Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
S loan threw his cruiser into park and headed into the Woody’s Family Mart, intent on getting some beer and Slim Jims and dry roasted peanuts for tonight.
He and Lance were going to be listening to a new audiobook and having pizza and snacks, so he needed to stock up without having to go to the Super One or the Brookshires.
He rolled his head on his neck. Lord, it had been a long day. At least he had his AC back in his car, but he had still spent the whole damn day running down witnesses for one of the detectives and alternating that with traffic stops, which were ugh.
He headed inside, humming a little with the song that had been on the radio when he’d parked.
As soon as he walked into the store, Sloan knew something was wrong. The place was quiet as a tomb, and there was no one behind the counter.
“Leah?” he called out. “You in the back?” He knew he was letting a potential problem know he was there, but he’d never been the stealthy kind. He found that most criminals were opportunists, and would cave and run when faced with a cop .
Though he sure as fuck wished he had a K-9 unit with him. Announcing that a potential robber was about to get bit? Could really make them see reason.
There was no answer.
Sloan drew his service sidearm and padded over to the front on the toes of his boots, keeping his heels from ringing on the floor. He peered over the counter, but Leah wasn’t back there. She always worked this time of day, though, so she had to be in the stockroom or out behind the store.
Dammit.
He took a deep breath and thought about leaving. Going to his car and calling for backup. But where did that leave Leah? And he could just as easily get shot leaving the store as standing at the counter or going to the back room.
He called it in though, because he could always say he’d made a mistake, call them off. “Possible sitch at the Woody’s off 34.”
Then he silenced his radio.
“So. Leah, you in the back, lady?”
He checked the mirror behind the cash register, the one hiding the camera. He couldn’t see anybody waiting for him, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone.
“I… I’m fine.” Leah so wasn’t fine. Her normally cheerful voice was full of tears. “Just leave the money on the… on the counter. I’ve got my hands full back here.”
Oh, he didn’t think so. “I’m paying with the card, honey, so I’ll wait. Also? I think you’re low on Slim Jims, and that’s what I’m here for. Slim Jims and roasted peanuts.”
And figuring out what the hell was going on.
That was part two of what he was there for. Figuring out what was going on and making sure Leah was okay.
“Be right there.” Slowly, Leah came out of the back, her face ashy with fear, makeup streaked from her tears. “I think we’re out of Slim Jims. ”
Her eyes were huge, the white showing all around the dark irises.
“Bummer,” he said gaze shooting toward the back.
She bit her bottom lip and bobbed her head. “Um. I think we’ve got some of those organic ones. Let me just show you where they are.”
“That would be a blessing. Thanks, lady. I’m going to be listening to an audiobook with Lance tonight. I want to make sure we have plenty of snacks.”
“Yeah, what book?”
“ Thriller. You know that one with the kidnapper I told you about?”
He’d never talked to her about it, but he figured she was smart enough to play along. “The one with the scary tweaker? I-I just finished that one myself.”
“Yeah, you said it ended well.” He kept talking, slowly, slowly easing her out of the line of fire, keeping his hand down low. He held up one finger, raised an eyebrow. Just one?
She nodded, holding up one finger and then pointing, pretending to be motioning to the counter, but actually to the door to the back. “See. They’re right here.”
He sheltered her with his body, moving her toward the front door. “Absolutely.”
He could see where the stand-alone ATM had been jimmied, but not opened. Those things were more challenging than hyped-up store robbers thought.
“Let me start ringing you up.”
She got to the edge of the counter, right by the door, and Sloan mouthed, “Run. Cop car.”
She whirled and sprinted, streaking out of the door and diving into his cruiser.
He eased toward the back of the store. “Hey, buddy. Leah is gone. It’s just you and me now. Thanks for letting her go.”
“Fucking bitch.” This skinny dude came jittering out at the back, a Saturday night special in his hand. Man, that was fascinating because the guy was damn piebald, and that was the oddest sartorial choice he’d ever heard of or seen.
“No, she’s just scared. What happened to your hair?”
“Shut up,” the kid screamed, and he squinted a little bit.
“You set yourself on fire cooking meth, didn’t you? That’s why you were here, am I right? Sudafed? She doesn’t carry anything like that, you know. For that you have to go to the pharmacy at the Brookshire Brothers. They do have Mucinex.”
