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She reached for the phone in the back pocket of her jeans at the same time as she started to shut the door. Curtis jabbed one of his scuffed-up size-twelve dress shoes into the opening.
"That's not how this is going to work." The door came flying open, sending Leah stumbling back. "Mr. Law wants his diamond."
Oh fuck.
Adrenaline shot through her veins making her twice as fast as she sprinted toward the bedroom and the locked door that could give her the extra five seconds she needed to call 911. Curtis roared his displeasure and thundered after her. She made it as far as the hall closet when Curtis fisted her ponytail and she went flying backward.
"You're not going anywhere but with me, bitch."
She landed with a hard thunk against the floor. The phone bobbled in her grip as she fought to hold on to it before it went flying. Blood pounding in her ears, her fight response took over. Curtis had a hundred pounds and actual training going for him but she was out of fucks to give. She knew going with him meant only bad things. She came up screaming, putting everything into her punch. Her knuckles crashed into Curtis's nose. The bone cracked and blood streamed down over his lips that were curled into a grimace.
"Fucking bitch," he yelled and backhanded her hard.
Pain exploded in her cheekbone, rocking her back on her heels. She gripped her phone, her fingers connecting with her contacts list. Curtis’s follow up punch landed just under her chin. The world was going dark before her head bounced against the floor. The last thing she heard before everything went dark was Tamara's voice, but it sounded a million miles away.
"B-Squad Investigations and Security, how can I help you?"
Drew
Drew couldn't stop smiling, not even when he was filling out arrest paperwork in the sheriff's office long after Beauford had posted bond, thanks to an expedited hearing courtesy of the mayor's poker buddy, Judge Harper. It would be decades before he ever forgot the look on the old man's face when he clicked the handcuffs around his wrists—if even then. Today was definitely a win.
"Sheriff, your cell keeps ringing," Deputy Lance Pepper called out.
Glancing out his office door, he saw the lanky new recruit walking toward him holding up Drew's cell. Damn. He'd forgotten it on the intake desk when he'd brought in Beauford. If it was one of the FBI agents calling to let him know Leah had slipped the nest, he was going to have to knock heads.
He took the cell from Pepper and swiped accept call. "Jackson here."
"Tell me she's with you," a woman said.
It took half a second to place the voice. It was Leah's B-Squad friend, Lexie. His gut clenched. "What's wrong?"
"Just answer the question dammit."
He grabbed his keys and headed for the door, leaving the half-finished paperwork laying on his desk. "She's at my house. The place is secured and there's an FBI agent parked out front."
"Tell me it's not Curtis."
Icy dread made him quicken his step. "What in the fuck is going on?"
"God, how to put this in laymen's terms," she said with a groan. "Okay, I used my skills to put a kind of secret Google alert on the systems I accessed so they'd alert when anyone connected with the diamond was mentioned. It went off right before we got the call from Leah's cell. Curtis is dirty. He's under investigation and he's gone dark."
He was out of the sheriff's office and halfway to his truck before she'd gotten to the last word. "What do you mean got the call? What did she say?"
"Nothing."
He yanked his truck door open and vaulted inside. "What do you mean nothing?"
"No one was there. Everyone but Isaac and Tamara blew it off as a butt dial even though she didn't answer when Isaac called back. I just figured you two were getting it on like crazy sex monkeys."
He sped out of the lot, tires squealing. "When did this happen?"
"An hour ago," Lexie said in that calm voice only used by people who were scared shitless and refusing to acknowledge it. "Isaac and Tamara are in the chopper now. They'll be there in thirty minutes."
r /> Half an hour wasn't a lot of time in the big picture but it sure as fuck sounded like forever as he blew threw a red light and slammed the gas pedal to the floor. Every cop knew that each minute counted in a situation like this. Still, he couldn't give in to the fear shoving his balls into his throat. He had to let his training take over, mentally distance himself. If he couldn't, things could go very wrong, very fast. He eased his foot off the gas and took the corner onto his street on all four wheels instead of two.
Forcing himself to release the breath he'd been holding, if not the fear gripping his gut, he slid into cop mode. "I'll call with an update as soon as I evaluate the scene at the house."
"Gotcha," Lexie paused, "and Drew?"
