We get out of the car and put our aviators on before slamming the door behind us.
“You were so right. That wascool,” Sloan says as she joins me and we walk over to the gate.
“Right? If you’re going to do secret agent shit, it’d be a crime to not look cool doing it.”
She nods and opens the door, then wipes her hands on her dark trousers. “Are you sure this is the correct place?” She gives me an uncertain look.
I take a long breath, sniffing the air around me. Three werewolves inside. “Yup, this is it,” I say before approaching the door myself.
I ring the doorbell. Checking my phone one last time, still no new messages, I shove it inside my pocket and get ready for my least favorite part of this job.
Confronting a criminal at his home never goes as planned. You rarely find people willing to surrender. It’s especially annoying when you get the runners because a chase attracts attention, and attention is antithetical to the Bureau.
When I hear footsteps getting closer, I stand up straighter. Male, mid-forties, drunk. Most likely our suspect. The footsteps get slower as they reach the other side of the door. Hesitance?
I turn to Sloan and give her a small nod. She nods back and hides behind a very suspicious-looking bush. She's wearing enough perfume to make any werewolf second-guess what they're smelling.
The door opens, and I’m confronted by a hulking man in a black tank and grey sweatpants. His hair is disheveled, and his eyes are bloodshot. Oh, great, he’s high too. It shouldn’t be difficult to make him disappear.
“What do you want?” he says, sounding extremely annoyed.
Ugh, there’s a kid in the house. This is why I’m never leaving this job. If it weren’t for us, no one would ever look out for this child or the two women this man murdered.
I smile, suddenly not feeling as annoyed by being saddled with this work as I was when I got the call last night. “Jacob Marcovich? I had a few questions for you. Can you come with me?” I don’t expect him to agree. They never do.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he slurs and starts closing the door.
I plant my palm at the door, pushing it open. “That wasn’t the right answer, Jacob. So impolite too,” I say.
His eyes go wide. “Who are you?”
I tamp down the instinct to be cliché.Don’t say it, Nick. Sloan will never let you live it down.“Karma,” I blurt.Ugh.
Did I just imagine the snort coming from the bushes? I hope they are poison ivy.
“I think it’d be wise for you to walk out with me so no one gets harmed,” I warn him. As expected, he doesn’t agree. He leaves the door open, choosing to bolt inside.
Stepping inside, I trip him, and he goes down like a sack of potatoes. I press my knee on his back so he doesn’t try to run again. Since he was drunk off his ass, his attempted escape was more pathetic than loud. I unlatch the cuffs from my belt to tie his hands.
Then a click echoes through the room, and the blood drains from my face. I look up and stare at the end of a revolver held by a tired-looking thirty-something woman.
“You don’t want to do that, Ma’am. The weather is too humid for that today,” I say calmly.
She frowns in confusion.
“Shoot him, honey,” the psychopath under me says.
I put more of my weight on him until he lets out a grunt. “I’m not going to hurt him. There’s no need to escalate the situation.” I raise both my hands to show I’m not a threat to her. I raise my voice, “The weather—”
With a blur, Sloan is there. A swift kick, and the gun is on the floor. She picks it up and trains it on the lady. “I heard you the first time,Jeez,” Sloan says to me, then turns towards the woman, now crumpled on the floor, shaking. “Now, you stay there until we’ve secured this dirtbag.”
I take that as a cue to haul the psychopath’s ass to my car and secure him in the backseat until I’m sure there’s no way for him to escape. I come back to find Sloan and the lady sitting on an old, stained couch.
“So, he won’t be coming back? Do you promise?” the lady asks her.
“He’s not getting out,” Sloan says confidently.
The woman’s eyes shine with unshed tears. “Thank you.” She turns to me. “I’m so sorry. I panicked.” She wipes her eyes.
