Page 64 of Jep

He looked for who fired and saw Em sitting up, still pointing her gun while the other suspect had her hands in the air and was staring wide-eyed at her dead companion. Jep rushed in before she could react.

“Keep your hands in the air,” he shouted, noticing the bomb that was strapped to her chest. “Don’t move. Em, you okay?” He couldn’t see any blood on her. That was a good sign, but she didn’t respond “Em! Have you been shot?” He kept looking between her and the woman, trying to secure the scene. Em still wasn’t responding to him, but slowly, her arm lowered.

He moved in closer, keeping his aim on the woman, and checked the man to confirm he was dead. He looked like hemight be from the Middle East, but this woman did not, and there was something familiar about her.

“Where’s the trigger for the bomb?” he said to the woman.

“In-in my pocket. It’s not live.” She looked at Emery.

“Don’t worry about her,” Jep said. “You focus on me. I’m the one you should be worried about. Not her.”

“We weren’t going to blow anything up.”

“No offense, but I’m not taking your word for it.”

The woman looked at Emery again, and Jep grunted.

“Hey,” he said. “I’ll tell you what. How about you keep your eyes on the ground?”

Reluctantly, the woman dropped her head and focused on the grass at her knees.

Jep tried Emery again. “Em?”

She was still focused on the dead man, but her eyes shifted to him when he spoke.

He smiled. “How’re you doing?” She just blinked. “Everything will be okay, but can you do something for me?” She nodded slowly. “I need you to go to the car. Can you do that?”

She turned to the woman and shook her head.

“Em,” he said sharply. “It’s not safe here.”

“I killed him,” Em said to the woman.

The woman looked at her and frowned but nodded, then said, “Why are you here?”

“Hey,” Jep snapped in her direction. “Don’t talk to her.”

The woman looked back at the ground.

He wasn’t getting anywhere with either of them. If Em was in too much shock to cooperate, he’d have to secure the bomb with her still in the vicinity and make sure to keep her from having a heart-to-heart with the suspect.

“Which pocket is the trigger in?” he said to the woman.

“Left.”

“Mine or yours.”

“M-mine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes.”

“Emery.” Jep kept his weapon trained on the suspect but moved to Em and grabbed her arm, tugging her back. “I need you to give us some space. Can you do that for me?”

She scooted a little, but not far. It was clear she was struggling to make sense of her surroundings. “You’re in shock, okay? But I need you to listen to my voice?—”

Pearce ran up. “We’ve got the area secure with—whoa. That’s not good.”

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