Page 94 of Protected By West
The man was built of muscle, but even at half his size, Jack had almost pulled him off of his feet.
"Look," she sucked in a breath and glared at the other man. "You worry about you. I've got myself in order, okay?"
Weston didn't quite agree with what she was saying.
They were a team, and they would always have each other's backs on shift and off, but he could understand her frustration if she felt like Blue was stepping over the line.
He'd talk to her later and see what was going on outside of work.
He had a feeling that if he approached her when they were both in uniform, she might overthink the situation. She might misinterpret his question for a fishing expedition into her health.
From what he'd heard from others in law enforcement, Jack had had it tough. Not just coming up through the department but just in general.
One of her parents was a psychologist who treated officers from different departments and from what he heard, had made things difficult for some officers to be cleared for duty. Jack had probably suffered from more than a bit of retribution for things she hadn't even done. Her hard shell was making more and more sense.
He was going to have to keep an eye on her and dig a little deeper.
Whether Jack knew it or not, she wasn't just a part of his team. She was going to be part of his family.
He wouldn't use those words exactly.
He had a feeling that she'd fight that tooth and nail and he wasn't interested in her sinking her claws into his arm. When he'd been a little over ten, one of his sisters, Kenna, had found a kitten in a bush.
She was crying because she thought it was crying. He wasn't good with girls crying. It made him feel helpless back then, even worse now. Kenna had begged him to free the cat from the blackberry bushes near the house. Sticking his arm into that thorny bush was not something he wanted to do on a good day, but with his sister's tears coursing down her cheeks, he didn't have a choice.
He'd tried to work his hand through, almost turning back to the house to get a long-sleeved shirt on before losing flesh and blood, but Kenna clung to his shirt, tugging on it, begging him to save the cat.
So he'd gotten down on his knees and leaned into the bush, getting his hand as far in as he could, feeling fur against his fingertips.
By the time he'd gotten the kitten out of the bush, it was wild-eyed and yowling.
As he turned to hand it to his sister, the little feline turned on him, digging its claws into his skin and its teeth into his finger.
The cat dropped from his hands, and he watched it scamper off into the shadows under the blackberry bushes a moment later.
His mom had given him some tender, loving care, but his dad had clapped a hand on his shoulder and sighed. "You should be more careful, son. Not everything you rescue wants the help."
He had a feeling that Jack might turn out to be like that little kitten.
Not that she was little or a child in any way.
That didn't change the instincts in a person.
Jack was a survivor.
That was in her DNA.
Weston watched as everyone got into position. The team at the back of the house was out of sight and the team at the front were using some overgrown brush to get closer to the door. Stepping up into the transport van, West saw two battering rams still in their positions under the counter.
He shrugged and sat down to view the oversized screen before him. Everyone's bodycams and their head mounted cams were up on the screens.
Trying to watch the cams on six of his team made for quite a bit of confusion when they were in training.
Now, it was a kind of dance, moving his gaze over the twelve monitor windows to see what everyone was looking at.
Fox's cams were on, showing the front of the house from his vantage point. He preferred to work out from cover to foster a connection with the people he was negotiating with. Weston didn’t like the idea that Fox wasn’t behind a solid wall, but he understood the reasoning.
He tapped the microphone at his station and all six of his team that were on the ground answered back that they were in position.
