Free No Honor Among Thieves: An Ali Reynolds Novella (Kindle Single) by J.A. Jance Page B

the Holzmann Road destination to Joanna’s attention would still be waiting to be transported to the crime lab in Tucson. By the time the lab got around to processing it, the trucks would be long gone.
    In other words, she owed Ali and Cami big-time. They would be involved in the firefight without having signed one of those legalese CYA forms civilians always had to sign before doing a ride-along. The board of supervisors would be appalled. To make matters worse, Joanna was bringing a multimillion-dollar helicopter into the mix. If this went south, Joanna figured she’d probably be better off dead than caught up in the middle of a liability lawsuit hurricane.
    “Come on, ladies,” she said with as much confidence as she could muster. “Time to saddle up.”
    Walking around the Yukon, she had to climb up on the front bumper of the patrol car parked behind hers to reach into the cargo space. Her hand emerged holding not one but two Kevlar vests. She handed the smaller one to Cami and the larger to Ali.
    “Put these on,” she told them. “They won’t fit exactly, but they’ll do.”
    When Joanna had been pregnant with Dennis, her added girth required that she move up to a larger-size vest. After Denny was born, she went back to her original one, but she kept the other in reserve. Cami pulled it on. The petite young woman seemed to swim in the thing, but Joanna deemed it better than nothing.
    As for the one she handed Ali, it had once belonged to Deputy Dan Sloan, her department’s only fallen officer in the course of Joanna’s seven years in office. Dan was wearing the vest the night he was gunned down, shot in the abdomen where there was no Kevlar protection. After Dan’s funeral, his widow brought the vest back to the sheriff’s office in the hope that someone else could use it. Joanna accepted it even though she had understood even then that, out of respect for Dan, none of her other officers would ever agree to wear it. Not only did Joanna accept the vest, she kept it, too, more as a reminder than out of any expectation that it would ever again be used. Once Ali slipped it on, Joanna was gratified to see she was tall enough for the vest to fit fairly well. And since Ali didn’t know the vest’s backstory, Joanna thought it better not to pass it along.
    Another battle-dressed guy showed up just then. “Why’d the van leave without me?” he demanded. “I told them I was coming.”
    “Good of you to join us, Detective Carbajal. The TAC team left without you because there wasn’t time to wait around any longer,” Joanna said. “I needed them to deliver spike strips to the other roadblock. That had to happen sooner than later, but as long as you’re here, you’re now in charge.”
    “Where are you going to be?”
    Jaime’s question was drowned out by the noisy clatter of an arriving helicopter. “In that, apparently,” she said with a nod toward the chopper, which was hovering for a landing.
    “Sheriff Brady!” a woman’s shrill voice called over the noisy racket from the helicopter. “Sheriff Brady! They won’t let me through!”
    Joanna glanced over her shoulder in time to see Marliss Shackleford twist away from the young deputy who was trying to restrain her and come striding forward.
    “Can I have a few words?” Marliss asked. “Please?”
    “Your first duty as incident commander,” Joanna hissed in Jaime Carbajal’s ear, “is to get that woman out of here.” Then she turned to face Marliss herself.
    “Sorry,” Joanna told the determined reporter. “I’m afraid this isn’t a good time. Get out of here. Now!” Then she turned back to Cami. “What’s the pilot’s name again?”
    “Chuck,” Cami answered. “His name is Chuck.”
    It took some doing for the three women to climb on board. The steps were taller than either Cami or Joanna could manage on their own. Fortunately Jaime was right there to give them a needed boost.
    “Earphones,” Chuck said as they settled in.