A/N: Thank you Shelle007, charley vandra, Katrina Connors, and Anon-con for your encouraging and kind feedback! I'm sorry this chapter took a little while to post! I rewrote this part a couple of times until I felt it was just right!

Chapter 29: Girl Interrupted


Oh. My. God. I had just propositioned Lieutenant Thaddeus Arrogant Asshole Harris. Apparently he was just as surprised as I was, because his eyes grew to the size of saucers and his jaw went slack.

"What are you talkin' about?" he asked, his Texas drawl quite obvious.

"You know… what you said the other night… in the warehouse," I heard myself mutter, bowing my head, my face as hot as the sun. I couldn't look directly at him. Harris, on the other hand, gaped at me, his face reddening. I could see the incredulous expression on his face at my explanation. No words were spoken.

When I found the courage to look directly at him, I saw that his eyes were searching my face for some sign that I was joking.

"You tryin' to screw with me?" he said, clearly suspicious. I didn't know what to say to that, and it was obvious he'd used the wrong wording. He stammered and turned redder yet as he clarified his question, turning forward and then back towards me. "What I meant to say was… you serious?"

Was I serious? The sudden quickening of my heartbeat and breathing as he leaned towards me seemed to suggest that I was. My throat dried out, and I opened and closed my mouth with no sound. My eyes kept falling away from his intense gaze and I could feel my face heating up. No way in hell was I going to verbally answer his question, but my body seemed to be doing the job for me.

Static coming from Harris's two-way radio caused me to nearly jump out of my skin.

"Metropolitan Precinct 19, all units report to a two-eleven in progress at the Gold 'N Guns pawn shop on Clark and Ninth." Harris looked glumly at me, then sighed and proceeded to start the car, a grimace on his face as his shoulders relaxed.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Didn't you just hear the radio, Carnegie?" he snapped, keeping his eyes straight ahead and pulling on his seatbelt. "There's an armed robbery in progress about two blocks from here. That's probably what that blarin' alarm is all about."

"But you're not even in your police car."

"So?"

"I mean, you're wearing your uniform, but you're not on duty—you know, visiting me in the hospital, your Corvette, going to this lawyer guy," I corrected.

"Wrong," he replied. "A cop is always on duty."

Harris put the car in gear and began to speed off toward the address as I sat, totally confused.


Harris pulled into the parking lot of the pawn shop with his lights off. No other cops had yet arrived, but the store's alarm was still blaring. I was still mortified about the earlier question and Harris's cut-off response. What would have happened if he hadn't brought his two-way radio? Would we have… gotten lucky in front of that rude lawyer's office?

"Get down, Carnegie," Harris growled. I obeyed, sinking low into the seat so that I could barely see through the windshield. I did, however, see movement out of the passenger side window. I rolled the window down a couple of inches to hear what was going on outside the car.

Just as Harris stopped the car, two men ran out of the pawn shop and sprinted towards a car about thirty feet away. They wore gray jumpsuits and tall military boots but nothing covering their faces. The first guy had a beard and brown hair and the second guy had what looked to be black hair in a buzz cut. I'd probably have to pick them out of a lineup soon, because I definitely saw them. Harris reached under the seat, pulling out his .38. I guess I should have expected that he'd stock his Corvette with all his cop stuff. He flung open the door and moved around the front of the Corvette. Harris must have been desperate for redemption to take his flashy car to the scene of an active crime.

"Stop in the name of the law! This is the police!" Harris yelled shrilly, gun in hand. His voice was all but drowned out by the shrieking of the store's alarm.

"Shit! He saw us!" one of the fleeing robbers hissed. The two thieves jumped in the car and started the car up with a roar of smoke. As the car lurched forward with a loud screech, Harris lifted up his weapon, holding it steady with two hands, and took aim at the retreating car.

"Freeze, sleazeballs!" Harris shouted, beginning to run towards the car. "Surrender now and you will not be hurt!"

He fired his weapon, which caused the front of the car to sink into a shower of sparks. He'd blown out the car's right front tire and it was now riding on its rim. Apparently I'd underestimated Lieutenant Harris's ability with a gun.

