
But Trey had asked her to come to the house. She’d heard hesitation in his voice, but the rat had allowed Jason to grab the phone. When Jason had begged her, she couldn’t say no.
Kelly used the wipers to clear the windshield as she drove away from the spray. So she now spoiled the little prince just as much as Trey did.
All she had to do was get through a brief recitation of the arrest and thank him profusely. She nodded to herself. She could do that. She’d have to keep the story G-rated, though, because she didn’t want to be alone with Trey. She definitely needed the little dude around as a buffer.
Besides, she owed Trey a personal visit. He’d saved her life. If there had been no security system to warn her, who knows what would have happened when Chandler had come to her door. For sure nothing good.
Chandler would live, but would spend the rest of his miserable life in jail.
And Trey deserved to know details about Chandler’s takedown. She could just imagine the terse version Ballard had given him. He had been none too happy to arrive on the scene and discover the Miami-Dade PD had gotten the collar. Kelly grinned. Score one for the local guys.
Although Ballard wasn’t such a bad sort. He’d actually invited her to apply for the FBI, telling her she had fine instincts and would be an asset to the Bureau. That had made her feel good, but she had found her home with the PD.
