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“He wasn’t the target. He just happened to be first in line. If Greer feels he needs added protection he can assign some, but I don’t think it’s necessary.”
A crackle of sound came through on the radioon Chen and Martinez’s duty belts. “This is Lewis. I’ve got a possible shooter site. I’m not seeing any empty cartridges, but the location is right and the ground is disturbed. I’ve got a team coming in to see if we can find anything useful.”
Martinez handed Jack the microphone attached to his collar so he could answer. “Good work Lewis. Have Sergeant Smith reassign all active cases to Cole and Durrant. I want everyone else split up into teams and working the area in grids. Have him organize it quickly. It’s taking the FBI too fucking long to get their shit together. And I can’t decide if they’re really here for the reasons they say they are, or if they have another agenda.”
“You got it, boss.”
Chen went over to let the paramedics inside. I kept my fingers on the pulse at Braddock’s wrist. He’d lost consciousness, but he was still breathing, thoughthose breaths were getting more shallow by the minute.
“Good to see you, Doctor Graves,” one of the paramedics said. I recognized him from when I’d worked at the hospital. He had a lot of years in and good hands. He knelt down across from me.
“Percy,” I acknowledged. “Gunshot wound to the chest. Collapsed lung. Bullet’s still in there.”
Percy placed an endotracheal tube down his throat. “Good thing you were here. He wouldn’t have had a chance without a doctor close by.”
I moved out of the way so Percy’s partner could start an IV, and another two paramedics moved in to treat Wolfe.
“I’m fine,” Wolfe said. “It’s a through and through. Just sew me back up and give me some fluids.”
“I see you’re an expert at this,” one of the paramedics said. “But it looks like a surgeon is going to have to see you. It looks like you’ve got fibers inside and you could have some damage.”
Wolfe gave Jack a narrowed look, and I could see Jack wanted to smile. “Be good and go with them.”
“I don’t want to miss out on the takedown. I’m not staying the night.”
“Fine. As long as you don’t fall down from blood loss, you’re in.”
“Let’s get moving then,” Wolfe grouched. They strapped Wolfe to a board and lifted him to the gurney, and they were rolling out the kitchen door. Jack nodded to Martinez and Chen and they followed him out.
It was only a few more minutes until they had Braddock stable enough to move. Jack and I were in the wreckage of the kitchen alone. I heard the other cops outside of the funeral home, but the adrenaline was starting to catch up with me. I needed to stay busy.
Jack’s phone rang. “It’s Carver,” he said, looking at the screen. He answered and I went to the drawer for some more clean towels and then wetted them. Jack switched the phone to his other ear so I could wipe away the blood on the right side of his face and see how bad the cuts were.
“I want you to start digging, Carver,” he said, hissing as the water touched one of the deeper cuts. “Find out why the DOJ is involved. Their interest in this isn’t because of me or what happened six years ago.Greer and Lauren are holding something back.”
Thankfully none of the cuts on his face or neck needed stitches, and for the most part they’d already stopped bleeding, with the exception of a couple that had already turned sluggish.
“Yeah, we’re fine,” he said to Carver. “Just scratches. We’ll be backto the house soon.”
Jack disconnected, took the towel from my hand, and tossed it in the sink. He wet the other towel I’d laid on the counter and then took my face in his hands gently as he doctored the cuts on my face and neck.I’d realized when the glass shattered that I’d caught a few stray cuts, but I’d stopped feeling them the moment I’d focused on Wolfe and Braddock.
“Not too bad,” he said, kissing me on the forehead. “You’re okay.”
“Just another day at the office.”
He laughed and buried his face against my hair. “It’s starting to seem that way, isn’t it? I’d give anything for you to not be in harm’s way, but I’m glad you were here today. Braddock is alive because of it and probably Wolfe too.”
“I guess getting shot was a good way to prove he’s not involved.”
“It lessens the chances. I’m going to have a couple of officers follow us back to the house. Once we get back I’ll call and have a cleaning crew come take care of the mess here and replace the window in the door.”
“Sounds good,” I nodded. “Let’s go home. I could use a glass of wineor three.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jack had just turned onto Heresy Road when my cell phone rang. I looked at the caller ID, but the number was blocked. When I showed it to Jack he got out his own phone and started dialing.
“Go ahead and answer it. Maybe we can get a trace on it.”
