Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(62)
There, he’d been completely reasonable. The next couple of minutes were going to be telling. Could be easily diffused or things could get ugly, fast.
Wegner bared his teeth in a smile, not a friendly one. “No problem. Send Miss Hall out here and she can come with us directly back to division headquarters.”
Rojas allowed his features to twist into a grimace of disappointment. “We’d like to cooperate, officer, but there’s reason to believe Elisa Hall is being pursued by a stalker. I’d rather not have her out anywhere without someone she knows. If you’d be willing to wait until after this event is over and all the parents have come to take their children home, I’d be happy to accompany you all back to your division headquarters. Where is that, by the way?”
It was Wegner’s turn to disregard a question. “We’re not waiting. You’re not going. Just send out Elisa Hall or we will come inside and take her into custody.”
All of them were being so careful with their words. Rojas hated word games. Souze’s hip brushed his on his left. The big dog was watching him, ready for the slightest cue.
Time for a direct question. “Is Elisa Hall under arrest?”
Wegner scowled and Patterson shifted uncomfortably a step or two back and to the side. Rojas resisted the urge to grin. No, Elisa wasn’t. This was unofficial business, as far as Rojas could tell, maybe as shady as some off-duty extracurricular activity.
“Last chance,” Wegner growled, dropping any semblance of pleasantry. “Send her out or we come in and take her.”
Rojas raised his right hand up with the kali stick and brought it down smartly on the other man’s fingers. Wegner withdrew his hand from the door immediately, cursing, and Rojas immediately yanked the door closed and locked it.
Wegner took a step back and drew his weapon, shouting through the closed doors, “Open the door or I will fire!”
Rojas dodged to the right of the doors for limited cover behind one of the counters. Was this guy crazy? Even with the kids in the back changing room, the walls were only sheetrock. There was no telling what could happen when he opened fire.
Souze was a reassuring presence at Rojas’s hip. The situation still didn’t require deadly force. Rojas struggled to consciously plan his next moves while he still had time to keep things at the appropriate level of response.
“Stop!” another, familiar voice called out. Even muffled through the glass doors, Rojas recognized the local policeman whose child was currently hiding in the back with the rest of the kids. “Hold your fire. Upper Makefield Township Police.”
Silence.
Cautiously, Rojas rose up from behind the counter and took stock of the scene in front of him.
Officer Kymani Graves was approaching the two strange policemen, his own weapon drawn. There was a terse exchange of words. Rojas watched, tense, and decided to set the kali stick down on the counter in plain sight and easy reach. He’d let Graves handle things, but be ready to react again if things escalated. He didn’t relax even once the men holstered their weapons. After a few minutes, they left looking murderous.
Rojas stooped to pick up Souze’s leash and returned to the door, letting Officer Graves in.
“Excellent timing, Ky.” Rojas shook the other man’s hand. Rojas had some decent height at six foot, give or take. But Kymani Graves stood several inches taller.
The lean man smiled, brilliant white teeth showing in cheerful contrast to his dark skin. “I see you’ve battened down the hatches, Rojas. Tell me where you’ve hidden all of our children.”
In answer, Rojas kept his eyes on the parking lot beyond Ky but called out over his shoulder. “Game’s over, everyone line up on the mat! Miss Elisa gets to tell us who the winner is.”
The kids poured out of the back changing room, babbling and full of questions. Gary and Greg arrived at a run, and Rojas gave Ky the quick version of what had happened.
Ky’s eyebrows rose, then rose higher as Rojas added in some context with Elisa’s situation.
“Good timing is right, then. If you’d had to resort to any additional action to keep them out, there could’ve been some major complications and possibly some charges for assaulting an officer.” Ky sighed. “As it was, they were outside their jurisdiction.”
Rojas jerked his chin up and down once. “They didn’t actually say where they were from, just stated their names.”
Ky pressed his lips together in a grim smile. “We’ll have to look into exactly who they were and where their district headquarters are. But in the meantime, thank you for keeping my child safe.”
Rojas shook his head. “I’m sorry we couldn’t avoid it altogether.”
Gary and Greg joined them. “Kids all seem okay. Some of them heard what was going on but Elisa kept them straight with the idea that you were having a discussion with strangers and because no one knew if they were police, they were not allowed in.”
Ky’s daughter Grace came running up. Because Souze had turned first to face the oncoming child, Rojas was warned that she was coming and he didn’t jump.
Grace looked way up at her dad. “I didn’t win the discipline contest, so I can’t choose teams first next parents’ night, but can Boom still sleep over tonight like we planned?”
Rojas winced then blanked his expression. This incident had probably left Ky with mixed feelings, and Rojas didn’t want the other man to feel obligated to still look after his daughter for the evening.