Zero Hour (Honor Bound Hearts #1)

Chapter 1

What should have been a quick stop for dinner after a long day at work shifted with two words.

“Hey, mister.” The voice indicated the speaker tilted toward young, male, and hesitant.

Detective Todd Westmont’s senses immediately shifted to high alert as he scanned the street looking for the source.

The darkness pushed shadows onto the street where he stood next to his vehicle.

He’d stopped next to his favorite all-night bar and diner, Rosie’s, to grab a burger and fries, on the edge of Lincoln near the airport.

It was an area that could use an infusion of capital and life, but it was on his path home and had been part of his beat before he was promoted to detective, so he knew the businesses and the people behind them.

This voice, though, he didn’t recognize.

He squinted as he scanned as if that would help him decipher who lingered just out of sight.

“Over here.” The voice came from somewhere to his right. “This kid needs help. I can’t get her to wake up.”

“Just a minute.” He went to his trunk, got his OD kit. Drugs hadn’t overrun Lincoln like other parts of the country, but he wasn’t na?ve. Each officer carried Narcan doses. He hadn’t had to use his since local pharmacies also had them available for free.

Once he’d retrieved the spray from his trunk and secured the vehicle, he hurried toward the area where he’d heard the voice. “Who needs help?”

“A girl. I just found her.”

“How old is she?” He needed to keep the kid talking. Follow the voice to wherever the trouble was. He should also call dispatch and let someone know he was responding to a request for assistance. Too bad he wasn’t on duty. He’d wait a minute. See if this was anything real.

“I don’t know, dude. She’s a kid.”

Like you, Todd didn’t say. The kid he was following was tall and thin. Too thin. He was either growing fast or not getting enough nutritious food to sustain his body’s development. “Do you know her?”

“Not well.” The kid sighed. “I tried to get her away, but I don’t think I did it fast enough.” He slid to a stop at the mouth of an alley. Things got even darker. Not something Todd would have thought possible. “She’s down there.”

Todd hesitated just a moment, his hand moving to where the butt of his service gun should be. Why hadn’t he carried a weapon anyway? Heaviness pressed against him, but he shook it off. It was dark. Nothing to concern him. “How far down?”

“Not far.”

“All right.” Todd moved into the alley, and only after he’d taken a few steps realized the kid was no longer with him. “Hey.” He looked around, but the kid had melted into the shadows.

All his senses screamed a high alert.

Had someone set a trap? There was no reason for that. Was there?

He shook off the questions but remained aware of his surroundings, using his hearing to compensate for the darkness.

“Miss? You here? A friend came and got me. Said you needed help.” He kept his tone light. Friendly. Infused it with a hint of humor as he edged deeper into the alley.

Silence.

That was it.

He grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight, sweeping the beam across the ground.

Near a large dumpster, he saw a pile of what looked like rags.

If he hadn’t had the teen tell him someone had been dumped in the alley, he would have kept moving.

Instead, he hurried toward the pile and knelt next to it, keeping his attention focused around him.

Something still felt off about the whole situation.

He dialed dispatch on his phone and waited for it to connect. “Detective Westmont. I’m off duty but at a potential scene.”

“Do you need backup?”

“I might need an ambulance.”

“Checking status of units.”

He shifted the blanket to the side. The person, a girl, looked to be a young teen or preteen. Age was indeterminate. She was malnourished, and her skin was almost translucent. He felt for a pulse, couldn’t find it at her wrist, and reached for the one at her neck. Thready, but there.

“How far out is the ambulance?”

“Bad wreck on the interstate north of the city. It’ll be twenty or thirty minutes. I can send one from Milford.”

He shook his head. “I can get her to Bryan faster.”

“Ten-four.”

The hospital was probably fifteen minutes away if he didn’t break any laws. With high lights and sirens on, he could probably cut a few minutes off. But first, he had to get her in his car.

“Okay, kiddo. I’m Detective Westmont. You don’t know me, but your friend brought me over to help you.

I can’t tell if you need Narcan, but I’m going to help.

” He didn’t want to give it to her if she didn’t need it.

At the same time, there were no side effects that would harm her if he gave it to her, and it turned out this wasn’t an overdose situation.

“You seem a little young to be in drug trouble.” Though he knew that was na?ve.

He’d seen enough overdoses that didn’t make the count to realize the numbers were higher than the official state number.

He administered the dose, then frowned as his flashlight picked up what looked like blood matting in her hair.

“Let’s get you to help.” He stood and then hefted her into his arms, surprised by how light she was. He frowned as he shifted her. Shouldn’t there be more mass to her?

Maybe there was some type of drug or other abuse going on.

He retraced his steps to his nondescript company car, jostling the girl when he reached it.

He shifted her weight and felt for the keys in his pocket, unlocking the door with a beep.

Then he opened the door, slid her into the back seat, and pulled a seatbelt over her torso.

It would have to do as he got her to help as quickly as possible.

There wasn’t much he could see in the shadowed lights as he checked for signs of an overdose, so he debated giving her a second dose of the Narcan but decided to wait.

Her breathing was regular, and her heart rate had steadied.

She could be dehydrated and malnourished as much as anything.

There were none of the signs he’d been trained to look for, like a bluish tinge to the skin and a clammy cast to it.

He didn’t like his options other than getting her to the experts as fast as possible.

“Let’s get you to someone who can help you. ”

As he walked around the car and slid into his seat, he said a quick prayer for her.

Then he called into dispatch and let them know he was on his way to Bryan Memorial Hospital.

