Free Mark Taylor: Genesis (Prequel in the Mark Taylor Series) by M.P. McDonald Page A

his mind’s eye. He would have to risk it. Better to be thought a nutcase than to carry the guilt of doing nothing and letting the woman die.
    He called a precinct and tried to explain that he had overheard some man planning a robbery, but the person he spoke to transferred him to a detective.  Just great. He had planned on delivering the tip to some random dispatcher.
    “Detective Bishop speaking.”
    “Uh, yeah—“, he broke off and cleared his throat. He hadn’t counted on speaking with a detective and wondered if he should just hang up and try to take care of it himself. His story was thin and wouldn’t hold up under close scrutiny.
    “I uh, I want to report a conversation that I overheard this morning. A guy was planning to rob a gas station at Lake Street and North Green.”
    “Really?” The skepticism crackled through the line and almost bit him in the ear.
    He shook off the nerves and kept his voice firm. “Yes, really .”
    “Where were you when you overhead the conversation?”
    “I was…I was at a bar.”
    “What bar?”
    His mind went blank. “Just some bar over on…on Division.”
    “What block on Division?”
    Mark stifled a groan of frustration. “I don’t know. Just a place on West Division.”
     She sighed. “You don’t sound too sure of yourself. Were you drinking at the time?”
    “Sure, I’d had a beer, but I wasn’t drunk if that’s what you’re asking.” Denying drinking would be suspicious, so he felt clever admitting to a beer.
    “Okay. Well, give me the details. Time? A description of the person?”
    Relieved to have the answers to these questions, he rattled off information on the man in the picture, right down to the brand of shoes he was wearing.
    “You noticed his shoes ?”
    “Well…yeah. Once I heard the plan, I tried to take note of as much as I could to pass along.” He took a sip of his coffee, his mouth suddenly dry.
    “And this guy just stood there while you took notes?” She was smirking. He couldn’t see it but he could hear it. “Maybe you should have just taken a picture—it might have been less obvious.”
    Mark inhaled the hot coffee and coughed uncontrollably while he held his hand over the receiver.
    “Hello? Are you all right?”
    “Yeah, sorry. Coffee went down the wrong pipe.” A lingering cough punctuated his reply.
    “Okay, and your name?”
    “What? My name? Why? I would prefer to give the tip anonymously.”
    “I need it for the report. I could take it anonymously, but we don’t have time to run around checking out bogus reports and anonymous reports could come from a criminal looking for a diversion. ” Any concern that might have been in her voice had evaporated and replaced with suspicion. “Is that what you’re doing? Creating a diversion?”
    “No, of course not.”
    “You got something to hide?”
    If only she knew. He took a deep breath. “Mark Taylor.” Resigned, he gave her his address and other details then said, “So you guys will stop it, right?”
    “Listen, Mr. Taylor, if this information has a shred of truth to it, we’ll find out and stop the robbery, but if you’re yanking our chain, you are going to be in a world of hurt.”
    “No…I’m not…I’m not yanking your chain.” He ran a hand through his hair then bit back a curse when his knee bumped against the bottom of the breakfast bar.
     

     
    At the time of the robbery, Mark stood on the corner outside the gas station pretending to wait for a bus, but ready to do what he could if the police didn’t show.  When the bus stopped, he waved it off, ignoring the bus driver’s irritated shake of his head.
    Where were the cops? Any minute the robber would show up. Not five seconds later, a man matching the image in Mark’s photo stepped out of a car, looked around and entered the gas station.
    Mark jogged across the gas station lot, but as he reached for the door, two cop cars barreled into the lot. He halted and backed away from the door. A dark