He lifted the gun to her eye level and just as he pulled the hammer back, Gemma went into action. Sidestepping backward on her uninjured leg, she brought the other one up to her chest and in one fluid, swift move, knocked the gun from his hand with the front of her foot. Pain recoiled all the way up her leg, but she ignored it. While the gun bounced across the floor she spun and, using her injured leg again, struck three swift kicks to his temple, knocking him to the floor. The effect of the single-footed spin unbalanced her, and she fell flat on her backside again. Her recovery was swifter than his, though, and she shot up, jumped to the door on her good leg, and, throwing it open, screamed as loud as she could.
She fell into the hall and, due to the early evening hour, doors around her opened, quizzical heads popping out from the commotion of her shouting.
The intruder didn’t waste a second. He sprang up and ran from the apartment, sprinting down the hallway toward the stairwell.
Breathing hard and in serious pain, Gemma collapsed against the wall as her neighbors gathered around her.
Chapter Two
“She gonna be okay?” Ky asked the emergency room resident when he came out of Gemma’s cubicle.
“You family?”
Ky held up his badge.
“Oh. She should be. Knee is pretty tender. Not broken though, which is good. She needs to keep it elevated for a while, ice it down. Other than that, she should be good in a day or so.”
Ky thanked him and turned to his partner. “Anything?”
Jon shook his head. “Not yet. She gave a dynamite description of the guy. Profetti’s making copies of his sketch right now. She’s got a good eye for catching details.”
“Considering she was getting pummeled at the time.” Ky sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, I’ll get her statement. Why don’t you try to find out what you can about the guy who attacked her.”
“CSU should be done with her apartment. I’ll see if he left any prints. The gun might be an avenue.”
Ky nodded and turned his attention back to the emergency room cubicle.
When her call had come through to his cell he’d been packing it in for the day, just about to head back to his apartment. She sounded totally in control when she told him about the armed man who’d shoved his way into her apartment, demanding her camera. In less than ten minutes he and Jon were at her condo, which was already packed with people, including two paramedics and most of the neighbors on her floor. She was being tended to by one of the EMTs when she spotted him. He’d told himself he wasn’t going to feel that right jab to his stomach when he saw her again, but the minute she lifted those china-blue eyes and caught his stare, it came: quick, hard, and undeniable.
With little emotion, she told them what happened. When Ky asked Gemma if she could describe the man, figuring the answer would be “no,” he was shocked when she gave them a detailed rundown of the intruder’s appearance. She told Jon to get a sketch artist and she could give even more details, and he’d arranged for one to meet them in the emergency room. While waiting to be x-rayed, she’d done just as she’d told them. The sketch was almost like a photograph, it was so comprehensive and thorough. Just as Agent Profetti had finished, Gemma’s sister and brother-in-law arrived and were with Gemma now.
Ky entered the room and the conversation between the trio stopped.
“Agent Pappandreos?” Kandy Laine came toward him, her hand extended. “I’m Gemma’s sister, Kandy.”
“I recognize you, Miss Laine. The women in my family are huge fans.” He gave her a small smile and took her hand.
“Actually,” Kandy said, turning to her husband, “It’s Keane. This is my husband, Josh.”
The men shook hands, and Ky was quick to note he was being sized up by them both.
“Can I leave now?” Gemma asked from the bed.
He turned his attention to her. She was still clad in the hospital gown she’d been given when her leg had been x-rayed.
“I believe the doctor is signing the discharge papers right now.”
“Hallelujah.” She threw her arms up in the air.
“Have they found the man who did this?” Kandy asked Ky. “Do they know who he is?”
“No, ma’am. But your sister gave a very extensive description of him and my partner is running his likeness through our database. As for why he did it, well, that part’s obvious.”
He turned to Gemma.
“He thought I had the pictures of what happened today,” she said, folding her hands into her lap. “He said he saw me leave your office and followed me home.”
Ky nodded.
“Is my sister in danger because of this?” Kandy moved to Gemma’s side and placed a hand on her shoulder. Gemma snaked her own hand up and covered it.
Ky shot a quick glance at Josh. “I’m afraid so. They know who she is and where she lives. And now she’s seen one of them up close and can identify him. That makes her a liability.”
“Jesus,” Kandy said, tightening her grip. “Josh—,” she looked over at her husband, a plea on her face. He nodded.
“Agent Pappandreos, take a walk with me,” Josh said.
The men left the room together and Ky heard Kandy say something in a soothing voice to her sister.
When they were about halfway down the corridor, Josh stopped. “So who’d she see get taken out?”
Without giving him too much information, Ky filled him in on the federal case he’d been working for the past three years.
Josh whistled through his teeth.
“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Ky said, “and now she’s in danger because of it.”
“She needs to be kept out of sight until you find out who’s behind the killings,” Josh said.
“Oh, I know who’s responsible,” Ky told him. “It’s a question of being able to prove it before anything else happens.”
His phone pinged, and Ky looked down at the number written across the screen. “Excuse me. I’ve got to take this.”
Ky walked away from Josh. “Pappandreos.”
“I want a full report right now,” his boss, Special Agent in Charge Colin Tiege blared into the phone. Succinctly, Ky told him everything they knew of the attack, including the description Gemma had given. “Jon’s working it through the system now, see if we get a hit. But I know it’s connected to Ritandi. I feel it.”
“I agree. This has his stamp all over it. Who else would take out a hit on Calafano?”
“No one. It makes sense it was him. Calafano was set to do serious damage to Ritandi’s business with his testimony.”
“And now you have no witness. No one who can detail the operation like Calafano could.”
Ky remained silent. The anger and frustration filtering through the phone was identical to his own.
“To top off a lousy day, I just got my ass chewed out by that little pissant from the AG’s office.”
“Barly?”
“Yeah. Davison ‘I’m-an-asshole’ Barly. Jerk had the nerve to accuse us of sabotaging the case, of leaking Calafano’s whereabouts to Ritandi. He’s calling for yours and Winters’s heads on a platter, so don’t be surprised if you get a call. Prick.”
Department of Justice lawyer, Davison Barly, was, in Ky’s opinion, one of the most unpleasant, rude