Code 3: Finding Safety by V.E. Avance Page A

and James is at his climax.   
    As they come off their ecstasy high, he rolls over to his side and draws Leanna to him.  He breathes in her scent; their scent.  A smile forms as he begins to stroke her head as she nestles her cheek against his side.  I don’t know what I did to deserve this woman, but I never plan on letting her go.   He closes his eyes and embraces the moment.

Twenty One
    Leanna’s paying the pied piper for her drunken adventure last night.  After spending several hours curled around the toilet, the headache made its appearance and hasn’t let up since.  James was sweet during all of it.  He held her hair as she upchucked everything she had drunk and ate at the Double Deuce Bar and Grill and then he carried her to bed sometime after she was done.
    James had pleaded with her to stay home from work but she didn’t want to get into the habit of calling off; especially over something she’d done to herself.  She slept until an hour prior to the start of her shift then she pumped herself full of caffeine and greasy foods.  She wasn’t sure if she’d make it through her eight hour shift, but she did and now she was heading home. 
    As she pulls in the drive, she notices that James has forgotten to leave the porch light on for her.  Hmm, strange, she thinks as she puts the car in park and unbuckles her seatbelt.  Maybe he was in a rush and just forgot to turn it on.
    She makes her way to the front door and inserts her key.  Silence!  Normally, Patches would be barking and whimpering on the other side of the door.  But tonight, it was eerily quiet—too quiet.  Something inside Leanna tells her to retreat back to her car and call James, but she pushes that voice down and shakes off her fear.
    She turns the key and pushes the door open.  She slides her hand along the wall, looking for the light switch.  “Don’t turn the light on,” a voice sounds out.  A voice Leanna is very familiar with.
    “Mark?”  Her heart races and sweat beads across her forehead.
    A hand grabs her wrist and jerks her forward.  “Miss me, bitch?”  He squeezes her wrist as he breathes into her ear.  Musky, stale beer fills the air between them as his breath envelopes her.  Her stomach lurches. 
    “Mark, what….how did….why are you here?”  She stumbles through the questions that race through her head.
    “I’m here to take back what’s mine.”  Leanna feels a sharp pinch in her neck before her world goes dark.

Twenty Two
    James arrives home from work excited to lie down next to Leanna and sleep for a few hours before she has to get up for her shift.  Since meeting her, he’s not wanted to go out with his buddies without her.  She’s opened his eyes to a whole new world.  Through her, he’s discovered that what he had with Rebecca was never love; lust maybe, but love it was not.
    He drops his bag on the floor and hangs his department issued jacket on the coat rack.  He makes his way to the kitchen for a quick bite of breakfast before he races upstairs.  As he circles the island, his heart begins to beat out of control and his parasympathetic nervous system goes haywire. 
    Patches lies on the kitchen floor with a blood pool around him.  The dog, James’ best friend, lies dead—long dead.  Fear, worry and anger wrack his body.  He wants to rush to his buddy’s side, but he knows this is a crime scene.  His only thought now is to find Leanna and pray like hell she didn’t succumb to the same fate at Patches. 
    He unholsters his department issued Glock .40 and pushes the button on his two way radio on his shoulder.  “11-99, 11-99,” he breathes into the mic, indicating that he needs assistance.  He knows that his brothers and sisters in blue will be on their way. 
    His radio crackles and the dispatcher comes on.  “11-99 to residence, 459 Wild Horse.”  James’ heart continues beating but he knows that dispatch has all officers in route.  Because he had checked off