The kid stared at him, mouth open.
“I don’t know if you can make meth out of Mucinex.” All he had to do was keep talking until his backup showed they weren’t that far away.
“I said shut up!”
“I heard you. You know, you might think about shaving your head. That way everything could grow in at the same time. Or maybe you could shave in, like, leopard spots or something.” He didn’t know if redheads could look like leopards, but anything was better than that.
It was really unnerving. “I mean, I understand. When I first got out of the service, I had the freedom beard thing going on. I never did grow my hair out for any length of time, because it tickles my ears, and I don’t like that.
But really? I think there might even be some infection going on there.
And then if you get scar tissue, then that hair will never grow back and you’re always going to look like that. Also, the smell…”
“What the heck is wrong with you, man?”
“Me?” Sloan went wide-eyed. “Nothing, I’m just trying to help.”
He was going to have to call Lance and tell him he was going to be late, which really sucked. “You know, I was really looking forward to hanging out with my guy today. We’re going to listen to this audiobook and have pizza. ”
“Why do you keep talking?” Mr. Piebald and Tweaky screamed. “Do you have a death wish?”
Oh, he knew the answer to that question.
“I guarantee you, I most certainly do not. I have been put in those situations multiple times, and I have discovered that in every instance, living is the option I choose. It’s not a moral choice, just a personal one.
I’m not criticizing your particular ideal of obviously having a death wish. ”
Wait, was that too far? That might have been a step too far. Nah, it wasn’t too much.
“I want you to open the damn ATM.”
“I can’t.” He wasn’t the fucking Hulk.
“You’re a cop.”
“Very good observation, but, last time I checked, we didn’t come with magical ATM police keys, although that would be cool, and I would be all over that. They are not standard issue.”
The gun wavered as the guy got even angrier. Shit. Come on, guys , he thought. Bring on the sirens…
“Open the goddamn ATM.”
“Nope.” Sloan stared the guy down, going for lizard brain, for intimidation. He still had his own sidearm held loosely down at his side, and he didn’t think the man had even noticed.
He was smart enough not to believe the son of bitch was harmless, that was for sure, but he knew without a doubt he was a better shot. So he would wait this out. When the other deputies arrived, this shit was going to hit the fan, and Sloan knew it.
Time to try to improve his position. He took a step toward the counter, tossing the pack of Chomps sticks next to the cash register.
“Stop it! Stop moving!”
“I just didn’t want to hold those anymore. Really disappointing, you know? Those Chomps are kind of mushy. Slim Jims have a snap.” The glare from the door was at his back now,
“Why are you here?”
“Slim Jims and peanuts.”
The sirens were getting closer.
“Put down the gun and get on the floor. You don’t want to play with me, and I sure as shit don’t want to play with you.”
“I’m not playing. I need money! I need it now. Give me your wallet.”
Sloan sighed, raising his gun. “I am not going to be doing that. Put the gun down, and we both get out of this alive. Keep fucking around, and you’ll find out that I’m okay if I’m the only one who does.”
The guy put his hands against his head, clunking it with the gun. “Ahhhh! Why couldn’t you just pay cash and leave!”
“That’s not my job. My job is to arrest guys like you and keep people like Leah safe.”
“No! No, you have to go away.” That gun came back down, the hand holding it shaking like a leaf. Jesus.
Sloan shifted a little more, knowing that now the kid could only just see him silhouetted in a ray of light. He would be having a tough time seeing Sloan’s gun…
But he could see everything with perfect clarity.
Two more cruisers squealed into the parking lot, rocking on their springs, and the kid looked past him, distracted.
So Sloan leapt, springing off on his better leg, lunging for the gun, trying to cross the space between him and the perp as fast as possible.
The guy screamed with rage, and the gun went off close enough to him to make his ears ring. Sloan expected to feel a bullet tear through his flesh. Instead, a display of Mexican Coke bottles to his right exploded with a shower of glass, sending shrapnel into his neck and cutting his face.
He deflected the gun, then shoved the barrel of his sidearm into the guy’s chest. “Don’t move. You’re under arrest for robbery, attempted murder, and assaulting an officer.” Or something like that.
“Police! Everyone stay where you are!”
