The Baby Gift: Wishing for a Miracle. Alison Roberts

told Mac. ‘Have fun.’

      The man lay on a filthy mattress in the corner of a room strewn with empty bottles, overflowing ashtrays, half-empty cans of food and piles of tattered clothing. His features were sharp, his hair long and scraggly and he clearly hadn’t washed or shaved for a considerable period of time.

      ‘Here he is.’ A police officer wearing a bulletproof vest stared down at the man, who was groaning loudly. He gave him a nudge with the toe of his boot and the man stopped groaning and began shouting obscenities.

      ‘Oi!’ The police officer looked unimpressed. ‘Mind your manners or I’ll send the medics away and we’ll just take you downtown. Do you want to get looked at or not?’

      ‘Not by him.’ The man spat in Mac’s direction and then bared yellowish teeth. ‘I’m no poofter. She can look at me.’ He leered in Julia’s direction.

      Julia could see the way Mac’s features hardened. He wasn’t about to be given orders by someone like this. He was on the point of stepping forward and making this situation worse than it needed to be. She didn’t need his protection. She didn’t want it.

      Those flickers of resentment and anger were easy to tap into. He couldn’t make her the bad guy and then step in and get all protective.

      Damn the man. She didn’t need his attitude or his protection. She could look after herself. It was Julia who took the first forward step.

      ‘What’s the story?’ she asked the police officer.

      ‘Says he’s got a pain in his stomach.’

      ‘I have,’ the man sneered. ‘Don’t make it sound like I’m lying. Arghh!’ He groaned convincingly and clutched his abdomen. ‘I think I’m dying. Give me something. Hurry up!’

      Julia avoided catching Mac’s gaze as she took in their surroundings again. Not that she needed to given the track marks she could see on the man’s arms but…yes, there were used syringes amongst the debris. This man was very likely to be a drug addict and this could be simply drug-seeking behavior. Mac would be thinking the same thing. He might disapprove of any intention on her part to take the performance too seriously.

      But there had been a fight. Shots had been fired. An intrinsic part of this career she had chosen meant that judgment had to be put aside. Nobody could be left in pain or in danger of a condition being left untreated that could endanger their lives.

      ‘Says he got kicked in the gut,’ the police officer added. ‘There was a fight going on when we got here.’

      Another two police officers were collecting weapons they’d found in the apartment. A sawn-off shotgun, knives, knuckle-dusters and ammunition were already in a pile near the door.

      ‘Have you been shot?’ Mac’s query was crisp. ‘Or stabbed?’

      ‘Get lost,’ the man told him. ‘I’m only gonna talk to her.’

      ‘Come on, Jules.’ Mac’s tone was icy. ‘If he’s not going to co-operate, we’re out of here. It’s obviously not life-threatening.’

      ‘Ahh!’ the man screamed. ‘Ahhh! Ahhhh!’

      It was certainly a good impression of someone in agony. Julia shot Mac a warning glance. ‘Won’t hurt to take a look,’ she said.

      ‘I’m dying,’ the man howled. ‘Give me something…please, lady…’

      ‘Let me see.’ Julia took another step towards the mattress. ‘Pull up your shirt.’

      There were no marks visible on an emaciated-looking midriff but it would require palpation to check whether there was any guarding or swelling which could indicate internal damage that might explain the man’s apparent agony.

      Julia crouched. She hadn’t even got down to floor level when a skinny hand shot out and wrapped itself around her wrist, pulling her off balance.

      ‘Stop wasting time.’ the man spat. ‘Give me something now.’

      The training given to deal with situations exactly like this meant that her reaction was instinctive. She wrenched her arm down sharply, towards the man’s thumb, which had to give way. Then she rolled out of reach, coming to her knees and lifting her head just in time to see her assailant’s other hand coming out from beneath a puddle of blanket, a blade glinting in his grasp.

      All hell broke loose then. Police officers seemed to come from every corner of the room and within seconds the man was disarmed, on his stomach and hand-cuffed.

      One of the police officers smiled somewhat ruefully at Julia. ‘Sorry to have wasted your time,’ he said. ‘Looks like we can deal with this ourselves after all.’

      Julia nodded. She was on her feet now but the awareness of how close that had been was kicking in. Her stomach was a tight knot and she felt absurdly close to tears. Turning, she made an effort to give Mac a smile that would disguise her reaction. Hopefully one that would tell him this hadn’t been anything she hadn’t been ready to handle. But her smile faded instantly.

      Mac looked absolutely furious.

      ‘You just had to do it, didn’t you? Jump in without bothering to consult me. Without even considering the potential danger.’

      ‘I did consider it.’ Julia lifted her chin. She’d had to wait for this but she’d known it was coming.

      Mac hadn’t said a word as they’d marched along the concrete balcony of that tenement block or down flight after flight of graffiti-decorated stairwell.