Page 44 of Mine To Break
Chapter Seventeen
She’d never seen so many cops in her life. They lined the hallway and crowded the waiting room, all drinking coffee and quietly talking amongst themselves. A few kept casting curious glances her way, and she heard the whispers. Not disrespectful, but they were definitely talking. Elias sat beside her, fielding questions and deflecting anyone who approached like a guard dog. She was holding it together until Vicki Connagher came racing in with her young man. Without hesitation, Vicki wrapped her arms around her and suddenly Mal couldn’t hold the waterworks in any longer.
She hated to cry. She couldn’t even recall the last time she’d broken down like this. But the thought of Colby lying hurt and bleeding…
Her friends crowded closer. Elias, Vicki and Jesse, shielding her from the curious prying eyes of the other cops. Then Victor and Shiloh were there too. Someone passed her a pack of tissues.
“It’s all right,” Vicki whispered, rubbing soothing circles on her back. “He’s going to be fine.”
Mal sniffed and wiped her eyes, pulling herself back together enough to talk. “Sorry. You’re right. He’s in good hands. We got him here quickly.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. This is my worst nightmare.” Vicki shuddered and Elias’s arms came around her, Jesse pressing against her back, offering comfort. “If it was Elias in there, I’d be out here wailing at the top of my lungs.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Elias said in a gruff voice, though he squeezed her tighter. “You’d be too busy yelling at me to stop bleeding.”
“Reyes,” an older man with silvered hair called from several feet away.
Elias nodded. “Our lieutenant. Excuse me a moment.”
The two talked quietly and then approached the group.
“Mal, this is Lieutenant Greaves. He’d like to ask you a few questions while everything’s fresh in your mind.”
“Sure.”
Another officer joined them, taking notes as she told them what had happened. Though she couldn’t say much. It’d all happened so quickly. She hadn’t even gotten a good look at the SUV before Colby had shut the door behind her.
“Do you remember how many shots you heard?”
She couldn’t help but shudder at the memory. “First there was a lot all fast, together, like Fourth of July fireworks going off at the same time.”
“AK-47,” Elias said grimly. “Colby said it had a fancy silver stock, likely custom.”
“Then two, no three shots. Tires squealing, and then nothing. I ran back and found him collapsed against the door.”
“Did you see anything that might help us track down the shooters?”
She pictured the SUV in her mind as it rolled up, window slowly sliding down. There had been a man in the window. It was dark, and he’d had on dark clothing. But something… She closed her eyes, letting the image build. A flash of silver, the gun probably. His hand lifting it into position. “A red triangle. On the back of his hand.”
Opening her eyes, she looked from Elias to the other men. That red triangle was significant. Though they all had that closed-mouth blank cop look on their faces. “That’s bad, isn’t it?”
Elias met his lieutenant’s gaze. “Guess we hit a little too close to home.”
“Does that mean you’re in danger too?” Vicki retorted.
“Thank you, ma’am.” Lieutenant Graves took Mal’s hand in his. “If you need anything, you let us know. Detective Reyes is at your disposal and will contact me at once with any change in Detective Wade’s condition. I’ve already notified his family. Sounds like they’re on their way now but it’ll take them a couple of hours to get here.”
The two cops walked off, voices low. Others met them at the door, took their orders, and immediately cleared the room, leaving just Elias and her friends.
“Well?” Vicki planted her fists on her hips and glared at Elias.
“Let’s just say every cop in the narcotics division just went on high alert.” He waited while Vicki exploded into a fit of cursing and pacing back and forth. “That red triangle belongs to one of the cartels we’ve been investigating. That tells us which one needs to be hit hardest first before this entire city takes a blood bath.”
“And what about you?”
He drew her back into his arms, dropping his chin on her head. “Aw, Vic, don’t worry about me, babe. I’m in the safest place in the world, right here by your side.”
A doctor stepped into the room and everybody immediately turned to him, eager for news. “The detective is stable. He lost a lot of blood, and we’re taking him back for surgery now to repair the damage. I won’t know the extent until we get in there, but I’m suspecting at least some small bowel damage. Nothing we can’t repair though.”
