Page 90 of Protected By West
West took his phone out of his back pocket and looked down at the screen.
A SWAT call had come in and his choice of words didn’t seem to matter anymore.
There wasn’t time to worry about it.
West looked up at the Chief with a tight smile. “A smart man once told me that assumptions kill.”
He set down his cup of coffee and took off down the hallway to meet up with his team.
Their celebration dinner would have to wait, but he had a feeling that none of his team would argue about it. They were likely as eager as he was.
CHAPTER 17
TRACY
When Tracy got home from the credit union, she dropped her things onto the kitchen counter next to the side door and went straight through the living room and kitchen and flopped onto her bed, her eyes staring at the ceiling above her head.
The plain white expanse was boring and mind numbing, almost what she needed.
Again, she considered calling around to see if someone could mount a flat screen to the ceiling so she could watch shows without having to sit up.
Andagain, her next thought was the possible headline in the morning paper: WOMAN MARRIED TO HER JOB, CRUSHED BY TV IN BED.
She smiled and sighed softly to herself. “Better crushed by a TV instead of a mirror. I’d never live that down.”
Then again, she mused, she’d be dead, so she wouldn’t be embarrassed.
“With my luck, there would be an afterlife, and I’d have to see people making fun of me.”
With a laugh she rolled to her side and stared at her bathroom door. There was a tub in there, but she just didn’t havethe energy to fill up her tub with water, light candles, and find the bath bomb she’d won at the last credit union staff Bunko night.
It was… somewhere.
Who knew it would take so much energy to relax?
“Shower. That’s easy.”
She sat up and managed to stand without her legs turning into noodles and headed for the bathroom, stopping only to hit the green ON button on the remote to start up her TV.
The local news station filled the screen. Not surprising since it was the station that came up first, but it was also the station she used in the morning to check weather and traffic before work.
Reaching for the buttons on her blouse she headed for the bathroom door.
“Thanks, Maya. And now, we cut back to the live coverage of the SWAT standoff outside a residential home in the Thunderbird Hills area.”
Tracy stopped and backed up to look at the screen.
The map on the screen behind the newscaster did show Thunderbird Hills. The pin that dropped down on the map showed that it was on the other side of the neighborhood from her house.
The map faded and live footage popped up.
The camera panned from the house to what looked like a dark colored transport van just inside the yellow taped area.
Tracy moved closer and narrowed her eyes on the figures standing inside the van. They were all wearing black from the neck down. Kevlar vests with SWAT in white across their chests.
They didn’t have helmets on or hats so she could tell who was who as they spoke. Fox was the tallest of the group, his salt and pepper hair would be easily distinguishable even if he wasn’t taller than the others.
Myles was beside him, a rifle against this back, in clear contrast with his lighter blond hair.
