Page 39 of Twin Threats In Austin
“Where is he?”
“Gone,” she answered. “I think. We should be safe here, but I need to call it in.” She took a step away and flattened her back against the wall. Phone in hand, she made the call to her supervisor while Camden risked a glance around the building.
He didn’t see anything or anyone. Didn’t mean the perp wasn’t out there.
“Yes, sir,” she said into the phone. “The shooter was in a tree across the street from the Sentinel Apartment Complex.” She paused. “We were here to interview a possible witness.” Another pause. “The suspect should be considered armed and dangerous.” She paused for a few more beats. “Yes, it would make sense that it is the same person from last night. Do we have a ballistics report?” She fell quiet again. “My partner and I will stay on the scene until a uniform arrives.” She shook her head. “No, sir, I lost visual on the perp.”
Camden could almost feel the frustration rolling off Rochelle in palpable waves. She ended the call to her supervisor and then turned her attention toward him.
“I can’t believe I lost that son of a bitch,” she said.
“This doesn’t exactly clear Kage of suspicion, does it?”
“You deal with people with nothing to lose all the time and yet you haven’t been convinced that Kage would pull a stunt like firing at an officer,” she said. “He would have had to go pretty far off the rails to do something like this, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes,” he said. “He would. So someone is either trying to teach us a lesson, scare us away, or kill us.”
“Kill me, you mean.” Rochelle issued a sharp sigh. “So far, this perp followed me to my home and now here. I seem to be the only one who’s getting shot at.”
He couldn’t argue her point there.
“Kage would know that firing at my task-force partner would only make me more determined to find him and lock him behind bars,” he said. “It would mean war. And the only reasons I could think of for him to attack my partner and not me is to teach me a lesson.” He tensed. “But then that doesn’t make any sense either.”
“It doesn’t?” she asked. “Didn’t you take his life away from him when you arrested him?”
“You make a good point there,” he said. “I still think he would come after my family instead of my task-force partner.”
“Anyone who knows anything about law enforcement realizes when two people work together they become family real fast,” she said.
“Again, you make a good point,” he admitted. “If he means to make this personal, we can go to war. Either way, I’m going to do my job and right now my job is to protect you.”
Sirens blared in the distance. Help was on the way.
“I’m guessing the ballistics report is in based on your conversation with your supervisor,” he said.
“You would be correct,” she said.
“Good, then we’ll have this bullet fragment to match up with the other,” he said.
“What are the odds they’re not gonna match?” she asked.
“I’d say they’re pretty slim,” he said. “I didn’t hear it.”
It was impossible not to feel like he’d failed her a second time.
“The lady youwere following,” Rochelle said as she remembered the reason he’d taken off in the other direction. “What happened?”
“Got a license plate.” He compressed his lips in a frown.
“Better than nothing,” she said.
“What about the note?” he asked.
“I didn’t touch it for fear the evidence would be inadmissible in court,” she said. “Then, a bullet whizzed past my ear, so I didn’t stick around long enough for the perp to hit me with a second shot.”
A marked SUV came roaring up, sirens blaring. It was probably safe to come around the corner of the building. Rochelle gave the area a once-over and headed toward the SUV. A female officer emerged from the driver’s side.
“Gabby David,” the officer said after closing the door behind her. She offered a quick handshake.
