Page 23 of The Deputy's Secret Double

The layout of the house was nearly the same as Price’s. The back half of the house had a small bathroom, a dining room and a kitchen opposite the living room. Stairs ran between the latter two.

The explosion had originated in the kitchen. Heat and smoke radiated into the hallway with intensity. Price placed an arm over his mouth and peered into the destruction.

No bodies as far as he could see.

JJ must have concluded the same. She was already running up the stairs.

Price followed, skipping two steps at a time.

Once they were at the landing, they split up. JJ went to one of the doors on the left and Price went right.

It was a bedroom and, thankfully, there wasn’t much to it either. A bed, dresser, and nightstands.

No Jamie Bell or his boyfriend.

Maybe the car Price had run by in the driveway had been left behind and there was no one in the—

A scream came from somewhere else on the second floor.

It was JJ.

Price backtracked faster than he had run into the bedroom and went to the room opposite. It was a lot less simple.

The bedroom was twice as large, had more furniture cluttering the open space, and had, not one, but three people in it.

One was a man on the ground.

One was a man in a hooded jacket.

One was JJ and she had her hands on the jacket of the latter while standing over the former.

“Price,” she yelled.

There was no directive in it, but he understood the assignment, even if he didn’t have the context. He closed the space between them, just as the man in question threw out a punch to get JJ off him.

It was a hit that didn’t land. At least not against JJ.

The man’s fist connected with Price’s open palm right before Price sent out his own hit. The man staggered as the punch landed against his jaw. The sudden imbalance knocked JJ off the hooded man’s jacket.

But she wasn’t done.

Price watched as she launched an all-out attack.

An attack that wasn’t bad at all.

The second she was in striking distance, she struck.

When the man dodged and returned a hit, she dropped down.

Before Price could intervene, she swept her leg out.

The hooded man fell to the floor.

Price would have congratulated her, but his reactions were doing their very best to catch up as it was. He grabbed the strap of the bag across her chest and with a good amount of force, he slung her back toward the door.

“Leave now,” he yelled.

Price watched a range of emotions pass over her face amid the growing smoke eking in. It was the only reason he knew about the incoming attack before he saw it.