‘In!’ she raised her voice to a sharp command.
As she expected, Domino bounded straight into the back of the car. His huge, muscular body spinning around in tight circles on the back seat, absolute delight in every twitch of his muscles to have accidentally found Jenna on his daily walk.
Jenna reached out and gave his broad head a quick scrub. ‘Good lad, good lad.’
As she turned, the fat black Labrador eased his way onto the back seat with a little more delicacy and, with no regard for the Dalmatian, shoved his way across and let out a loud huff of dog breath as he collapsed in a happy heap on the seat.
With nothing to do but see to the small dog, Jenna wasted no time in hoisting the shih-tzu in beside them. She took a split second to touch each animal’s head before she slammed the door, hitting the lock button as she grabbed her radio from her belt and spoke into it whilst she raced down the street and around the bend in pursuit of Ryan and Lena.
25
Monday 20 April 0910 hours
Arms and legs pumping, Jenna pushed herself until her breath heaved in her throat as the pair in front of her came back into sight, both of them running like international marathon champions. She kicked up her heels and stretched her long legs into a full-pelt run, picking up speed as she raced downhill, the gap never seeming to close.
Ryan’s voice shouted a third time. ‘Police! Stop!’
He was wasting his breath, he just needed to grab her. When you had a runner, you just needed to get the job done.
Jenna willed him on because hell, he was almost a decade younger than her, he should be fitter and faster.
Within touching distance, he reached out and grabbed at Lena’s shoulder. He yanked her off her feet and she tumbled backwards into his arms.
Relieved, Jenna slowed her pace, her lungs burned with the effort. She’d not run as hard in years. She wasn’t a short-sprint runner, more of a solid march all day without stopping kind of girl. This would kill her. The burn in her calves already making itself known.
Ahead of her, Ryan’s voice, pitched low and breathless, could barely be heard, but Jenna assumed he read Lena her rights as he held on to her shoulder, his chest heaving.
Still some way down the street, Jenna sensed the moment he made his mistake.
He let go of his suspect to pat his duty belt and as he reached for the speed cuffs, Lena whirled.
Face contorted in a wild snarl, she lunged at Ryan, lashing out with feet and fists.
‘Jesus.’ Jenna’s reflexes kicked back in and she broke into another run as Lena leapt at Ryan and slammed him to the floor, long fingers like claws reaching for his scalp. His yowl echoed along the street as Lena clutched his hair with both hands and jerked his head upwards.
Jenna’s heart hammered like a wild bird as Lena let out a high-pitched scream and moved to smash his head into the pavement. With ice running through her veins, Jenna stormed through to grab Lena around the waist. She hoisted her high and wrenched her off Ryan. Surprise rippled through her at the weight of the smaller woman as Jenna used it to her advantage and slammed Lena face down on the floor. Using her own weight she dropped, punching her knees straight into Lena’s shoulder blades, she leaned her whole weight into her, pinning her where she lay.
Lena’s breath shot out in a loud grunt. Jenna grabbed the back of her head before Lena had the chance to buck. She pressed her cheek hard against the tarmac road and never afforded her a second chance as she whacked on a pair of speed cuffs one-handed.
The blue lights and two tones warned of the approach of the backup vehicles.
Jenna edged slowly off the woman, not trusting her to behave as she came to her feet and dragged Lena up after her. There was one thing she’d learnt early on in her career: if you had a fighter, don’t ever give them the opportunity to kick off once you had them controlled. The only one to get injured would be the officer. She’d seen too many taken out like that. Trust was not an option, especially when dealing with drug related crime.
She drew in a breath through her nose to slow down the hard puffs wheezing out, making her sound like she smoked fifty a day.
Before her backup team reached her, Jenna gave Lena a light shove towards them. Lena stumbled and Jenna made another grab for her, linked her arm through Lena’s and marched her over to the waiting uniforms.
Fury burned from eyes that met hers before doubt filled them and Lena’s forehead crinkled. Her mouth dropped open and recognition flooded her features.
‘Yeah. Me.’ Jenna shot her a tight grin. ‘Recognise me? I’m the one whose dog you chose to push drugs for you.’ Technically, Fliss’s dog, but she wasn’t about to split hairs.
‘I—’
Before Lena could speak, Jenna raised her forefinger to her lips. ‘Sshh.’ As the woman stuttered to a halt, Jenna dropped her hand and guided Lena forward. ‘Lena Alexander, I’m arresting you on suspicion of possession and supply of class A drugs and assaulting a police officer. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ She handed her over to the safekeeping of PC Liz Oliver, her freckled face well known amongst the officers, having been in the job for more than twenty-five years. ‘This is PC Oliver, she’ll be escorting you to Malinsgate Police Station where you will be interviewed.’ She smiled at the PC as she handed Lena over. ‘Watch her, she’s not all sweetness and light.’
Seasoned as she was, Liz grinned, her cheeks plumping out like a hamster. ‘I can see that for myself.’ She nodded in Ryan’s direction as she took possession of Lena and manoeuvred her into the back seat of the police vehicle, hand on the top of her head to protect it from the door frame. She shut the door on her and turned to look at Ryan again. ‘Is he okay?’
Satisfied now her prisoner was contained, Jenna turned around, her breathing still fast and shallow. Not in the least worried about Liz, she knew the other woman would never pass judgement on how out of shape Jenna was.
On the ground, Ryan gingerly touched his scalp where Lena had wrenched his hair out by the roots. His hand came away with a handful of the pale, sandy hair as horror streaked over his face.
‘Oh, I think so. He should never have let go. He had her pinned. Perfect arrest.’
Liz crossed her arms over her chest and snorted as she leaned her backside against the car door. ‘We all learn by our mistakes. I’ve caught a few myself.’
Jenna nodded. She’d been on the painful end of a couple of errors too. ‘It’s a lesson. He won’t let his guard down again once he believes he’s got a situation under control.’
It was never under control until the suspect was cuffed and adequately restrained, whatever form that may take.
Liz’s lips kicked up into a sympathetic smile. ‘Some come along like lambs, others like lions.’
‘Yeah.’ Jenna brushed her hands down her black trousers, flicking off the dust. From the hammering they’d had that day, they’d probably end up in the bin failing a good boil wash. ‘It was Ryan’s day to have the lion.’
With her pulse rate returning to normal, Jenna squinted down at him. She needed to get on. She’d never imagined the short search warrant job was going to morph into a major incident. She still had one of those waiting for her back at the station. Still keeping all the balls in the air. It wasn’t unusual to be busy, but in the last forty-eight hours she’d managed to squeeze in an entire week’s worth of work and still had more than double that to go with the fire investigation. Confident DI Taylor had his hand to the tiller and would let her know the moment anything kicked off there, at least she could concentrate on this case.