Page 7 of Last Chance Christmas

His eyes narrowed. “You want me, come and get me.”

“That’s not how this works, Wallace. Turn around and put your hands on your head. We do this my way.”

He started to chuckle and took a step toward her.

“Sir!” Cole, their K-9 officer, was here. “If you do not comply, if you resist in any way, I will release my K-9, and you will be subdued.”

Wallace’s attention flicked over Olivia’s shoulder, and he didn’t like what he saw.

Olivia couldn’t see behind her, but Cole was no doubt there, holding the collar of his K-9 German shepherd, Titan. She took a slight step to the right, just so she didn’t get in the way of their tag-team training.

She’d had a bad experience with a big dog a long time ago. As a rule, she didn’t hate dogs, but she would never be comfortable around them.

“Turn around. Hands on your head.” Olivia didn’t allow for any argument in her tone.

Behind her, shots rang out across the street. Junior.

Cole said, “You want me to get this?”

She backed up until she was level with Cole, keeping her attention—and her weapon—focused on Wallace.

“Go.” He knew she wanted to get to her partner.

“Copy.” She turned and ran, reassured at leaving Cole to bring in Wallace. He had the man pinned with nowhere to go—and he had his partner with him.

She needed to go help hers.

Olivia raced between the two rows of garages, the backs of the townhouses facing each other. Most were three-story and thin, stacked side by side. Painted with fall tones in different sections so that they were interesting.

One door was open.

She listened first, then entered. “Ramble!”

A distant “In here!” was the only reply.

She raced through the house, which had minimal furniture all in the style of that Swedish store. Light pinewood and low, clean lines.

Toward the front door, in the entryway, Junior sat up against the wall. “He got my gun.”

Olivia hissed. “Looks like he shot you with it.”

“Shoulder.” He gritted his teeth. “Help me up. We need to go after him.”

“Did he take a hostage?”

Junior shook his head. “House was empty.”

“Can you ID him?”

“Never seen him before.”

But he could confirm the man’s identity when they got the prisoner transport list. “Did he say anything?”

“I had him cornered. I closed in and he tackled me. Got the gun.” Junior hissed out another breath. “But before he did…he said, ‘Not looking a gift horse in the mouth.’”

“I’ve never understood that expression.”

Olivia’s teachers had told her that she, uh, wasn’t the smartest person. Which didn’t help her desire to study hard if she was only going to fail anyway, but she’d managed to pass at least. “What is he going to do?”