Suddenly, the retreating car skidded to a stop. As its tires screeched to a halt, its passenger window slowly rolled down and I saw an arm emerge from the window, an arm holding a pistol. I sank further into the car seat so that only the top of my head and eyes would be visible in the window. Holy shit.

"…But he could be a witness!" one of the robbers yelled. "I'm taking him out!"

"I'm having no part of it!" another voice yelled back. "You shoot a cop, you're on your own!"

I saw Harris's arms shoot up in the air in surrender just as a shot rang out. Harris yelled in pain, falling backwards and letting out a loud oof as his back hit the pavement. He flailed his arms about as he tried to right himself, his gun still in his hand. I was reminded of a turtle stranded on its back and felt sick to my stomach. Harris had been shot and I was a sitting duck in a car fifty yards or so away.

"Your loss; I'm taking the 'Vette!" the shooter shouted, jumping out of the car and striding towards Harris's car, gun in hand, a big smile on his face. He turned to his partner in crime, who was still in the car. "Don't wait up," he added.

Immediately the getaway car began spinning its tires again as it attempted to flee the lot. I was frozen with fear, still sitting in the passenger seat of Harris's car. Damn. I'd never be a good cop. I couldn't help Lieutenant Harris. I couldn't get out of the car. I could barely breathe.

"Looks like you need another shot," the criminal muttered, looking towards Harris as he walked toward the Corvette.

Suddenly I saw red and blue flashing off of the nearby buildings. Of course the cops had to be seconds too late. Not one but three police cars turned into the parking lot simultaneously, thudding over the curb and ramming head-on into the front of the fleeing car, shoving it back into the parking lot. The police cars' headlights lit up the scene unfolding in the parking lot and they turned off their sirens but left their red and blue lights on. The store's alarm finally stopped blaring, and my ears were thankful.

Now that it wasn't too loud for me to think, I caught sight of the man in the driver's seat jump out of the getaway car and take off in the opposite direction. I watched what looked like Proctor get out of his squad car and tackle the man running past his vehicle, causing him to crash face-first into the ground. I looked back over at Harris, seeing that the man who'd been heading for the Corvette was now headed straight for Harris. Harris was still struggling on the ground, putting his left hand over what seemed to be a shot to his right shoulder.

"Freeze!" a voice yelled, amplified by a bullhorn. The voice sounded familiar, but my focus was on what was going to happen to Lieutenant Harris. "Put your weapon on the ground!"

The man ignored the commands and dove towards Harris, grabbing him and yanking him to his knees, wrapping an arm around Harris's upper body. As he did so, the criminal squatted behind him like a coward, putting Harris's body in between his and the police cars. Harris dropped his gun onto the pavement and remained as stiff as a board with arms straight down at his sides, the criminal's arm moving toward his neck, basically putting him in a head lock. Suddenly the parking lot lights buzzed to life and I could see the whites of Harris's widened eyes as the pawn shop robber put his pistol against Harris's temple and cocked it.

It was then that I saw Captain Mahoney in one of the squad cars, holding his bullhorn above his slightly opened window and speaking again. From inside the car, another cop aimed a spotlight at Harris and his captor.

"You are surrounded. Put down your weapon and get on the ground," Mahoney's voice bellowed through the bullhorn.

"I'm going to that car right there!" the man yelled, standing up and pulling Harris up with him as he pointed right at me—right at the Corvette! "If you try to stop me, the midget gets another bullet!"

Harris wasn't much of a shield, only reaching the criminal's shoulder height. I didn't understand why the cops couldn't just shoot the man in the head; there was definitely nothing protecting it.

"The car's all yours—just let him go," Mahoney said through the bullhorn. I saw Proctor shoving the other, now apprehended, robber into his squad car. After he'd shut the door, he and another officer ducked behind the front of their car, aiming their guns at the hostage-taker. I'd never seen the other officer before, but he was a chubby, twitchy sort of guy with oddly long hair.

"What the hell is Zed doing here?" Harris choked out, pointing at the nervous-looking cop, who then waved hyperactively. "Don't you dare let that nincompoop aim a gun at me!"

"Hi!" the twitchy man shouted in an obnoxious, shrill voice, continuing to wave. I rolled my eyes. How did this spaz get through the police academy, when I couldn't even make it through the second week without ending up in the hospital?

