Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82186 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 411(@200wpm)___ 329(@250wpm)___ 274(@300wpm)
The guy holding the bag and the case ran after him.
Andy stood there as the door was hit again, and we all saw the sudden bump in the metal and the daylight around the frame.
“He sounds pissed,” Grant offered dryly.
The woman beside him snorted. “You’re a master of understatement, Grant.”
“I would run if I were you,” Todd suggested. “I mean, that’s a revolver you’ve got there. I bet the chief deputy has a bazooka or something.”
“And clearly some kind of battering ram,” Dr. Rapone pointed out.
That was it, Andy took off with seconds to spare.
The door flew open, ripped from its hinges, the deadbolt twisted, the long battering ram swung by four marshals visible for a moment before they stepped back and Sam came charging into the space, in his tac vest, Glock drawn, looking everywhere at once.
Wes Ching jogged by Sam, six men behind him, all in fatigues, all carrying high-powered rifles, following the path of Andy and the other two. There was a stream of uniformed policemen that came after them.
Sam reached me, looked me up and down, cupped my cheek, then reached for Hannah and did the same. He turned sharply, went to Kola and Harper, and finally Jake. He pointed at Ian Doyle, who was standing just outside the destroyed door, and then he was gone, following after Wes Ching with four other marshals on his tail.
Standing with Ian, people came by and thanked all my kids for being not only brave, but smart as well. I was proud of all of them.
“So,” Ian said, clearing his throat, the smirk on his face not at all attractive. “You guys wanted to go out to lunch, huh?”
“It’s not funny,” I assured him.
But the shrug and tip of his head said different.
As the five of us were walked to Ian’s car, someone snapped a picture, and that was the one that ran in the evening edition.
Apparently, before Covid hit, there had been a tunnel that ran from the alley one street over to a side door that led to the basement of the restaurant. When Evan Slater worked there as a waiter, before the pandemic closed down everything, it had been open. He also knew that the owner of the restaurant made his bank deposits twice weekly when his daughter, who was the bookkeeper, visited. It had been Evan’s idea to rob the upscale eatery as a final fuck you to his old boss who had fired him before taking the cash to a drug dealer. He and his friends were starting a new business The thing was, the tunnel he’d been expecting had been sealed off by the owner because he didn’t want anyone in and out who could circumvent his safety protocols. The fleeing men literally hit a brick wall. One of them, not Andy, passed out when he saw Sam.
We were all supposed to give our statements at the Oak Park police station, but the chief decided to use Harper’s singular account instead. They didn’t want to hear what Hannah and I felt were their motivations. This wasn’t Criminal Minds; they didn’t need a profile. Kola, explaining what everyone was doing, was too much. Jake’s entire focus on Hannah was too little.
Only Harper’s detailed, precise, just-the-facts, down-to-the-minute report because he’d checked the time and recorded it on his Apple Watch, was credible.
Professional courtesy for the family of a fellow law enforcement agent got us our phones back and out of the police station in record time. Sam was waiting behind the station for us, and we all ran, needing to get to him.
Once he was hugging us all, he delivered his proclamation: “You guys are never going anywhere without me again.”
No one was surprised, but when the kids climbed into the van and Sam crushed me to his chest, holding even tighter than usual, having him with us the next time, and every one after that, didn’t seem like such a hardship.
“Hey,” I murmured as he let me go, waggling my eyebrows as I got the patented Kage scowl. “I did tell you I wanted you home early.”
“Get in the car,” he ordered gruffly, but I heard the love clear as day.
And that’s all. Have a wonderful rest of March, everyone, and I’ll talk to you in April.
APRIL 2021
Hello, all, and welcome to He Said, he said April 2021 edition. I got my first Covid shot the other day, and I can report that my arm hurts—like someone kicked me there—but that’s about it. I didn’t get the headache Aja got, and I didn’t get the fever that Duncan got. It’s nice being halfway to fully vaccinated. Sam got his first vaccination a while ago, being law enforcement and top of the food chain, and his arm was “a bit sore,” but nowhere near as bad as mine. I wasn’t surprised in the least. Once the kids are vaccinated, it’s possible he might lift his personal quarantine of all of us, but I’m not making any plans for dinner and a movie anywhere but in my kitchen and on my couch anytime soon.