Page 112 of Code of Courage

“Hill can’t testify to any of this?”

“No—” Gabe was interrupted by a banging on the door.

Raven’s chief of staff barged in. “Chief, we’ve had an OIS, detectives in the tiny home compound, one suspect hit. One officer has been injured.”

“Danni?”

“Don’t know yet. She’s the shooter. And, Chief, they discovered Leonard White tied up, held against his will in a tiny house.”

Gabe shot out of his chair.

“Gabe, we’ll handle this,” Gomez said to Gabe’s back.

He sprinted for the stairs and then raced to his car, repeating over and over, “Please not Danni, please not Danni.” He jumped into his truck and sped to the tiny house compound.

On the way, for the first time in his life, Gabe prayed a formal prayer. I really don’t know what to say. I realize you’ve never heard from me before. But you know Danni. Please, God in heaven, keep her safe.

By the time he reached the tiny houses, emergency vehicles were everywhere, the familiar flashing strobe lights lighting up the early dusk sky. He parked where he could and jogged for the perimeter. He encountered Yen. “Yen, where’s Danni?”

She pointed and lifted the tape so he could get through.

Gabe searched for Danni and saw her standing next to a couple of paramedics. They were working on her left shoulder. He hurried to her side. She turned as he reached her, cop expression firmly in place.

He stopped short of taking her into his arms. Breathlessly he asked, “Are you okay?”

She nodded. “I’m good. It’s just a scratch. He ruined a good jacket though.” She held up her jacket, finger poking through a tear in the shoulder.

Even as his fear and anxiety faded, Gabe saw the streak of red across her shoulder. The medic placed a gauze pad on it. Blood ran down Danni’s arm.

“What happened?”

“I’ll tell you in a minute.” With her right hand she pointed. “Look who we found.”

Gabe turned to where she indicated. Another paramedic was treating a bruised teenager with a nasty black eye.

“It’s Leonard White. He’d been kidnapped. They’ve been holding him here since yesterday morning. Why didn’t Mayor White say anything?”

Gabe didn’t have an answer for her.

The medic finished wrapping her arm, then handed her a bottle of water and another gauze pad so she could clean up her arm. As she wiped the blood off, she had to step aside foranother pair of medics to push a gurney out of the tiny house.

Gabe took a good look at the guy on the gurney. It was not Jareb Moore. But Gabe recognized him as one of the men who had been with Moore the day he confronted them in the alley. He was the one with the tattoos all over his neck. As if reading his mind, Danni said, “Severino Croft. He pulled a gun when we broke down the door. Got one shot off before I fired.”

Gabe held her gaze and saw the strength there. He knew no cop wanted to have to shoot someone. The only thing redeeming the event for her was knowing there was no other choice. Danni was okay, and Croft was alive. He looked alert, if maybe in a little pain. Two uniformed officers followed the medics out to the ambulance.

“He snatched me from the park,” Leonard lisped.

Gabe and Danni both looked at the kid. Obviously the beating had broken some teeth.

Gabe spoke to the medic. “Is he okay?”

“Yeah, he’ll just be sore for a while and a little bruised.” He packed up his kit.

“Was he alone when he grabbed you?” Danni asked.

Lenny shook his head. “There was another guy, big, red beard. Looked like a Viking avatar from one of my games.”

“They weren’t hiding their faces from him,” Gabe whispered to Danni. The implication was clear; the kidnappers had no plan to leave Lenny alive.

“Can I call my mom?”

“I don’t see why not,” Danni said. She looked over her shoulder at the sound of some commotion. Gabe followed her gaze. The chief and Gomez had arrived.

“I think you should leave it up to them,” Gabe said.

Danni nodded in agreement.

“In fact, you need to step back and let the shooting team get to work.” Gabe put a hand on her good arm.

“I’m okay, Gabe. Really, totally okay.” She put her hand over his and squeezed. Gabe felt relief roll over him for a lot of reasons.

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