“It’s cool, Ben,” Sloan called. “Can you come link him up?”
“Hey, Sloan. Good job.” Ben came to put the guy in handcuffs, so Sloan grabbed a glove out of his pocket and used it to secure the kid’s gun.
Shit.
Shit, he hated getting shot at.
“You got this for a minute?” he asked when Glen and Lara barged in too. “I need to get the witness out of my car and call Lance to tell him I’ll be late picking him up.”
“Go for it. I’ll read him his rights.”
“Good deal.”
“You should let EMS check you out too. We called a bus, just in case someone got shot.”
“Yeah. Instead I got hit by flying glass. I’ll let them clean me up when they arrive.”
“Good deal.”
He headed out to his car, where Leah was now standing outside it, smoking a cigarette.
“Thought you quit,” he said.
“I did.” She took another drag. “I’ll quit again tomorrow.”
He chuckled, then turned his radio back on, calling into dispatch. “Arrest made at the Woody’s Family Mart. Three units on scene. We’ll be bringing him in. Attempted robbery, and he fired on me.”
“Copy.”
He keyed off his mic, then grabbed his cell. His own hand was starting to shake a little. He called Lance, smiling when his lover picked up on ring two.
“Hey, babe. Having a hard time finding Slim Jims?”
“Yeah, about that.” Sloan rubbed the back of his neck, wincing when he came away bloody. “I interrupted a robbery in progress at the Woody’s.”
“You okay? Everybody okay?” Lance’s voice got sharp, focused. “Dan! I need you!”
“I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
“You were in a robbery? Duh. Dan, get the goddamn car. I got to go somewhere right now.”
“Okay. What happened?” Dan’s voice was calm as a summer sky.
“Sloan was involved in a robbery at the Woody’s. Let’s go.”
Sloan shook his head and chuckled. “I’m fine. There was gunfire. I did not get hit. A bottle exploded a little bit, and I’ve got a couple of cuts.”
“Where do I need to go? You want me to head to the hospital instead? I’ve got my kit.”
“I’ll totally let you doctor me, babe, but you don’t have to come here. I’m going to be there to pick you up. I’ve just got to deal with this, so I’m going to be an hour and a half late, give or take.”
“Are you sure I can’t come?” Lance said.
He could hear jingling over the phone, then Dan said, “I got the keys, man. Let’s go.”
“Yeah. We’ll be there in a minute.” Lance hung up before Sloan could tell him no again.
Sloan shook his head. Blind. Hurt. Not able to drive. Lance was still going to come to his rescue.
That was the cutest goddamn thing he’d ever seen in his entire life.
Sloan didn’t mind being rescued, assuming Lance was doing the rescuing, that was .
“You want a drag?” Leah asked.
He shook his head. “No. Lance doesn’t like how it smells.” He glanced at her, shaking his head. “So. You couldn’t stay out of trouble for one whole day?”
She rolled her eyes at him. “No, I needed something to talk about when I got home.” Her lips twisted.
“Mr. Warren always loves it when I come home with stories.” Her cigarette shook just a little bit.
“I knew he was trouble when he walked in the door. I should have just hit the emergency button. But nine times out of ten, the asshole guy ends up being someone who just needs something to eat or a minute out of the heat. To be honest, I thought he was gonna steal a Snickers bar and try to get out with maybe a beer.”
“Yeah, well. He would have been smart to have done that. Now he’s done something big enough he’ll do real time for it.”
“He shot at you. I heard it.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “I think you’ve been shot at enough in your life, Sloan.”
“Yes, ma’am. And now I have to do goddamn paperwork. Pardon my French.”
She chuckled. “I speak that language really well.”
The perp was led out, his hands cuffed behind him. Ben winked. “I’ll run him in, but the collar is yours, man.”
“Yeah, I’ll fill out the forms.”
Ben nodded, and Glen came to stand with him as the ambulance and fire truck pulled up. “We took a bunch of evidence pictures. You bag the firearm?”
“Yeah. I did it while I was in the car.” He grabbed the sealed bag and handed it over. “I’ll be in as soon as I get looked at.”
“We’ll wrap it up quick,” Lara said. “I know you were almost off shift.”
“Thanks, guys. I appreciate you.” This was a damn good crew. And he was grateful to be working with them on a day like today.