Before Harris could respond, the robber's arm tightened around his neck, causing his eyes to bug out even more. I saw Harris looking anxiously toward the Corvette and I wondered what he was thinking about—the car being taken from him, or the fact that I was still inside it?

"C'mon, buddy, we'll let you go but you gotta release your hostage first," Mahoney called out through the bullhorn.

"I got nothin' to lose by shooting him!" the criminal screamed, dragging Harris towards the Corvette as Harris attempted to dig his heels in to the pavement. "This little piggy's gonna go wee wee wee all the way home!"

"But you have so much to gain in not shooting him," Mahoney replied through the bullhorn. "A getaway car—not just a getaway car, but a really sweet Corvette. C'mon, man; let him go now and it's yours."

He pulled Harris closer and closer to the Corvette as I sunk into the seat, frozen with fear. Would he shoot me right away or would he use me as a hostage for the second leg of his escape?

I could see Harris all wide-eyed shaking his head silently towards Mahoney, his speech prevented by the hold across his neck.

"Unload your weapons first!" the hostage-taking robber yelled out. "Throw your clips under your cars and toss your guns down too! I can't be sure that right when I release him, one of you assholes won't squeeze off a couple of shots!" He pointed at Zed. "Especially that twitchy one over there!"

"Hey, I resent that!" Zed yelled back, his voice and pronunciation very strange, his eyes going wide and then narrow as he gritted his teeth. Honestly, I didn't blame the robber for wanting to disarm him.

Mahoney gave a signal, and all the cops complied, tossing their clips and bullets under the squad cars, yet Harris was still shaking his head. What the hell?

"Get out of the car, bullhorn and floodlight!" the robber yelled to Mahoney and his partner. "I want to see your hands! Guns unloaded and on the ground as well!"

Both Mahoney and his partner got out of the squad car and after emptying their weapons and putting them on the ground, they stood at the side of their vehicle, their arms held halfway up. This seemed to satisfy the robber, who promptly released Lieutenant Harris and flung himself on the ground in front of Harris's Corvette.

I glanced over nervously at the open door, then at the ignition to see the keys dangling there, just waiting for the Corvette to be taken. I was frozen in place. Should I take the keys? Could I run him over? I didn't know how to drive a stick shift—hell, I didn't even know how to shift it out of being parked—ha, it didn't even have a PARK gear to shift out of.

I heard the scraping of shoes on pavement and I peeked over the window to see Lieutenant Harris staggering away from the Corvette. So he'd abandoned me in favor of safety. Coward.

The driver side door creaked as the handle was lifted, and my eyes went wide as I grabbed the passenger side door handle and nothing happeneddoor's jammed, shit shit shit

I heard the clattering of something on the pavement, and saw Harris picking up his gun. He aimed it steadily at the Corvette. He couldn't very well shoot the robber through the passenger side window; he'd hit me! I was now the perfect hostage.


"You in here the whole time?" a voice remarked, and I turned my eyes to the left to see the robber sitting in the seat next to me. Not only did I see his face and some strange tattoo on his neck, but I saw his gun. "It don't matter, cause you ain't gonna be here much longer. Sorry you gotta die this way. Wrong place, wrong time, you know?"

As he began to raise his pistol towards my head, a shot rang out and I heard a ricochet of metal on metal. Had Harris shot the car? What was that? I couldn't tell. All that mattered was that in response to the gunshot, the robber was caught off-guard. Escaping being shot was suddenly more important than shooting me. He tucked his gun under the seat so that he could use the gearshift. Thank God the Corvette was manual transmission.

Hastily, he turned the key in the ignition and shifted the car into reverse, flooring the gas as I was flung forward forcefully in my seat. As my head slammed into the glove compartment, I saw stars. I also noticed that none of the responding officers were doing a damn thing!

I grabbed the door handle and yanked it as hard as I could, gritting my teeth with exertion. I heard the robber beside me laugh.

"I already killed one guy tonight who wouldn't listen," he remarked. "Wanna live a couple more minutes? Get your goddamn hand away from the door."

I promptly put my hand on my lap, terrified. Who had he killed? Was his victim inside the pawn shop? And what did he mean by a couple more minutes?


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