For just a few moments he looked like he wished he could throttle her. Or maybe handcuff her to a chair so he’d know she was safe and out of harm’s way. But he knew as well as she did that there was no time to argue.
“You wear a vest and you stay in the floorboard of the car and don’t move until I say move. Got it?”
She nodded once. “My bag’s in my car.”
Ethan hated everything about this situation. He hated that his rookie was in there alone and over his head. He hated the lack of backup—though Darius was hauling ass from a call on the other side of town. That he was about to be entering the unknown in another piece-of-shit trailer, exactly like the one where he’d taken the bullet that nearly killed him. Most of all, he hated that Miranda was here because he knew exactly how fast this shit could go FUBAR, and he needed her safe and out of harm’s way.
“The vest is too big to fit you properly, but it’s better than nothing at all.” He’d strapped his spare one on her himself, adjusting as much as possible. It wasn’t enough. He saw too many places a bullet could slip through.
Miranda reached up to cup his cheek. “Stop imagining how this could go wrong. I’m not looking to do something stupid here. I’m staying down and out of sight until you say otherwise. Focus on the job, not me.”
His hands closed over her shoulders for just a second. He didn’t have the time to find the words he wanted to say, not when someone’s life was on the line. “We need to have a conversation later.”
“Then we will. You can yell at me as much as you want, after everybody’s safe.”
Yelling wasn’t what he had in mind. But he shut it down because he couldn’t have her in his head and do his job. Behind her, Darius’s cruiser whipped onto the street. Thank God. Ethan hadn’t wanted to go in without backup, but another minute or two and he would’ve. Corbett’s life might be counting on it.
In the distance, the wail of an ambulance siren could be heard. Reaching for the radio, he tapped the county dispatcher. “Get on the horn and have the ambulance cut the siren. I want them to stop, just out of sight, and stay put to wait for my order.”
A few moments later, the siren went silent.
Darius parked the car at an angle next to Ethan’s, effectively blocking the drive. He climbed out. “How you wanna play this, Chief?”
“As far as we know, Raines is still in there, and he’s non-responsive. There’s a door in front and another in back. You circle around and wait. I’ll approach from the front, enter first. If Forbes is gonna bolt, it’ll probably be out the back once I breach. If he tries to run, take his ass down. Otherwise, come straight in the back.”
Darius nodded and headed into the trees.
Ethan turned back to Miranda. “Into the car. Wait for me.”
Her eyes searched his, full of something he didn’t dare analyze just now. “Be careful.”
“Always.”
Once she was safely secured and hunkered down as ordered, Ethan made his way up the weedy walk. Instead of climbing the concrete steps and setting himself up as a target in front of the flimsy ass door, he hunkered close to the trailer’s base from the ground and listened. Everything was too quiet. Dread crawled up his spine as he reached over to bang on the lower half of the door.
“Police! Open up.”
Nothing moved, but he thought he heard a murmur that might’ve been voices.
“We had a report of shots fired. Is everyone okay in there?”
He fully expected Harley to offer up a “Fuck off!” or something similar. But there was nothing. Was he still in there? Or had Ethan gotten this wrong? Was it possible he’d been the victim instead of the shooter? The neighbor had reported two or three shots. Had he drawn on Raines? Had they shot each other?
Too many questions with no answers. Too much time had passed since he got the call. Raines could be dead or dying. He was done waiting.
“I’m coming in on five. Five. Four.” Ethan listened for the back door to bang open and hoped Darius was ready. “Three. Two.” On one, he reached for the knob and yanked the door open. It flew back to crash against the outer wall of the trailer. Ethan pressed himself back against the opposite wall, but nobody came out shooting.
Leading with his gun, he peered into the trailer. A half wall divided the entry space from the rest of the living area, and he couldn’t see past it. He knew how these things were built. Like matchsticks. That half wall wouldn’t make for any kind of cover.
He could smell the blood.
For just a fleeting moment, he hesitated, feeling the phantom flash of searing pain from the bullet that had nearly taken his life.
Not. Happening.
He went up the concrete steps moving fast and low. No one was in the kitchen to the right. Ethan swung left, toward the living room, and felt his heart stop as he saw Corbett Raines stretched out on the floor in a pool of blood. Rene Forbes crouched over him, some wad of fabric pressed to the wound. She looked at Ethan out of blackened eyes, tears flowing down her cheeks. “He didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”
Cold rage flooded Ethan’s limbs that she’d try to protect Harley, even in this. “Rene, is he alive?”
“For now. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
Then there was still a chance.
“I couldn’t get to the phone to call 911 and Johnny…” She looked toward a corner of the room Ethan couldn’t quite see.
Ethan moved further inside and saw her son leaning against the wall, tears streaking his face, a shaking gun clutched in one hand.
Oh fuck. It wasn’t Harley Rene was protecting. It was Johnny.
“Johnny, what happened?”
“He hurt her. He’s always hurting her. I just wanted him to stop. But he got in the way.”
Too many “he”s in that scenario, but Ethan understood well enough. Johnny Forbes had tried to kill his stepfather and the rookie had intervened.
“Where’s Harley?”
“Gone. After I…he ran.”
“Okay. We’ll figure this out. I need you to put the gun down, son.” He lowered his own weapon, edging toward the boy.
“I just want him to go away.”
The back door flew open as Darius swept in. Johnny’s gun snapped straight again, and Ethan lunged forward neatly disarming the kid before he could put a bullet in another officer.
Darius took one look at Corbett and swore.
“He says Harley’s gone. Clear the rest of the trailer.”
On a nod, Darius moved down the hall.
Ethan clamped a hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “I’m gonna need you to come over here and sit down.” When he steered the boy to a chair, Johnny didn’t resist.
Moving quickly, Ethan dropped into a crouch beside his fallen officer and pressed two fingers against Corbett’s wrist. “Raines. Come on now. Stay with me.”
The rookie didn’t move, but there was a pulse. Weak but there. The hand mic mounted to his shoulder was destroyed. Looked like the bullet had glanced off it and into his neck. The towel Rene had pressed to the wound had already soaked through with blood. Her hands were shaking. “Rene, don’t move. I’m getting help.”
She offered a trembling nod.