Read Beyond the Call of Duty for Free Online

Elliott?”
    “He’s in the safe house. I’ve got two of my best with him, and I’ll be going back in the morning. I’ve got all my bases covered, Jack. You should know that. You did train me, after all.”
    Jack yawned, and she felt like reaching through the phone to smack him over the head. “Okay, just remember, Lex, the grand jury and getting this injunction are extremely important with this one. We get the Traegers off the streets, and we’re cleaning up half the city. Let’s make sure and do this one right, no matter what.”
    “I understand that, Jack. How about you let me get this done so I can go home and grab some sleep before I have to be back on duty.”
    “I want kept in the loop with this one, Lexi.”
    “Don’t I always?”
    “Yeah,” he said before he said his goodbyes and hung up the phone.
    She sighed, knowing Jack wanted hourly reports, which were just going to make her job all that much harder to do.
    She picked up the phone again, dialing the number quickly before she could change her mind. It rang twice and an out-of-breath voice answered the phone. “Hello?”
    “Hey, Mac. It’s Lexi.”
    “Lexi. Okay, who’s dead?”
    She laughed. “I’m not that bad, am I?”
    Mackenzie Hunter-Hawkins laughed. “Only sometimes, Lex. It’s great hearing from you. I was beginning to wonder if the marshals shipped you out of the country or something.”
    “No, my boss had a heart attack. Now I get his job on top of my own.” Lexi had to laugh as she heard her cousin shriek and then heard the sound of a smack. “Tell Hawk to behave a few minutes, Mac. He gets you all the time, I only want a few minutes of phone time.”
    “You try telling him that. The man thinks we’re on a permanent honeymoon.”
    “Well, that’s a good thing,” Lexi said with a giggle. “I don’t think you’re protesting too much.”
    “Definitely not. It’s been absolutely wonderful, Lex.”
    “It’s nice to see...er...hear.” They gossiped about family a few more minutes, discussing how Dillon’s twins were now walking and getting into everything. Aaron’s little girl was getting ready to start school, and Shanna was ready to pop at any time.
    “So, what about you?” Lexi asked. “Has Hawk conned you into having a little one yet?”
    “No, he’s too interested in the practicing part of the deal. Now, you know I love the fact you called, but...”
    “Why did I?” She glanced up and at the door of her office, hearing a noise. She rose but couldn’t walk too far from her desk because of the phone cord. “I have a question, and I didn’t want to go through official sources to find out the answer.”
    “So you thought you’d call me...I don’t know whether I should be complimented or irritated. I’ll figure it out later.”
    Lexi laughed, her eyes still on the door to her office. “You heard about the Blandon family massacre?”
    “Yeah, I heard that was quite the mess. Husband, wife and two kids slaughtered in the house. What about it?”
    Lexi let her finger play in the phone cord when she heard nothing more from outside her office. It was probably one of the cleaning crew. It wasn’t the first time they startled her in the office at night. “I was wondering if you’d heard of anyone else killed on that same night?”
    “Well, one of his employees was hurt pretty bad, but that’s about it.”
    “I was thinking it was a girl; her name would have been Teri Milner, Mac. This is kind of important.” She sank back down in her chair.
    “Nope, I haven’t heard of anything. Tell you what, Lex. I can make a couple of calls and see what I can find out.”
    She sighed. “No, it was just a shot in the dark. I’ll go through the proper procedures and find out, Mac. We’ll have to get together soon, as soon as I get off this case.”
    “You got it. Gideon is waving goodbye.”
    “Oh, and now that’s so sweet, you taught him to wave bye-bye.”
    Mac laughed and hung up the phone. Lexi stared at it