Code 61 - Donald Harstad [66]
“You okay?” I hollered, as I headed for the back door.
I think it was Hunley herself who said, “yes.” I'm not sure. By the time she got it out, I was through the kitchen, and heard the back screen door slam.
I went by the broken frame of the servants' stair door to the third floor as I, too, flew out the back door. I just about stepped on Borman, who was kneeling at the corner of the building, gun drawn.
“You okay?”
He seemed a bit confused. “Huh?”
“You hurt?”
“No.” He shook his head, as if to clear it. “No, not really.”
“Where's Hester?”
“I think she's after him…. ”
I was aware of some blood on his right cheek. “After who, where … where did she go?”
He just pointed toward the dark area behind the house.
“Get some people and some lights up here,” I yelled, as I went thundering into the dark yard. “Hey, Hester!”
My eyes hadn't quite adjusted to the dark, and I heard her voice off to my left, well before I saw her.
“Over here. Slow down. He's gone.”
I slowed to a fast walk, and almost stepped on her before I saw her, crouched down, looking farther into the darkness. I could see well enough to catch the movement of her head as she spoke to me.
“You might want to get down a bit, you're silhouetted against the house lights…. ”
I dropped to one knee, breathing hard. “Who is it?”
“Beats the shit out of me,” she said. “You're slowing down.”
“Yeah.” I took another deep breath. “Hard”—an-other breath—“to stop me, though.”
“I saw him heading this way,” she said. “Lost him in the dark.”
“What's going on?” Old Knockle. The reserve was coming around the far side of the house, shining his flashlight into the backyard. Right on us.
“Turn off your light!” It snapped off. “Stay there, and make sure nobody circles around to the front of the house,” I yelled to him. “Play your light out toward the trees.”
He did. Nothing, of course. No movement. No sound.
“Borman might be hurt,” said Hester.
She was right. And he had a walkie-talkie. We were going to need reinforcements before we started to go after anybody in those woods. This was definitely not Toby or his ilk.
She and I both went cautiously back toward Borman, keeping in shadow as much as possible.
“It's us,” I said. “Don't shoot.” You can't be too careful.
“Right,” he said. “Right.”
When we got back to him, I could see he had a scrape on his cheekbone, his shirt was torn near the right shoulder, and there was an enormous slash right across his chest, through his shirt, and slitting the underlying Kevlar bullet-proof vest.
“Holy shit,” I said. “He had a knife?”
Borman looked down at his chest. “Yeah, he did, I think. It was so fast.”
“You sure you're all right?” I asked.
He nodded. “I looked. No cut or anything.” He patted his ruined vest. “Close, though.”
“No shit,” I said, impressed by the damage.
“What happened?” asked Hester as I gently reached over and pulled Borman's walkie-talkie from his belt.
“Hell,” said Borman, “I was just standing at that door, and I heard a commotion that sounded like it came from upstairs, and then the door busted open and hit me in the face and knocked me against the back door, and then this asshole came through and”—he gasped for breath—“I thought he just shoved me in the chest, you know, and then”—another breath—“I could see it was a fuckin' knife, and he was heading past me and to the yard.”
“That's when you shot?” asked Hester.
“Yeah,” said Borman. “Yeah.”
As I made sure the walkie-talkie was on the right channel, I asked, “Think you might have hit him?”
He just shook his head.
I pressed the transmit button on the walkie. “Comm, Three. Ten-thirty-three.”
You announce an emergency, right out of the blue, you get some pretty good attention.
“Three?”
“Ten-thirty-three, Comm. Up at the search location.
Armed suspect, officer slightly injured, suspect fled the scene on foot. Get us as much backup as you can ffnd.”
“Ten-four, Three. Comm, all Nation County cars, we have—” I turned the volume down so I