LITMIR.BIZ

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a bit at the fact that the time was approaching eight o’clock at night.

      Hawk had left the message well over an hour ago. Isaac had had his phone on silent during his most recent tactical situation. He’d been called in as a negotiator at a local bank, where a drug addict had held a woman hostage in order to get money to fund his habit. Thankfully, they’d managed to take down the man before he shot or injured any innocent bystanders.

      A good day for the Milwaukee County SWAT team, but the brief moment of satisfaction quickly evaporated with this latest threat. What if Isaac was already too late to protect Leah and Ben? He stomped on the accelerator, pushing the speed limit. He knew that Hawk’s sister was the only family his buddy had left in the world, and the two were extremely close. The situation had to be serious for Hawk to call for help.

      Isaac had met Hawk twelve years ago at Saint Jermaine’s Youth Center, which was basically a school for delinquent teens, and during their first month there Hawk had saved his life. They’d been friends ever since, but Hawk had never asked for anything from him.

      Until now.

      Isaac hoped that Leah was still living in the same small home he remembered, located just inside the city limits. If she’d moved since the last time he saw her, he was in trouble, because he couldn’t even remember her married name. Nelson? Nichols? Even though her husband had died roughly four years ago, he was pretty sure she hadn’t remarried. Otherwise why would Hawk call him? Surely he would have contacted her new husband if she had one.

      Isaac drove through the dark, damp March night, wondering if Leah would even remember him. He’d met her only a few times, and the last occasion must have been at her husband’s funeral. The only good thing now was that he was still wearing his uniform, so at least she would be able to recognize him as one of the good guys.

      Ironic that he and Hawk had both turned their troubled lives around to go into law enforcement. Hawk had taken a job with the City of Milwaukee Police Department, while Isaac had gone the route of joining the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Department. As they were located in two completely different jurisdictions, their paths hadn’t crossed in the line of duty.

      Hawk had mentioned that his cover was blown, so he must have been investigating something serious while being undercover. But what? It would have helped to have some idea of the source of potential danger.

      As he approached Leah and Ben’s house, located at the bottom of a dead-end street, Isaac cut his headlights and slowed to a stop several yards away from the end of her driveway.

      For a long moment he sat there, watching for any signs of life. But the windows were dark, and from the street he couldn’t see any hint of light or movement inside. At eight-thirty on a Friday night, it was hard to believe Leah and Ben would be already asleep.

      Either they weren’t home yet or he was too late to save them.

      Every nerve in his body rebelled at that thought, so he decided to investigate. He reached up to pull the bulb out of the dome light and then slipped out of his Jeep, hugging the shadows as he made his way closer to Leah’s small house. In contrast, her yard was spacious and boasted several tall trees, one with a tire swing hanging from a thick branch. Seeing the swing reminded him of his dead son, and for a moment the pain of losing Jeremy nearly sent Isaac to his knees. He missed his son so much, but forced himself to concentrate on the task at hand. He tore his gaze from the swing, sweeping a wide glance across the yard to make sure that nothing was out of place.

      No signs of a crime didn’t mean one hadn’t taken place. The warning itch along the back of his neck couldn’t be ignored.

      Moving slowly, he made his way around to the back of the house. There were still no lights anywhere and all was quiet. Leah didn’t have anyone living to her left, but the neighbors to the right must be home, based on the blue glow of a television set in what appeared to be a living room. Surely if something had happened here, they would have been alerted.

      He checked the back door to verify it was locked. He made a mental note to tell Leah she needed motion-sensor lights mounted in the backyard as well as out front above the garage. He was a little surprised that Hawk hadn’t already taken care of that. Isaac rounded the corner of the house and abruptly stopped in his tracks, flattening himself against the siding when he saw a figure dressed from head to toe in black. The man had a ski mask covering his face, and he was stealthily making his way through Leah’s front yard.

      Hawk was right. Leah and Ben were in danger!

      Isaac wished he’d asked a few of his SWAT teammates to come along, especially Caleb or Deck, but it was too late for that. Even if he called them, they were forty-five minutes away, and there wasn’t a second to waste. He pulled his weapon and crouched low, trying to keep the intruder in his line of vision.

      He considered calling 911 for backup, but feared the masked man would hear him. Using a cell phone, he’d have to give the dispatcher his location and even soft, muffled sounds carried loudly through the night. Right now, Isaac had the element of surprise on his side.

      But he froze when the intruder hid alongside the large oak tree, the one with the tire swing hanging from it.

      Clearly, the masked man was waiting for Leah and Ben.

      Belatedly, Isaac noticed a pair of headlights approaching along the street, growing brighter and brighter as the car neared the house. The vehicle was an older-model sedan, but with the lights in his eyes, he couldn’t tell for sure if the driver was male or female.

      The possibility that Leah and Ben were coming home at this exact moment sent a shiver down his back. Had the masked man been following them? Or had his timing been pure luck?

      Isaac didn’t believe in coincidences. And he couldn’t help wondering if the guy in black had a partner waiting somewhere nearby. He hadn’t seen anyone, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t still out there.

      Isaac stayed at the corner of the house, his eyes trained on the oak tree. He had to assume the masked man would wait until the most opportune time to attack. The sedan pulled into the driveway and idled outside the garage. Isaac thought it was odd that the garage door didn’t open, especially after several seconds passed.

      Then he saw the driver’s door open.

      The events unraveled in slow motion. The masked intruder made his move, darting out from behind the tree and roughly grabbing the arm of the woman who’d gotten out of the car.

      No! Isaac sprinted across the yard toward them. “Stop! Police!”

      In a heartbeat, the man in black spun around, holding Leah in front of him as a hostage. Isaac froze when he saw he was pointing a gun at her temple. Her eyes were wide with terror and she kept glancing helplessly at the car, where her son was crying. Isaac couldn’t afford to give him any reason to shoot.

      “Look, no one has to get hurt here, okay?” He used his best negotiating tone and lifted his hands, pointing his weapon upward, indicating he wasn’t going to shoot, either. If the masked man did have a partner, Isaac was dead meat, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. Maybe the people watching television next door would hear the commotion and call the cops? He could only hope.

      Isaac forced himself to calm down enough to go through the techniques he’d perfected over the years. “Listen, I’m sure this is just a big misunderstanding. Why don’t you let the woman go?”

      The masked man glanced around frantically, either looking for help or trying to figure out where Isaac had come from and if he had backup. The second thought gave him hope that the intruder didn’t have a partner hidden out in the darkness. “Get out of here,” the man said in a rough, muffled tone. “This isn’t your business.”

      “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.” Isaac tried to hold the man’s gaze, but it wasn’t easy in the darkness. The dome light of the sedan was the only illumination aside from the quarter moon hanging low in the sky. “I’m a cop and I can’t let you hurt this woman. Why don’t you tell me what you want? I’m sure we can work something out.”

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