Page 58 of Girl, Unmasked
Ella gritted her teeth and pushed past the pain.‘Last chance, Blackwood, drop it!’
But Blackwood had reached the point of no return.He’d fled, attacked a police officer, all but proven that he wasn’t an innocent man.At this point, suspects either killed their attackers or killed themselves.
He came at her again, swinging wildly.Ella backpedaled, looking for an opening.Her shoulder throbbed, her lungs burned.She was running out of steam, and Blackwood showed no signs of slowing down.
Time to end this.
As Blackwood wound up for another swing, Ella surged forward.She ducked under the bat, driving her shoulder into his solar plexus.The air left Blackwood's lungs in a whoosh.The bat clattered to the ground.Blackwood might have been a nimble creature, but Ella had years of training and a lifetime of pent-up aggression on her side.She twisted, using his momentum against him, but Blackwood slipped from her grip like a greasy snake.
He stumbled to the floor, then came up with the bat clutched in his hands again.In a blur, the metal clanged off Ella’s stomach and forced the air out of her lungs.The vague outline of Blackwood began to diminish, and as her vision returned, she saw her suspect fleeing across the field again.
Blackwood left the field, back onto the school pathways.Students lined the whole path, but they parted rapidly as Blackwood and Ella flew past them.
Then Ella saw Blackwood’s intended destination.
The exit.
Blackwood barreled towards the open gate like a man possessed.The fire alarm must have triggered a release.Which meant that Roger Blackwood, slippery bastard that he was, had a straight shot to freedom.All he had to do was make it through that gate, disappear into the suburban sprawl beyond, and they'd be right back to square one.
Ella pushed harder, gaining ground but not fast enough.Blackwood was going to make it through before she could reach him.
So Ella dug deep.Deeper than she had in years, since her days pounding pavement as a fresh-faced rookie, high on the illusion of her own invincibility.She reached down into the core of herself, the place where grit and guts and sheer bloody-minded stubbornness combined into something unbreakable.
It wasn't pretty.Her knee screamed, her lungs burned.That knife-bright pain in her side flared with every jarring impact.But she ran anyway, eating up the distance between her and Blackwood in great, gulping strides.
Fifty feet.Thirty.Twenty.
Close enough to hear the rasp of his breathing, the sob that hitched in his throat as he realized she was gaining.
He glanced back over his shoulder to see how close she was.Just a split second.But at full sprint, a split second was all it took.
And that was his biggest mistake.
His foot caught the edge of the sidewalk where it met the gate's threshold.Physics took over.Blackwood went airborne.His arms flailed as he tried to regain balance, but he hit the concrete hard and skidded on his palms and knees.
Ella didn't slow down.She launched herself at him before he could get back up, driving her knee into his back and forcing him flat against the ground.Her handcuffs were out before he could even process what had happened.
‘Roger Blackwood,’ she panted, planting a boot on his chest, ‘you have the right to shut the hell up.’
She slapped the cuffs on.
'Get up,' she said as she hauled him to his feet.'We're going for a ride.'
Game over.
CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
In the interrogation room, Roger Blackwood looked a lot less threatening with chains around his wrists and black pit beneath his right eye.His tweed jacket was rumpled, and there was a small bloodstain on the collar where he’d hit the ground.Ripley was still in the tech guy’s office, Ella guessed.She’d hauled Blackwood here and went straight into the interview process solo.
Ella took a seat opposite him, laid out her casefile on the table and said, ‘So, Mr.Blackwood, want to tell me what that little stunt back at school was all about?From where I’m sitting, it looked a lot like resisting arrest, with a side of assaulting officer thrown in there.’
Blackwood squirmed in his seat and tried to separate his hands.It was funny, watching suspects get used to life in handcuffs.
‘I panicked, okay?I… thought I was in trouble.’
‘No kidding, Sherlock.Youarein trouble.Running from cops and taking a swing at one tends to have consequences.’
‘I didn't mean to...It was an accident!’
