Chapter 28
Fearing Ben was dead but still facing a threat, Lainie ignored her phone on the ground and brought her gun up, firing in the direction Ben indicated, though she had not seen what he saw.
She moved in front of the fallen agent and then forward, firing as she went, not rapidly to conserve her ammo but consistently, trying to keep the shooter down.
She wanted to sight in the helmet, if the shooter was still here.
Need to stop the threat.
She halted behind a tow truck to calm her breathing.
As she peered through the towing apparatus, she could not see what was on the other side of the fence that encircled the yard.
Just as she brought her gun up on target, she caught a glimpse of the helmet.
She lined up the shot and fired. Direct hit.
Bits of plastic flew up and the helmet dropped out of view. Lainie thought she heard a groan.
Keeping her gun up, she cautiously moved toward the fence. She could barely make out movement—the black slats in the chain-link fence did not block her view completely. As she got closer, she heard the rider kick-start the bike with a roar and speed away, east toward Redondo.
She broke into a sprint, but it was no use—she couldn’t see over the fence. She jumped up and scanned left, glimpsing a motorcycle taillight turn right on Redondo before she dropped below the fence line.
Now she wished that she’d picked up her phone. She could hear sirens approaching and she regretted the absence of a radio. If she had one, she could give direction of travel. There was no way to see the fleeing cycle’s plate.
She lowered her gun to her side and sprinted back to Ben. He was moving, his face a bloody mess.
“Ben, can you hear me?” She set a hand on his shoulder.
He opened his eyes and wiped blood off his face with the back of his hand. He’d been grazed by a bullet above his left eyebrow.
“Yeah, I can hear you. I’m fine. Just feel like a horse kicked me in the head.”
She helped him to his feet. Mel came running toward them.
“Oh my goodness. I’ll get you some towels.” He skidded to a stop, then turned back around for the office.
“Are you dizzy or disoriented?” Lainie asked as Ben pressed his palm to the wound.
“Not really, but I’ve got blood in my eye.” He squinted.
Mel sprinted back toward them along with a uniformed officer. Sara. She’d probably just started her afternoon shift.
“Lainie, what happened?”
“Someone started shooting at us.” She pointed to the fence. “The shooter was over there, in the alley. We both fired in that direction. I think I hit his helmet. Whoever it was took off toward Redondo on a motorcycle. Sorry, I don’t have any more.”
Sara keyed her mike and relayed that information to dispatch and asked for a paramedic for Ben.
“Hey, I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”
Mel gave Ben some paper towels.
“Thanks.” He wiped his face and turned to Lainie. “It feels like it’s minor.”
She assessed the injury to his forehead. “It is, but it’s a pretty deep scratch. And it’s bleeding a lot. You might need stitches.”
“Perfect.” He sucked in a breath and held the towels to the wound.
“Why would someone be shooting at you guys?” Sara asked.
“Good question,” Lainie and Ben spoke in unison.
Ben let the medics take care of his wound. They also suggested he see a doctor for stitches. He said he would after they dressed the wound. What stung more than the gash was the fact that he hadn’t seen the ambush coming. And he couldn’t figure out who would be shooting. Moffit? Benton? Vine?
He called Mark and explained the situation.
“I’m glad you’re okay. I certainly didn’t see this coming,” Mark said. “I’ll meet you at the ER.”
Ben resisted Jensen’s offer to drive him to the hospital.
“Other than a monstrous headache,” he told her, “I’m fine.”
“I still can’t let you drive yourself. You lost consciousness. I can bring the medics back and ask them to transport you.”
“You’re making more of this than it is.”
“No, she’s not.” The uniformed officer jumped into the argument. “If you have a concussion, you should be medically evaluated before you drive anymore. It’s a duty injury in any event. If you were PD, seeing the doctor would be mandatory.”
“Wow, is this a tag-team gang up?”
“It is,” Lainie said.
“All right, all right, I’m outnumbered. I’ll go with the medics.”
“I’ll go get them.” The uniformed officer left Ben staring at Lainie.
Her posture remained stiff, and Ben felt like she had more to say. “What? You got your way. What now?”
She held his gaze. “I was willing to sit in the back seat until now and let everyone else investigate. Someone just shot at me. I take that personally. I’m not going to sit back and watch anymore.”
“I get it. I’ll do what I can to help keep you involved.”
The medics returned and walked Ben to their rig.
“I hope it’s not too many stitches,” Lainie said to him as he walked off.
The exertion made Ben realize that it was the right move.
He probably shouldn’t be driving right at this moment.
As he walked to the medic truck, he heard police radio traffic explain that one of the responding units had found a motorcycle and a broken helmet abandoned near the airport.
It had been reported stolen the night before.
Ben settled into the ambulance and tried to relax. Being brought in by medics got him into an exam room immediately. He was still waiting to be seen by a doctor when Mark showed up.
“I can’t figure out why anyone would be shooting at me or Jensen,” Ben said, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his forehead. “We don’t have enough evidence to arrest anyone right now.”
“Not exactly true. I’ve been thinking about this ever since you called. You were able to expose the shark attack as a hoax. Moffit and Benton have good reason to want you dead.”
Ben considered this for a moment. “Still, it makes no sense for me to be targeted. Killing me won’t put the genie back in the bottle. Other cops will take up the cause. LBPD has the investigation. Killing us won’t stop that.”
“Maybe you weren’t the target.”
“You think Jensen was the target?”
Mark hiked up a shoulder. “It’s her brother-in-law who is on the run. Family ties are often the most volatile. All the evidence now points to him killing his own wife. What’s to stop him from killing Jensen?”
Just then the doctor stepped into the room. As the doctor examined him and cleaned out the wound, Ben considered Mark’s words. The boss was right; Moffit and Benton could have a strong motive to kill Elaine Jensen, even if it was simply revenge. He was very much cornered right now.
He winced when the doctor began to stitch him up. He hoped the man would hurry. Detective Jensen was in danger and suddenly Ben felt protective.