“Can you give them a heads-up I’m en route with an unresponsive teenager?

It also looks possible she has a head trauma, as there’s blood matted in her hair. I’ve administered one dose of Narcan.”

“Yes.”

“Thanks.” Todd kept one eye on the limp young woman as he flipped on his lights but kept the sirens off as he slid along the largely empty roads. He skirted campus and downtown before moving as fast and safely as he could up Sixteenth Street.

The Green Gateau hopped with people when Bridget Ellis finally found parking.

She’d promised herself she wouldn’t be late, one more in a string of promises she'd failed to keep for different reasons.

Her grand dreams of having life settle into a rhythm after she switched careers had utterly failed. Completely flopped.

She should have stayed with Sydney. At least with her friend, Bridget had filled the role of a highly competent office manager and paralegal.

Now she scrambled to learn the complicated process of working in the Nebraska state office of Children and Family Services, and each night her brain hurt from all the new things she’d had to learn. Someday, it would feel easier. Right?

Someone waved, and she moved toward the table where three women waited.

She still marveled that these accomplished, professional women had broadened their circle of friendship to make room for her.

Dani Jamison had recently returned to the air on the local TV station after the birth of her child.

Tricia Jamison, Dani’s sister-in-law, was about to marry the love of her life, and Sydney Sims had been Bridget’s boss and then given her wings to try something new.

Maybe she’d take Bridget back when this imploded in her face.

“Oh, no, you don’t.” Sydney shook her head, barely masking a grin as Bridget took the vacant seat.

“What? I hadn’t even sat.” Bridget made a show of pulling the napkin out of its fold and settling it across her lap.

Tricia leaned forward and rested her chin on her hand as she studied Bridget. “You aren’t that hard to read. I know you the least of anyone here, and I can tell you had a bad day.”

“I work for the Children and Family Services. I’m learning there aren’t many good ones.” She rolled her neck from side to side, trying to ease some of the tension that had built over the day as she typed up her notes from a week’s worth of home visits.

“There has to have been one good thing.” Dani nudged her arm. “Tell us, in general terms, about a family that made some progress.”

“You’d think. But for each parent that moves even a half step forward, it feels like we learn of three more to take their place.

” She tried a quick box breath. She would not pull everyone down, or these invitations would dry up, and she needed them.

Desperately. She needed to know that there was laughter and joy even in the middle of difficult moments and situations.

These women supported each other in a way that reminded her there was more to life than the latest family crisis.

She studied Dani, noting the dark circles under her eyes that the makeup almost hid. “How’s the sleep going?”

“It’s getting better. I may have underestimated the toll the transition back to work would have on me. I love being back and using my mind in this way again. But I also really miss Bri.”

“You know you didn’t have to name your little angel after me, though I am deeply honored.” There. She could bring levity to the situation. Bridget smiled even as the others sputtered and choked. “Just kidding.”

“Love you, Bridget, but don’t forget my daughter’s name is Brianna.”

“How could I forget?” She sobered long enough to probe a little deeper.

“Are you sure that’s all that’s going on?

You seemed to be getting better sleep last time I saw you.

” Dani’s husband, Caleb, was a doting dad to their infant.

The couple relished their second chance at building a family and parenting together, one they’d given up as young adults.

Tricia slid a packet of Kleenexes from her purse as Dani teared up.

Dani took one and dabbed at her eyes. “I didn’t mean to cry. I guess the hormones are still a little crazy.”

“You don’t have to say anything.” Tricia looked fiercely around the table. “Unless you want to share, Dani.”

“It’s all right.” She blew out a slow breath as she looked toward the ceiling.

“I didn’t expect it to catch me this year.

Maybe it’s Bri. But tomorrow is my eldest’s birthday.

I have so many questions. Ones I’ll never have answers to.

I can have a good life, know I’m blessed, and still feel like a piece of my heart is missing.

Most of the time, I ignore it, but then there are days or weeks when it catches me.

This is one of them. And that’s not helping my sleep. ”

“Thirteen years, right?” Tricia’s eyes were soft as if she remembered with Dani.

Bridget watched, shifting against the seat and wondering if she should be at the table for such personal memories and pain. Her friends never made her feel like an outsider, but she didn’t really belong, not when she didn’t know and understand the source of this kind of pain.

The waitress came, and the conversation shifted as she took their orders.

Bridget could almost forget the awkwardness as the mood shifted, Sydney telling the story of a potential witness interview she had conducted that day.

“It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the defense calls him.

He’ll be a train wreck of a witness, but at least I know that. ”

Dani shook her head as she sliced an asparagus spear. “Have you decided when you’re coming back to the Lincoln office?”

Sydney shredded a corner of her roll onto the bread plate. “I’m thinking about staying. The county board has asked me to consider becoming the permanent county attorney.”

“That would be amazing.” Bridget had many memories of the ways Sydney had launched herself into the community of Tyler, Nebraska. She’d really made it her home.

Bridget’s phone buzzed, but with the unique ring she’d assigned to the number with calls from the emergency response line at work. She bit back a groan. So much for her nice evening with friends.

“I’m sorry, but I think I’m going to have to leave. Duty is calling.” She grabbed her phone and bag. “Can someone pay for me and let me know what I owe you? I’ll send money tonight.” And imagine someone else enjoying her food.

After quick hugs, she hurried from the dining room. As soon as she stepped out of the restaurant, she put the phone to her ear. “Bridget Ellis speaking. How can I be of assistance?”