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“Hey,” I call. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” I push off from the truck at the same time that Dustin hops down.
I can feel both Logan and Dustin’s presence at my back as I approach the man. He’s tall, wearing black pants and a black hoodie with something covering his hair. I can’t see his face, either. There’s something familiar about him, but I can’t place it. I also can’t see either of the man’s hands, and alarm bells start ringing in my head.
“Hey, I’m talking to you. Let me see your hands.” I move my hand to my gun holster and hope that my suspicion is unfounded.
The man is less than twenty feet away now, but his face is still obscured. He stops walking, but all three of us keep approaching slowly. Before we make it another three steps, the man pulls something from behind his back.
“Freeze. Drop the weapon,” Dustin calls out, and I immediately raise my gun, pointing it at the man’s chest.
Point-blank range, we should be able to drop him without a problem.
“Birch County Sheriffs. Drop the weapon.” Both Logan and I repeat what Dustin said only moments before. Before we can do anything else, I hear a shot and see a muzzle flash from the man dressed in black.
We return fire, but the man doesn’t go down. He must be wearing a vest, and he fires again at us while we take whatever cover we can. I hide behind the side of a dark-colored car and when I go to return fire, the shooter is gone.
He can’t have made it far.
There are too many personnel on-scene.
I’m not injured, but my ears are ringing from the shots.
Still, if I’m not injured, it means that one of my friends might be.
Turning around, I’m not prepared for what I see.
Dustin is lying on the ground, bleeding from just above his vest. Logan sees him at the same time I do, but he’s closer.
“Get help!” Logan calls. “Cover me!” He runs to our friend and applies pressure, while I do what I have to. What I need to. What I can do.
It’s not enough.
Calling it in to dispatch, I keep looking for the shooter and pray silently that my friend will survive. “Logan. Tell me what’s going on.” I say the words as calmly as I can, praying that I won’t have to tell Dustin’s wife that her husband died.
“I need help, Jake. I can’t find a pulse.”
I can’t call for help. I can’t chance one of the EMTs from the fire scene getting caught in the crossfire without reinforcements arriving on-scene. I send a silent prayer to anyone listening that they save our friend.
15
MARGOT
I listento the radio in dispatch as the call comes in, unable to move as my entire world falls apart in front of me. I’m just about to leave for the scene of a massive warehouse fire. Three alarms, meaning that three departments have responded so far, when I hear the radio start squawking.
“10-74, 10-74. Officer down! We’ve got a shooter!” The garbled voice that comes over the radio is too familiar, and even though I’m relieved that Jake is okay, it means one of my friends is hurt or possibly dead.
“10-4, all units please respond to the fire on Water Street. Maintain radio silence. Standby for situational updates.” Poppy looks up and directly into my eyes as she proceeds to dispatch information via the computer system.
Brandi’s on the phone with the ambulance service, making sure that they are dispatching an additional crew with the precautions needed for an active shooter situation. The protocol dictated by the county was established to require that any personnel not deemed necessary had to wait for the scene to be cleared before responding. Even though all I want to do is jump into my vehicle to help, I can’t do anything.
Instead, I stay in the dispatch room, staring at the computer screen over Brandi’s shoulder, willing more information to come through, but it won’t. There is a reason there is no radio traffic. One of our officers is severely injured, and we need to make sure that only essential information is passed along.
“Shooter is a white male, wearing black hoodie and black pants. Suspect had a handgun and fired on us. Tell me that the ambulance is close.” Logan’s voice breaks through the silence on the radio, and I can see Poppy’s face visibly relax.
“10-4. The ambulance is less than a minute out. Deputies and backup should be arriving on-scene now.”
“Tell them we’re on the side of the building, away from the fire personnel. I believe the suspect fled into the woods.”
“10-4.”
