Aimee Thurlo - Alpha Warrior

The city’s largest municipal lot was straight ahead. Nick whipped out into the street and crossed over to the lot entrance.

An exit across the parking area showed at least three pairs of taillights going out.

“He’s going out the other side,” Drew said. “Can you back up and circle around?” Although she was terrified of actually catching up to the man, she was even more afraid of losing him.

Nick checked the mirror. A big pickup was now pulling out of a slot behind him. They were trapped in place.

“He’s gone,” Drew said, biting back tears of frustration. “We’ll never catch up now.”

Nick made the call to the station and put out an ATL, an attempt to locate. “You knew we were in trouble even before the shooter’s car came into view. What keyed you to that?”

“I don’t know. But I’ve learned never to ignore a feeling of impending danger.” She jammed her hands into her coat, needing the warmth—inside and out.

Silence stretched out between them, and, noting the pallor of her face, he continued in a gentler voice. “For now, the man’s gone and it’s over. I doubt we’ll get anywhere with that ATL. Based on past experiences, I’m betting that the car was probably stolen and will turn up abandoned somewhere, wiped clean of prints or destroyed by fire.”

“But something odd’s going on. There was only one guy in that car, not two like before. If both of them had come at us, they would have had a better chance to…kill us,” she added in a strangled voice. “So what happened to the other man?”

“Maybe they figured that we’d be on the alert for two men. Or you might have left a mark on the one you slugged in the face that would have identified him.”

“Where are we going now?”

“Back to the station. We need a debrief and a new plan. After the chief hears what just happened, he may decide that you’re better off getting out of town altogether.”

“This is turning out to be a very long night,” Drew said, swallowing hard and slumping down in her seat.

Nick gave her a quick glance. Drew was holding on by a thread, but somehow, she wasn’t falling apart. The librarian had turned out to be one helluva woman. “Keep in mind that you’ve come out ahead. You’re alive, unhurt, and, if you face any more trouble, you’ve got the best backup in the state right next to you.”

“You know what? I believe you,” she murmured.

Though her words had been barely above a whisper, he heard her and smiled.

As they rode back to the station, only the road noise from the Jeep’s knobby tires marred the silence.

“Give me something to work with, Drew. Everyone makes enemies, and I need to know what I’m up against,” Nick pressed. “Everyone in your line of work makes enemies, but not in mine,” she said. “I’ve wanted to work at the Willa Cather Public Library ever since high school,” she said, softly. “Books have always been my first love. They saw me through the worst times of my life. I was only fifteen when my dad died unexpectedly. My mother never got over it, and followed him to the grave a year later. Uncle Earl took me in, but grieving for my parents was a long, hard process, and books gave me the only comfort I had. They transported me anywhere I wanted to be. Through them, I became a spy, a detective, and had adventures with elves and superheroes.”

He’d never been one for fancy daydreams, but adventures with elves? He glanced out the window so she couldn’t see him smiling.

“As I got older I knew I wanted a job that would help me guide others into that safe world where imagination was king. That’s why I became a librarian. To be offered a position in the place that started it all for me was like icing on the cake. But things haven’t exactly gone as I’d planned.”

“What about your competitors for the job? Anyone with hard feelings there?”

“Nick, think about it. Librarians don’t hire hit men.”

As they pulled into the station’s underground parking garage, Nick climbed out, then stopped and examined his side of the Jeep. There was a single bullet hole in the side panel just behind his door. The round had passed through, entering the back of his seat. There was no exit hole, so the round was probably still inside the upholstery.

Seeing Earl Simmons standing by the stairwell door, Nick hurried over with Drew. “Anything on the shooter?” Nick asked.

Though Earl held the door open for Drew, he never even glanced at her. “We’ve already located the shooter’s vehicle. It was stolen,” he told Nick. “The crime scene people are on their way now.”

“There’s a round lodged in the driver’s-side back rest somewhere,” Nick said. “I accelerated just before he squeezed the trigger.”

Captain Wright strode down the hall toward them. “What the heck happened, Blacksheep?”

Chief Franklin came around the corner just then. “Let’s go into my office and talk about this.”

They all gathered inside the chief’s office. Earl Simmons had come in as well, followed by Detective Harry Koval, who closed the door behind him as Nick and Drew caught everyone up to date.

“Is it possible the shooter followed you from the station?” Captain Wright asked.

“I kept watch and saw no one, so I can’t tell you how he pulled it off,” Nick said. “But here’s what I do know. Drew saw something I missed. I don’t know how, but she knew that something wasn’t right before the attempted hit went down.”

Drew sighed as all eyes turned to her. She’d been through this before with the men in her family. Police officers preferred to deal with tangible concepts, and woman’s intuition didn’t qualify. Intending to give it her best shot anyway, she answered the questions in their eyes. “Have any of you ever known that someone was behind you without turning around? Or maybe had the feeling the phone was going to ring, and it did?”

“No,” came the unanimous reply.

“All right. Let’s try this from a different angle. Think of your experiences out in the field—like maybe a time when you knew a suspect was going to bolt, or reach for his weapon, even though he hadn’t moved.”

“Feelings like those are usually based on something concrete, like a change of expression, or a flicker of movement,” Nick said. “They’re explainable. Think back and concentrate. What triggered the feeling you got in the car?”

Drew sighed. They had to have it in black and white, but intuition was intangible and didn’t work that way. Still, she closed her eyes and tried her best. “The streets were almost empty. I was looking ahead at the path cut by the Jeep’s headlights when I began to feel uneasy. I looked in the rearview mirror, and that’s when I saw the sedan behind us. After it closed in, everything went crazy.”

“The shooter yelled, telling me to stay away from Drew,” Nick said. “He knew her name.”

“I heard him clearly, too, but I didn’t recognize the voice,” Drew said.

“So we’re back to the stalker angle,” Chief Franklin said. “The shooter is jealous and possessive, but you still have no idea who he is?”

“No, I don’t,” Drew answered.

Wright looked at Nick. “You should start wearing a vest, Nick. You, too, Ms. Simmons.”

“From what you’ve said, Blacksheep, it appears the gunman had a plan.” Koval’s slow, methodical voice held everyone’s attention. “To stay ahead of him we’ll have to come up with a better one. We can start by having me cover the outside of whatever place you stay at tonight. Tomorrow, we’ll see where the investigation leads.”

“I’ll be happy to cooperate fully,” Drew said, mostly to remind everyone that she did have a say in the matter, “but we never made it to my place earlier and I’ll need to pick up a few things. I live in a gated apartment complex, so it should be safe enough to stop by there for a few minutes.”