Hungry Like the Wolf(53)
“Did you get any sleep last night?” she asked.
“Yeah, I got a few hours. But unfortunately for me, I don’t look as good as you this early in the morning, especially when I haven’t had my coffee yet.”
Gage must have noticed her concern, because he chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m off duty for the next two days, so I’ll be able to catch up on my rest.” The look he gave her made her breath hitch. “Unless I have something better to do, of course.”
“Like have dinner together?”
The words sounded casual enough, but her pulse was going a mile a minute. All she could think about was what had happened between them the last time they’d had dinner together.
A grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. “You feel like Chambre Francaise again?”
She licked her lips. “I thought maybe I could make dinner for you again. Say tonight?”
His grin broadened. “Sounds good to me.”
Mac opened her mouth to ask what he wanted for dinner, but the radio squawked with a bunch of static, then all those codes and police jargon Zak always translated for her. Gage picked up the hand mic and spoke a few terse sentences into it. Something about maintaining the perimeter and not using any sirens.
“So, what do we have?” she asked.
“Drug lab…meth probably.” He glanced at her, all business now. “An anonymous caller reported all of the typical telltale signs of a meth lab. They also reported seeing automatic weapons, so the on-scene commander asked us to go in first.”
Where just a few moments ago, a warm, pleasurable sensation had been, now a cold, stomach-clenching fear existed. She’d almost forgotten what Gage did for a living.
“Isn’t that dangerous?”
Gage shook his head. “They won’t even know we’re coming until we kick in the door. That’s why I told them to maintain the perimeter at four blocks. Plus, half the people in those labs are usually drugged out of their minds. We’ll be in and out of there in ten minutes.”
He sounded so confident and sure of himself Mac almost found herself believing him. Then she remembered all the shooting and blood from the day before, and her stomach clenched even more tightly.
***
Mac promised Gage she’d stay in the operations vehicle, but right after he left, the signals on the monitors kept going in and out. She supposed it was because they were parked so far away. Regardless, she couldn’t see or hear anything. She wished Zak were there. He’d know how to fix the darn things.
She pulled her small camera from her back pocket and climbed out of the operations vehicle. She still couldn’t see Gage, but at least she could see the house. Plus, she could take photos. There were a half dozen uniformed officers and detectives behind the big vehicle with her, so she was safe.
After she and Gage had arrived, he’d had a short conversation with Lieutenant Weaver, the lead officer from the narcotics division, then instructed Trevino to take up a sniper position on the roof of a nearby building. Gage, Cooper, and Delaney had immediately disappeared around the left side of the suspected meth lab, while Xander and the other three members of his squad had gone around the right. Mac kept her ear glued to the radio in Weaver’s hand, waiting for the signal that SWAT was about to enter the building. Gage had told her that as soon as they took the automatic weapons out of play, the rest of the cops would go in.
Mac chewed on her lip as she clicked a few pictures of the house. The place didn’t look like much. While it was dilapidated, there wasn’t anything about the two-story structure that made her think it was a drug lab. Granted, the paint on the casement window was a little suspicious, but a lot of homeowners did that so people on the sidewalk wouldn’t be able to see into their basement. Obviously the person who’d reported it to the cops knew more than she did.
“We’re in position.” Gage’s voice was soft and sure as it came through the radio. “Breaching the doors in ten. Over.”
Mac jumped when she heard the battering rams strike the doors. It was immediately followed by the sound of flashbang grenades exploding. She braced herself for the weapon fire she knew was coming next, but there wasn’t any. Ten seconds passed, then fifteen, but the inside of the house was quiet. That was a good thing, right?
Next to her, Weaver thumbed the button on the side of his radio. “Dixon, what the hell’s happening in there?”
Gage didn’t answer.
Weaver swore under his breath and thumbed the button again. But whatever he was about to say was lost as a deafening boom echoed in the air. Pieces of wood, metal, and concrete sailed over the operations vehicle, raining down on Mac and the cops with her.