Free Undercover Marriage by Terri Reed

patrol.”
    Serena flashed her badge. “Has there been any movement?”
    “None,” the older officer replied. “Could be abandoned or they could be holed up inside one of the buildings on either side.”
    “What are those buildings?” Josh asked, studying the boxy brick structures that made up most of the business parks throughout the city.
    “The one on the right is a warehouse for a manufacturing plant. The one on the left has a printing company downstairs and several financial offices upstairs.”
    “Not likely the building on the left,” Josh said, as Serena said, “The warehouse is more likely.”
    After a beat, Serena said, “Let’s check it out.”
    “You want backup?” Bergman asked.
    “Would appreciate it.” Serena turned and walked across the street.
    Frustration crimped Josh’s stomach. She still didn’t fully trust him. After the past six months of working together, why hadn’t she figured out he wouldn’t let anything happen to her? He owed it to Daniel to keep his sister safe.
    Josh watched as she strode away in this graffiti-tagged part of town in her uptown suit and squared-away hair. Something shifted and contracted within his chest. He owed it to himself to keep her safe.
    “You two take the back entrance,” Josh directed the officers. “We’ll take the front.”
    He jogged to catch up to Serena. “Hey, let’s be smart about this. We can’t bust down the door without probable cause.”
    “The van was seen fleeing a crime scene. That’s your probable cause,” she said. Placing her hand on her weapon she approached the front entrance.
    Shaking his head, Josh followed. She was rash and bold and amazing. If he weren’t careful he’d find himself falling for her. Something he couldn’t let happen. For her sake as well as his.
    A square plate of glass provided a view inside. Josh gazed over Serena’s head. Inside, large shadowed shapes were barely visible in the unlit warehouse. Serena tried the knob. The door popped open.
    She gave him a triumphant glance. He acknowledged it with a nod.
    Withdrawing his weapon from the holster beneath his jacket, he stepped past Serena to lead the way inside the warehouse.
    It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the gloomy shadows and inky blackness of the cavernous building. He removed the small handheld flashlight from the clip on his belt. Serena did the same. The beams of their lights illuminated large crates stacked two or three high.
    Leading with his weapon, he made his way farther into the yawning space. Serena kept pace to his right. The crates gave way to machine parts gathered in haphazard piles. He forged ahead, stepping over a carburetor.
    A whisper of movement behind him raised the fine hairs at the back of his neck.
    He spun around, shining his flashlight into the darkness. No one there.
    His partner was gone.
    Fear arced through him, making his heart pound and his blood race. Was she okay? Had he failed her? “Serena!”
    His voice echoed off the brick walls. Anxiety clawed through him, tightening the muscles in his shoulders, his neck, his throat. Breathing became difficult. He could not lose another partner. Guilt over Daniel’s death stabbed him like a physical blow. He had to find Serena.
    He hurried past the mounds of metal and gears to the far end of the warehouse. The beam of the flashlight zipped back and forth as he searched for Serena. The shadows closed in on him. Would he find Serena’s broken body?
    A light bobbed behind a drop cloth suspended from hooks jutting from the overhead beam.
    He yanked the curtain aside.
    The beam of his flashlight landed on Serena. He breathed out his relief and anger rushed in to take its place.
    “We found one of them.” Her flashlight trained on a mattress lying on the floor revealing a body. Lifeless eyes stared up at them. A gaping wound in the middle of the man’s chest was crusted with dried blood.
    Ignoring the dead body, Josh gripped her elbow. “What were you thinking?