Read Beyond the Call of Duty for Free Online Page A

for a moment before replacing it in the base. She could call in tomorrow and get the info she needed, or she could make a couple of discreet inquiries to the correct district right now.
    While she was trying to decide, another sound outside her door startled her. She got up slowly, pulling her weapon from her back. Slinking over to the door, she stood listening for a moment, waiting until she heard the telltale squeak of a rubber-soled shoe. She opened the door, whirling out and into the outer office, her eyes searching every square inch. It was empty, not even a cleaning cart left in the hallway.
    Before she allowed herself to relax, she darted across the outside office, throwing open the door to the hallway. The door barely closed behind her when something flew past and hit the wall just beside her head. She rolled, coming up behind Stella’s desk, and looked further down the hall. The outside door was closing, and she dashed toward it, hearing the unmistakable sound of a pistol shot.
    The door opened under her grasping hands, and she slid outside, reaching for the phone on the desk. When there was no dial tone, she growled, tossing the useless piece of plastic on the desk. With a snarl of pure rage, she rose, going back toward the door she just rolled through and opening it slowly, using the wall as protection.
    “This is the only way out,” she said loudly. “Your best bet is to give yourself up.”
    The voice that came from the darkness beyond was male and deep, with an accent. She listened intently, unable to place the accent as she deciphered the words he spoke.
    “Where is he?”
    “He, who?” she bluffed, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
    “Gabriel Elliott. Do not lie and tell me you don’t know him. I know you do. Where are you keeping him stashed?”
    “I’m not keeping anyone anywhere.” She spun in front of the door, taking that second to stare down the hallway, searching for the owner of the deep voice. “I’m a U.S. Marshal. Throw your gun out and put your hands on top of your head. Walk out here very slowly.”
    The intruder laughed, the sound not doing much to comfort her.
    “Now that wouldn’t further my cause,” he said. A moment later she heard the sound of feet pounding on the hallway floor and then glass shattering.
    “He didn’t,” she breathed as she reached into the hallway, flipping on the light switches. It was empty. Hurrying to her office, she felt the draft before she saw the broken window. “No way! It’s eight storeys onto cement. There’s no way he thought he’d not be hurt.”
    Papers from her desk were blowing on the floor, and she moved to the window to glance down. She could see the faint glint of glass on the sidewalk, but no one in sight. Holding onto the frame, she leaned out, checking the side of the building and glancing up.
    “Okay, disappearing bad guys.” She shook her head slowly and grabbed her cell phone off the desk to make a couple of quick calls. The first was to Jack, the second to the police.
    She opened the door as soon as the cops arrived, letting in the crime-scene team. She was standing over them, watching everything they did, when Jack showed up.
    “Well, this is a fine fuck up,” he growled as soon as he saw her.
    “Oh, Jack, no worries, I’m just fine. They didn’t hurt me at all.”
    “What about our cases? Were any of them hurt?”
    Lexi knew exactly what he was asking. “No, everyone is fine. I’ll be moving him in the morning.”
    “And moving in with him, Lex. He has to disappear, and if they know you’re working him, then they’ll always know how to find him. You’re one of my best caseworkers, and you know the job. I trust you when you’ll say you’ll get it done, that it will get done. You know as well as I do what has to be done. You also know how you’ll have to do it.”
    She wanted to argue. Being stuck babysitting mob guys was not her idea of a twenty-four-hour-a-day vacation, but Jack was