Page 93 of State of Affairs (First Family 1)

When the two Patrol officers radioed to let them know they were in position behind the row of townhouses, Sam led the way to the front door and rang the bell. After a minute without a response, she pounded on the door with a closed fist. “MPD. Open up.”

Inside, she heard locks disengaging and reached for her weapon.

The door opened, and a frightened young woman appeared.

“We’re looking for Kelvin Evans,” Sam said, showing her badge and weapon.

“H-he’s n-not here.” She flinched as if in pain, which tipped Sam off that he was probably holding a gun on her.

“Can you step outside, please?”

The woman’s eyes shifted to the left as her entire body trembled.

With her free hand, Sam pulled the storm door open. “Put your hands up and step outside the door. Now.”

The woman took a step forward and then another. Once she crossed the threshold, she sprinted forward like a threatened jackrabbit. Knowing one of the Patrol officers would deal with her, Sam kicked the door hard and heard a gasp from the man hiding behind it when it hit him. “Put down your weapon and come out with your hands up, Kelvin.”

While she waited for him to comply with her order, her heart beat fast, and adrenaline zipped through her system the way it always did when shit got real on the job. She took perverse pleasure from getting scumbags off the streets, especially one who’d done what this guy had to Shanice.

“I want a deal,” he said.

“No deal until you come out here with your hands up.”

“I know stuff. You guys need me.”

“You’ll have your chance to negotiate once you come out. Until then, no deal. You’ve got one minute to come out on your own, or we’re coming in.” She counted down in her head. “Thirty seconds.”

The sound of a gun landing on the floor had her expelling the breath she’d been holding.

“Let me see your hands.”

His hands came around the edge of the door.

“Move nice and slowly.”

Kelvin came around the door, keeping his hands up, and walked toward them. He was about thirty years old, Black, handsome enough to be a model and heavily tattooed. But his eyes were hard with outrage and hatred.

When she lowered her gun, grabbed her cuffs and reached out to him, he suddenly threw an elbow that hit her square in the face, sending her flying backward off the stoop and into bushes made of sharp-ass sticks. While she recovered her senses, Freddie and the two Patrol officers tackled Kelvin and had him cuffed in the time it took Sam to crawl out of the bushes.

Freddie came rushing over to give her a hand up. “You’re bleeding like crazy.”

When he pulled on her hand, she cried out in pain. Her palms were bloody from trying to stop her fall into the holly bush.

Sam wiped her face, and her hand came away covered in blood. Great. As always, the perps had perfect timing, seeming to know when she had something important to do. That was when they took their best shots at her face.

Vernon and Jimmy were watching the goings-on with concerned expressions, but she appreciated that per her request, they hadn’t come running to her rescue.

“You, um, might need some stitches.”

Stitches meant needles, and she didn’t do needles.

“You need to hit the ER to be sure.”

“I don’t have time for this today.”

“I’m sure they’ll get you right in. Ask the agents to drive you while I take Evans to HQ.”

Resigned to seeking medical attention, she handed over her keys to him. “See what you guys can get out of him. We need to find his accomplices before they take off.”

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