Brody held still while listening to the drug deal going down inside. Colt Rayburn nudged him and motioned down the alleyway. A blacked-out SUV drove into the tight alley. As one man, he, Colt, and Derek Watson, slid back behind a dumpster. The smell coming from the industrial sized garbage bin could choke a maggot, but it was the only place they could still see the doorway and be shielded from the SUV's direct line of vision.
"Juliet Three. Black SUV. Unknown occupants pulling up to the back door." He whispered the license plate number and shut up when the doors opened. Wonderful. The bastards were carrying Uzis.
He keyed his mic and barely breathed, "Four. Armed. Heavy."
"Are you in position to take them?"
He clicked the mic twice. It was their team's way to confirm without talking. Once for no, twice for yes. They'd be able to flank the bastards.
"The deal is almost done. On my count, move in." His captain's voice cracked over the comms. He motioned to Derek to go to the front of the vehicle. Colt nodded to the rear. He agreed with a slight movement of his head.
When they were ready, he keyed the mic three times, giving his captain the signal they were ready. It was a dance the team had done too many times to count.
"On one." Captain Terrell counted down. "Three… two… one!"
Colt and Derek sprinted at the same time he did, except he didn't round the vehicle. He sprinted to the hood, used the bumper as a step and launched onto it. The sound of his weight landing on the hood swung all four men to his position. Derek and Colt yelled, "Police!"
"Drop your weapons!" His Desert Eagle Mark XIX leveled on the man closest to him. Looking down the barrel of the massive handgun would clench anyone's ass, and it worked almost every time. Their free hands went up, and all four leaned down and placed their weapons by their feet. Derek kicked the guns away as Colt spun the gunmen and zip tied their wrists.
"Clear!"
"Get down!"
"Police!"
"We got a runner!"
A door slammed; in the distance, he heard Amber's voice yell, "Halt, DEA!"
"You got this?" Brody jumped down from the newly dented hood of the SUV.
"Go!" Derek dropped one of the restrained men to his knees.
"Runner heading down Marlin Avenue!" Amber yelled into her open mic.
Brody sprinted through the alley and across the street, running full tilt down an alley the next block over. Marlin Avenue curved, and if the runner didn't duck into a building, he'd be coming around right where Brody would exit the alley.
Pounding against the asphalt, he saw the man flash by the alley entrance. He sped up and flew around the corner. He launched at the guy's knees and tackled the man as he ran full speed. The cement sidewalk stopped their fall.
Brody scrambled on top of the bastard and had him cuffed before Amber made it to their location. She glanced at the man and panted into her radio, "We need an ambulance at Marlin and..." She glanced around.
He keyed his mic. "Marlin and Pier Drive. Perp has abrasions, needs to be cleared by medical before we transport."
She nodded and dropped her hands to her knees, her service weapon still grasped in one hand. "Damn, he's a fast son of a bitch."
Brody stood and glanced at the perp. They both were going to be sore, but they'd both okay. He wished he was as resilient as the suspect appeared to be. Guess the cement wasn't very forgiving today. He pointed to the man and for the first time looked at Amber. "You got this?"
"Yeah. Thanks." She stood up and holstered her weapon. "Look, Brody, we should probably talk."
Wisps of her long red-gold hair fell from the ponytail she'd cinched it into, and the strands perched against her high cheekbone. Her face was flushed and her eyes, damn those blue-green eyes of hers, threw him right back to the moment he'd last seen her. She was still as beautiful as he remembered, perhaps more so now. The confidence she was rocking looked damn good on her. He shook his head. "Little late for that.”
She flipped her ponytail to her back and put her hands on her hips. "We're going to need to talk eventually. I'm permanently assigned to this team, and there are things I need to say, that I should've told you––"
"Let's cut through the shit. You're a member of my team. We work together. Nothing more. I'm your sergeant and in your chain of command. If you can't deal with that because of our past, you can report directly to Lt. Anderson or Captain Terrell." He turned as the ambulance rounded the corner on Marlin with a black and white behind it. He looked back at her. "Your refusal ten years ago said more than enough. I wasn't what you wanted."
"I was scared! I didn't want my life to pass me by!" she hissed as the ambulance stopped at their position.
He pointed at the man. "Deal with him. Radio in when you're clear."
He spun on his heel and headed back down the alley. The road rash and ache in his shoulder from tackling the suspect was nothing compared to the pain her words recalled. She didn't want her life to pass her by. As if he was going to weigh her down and stop her from living. He'd loved her with every cell of his being. She was the one for him. She always would be.
He'd almost died when she’d fled from him. Literally. No, he hadn’t been willing to let her go without a fight. When he'd recovered from the shock of her refusal, he’d driven to her sister's house. On the way there, he’d been t-boned by a delivery truck. The
