Page 96 of More Than a Hero
“Get up,” Tamarcus snarled. “You’re my ticket outta here. You’re gonna walk with me nice and easy, and nobody’s gonna shoot a pretty bitch.”
Pete’s breath hitched.No fucking way.He adjusted his grip and tracked the angle of Tamarcus’s arm.
And then, as though her knee couldn’t hold her weight, Angie dropped and landed flat on the floor. Pete couldn’t tell if it was on purpose or not, but in that split second, the line between him and Tamarcus cleared.
Pete took the shot. Tamarcus jerked hard, his right shoulder snapping back—the one holding the weapon. The Glock dropped from his hand and hit the floor with a dull clatter. He screamed and staggered back, his hand clutching his shoulder as blood poured.
Pete was already through the doorway. “Angie!” He was at her side in an instant, pulling her behind him, shielding her body with his as Jeremy came in like a storm from behind and tackled Tamarcus to the ground.
The apartment exploded with shouting—Jeremy barking commands, Tamarcus screaming in pain, other voices crackling over the radio. Pete stood, still half shielding Angie, as the front door burst open. Deputies poured in. Detectives followed. Relief mixed with the flood of movement.
Pete helped Angie sit up, his heart hammering. “You hurt?”
She shook her head, stunned. “Just—my knee. Twisted when he was dragging me outside.” Her breath came fast and shallow, but her hand curled around his forearm like she was grounding herself there.
“I’m here,” he murmured, crouching in close. “I got you. You’re safe now.”
“Marty?” she cried.
“Okay… the kids got him out. He’s at George’s place.”
“The kids?”
“All okay,” he assured, realizing as he said the words, he was assuring himself as well.
Outside, sirens wailed closer. Pete looked through the now open door as an ambulance pulled into the garden loop just as Bertram flagged it down. Paramedics ran into George’s place to get to Marty. Pete saw the kids come pouring out of the apartments across the garden. Darius, Jimmy, Robert, Jalen, Mike—wide-eyed and wild with emotion.
The seniors followed, staying with the kids. Other seniors who lived there but weren’t part of their group joined the others.
Hunter Simmons jogged over as the deputies had Tamarcus handcuffed to a gurney being loaded into the back of an ambulance. He ordered the deputies to stay with him and make sure they followed legal procedures at the hospital. “We don’t want that asshole getting off on a technicality.”
Pete knew Hunter would have raced over to help no matter what, but the fact that Belle, his wife and mother to his children, was in lockdown at the nursing home next door would have had the big man on edge.
Terry and Colt hustled over to oversee the scene and check on everyone.
Pete stepped out of the front door with Angie in his arms. The kids raced over, all clambering to make sure she was okay.
A second ambulance rolled up. Angie hesitated. “I don’t?—”
Pete just shook his head. “You’re going. You’re gonna let them check that knee. No arguing.”
She looked up at him. Her eyes filled with tears, and she nodded. She looked over at the kids and seniors. “Thank all of you so much. Marty and I are okay because of you.”
Pete kissed her forehead, brief and protective, just as the paramedics rolled up with the gurney. As they rolled her toward the ambulance, Pete looked around—the chaos giving way to relief, the senior community gathering to witness what had just unfolded. He caught Jimmy standing next to Robert. He offered both a chin lift. They grinned, their chests heaving with nerves and adrenaline. Then they smiled.
Jeremy said, “Go with Angie. We’ll process the scene and get all the witness statements.”
Terry agreed. “This will take a while.” He chuckled. “You go be with your girl while we deal with it.”
“I need to make sure the kids get home?—”
“We’ll call their parents before we talk to them, then we’ll get them home safely,” Terry assured. “We certainly want them safe and the DA not to have any reason to object to our investigation.”
Bertram, George, Harold, Hannah, and Rosetta moved closer. “We won’t let the kids out of our sight until their parent or guardian comes,” they promised.
Nodding, he let out a sigh of relief, but in his chest, the pounding hadn’t stopped. He’d come too close to losing something he didn’t even realize he needed so badly.
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