Takedown by Miller Julie

Author:Miller, Julie [Miller, Julie]
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-04-05T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Anyone Jillian might want to see on the street in front of Troy’s apartment building was smart enough to be safely locked up inside their homes at this time of night. Chattering girls. Decent working folk. Shopkeepers trying to make an honest profit. There wasn’t a one of them in sight as Michael steered his extended-cab pickup into a parking place across the street.

Instead, there were hookers and junkies and other souls that she’d just as soon would stay in the shadows where they lurked. Even the trio of homeless men hanging back in the alley, standing around the trash can fire they’d built, knew enough to stay off the streets of No-Man’s Land after dark.

Michael shifted the truck into Park and left the engine idling as he scanned the sidewalks and parked cars around them. Jillian clutched the dashboard, her own trepidation growing as he leaned against the window and looked up at the apartments across the street. She knew he was seeing and evaluating every potential danger.

“I see a lot of lights on the fifth floor,” Michael observed. “That means the neighbors are still up. Yours is the one on the end, right, Troy?”

“Yes, sir.”

Michael had taken the time at the police station to change into his civvies when she’d driven him over from the hospital to pick up his truck. But he still wore his gun and badge in plain view on his belt. He was expecting trouble, and because Michael did, Jillian expected it, too.

He braced his arm on the back of the seat and turned to the teenage boys seated behind them. “You ready? We’ll go up to your apartment, pack whatever you need and get on the road to our house ASAP. All right?”

Even though this was the place Troy called home, she could see he wasn’t particularly comforted about being here. “If it’s all the same to you, Mr. Cutler, I’d rather not go in. I don’t know if the super’s got Grandma’s blood cleaned out of the elevator yet.” Jillian’s breath stuttered right along with his at the sickening image. “I don’t think I can go in there again if he hasn’t. Here are the keys.”

Michael took the keys and closed them in his fist. “All right. I’ll go.” He looked across the front seat to Jillian. “I want you to slide over here behind the wheel. Be ready to drive off if anybody who shouldn’t approaches the truck.”

“It’ll be quicker if I do it,” Jillian suggested. “I’ve been in the apartment before and know where things are. Then we can all get out of here sooner.”

“I’m not letting you go in there by yourself. That was the whole point of me driving.”

“You’re not coming with me and leaving these boys alone here.” Jillian reached for the door handle. “I’ll go.”

“I’d rather call for backup.”

“And wait even longer? These boys shouldn’t be here.”

“You shouldn’t be here,” he insisted. He slipped his hand across the seat until it rested next to hers.

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