Big Bad Bite (10 page)

Kent’s baritone flowed into her mind.
“There are two to the left, at the Senator’s table. Did you see
where the other two went?”

“
Only one that is in the right hand
corner. The fourth is hiding somewhere. What do you think we should
do?”

“
We’ve got four on four now. I say you and
I take the two at the senator’s table, and send Dubinski and
Walters after the third in the corner. We can flush the fourth one
out from there.”

“
Sounds like a plan. Wanna give the hand
signals to Dubinski and Walters?”

“
Done. Be ready to move in five. Four.
Three. Two. ONE!”

In unison, they popped up from behind the bar
as their other two teammates pounced to the right-hand corner
across the room. The noisy shots of the suspect’s guns echoed
throughout as bullets flew past Jenna and Kent. In one synchronized
move, the two targets on either side of the senator’s table dropped
to the ground from the shots that they volleyed at the pair.
Jenna’s suspect went down with a shot to the head, while Kent’s
suspect dropped to his knees with a shot to his shoulder. He must
have jerked a few inches to the side as Kent had fired his
shot.

Simultaneously, two shouts were suddenly
heard. One from a middle aged platinum blond that the wounded
suspect grabbed, shielding his body with hers as he raised the gun
and pointed it at Kent. The second shout came from behind them as a
body thumped to the floor. The hairs on the back of Jenna’s neck
rose. As if time stood still, she watched Kent turn towards the
shout behind them, looking for the trouble. His face recognized the
owner of the sound being Dubinski. From her peripheral she watched
Kent as he raised his weapon, aiming it at someone in that same
direction. What Kent failed to see was what Jenna now faced. The
stocky, dark haired suspect with a shoulder wound and a human
shield leveled his pistol and aimed it at the back of Kent’s head.
There were only two parts of his body left exposed behind the poor
screaming woman he held around the neck in front of him; his head,
peering from just behind the woman’s right shoulder, and the hand
holding the gun.

With no time to analyze which shot to make,
she aimed her gun with a muffled curse. Her finger eased on the
trigger and the flash and puff of air moved in front of her riffle.
A searing sting struck the outside of her right arm at the same
time as multiple shots being fired echoed around her. Another flash
of burn grazed her left ribs. The platinum blond dropped to the
ground behind the table screaming like a banshee as Jenna ran
forward after her. Her mind raced in panic as she vaulted over
bodies and tables towards her target, praying that she hit the
suspect instead of an innocent civilian. With the riffle still
squared into her shoulder, ready to aim and fire, she vaulted onto
the senator’s table just as the lights flashed back on in the
restaurant.

The lady in a beige sheath dress screamed and
scrambled backwards from the man that used her as a human shield
because he now lay face down with a gaping hole in his head. The
breath Jenna hadn’t realized she’d been holding eased out as the
comm. link in her ear screamed with voices.

“Walters clear!”

“Kent clear! Dubinski down!”

The word ‘down’ snapped her back to reality.
Circling in her spot on the table top, an array of faces flashed
before her eyes. Husbands holding their screaming wives. Mothers
covering their crying children with their own bodies. Dubinski
lying on his back groaning while Kent knelt over him as blood
poured from his side and onto the floor. With all of the chaos
surrounding them, the most notable thing clicked into her head at
that time. All eight of the gunmen were now down. The threat had
been neutralized.

Capt. Nelson’s strained voice came through
the link. “O’Conner! Are you clear?”

Pressing the button on the link in her ear,
“O’Conner is clear. Bring in the paramedics, the area is
secured.”

Her heart had finally stopped its jack
hammering thirty minutes ago, and now Jenna sat on the ledge of the
back of the ambulance. Thank God for dependable sports bras,
because the paramedic had insisted on taking her shirt off when he
saw the blood on her side. With her left arm held up over her head,
the paramedic cleaned a six inch nasty red graze from the bullet
that had sliced the skin over her ribs. She had a second graze from
a gunshot on her upper right arm that was already cleansed and
bandaged. Poor Dubinski was in worse shape though. He’d taken a
shot in the abdomen and was on the way to surgery to have it
removed and repair any possible damage.

