Page 36 of Artifacts

“Freeze! Police officer!”

Darrell!

“I am armed and will shoot. Repeat. SAPD officer prepared to open fire!” Darrell called out with steel in his voice. “Stop, now!”

That had the men halting in their tracks for a second or two, then continuing, but more jerkily, zigzagging, Aldric almost tripping and falling with each lunging step. He thought he could work out why. A police officer was less likely to shoot if an innocent party was in the way. That was the reason criminals took civilian hostages. Aldric didn’t watch many thrillers or action movies, but movies he tended to like had one thing in common. The heroine didn’t wait around for a man to rescue her. She rescued herself.

With as much force as he could manage, Aldric rammed his head back to hit the face of the man holding him. In an ideal world, it would break his captor’s nose, but he’d take what he could get. At the same time, he brought his heel down as hard as he could on the top of the man’s foot. The man swore and loosened his hold, and before he could tighten it again, Aldric wrenched himself away from him and the other guy.

The plastic bag he was carrying and that the man was tearing at ripped in the struggle, the handles staying with Aldric and the body of the bag falling to the ground. Aldric had no time to think about that, however—not when he was close enough to the man who’d been holding him. He spun and kneed him in the balls as hard as he could. It worked. With a cry like an animal, the guy bent over, curling into himself.

The amount of force Aldric had put into the maneuver had him staggering sideways, and he put his foot down awkwardly, at an odd angle. It sent him crashing to the ground. His hands flew out to break his fall, but he still ended up with a face full of gravel.

“Aldric! Are you okay?” Darrell demanded, appearing beside him.

Aldric nodded, groping for his lost glasses. Darrell clapped him on the shoulder then raced off after the crooks. Well, just the one who had been slowed down by Aldric’s assault on his balls. Panting, coughing, Aldric had got to his knees when he saw Darrell leap on top of the guy. Aldric cried out, because he could see what Darrell probably couldn’t, from his low, flat position—the other, faster guy whirled around and sprinted back to the two figures on the ground.

“Darrell!” yelled Aldric, intending to warn him. And oh God, he wished he hadn’t when Darrell levered half-off the guy he’d tackled to look back at him, giving the second man the opening he needed to kick out at Darrell. Aldric couldn’t see where the kick connected, but it sent Darrell sprawling backward. Another kick, this time to his stomach, kept him there long enough for the guy to scoop his accomplice up and drag him along the remaining section of the path to a silver car. They were gone in seconds, pulling out into the traffic along Roosevelt Avenue in a blare of car horns.

“Darrell!” He was already on his feet and holding his side when Aldric reached him.

“Damn. They got away, and I didn’t get the license plate,” he said. “Did you see anything that would identify them?”

Aldric ignored that. “Darrell, you’rehurt.”

“I’m okay.” Darrell shook his head. “Bastard got in a lucky blow. Got my rib.”

“Oh no!” Aldric coughed a little to get his voice working properly. “Do you need to go to the hospital? Of course you do. X-rays and machines that beep.”

“No.” Darrell’s hand cut him off. “Ribs heal. It’s probably just bruised. Ice, painkillers, I’ll be fine. What about you?”

“I have those things. At home. In my apartment. Come on.” He took Darrell’s arm.

“’S that?” Darrell felt the lump on Aldric’s chest and started to laugh, clutching his side. “You still got the puzzle box?”

“Yes, of course.” Aldric produced it from under his jacket where he’d shoved it after snatching it up from the ground. “It’s Intrinsic Value stock, and I have to return it.”

Darrell was still chuckling when they reached the small van with the name of the store on the side. “You came in this? I thought you didn’t drive?”

“I don’t as in I don’t have a car. I do as in I can.” Aldric’s attention was focused on the road, the traffic and pulling out into it. He pretended not to hear Darrel’s muttered, “You can’t,” or see how he clung to the Jesus strap, his knuckles white. Okay, so he rarely got behind a wheel and needed practice.

“But you’re okay?” Darrell asked again. “You hit the ground pretty hard.”

“I hit that creep harder though.” Aldric grinned.

“Yeah, you did. Nice moves.” Darrell smiled back at him. “Did you take self-defense classes?”

“I watch YouTube videos.” He wasn’t going to say which lady instructor’s clips he liked to watch, or more accurately, listen to when he went to sleep. Some of it must have stuck. He’d leave her a comment.

When they reached his garage apartment, he got out first to open the passenger-side door and made sure he walked up the stairs behind Darrell, in case he stumbled. Darrell was taking slow, deep breaths. “There’s a first-aid box in the bathroom. Come on.” Aldric went to lead the way.

“I can do it.”

Aldric stared after Darrell as he walked off. Sure, he liked to see his tight butt and strong thighs, but he was wondering if he’d upset him. He’d only offered to help.Ice.He’d promised ice.Water.Darrell would need some. He drank a glass himself and had another poured when Darrell came out. “Did you find the ibuprofen?”

Darrell showed him the orange tablets in his hand that he swallowed with the water. “Thanks. My ribs aren’t broken. There’s a little swelling, but I didn’t hear a crack and I would be in a lot more pain.”

Aldric’s eyes stung with tears he refused to shed. “I’m so sorry. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have gotten hurt.”

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