Jake hit the switch, sending the blue and white lights strobing and the siren blaring.
Sin gripped the edge of her seat, girding herself for what was coming. This was something she’d done before. Armed men she could handle. She wasn’t unprepared, wasn’t carrying her damn lunch. But she hoped like hell her hallucinations would wait until the danger was past.
Just let me get through this. I’ll tell the Lieutenant I’m through. Christ, I can’t let Jake down.
They weren’t the first unit to arrive. Jake halted in front of another car turned sideways in the street to block traffic. Out of old habit, Sin hit her mike to let the dispatcher know they’d arrived and slammed open the door, ducking low like the officers who kept their gazes on the shop across the street.
“What do we have?” Sin asked between tightly clenched teeth, hating that her nerves were kicking in.
“Robbery inside that coin shop. The store owner’s inside. Maybe one customer. He tripped a silent alarm.”
“Any shots fired?” Jake asked, his voice steady and cool.
“None, but there hasn’t been any movement either. SWAT’s on the way.”
Jake took a deep breath then shot a glance her way. She could read the hesitation in his gaze.
She narrowed her eyes, daring him to voice his concern.
His mouth tightened. “Let’s go cover the alley behind it. You follow me.”
For once, she didn’t mind his taking charge.
With their weapons drawn, they backed away from the other officers, not straightening until they were out of the line of sight of anyone inside the store. Then they took off at a dead run to the end of the street, turned and headed toward the entrance of the alleyway that stretched behind the row of small shops.
When they reached the corner of the alleyway, Jake raised an arm, blocking her. “Sin, you ready for this?” he asked. His face had lost its hard-edged reserve. Worry darkened his gaze.
She swallowed and nodded, determined not to let him down. “I have your back.”
For a moment longer, he held her gaze, and then his shoulders lifted as he took a deep breath. “Let’s go.” He flattened his back against the wall of the building and edged closer to the alley to peek into the darkening space. “It’s clear.” Then he was off.
Sin followed, her gaze darting into the shadows. They sped along the alley, using trash bins to hide behind as they gave each other cover, finally arriving at the back door of the shop.
Jake clicked his mike. “We’re at the back door,” he said quietly.
“Hold your position.”
Dragging in deep breaths as quietly as she could to calm her heart, she plastered her back to the opposite side of the door, keeping her gaze on Jake’s face, waiting for him to signal should they need to enter.
He gave her a tight smile, and then something in his expression alerted her. The sound of scuffling feet from inside the shop stopped just the other side of the door. Jake placed a finger over his lips to tell her to stay quiet then stepped away from the wall, raising his weapon.
Sin kept her back to the wall, lifting her own weapon to point toward the opening.
Two men dashed out, the long barrels of their shotguns pointing outward.
“Drop your weapons,” Jake shouted.
The man nearest her lowered the barrel of his shotgun, aiming it straight at Jake. Sin leapt forward, grabbed the barrel and slammed it upward, sticking her own weapon against his side. “Drop it, or I swear I’ll shoot.”
A low growling sound, like that of a trapped mountain lion, erupted from the man whose face she couldn’t make out in the shadows. In a movement so fast, she didn’t have time to even pull back her trigger, he twisted away, let go of the shotgun and shoved her back, taking off in the opposite
direction from Jake.
Mad she’d let him get away, she hesitated, gave Jake a quick glance and saw he had already wrestled his subject to the ground. Jake’s brows drew into a fierce scowl as his gaze followed the fleeing suspect.
She knew if he could have, he’d have handed her his suspect and taken chase himself rather than let her go. “I’ve got it,” she said, glad he was safe and already speeding past him.
“Don’t get your ass hurt!” he shouted after her, the charged words accompanied by the snick of handcuffs encircling his man’s wrists.