AllFreeNovel
Share Us
They both shrugged, neither one of them offering up an answer.
“I have a picture if that helps,” Paige said.
“We’re not rats,” the older of the two men said, not making any effort to look at Paige.
Christopher put a hand on her shoulder, gesturing to the underpass. Paige got the message. They weren’t going to get anything here, so it was better if they kept moving. She followed him deeper into the underpass, where the light was so limited that she had to get out a flashlight to be able to see.
By its light, Paige saw more huddled forms, with people sleeping rough or just trying to keep out of the open for a while. This time, it was Christopher who went over to one of them, a young man who probably wasn’t even eighteen yet. Where Paige had opened up with soft words, Christopher just held out a couple of bills from his wallet, keeping them just out of reach.
“We’re looking for Fabiano.”
Paige could see the worry on the young man’s face, mixed in with need as he looked at the money. Finally, he snatched it and pointed. “That way.”
It was clearly the best that they were going to get. Paige set off after Christopher as he headed deeper into the space beneath the bridge. They hadn’t gone very far when she spotted a man up against a wall, looking desperate and afraid. Another stood in front of him, holding a knife.
“Everything you have, right now, if you want to go on breathing.”
“Hey!” Paige called out.
For a moment, the man didn’t even turn. “You’ll keep walking if you know what’s good for you.”
“Andyou’llput the knife down if you know what’s good for you,” Paige retorted, drawing her gun. Christopher already had his out.
The man turned in the light of Paige’s flashlight, the aggression obvious on his face. By that light, she saw his features, picking them out and silently matching them to the photograph on her phone.
“It’s him,” Paige said. “It’s Fabiano. Stand right there, Fabiano. You’re under arrest.”
She half expected him to take off running at those words, but instead, he darted for the man he’d been intimidating, slipping behind him before Paige could even think to get off a shot. He had one arm wrapped around his victim’s throat, and the knife poised in front of him.
It reminded Paige far too much of the fact that the murder victims had been stabbed.
“I’m not going with any cops,” Fabiano said. There was something off about his voice, too frantic and a little slurred. Was he high on something? If so, that made this whole situation a lot more dangerous.
“Put the weapon down, Fabiano,” Christopher ordered. “Drop the knife, or we’ll shoot.”
Paige knew that he wasn’t bluffing. Standard operating procedure in a hostage situation like this was to take down the perp as soon as a clean shot presented itself, because there was no transition from holding a knife against someone to using it on them.
“You putyourweapons down and back away,” he snarled back.
Paige shook her head. “You know we can’t do that, Fabiano. The only way this ends peacefully is if you give yourself up.”
She was still expecting him to run. As high as he was, he would probably think that he could outrun her and Christopher. Even as Paige thought it, though, Fabiano did one thing that shehadn’texpected him to do: he stabbed his hostage hard in the leg.
The man went down screaming, and Fabiano was running even as a shot from Christopher took a chip out of the wall near where Fabiano had been standing. Paige knew that she had a decision to make. She couldn’t let Fabiano get away, but she also couldn’t just abandon someone who was obviously in need of medical attention. She guessed Fabiano was betting on that, trying to use the time it would take to help the victim to escape.
If it had only been Paige there, it would have worked, but as it was, she had another option.
“Stay with him and call for help,” she yelled to Christopher, even as she ran off after Fabiano. “I’ve got the perp!”
She didn’t give Christopher any time to argue, because she knew that hewouldargue if she hesitated even for a moment. He would insist on being the one who chased Fabiano, while Paige wasn’t about to give up on the chase, not now.
“Paige, wait!” Christopher called after her.
Paige didn’t stop, though. She set off at a flat sprint after her suspect instead, using her flashlight to keep him in sight as he headed off through the underpass. Her training kicked in, letting her settle into a pace that she knew she could maintain through the chase.
He reached the edge of the underpass and turned a corner. Paige was there a moment or two later, covering the corner with her gun as she hurried around it, then keeping up the chase as she saw Fabiano climbing a set of stairs leading up onto the structure of the bridge. Paige followed after him, taking them as quickly as she could, closing in on him rapidly.
He kicked back at her, catching Paige on the shoulder and sending her flashlight spinning away into the dark. Paige had to grab a handrail to keep herself from tumbling. It gave Fabiano a little more distance.
