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A quick glance told Gage he was right about Officer Masterson’s condition. Glassy eyes. Flushed cheeks. That twitchy thing he did. Six months ago he’d been in a car accident.
“Lieutenant?”
Gage answered Officer Blake Reed’s non-question. “Take your positions.”
Dakota headed first down the side of the house. Jasper Hollingsworth, whose father was a Washington State senator, followed.
Blake went the other direction down the side of the house. They’d radio in if they found a side window access, or a door inside. Or they’d convene on the back patio and enter from there.
He and his sergeant would take the front.
Liam, his driver and best friend since the first day of police academy, glanced over. His Irish heritage showed in those ice-blue eyes and blond hair. “He’s bad today.”
Gage didn’t want to get distracted from the operation when they could figure out the long-term issue of Dakota and whatever he’d gotten into after it was done. Mission success came first, before anything else. Then he’d hammer Dakota with some reality and get him straightened out.
It wasn’t anything they hadn’t dealt with before as a team, but now Gage was lead things were different.
“Three and Four in position,” Jasper called in.
“Five up.” Blake had found an entry point, while Jasper had Dakota with him.
Gage grabbed the button for his radio. “One and two up.” Liam nodded, squaring up to the front door. “Breach.”
Liam kicked the front door in, and Gage went first. He stepped left, and Liam came in behind him. They swept the front living area. Or what was likely supposed to be that. The whole place was pretty much empty. Decorated in graffiti and holes in the walls where someone had punched or kicked at the drywall. There was a smear of blood about face height in the hallway.
“Forensics?” Liam followed, his focus on the room not the evidence despite his question.
Gage split left and joined Dakota in the kitchen, where the guy was gagging over the sink. “Later. Though Masterson just contaminated anything.”
“Sorry.” Dakota straightened, his face so pale his lips were skin color. The redhead from Idaho looked like he was about to pass out.
“Go outside, Officer Masterson. Get some air and call in the K-9 unit.”
Dakota frowned. “Why?”
Because I’m your lieutenant.“Just do it.” Gage passed him, leaving Liam to get the guy outside.
Reed stood in the dining area. “Crawlspace, no basement. No upstairs. Single level. Attic might have something in it.”
Gage wasn’t sure. He glanced between Jasper and Blake, the senator’s son and the kid from the streets. Now they both bled blue and wore the same uniform. Brothers in a way life never would have offered them. “Figure out what this empty space is.”
Jasper spun, his freshly styled dark-brown hair probably cost more to get cut than Gage spent in a year on hair trims. “What empty space?”
“There’s no garage.” Gage pointed at the wall. “So what’s between this and the front of the house?”
Blake grinned. “K-9?”
“Or demolition. But we have no probable cause to start ripping out walls. We only know Alberto was seen entering. There’s no evidence the missing girl was here.”
“About that…” Sergeant O’Connell strode in, blue material in his hand.
“Where’d you find that, Lee?” Blake took it and held the blue up. A woman’s shirt. “Same one she was wearing when she was nabbed.”
Gage looked at Liam. Sergeant O’Connell enjoyed police work, but a missing woman birthed an anger in him that Gage didn’t like the look of right now. “Where’s my K-9?”
“Across town.” Liam shook his head. “Says he’d be half an hour after he wraps up the call he’s on.”
“Great.” Gage didn’t want to wait that long. Especially not if the victim was in the house.
