The risk proved minimal in most cases, the reward more than sufficient. At one time a thief could only hope to turn a twenty-five or thirty-dollar profit on a three-hundred-dollar bike, but now was a different story. The better ones went for hundreds or even thousands a pop. Considering the risk and the slap on the wrist thieves got if caught, it was a far more desirable business than running drugs.
No middleman required. No recipes to concoct. No dangerous chemicals to dispose of. Just simple bolt cutters or lock picks and a backpack. Well, and the physical endurance to ride the stolen bike to wherever your pickup contact waited.
This particular group of thieves had been eluding law enforcement for months now. No one could determine where and how they disposed of the stolen bikes. Serial numbers were apparently changed, since the few registered ones stolen never surfaced. These guys would get more than a mere slap on the wrist. Petty larceny was one thing, but this was considerably bigger. Estimates put these guys at a six-figure business annually.
Athens was the perfect location. Situated close to Phoenix, a big college town, Athens offered a quick, neutral place for storage and distribution. Far enough away from the scene of the crime for comfort and yet close enough to facilitate the job.
But this was her town.
Criminals were not going to be allowed to operate under her jurisdiction as long as she could help it.
With one final deep breath, she braced herself for moving around the end of the building. If she waited for backup, chances were the deal would be done. She wanted the buyers as well as the seller.
When she would have swung around the corner, the sound of a car braking to a stop thirty or forty yards behind her drew her up short.
She swore softly. All she needed was the owner of storage unit number forty-two showing up and throwing a fit. Distraction was not a good thing, nor was being made by the bad guys because of an unfortunate twist of fate.
Her gaze narrowed on the dark sedan that parked behind her Jeep. She frowned. The vehicle looked familiar.
When a tall guy wearing jeans, a sweatshirt and a baseball cap strode up to one of the units and proceeded to tinker with the lock she let go the breath she’d been holding. Nobody.
Now, if he would just stay put and not come nosing around the corner in the event the next few moments got out of hand….
As the new arrival pushed the door of his unit upward Kayla turned her attention back to the voices on the other side of the narrow block buildings.
The deal had been made.
She had to move in now.
Hesitation stalled her. Something still didn’t feel right. She didn’t like having company show up at the last minute like this. She glanced toward the man in the ball cap one last time. He’d disappeared into the unit he’d opened. Just like she had when she first arrived. Too coincidental for comfort.
The voices around the corner snagged her attention once more.
She couldn’t wait any longer.
As she prepared to advance around the end of the building, a vague sort of recognition clicked in the back of her mind and she hesitated once more. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important about the guy in the baseball cap that she’d missed here.
Then she knew.
She whipped around just in time to come face-to-face with the man in question.
“You still going after the bad guys all alone,” he commented quietly, for her ears only.
She glared up at Detective Peter Hadden. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her demand came out a whisper but there was no mistaking the ferocity. Ire roared through her, boosting the adrenaline already searing through her veins.
Hadden was with Homicide and Robbery in Tucson. This damn sure wasn’t his jurisdiction. Not to mention she was still irritated with him after their last chance meeting, which she realized now hadn’t been any more inadvertent than this one.
He was following her. She’d experienced that sensation far too often lately.
The shift in the tone of the exchange on the other side of the building drew her attention back in that direction and alerted Kayla to her new status.
She’d been made…at the very least deemed a possible threat.
The perps would scatter.
She had to act now.
Another curse hissed past her lips as she swung around the end of the building and lunged forward. She paused at the final corner that stood between her and the perps doing their dirty business.
A gunshot whizzed past as she stole a look around that corner.
She jerked back. Gritted her teeth and readied to swing around and return fire.
In a blur of unexpected motion Hadden charged past her.
What the hell was he doing now?
Gunfire erupted. Hadden’s as well as the enemies’.
She dived for the ground, rolled into the open and fired. One man was down, writhing and howling in pain. Hadden and another were entangled in a savage, rolling-on-the-ground hand-to-hand battle.
She fired once more. Her target stumbled when the shot tore through his thigh. But he didn’t stop. He headed straight for one of two vehicles waiting nearby.
She scrambled up and burst into a dead run. “Stop! Police! Drop your weapon!”
He glanced back, fired twice. Sent her ducking behind one of the vehicles.
So much for negotiations.
If he got away…
Her feet were moving even before the decision fully penetrated her brain. She dashed from her cover and made a dive for the passenger side door of the second vehicle at the same time her perp went for the driver’s side.
Weapons drawn, barrels leveled, they slid into the front seat simultaneously.
“You got a death wish, bitch?” he growled.
Pain glittered in his eyes. Kayla didn’t have to look to know that blood pulsed from the wound like a mini-geyser. It was possible he hadn’t noticed or that he just wasn’t ready to give up.
“Maybe,” she said, her voice dead calm. “But I’m not the one bleeding to death.”
He flinched. Didn’t look down. Damn, she mused. A real tough guy.
“I don’t want to have to shoot a cop,” he warned, his face already growing paler.
She wondered at that. Why would a bike thief, even a well-connected one making six figures, risk this level of jeopardy? It didn’t make sense.
No time to worry about that now. The black, somber barrel of his weapon remained aimed directly at her.
“Do you know how long it takes the average human to bleed out?” She cocked her head, peered around the lethal barrel and deliberately assessed him for a second or two. “Not very long when an artery is involved. After you lose that first liter it all goes downhill from there. It takes only minutes to reach a point where no amount of medical care will make a difference.”
He swallowed hard, the difficulty clear in the workings of his throat muscles.
“Do you really want to die over a bunch of over-priced bikes?” A line of sweat had already formed on his brow and upper lip. She took a risk, glanced at the leg. “Damn, it’s pumping out pretty fast. You feel dizzy yet? Cold?”
His hand shook—once, twice—before he lowered his weapon. “Call me an ambulance,” he choked out.
Kayla confiscated his weapon,