After the cavalry rushed through the front
doors, they found the two officers already suspected dead. The
other four had been found unconscious, duck taped by their wrists
and ankles, and thrown into the woman’s bathroom to be kept out of
the way. One officer had been shot in the chest and was in critical
condition, while another had been shot in the leg. The remaining
two officers only had an array of bruises from when they had been
subdued. Thankfully, none of the hostages had been injured.
Apparently the sound of gun fire was enough for them to have the
common sense to hit the deck for cover when the shit hit the fan.
As the paramedic started to bandage her ribs, Kent strolled up with
a satisfied grin and his shirt hanging open to show his own bandage
from a graze across his waist.

“Looking good there, Jenna.” His eyes roamed
over her body with complete interest. Apparently a half naked woman
getting bandaged up from a round of violence was just the thing to
get Kent’s motors going.

Rolling her eyes, she stretched her neck from
side to side to ease some of its tension. “Get a close look Kent.
It’ll be the closest you ever get to seeing me naked.” He groaned
as if desperate, and the side of her mouth tipped up. She had to
admit he was fun to have around.

Kent’s playful attitude slipped away as he
rubbed the back of his head with one of his hands. “All joking
aside, I just wanted to thank you for saving my ass in there
tonight. I might be on the operating table, best case scenario, if
you hadn’t taken that guy out.”

“Right back atcha, Kent. You saved my bacon
as much as I saved yours. So don’t mention it. That’s what partners
are for.” And Kent honestly had saved her butt. Apparently, as she
was taking out the gunman aiming at Kent, he was taking out the
gunman who had been shooting at her. Luckily, Kent was able to get
him before he was able to take a better aimed shot than the two
that had already grazed her. After tonight, she knew without a
doubt that she could trust her new partner with her life. He’d
already saved it.

Part of her wondered if this meant maybe she
could trust him with her secrets, as well.

Probably not.

More flashes went off from the reporters
crowded along the curb. She grimaced at the thought of her half
naked picture ending up in a paper somewhere. That might be hard to
explain to Mama.

Shaking off the thought of Mama’s strong
southern temper, her thoughts turned to more pleasant things to
look forward to. Like her head hitting the comfortable pillow on
her warm bed. There was nothing in this world right now that could
look better to her than her own damn bed.

Except maybe for Adam naked in her bed. Ready
for Jenna to lick him up one side and down the other.

But she wasn’t going to think about that
now.

Right.

Chapter Six

Ring.

Ring. Ring.

Jenna moaned into her pillow. She was sure
she wasn’t actually being awakened by the damn phone. It was
probably just a dream. If she ignored it, it would all go away.

Ring. Ring. RING.

Or not.

Rolling over, her hand palmed the top of the
nightstand until it found the obnoxious device that was
interrupting her slumber. With eyes still closed, she answered it
with a gruff “What?”

A somewhat familiar, feminine voice answered,
“Jenna? Is that you? Are you okay?”

With her head still foggy from sleep, she
struggled to identify the caller. “That depends. Who’s asking?”

Laughter chimed from the other end. Who the
hell laughed like that when they should still be sleeping? “It’s
Amy. I stole your number from Adam’s phone after I saw the
newspaper this morning. So you’re alright?”

Huh? Newspaper? At least her sleep addled
brain remembered who Amy was. “What time is it? And what
newspaper?”

A God’s honest growl came through the phone.
The girl actually growled at her! “It’s nine ‘o’ clock in the
morning, Jenna. The newspaper is the Wilmington Daily which I
happen to get delivered, and it has your picture on the front of it
with a title that reads ‘Heroic Cops Save Senators from Death’.
Now, will you tell me if you’re alright or not? This damn picture
shows you sitting without your shirt on, your ribs bandaged, and on
the back of an ambulance! I swear if you don’t tell me right now if
you’re okay I’m going to come hunt your ass down so I can see for
myself!”

