Legally Hot, Leigh, Lora [freenovel24 .txt] 📗

“Just get over,” Adam growled.

“What about you?” she said.

Adam pointed up, indicating she needed to get over the wall. “I’m going after the suspect.”

Adrenaline pumped through her body as if she was getting ready for a performance. The wall was high, but she didn’t need Adam’s help to jump, grab the top block, and pull herself up with her upper body strength. Her injured arm screamed with pain. Her dance training and her continuous efforts to maintain perfect shape made it possible for her to get over the wall. She went down the other side with the intention of ending up in a crouch beside the wall.

Branches jabbed into her body as she came down. Thorns scraped her arms and face, and snagged her clothing. Her skin stung.

She had landed in a huge rosebush, but she didn’t care about that. All she cared about was Fred and Adam.

Keri stumbled away from the rosebush and leaned up against the wall. She dragged in ragged breath after ragged breath. It wasn’t from exertion, but from fear.

Burning pain increased in her arm and she glanced down to see that the short sleeve of the formerly white T-shirt was dark with blood.

It took effort, but she managed to rip off the bottom of her T-shirt and wrap it around her upper arm. She put pressure on the wound and bit her lower lip to hold back a moan of pain.

The gunshots had stopped. She couldn’t hear Fred.

She hadn’t noticed the biting cold of the March night until now. Her damp jeans and half T-shirt didn’t help at all. Shivers wracked her body as the cold and shock set in.

Sirens shrieked through the night. Tires screeched outside the carriage homes on her street. Lights flashed, highlighting the house in front of her in an eerie wash of blue.

Keri tilted her head back and looked up at the sky.

And she prayed.

*   *   *

  Backup had arrived and now they just had to get the shooter.

Sounds of shots and Fred’s barking had stopped abruptly after Keri had climbed the northern side of the block wall surrounding the small courtyard. Adam hoped like hell that Fred was okay. The dog might have saved their lives.

The shooter’s no pro, Adam thought. Too sloppy. He wants to take out a single woman, alone, but he comes in, shuts the lights off, and has guns blazing. It didn’t seem to have the mark of Edward. But it was just too coincidental.

The night was cold, but Adam didn’t feel it as he dug his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He dialed in and had the dispatcher patch him through to the captain in charge of the force outside the home.

“Holder here.”

“Detective Adam Boyd, NYPD,” Adam said as he worked his way toward Keri’s back door, his Glock in both hands. The house was still dark. “I called it in and I’m onsite.”

“What’s the situation, Boyd?” came the captain’s voice over the line.

Light from outside Keri’s home would make him an easy target if he wasn’t careful. “I’m in the back courtyard,” Adam told the captain. “One shooter, last seen inside the house on the first floor.”

The captain informed Adam he’d have officers joining him in the courtyard as well as surrounding the block.

With the line still open to Captain Holder, Adam kept his body close to the house. He paused when he came to the floor-to-ceiling windows that separated him and the back door. If he went forward he put himself at risk of being seen and shot.

When he’d checked out the layout of the living room, one of the things he’d noticed was a couch along the wall of glass. Hopefully it would be enough cover.

Adam got down on the ground and worked his way forward. The ground was soft and damp.

He still didn’t hear anything from inside the house. Was the shooter holed up somewhere inside? Or had he—

The sound of barking from above caused Adam to tilt his head up to look at the roof of the carriage house.

Fred’s deep barks and growls echoed through the night. As Adam stared upward he saw a figure outlined by moonlight.

Damn.

“Suspect is on the roof,” Adam said into the phone as he eased to his knees. “I’m going in.”

“Got it,” Holder said and Adam heard him shouting orders to officers.

Adam stuffed the phone into his jacket pocket. Fred was still barking as Adam hurried into the house and rushed up the stairs. Adrenaline pumped through him as he bolted past the second level and up toward the door that led to the roof. The door was already wide open.

Growls and snarls echoed through the night.

A shot, then a dog’s yelp.

Adam paused at the door, still holding his Glock in a two-fisted grip. He peeked around the doorframe, saw nothing but the rooftop garden. On the other side of what looked like a little greenhouse, he saw the shadowy figures of a man and a dog.

Heart pounding, he swung around and out the door, sweeping the area with his gun.

A man came from around the greenhouse, his gun pointed at Adam.

“Drop your weapon!” Adam shouted.

The suspect shot at Adam.

Adam fired.

The man dropped. His gun flew out from his hand and landed several feet away from him.

Eyes focused on the suspect, Adam scooped up the other gun and stuffed it into the back of his jeans. He approached the man, keeping his gun steady and on him the entire time.

The suspect didn’t move. Still wary, Adam crouched down and felt for the man’s pulse.

Nothing.

Adam pushed the body over and a man’s sightless eyes stared up at the heavens.

He looked up and saw a dog limp from around the small greenhouse. Fred’s golden coat glistened