Once Amy had snarled the words ‘without your
shirt’, Jenna was up off the bed and headed towards the coffeepot.
At the same time she felt a chink give in the armor that normally
surrounded her vulnerable heart. So this was what it felt like to
have a real friend. “Yes Amy, I’m OK. I swear. But thanks for
telling me about the picture. Now I know I’ll have to call my Mama
before she sees it and freaks out.” Her phone beeped indicating
that she had another person calling. Glancing down at the caller
I.D. made her want to kick herself in the ass.
Mama
.
“Grrrrr… too late, Amy. That’s my Mama beeping in now. I better
take it before she has a stroke.”

“Wait! I wanted to ask if you wanted to come
running with me today. After all of your excitement last night
you’re bound to have a shit load of energy that you need to burn
off. Adam and Clay have pack business so I thought you and I could
go out alone. Just us girls in the woods.”

“Just us girls, huh? That sounds nice. Where
at?”

“We have some land in Bolton, so we’re not
that far from you. I can meet you at a gas station; lead you in so
you don’t get lost.”

“Pack lands? I don’t know, Amy…” The phone
beeped again. Mama was still trying to reach her. Lord, if she
didn’t pick up soon the woman would seriously stroke out. Or blow
something up.

“Come on, Jenna. It’s just a run. No
commitments, I promise.”

As her phone beeped again, she felt her
uncertainty waver. “Okay. What time and what gas station?”

Amy squealed in delight. “There’s a
Save-A-Lot gas station just off of I-16 where it intersects with
Old River Road. Meet me there at eleven. That gives you a little
time to wake up. See you then!”

Hanging up with Amy, she dialed Mama’s
number. It was going to take her at least half an hour to reassure
her Mama that she was perfectly fine. Damn, she wished that
coffeepot would brew a little faster.

It ended up taking her forty-five minutes,
coupled with two cups of strong coffee, to tell Mama more times
than she could count, that she was perfectly fine. In that time,
she managed to give Jenna a rundown of what the newspaper article
said. In short, it gave a brief description of the situation at the
restaurant last night being overrun by madmen with guns, trying to
ransom off the Senators and their families.

Mama said that the article was calling her,
Kent, Walters and Dubinski heroes. Speculating that the four would
receive awards from the city of Wilmington, and the Senators of
North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia for taking out the pack
of criminals so that everyone got out alive. Everyone except for
the two Officers who had died in the line of duty that is. Her
chest tightened at the thought, for the families of those two
officers who would never return home again. It was a very real risk
they lived with every day they went on duty. The paper also stated
that their funeral services would be announced later. Arrangements
were being made so that the city of Wilmington could honor them
properly.

Capt. Nelson called after she got off the
phone with Mama to inform her that Dubinski and the other Officers
injured the night before were going to be alright. He was also
wanted to make sure that Jenna wasn’t planning to come in to file
any reports today, because they could wait for Monday. By the way,
had he mentioned lately that she was a damn impressive shot? Oh,
and Jenna should try and lay low today because every reporter in
town was trying to get a hold of the ‘four hero cops’ from last
night’s rescue. It looked like her little trip out of town was
going to be exactly what she needed to make sure her picture didn’t
end up on the front of another newspaper tomorrow.

With a satisfied grin, she hung up with her
Captain to haul butt to the shower and get ready to leave for
Bolton. Life seemed suddenly seemed to be looking up. She had an
awesome new job. Her Captain and partner were exceeding her
expectations. And she finally seemed to have made a friend, now
that she wasn’t hiding from the world. It was bright and sunny
outside and a perfect day for a run on four legs. Nothing in the
world seemed wrong at the moment.

She should have known it would never
last.

It was ten fifty-five, and she was sitting
propped up on her bike reading the Wilmington Daily. After seeing
it in the newsstand when she pulled up to park, she couldn’t help
but buy it. The urge to take a peek at the article was too much to
resist. After giving the paper a glance, it was no wonder Amy and
Mama had freaked out. There in black and white, was a zoomed in
picture of her sitting on the back of the ambulance in her sports
bra talking to Kent while the paramedic bandaged up the graze on
her ribs. Damn reporters! Couldn’t they have pulled her uniformed
service picture, like they did for the other Officers pictured in
the article? No. They had to splash her half naked picture across
the city instead. How’s a girl supposed to walk around without a
permanent blush when afraid everyone looking at you was picturing
you in a bra? Good grief.