Decker turned and said, “Look, your beef is with me, not her. She walks, I give you no trouble.”
The man shook his head and pointed his gun muzzle in Decker’s face. “Down the steps over there.”
Decker glanced at Jamison, turned, and led the way down the stairs.
The room below was littered with debris—beer cans, used condoms, and animal feces.
Jamison wrinkled her nose up at the sight of all this. She stepped forward until her path was blocked by a wall. She turned around and looked at the man.
Decker came to stand in front of her, his big body between her and the gunman.
The man shone his light on them, even as Decker turned around and his gaze dipped to Jamison’s waist.
He then looked up at her questioningly.
She slowly nodded.
“Turn around,” barked the man. “And move away from her.”
Decker followed these instructions and stepped to the side, closest to the stair leading up out of the room.
The man set the light down on a pile of boxes so that it was pointing outward and illuminating the room partially. It was then that he opened his hood and slipped it off his head.
Luis Alvarez, the construction supervisor at the building where Tomas Amaya had worked, stared back at them.
“We were wondering where you got to, Se?or Alvarez,” said Decker. “How’s life been on the run?”
Alvarez’s face was stone. “You didn’t think I was just walking away, did you?”
“You really want to add the murders of two ‘federales’ to your rap sheet?” said Decker.
“With the greatest of pleasure.”
“The FBI is almost here.”
“Bullshit.”
“I saw our apartment door had been forced when I walked in. I hit the speed dial in my pocket. Special Agent Bogart has been listening to everything we’ve been saying. And the chip in my phone has led them right here. So you’re screwed.”
“You’re lying.”
“Take my phone out and see for yourself. It’s been on the whole time.”
Alvarez looked nervously at Jamison. “Take his phone out and bring it to me. Now!”
Decker said, “You’re wasting precious time, Luis. Chances are good the Bureau guys will just blow your ass away to avoid having to spend money on prosecuting you.”
“Bring me the phone!” screamed Alvarez.
Jamison pulled the phone out of Decker’s pocket. As she did so she glanced at Decker. He whispered something to her.
She turned, held the phone up, and said, “Here, you sonofabitch.” She tossed it toward Alvarez. When he reached a hand up to catch it, Decker gave a roar and bolted toward the stairs.
Alvarez took his eyes off the phone, turned, and leveled his gun at Decker.
A shot rang out.
Decker stumbled and went down.
Alvarez looked over at Jamison. A wisp of smoke was coming off the pistol she held in her hand.
He looked down at the blood coming out of the hole in his chest.
“Y-you, b-bitch!” he screamed.
He pointed his gun at her.
She stumbled back and fell.
The next second Alvarez was lifted off his feet. His small body sailed across the width of the room and he slammed into the brick wall. He slid down the wall, slumped to the floor, sat up for an instant, touched the wound in his chest, and glanced at Decker, who’d blindsided him.
“Y-you, a-assho—”
He slumped over dead before he could finish.
CHAPTER
47
BOGART SAT DOWN next to Jamison at her and Decker’s apartment. He put a hand on her shoulder.
“You sure you don’t need anything?”
Jamison’s eyes were closed and tears trickled out. She slowly nodded her head.
Bogart looked up at Decker, who sat at the kitchen table holding an ice pack to his swollen cheek. “You okay?”
“I’ve got no complaints. Alex saved both our lives.”
Milligan was standing next to Decker. “She never shot anyone before,” he said quietly. “It’s not something you get over quickly.”
Decker looked over at Jamison. “She’ll be okay. She’s tough.”
Bogart rose and came over to Decker. “We’ll post people outside just in case Alvarez has friends. You sure you guys will be okay?”
Decker nodded. “I’ll take it from here.”
Bogart and Milligan left, and Decker rose from his chair, crossed the room, and sat down next to Jamison.
“I’m sorry this had to happen, Alex,” he began.
She wiped her nose with her sleeve and sat up. “If you hadn’t told me what to do, we’d both be dead.”
“If you hadn’t done what you did, we’d both be dead.”
She sat back and stared at the ceiling. “I killed someone, Amos.”
He looked at her awkwardly. “There’s no perfect formula to get over it.”
“What did you do when it happened to you for the first time?”
“Honestly?”
She nodded.
“I called Cassie and told her I wouldn’t be home that night. I filed my reports, had my interviews with internal affairs, jumped through all the bureaucratic hoops, and then rented a motel room, loaded up with liquor, and got drunk as hell.”
“Did it help?”
“No. I woke up with the worst hangover of my life and I still felt shitty about what had happened.”
“Thanks for the pep talk,” she said in a hollow tone.
“My point is, even with my perfect recall I did get over it. Things haunt me, Alex. But I can live with them. And you will too. It just takes time.”
She sank her head into her hands. “I’m going to see his face until the day I die.”
“No you won’t. He made the choice to start it. You just had to finish it. You saved us, Alex.”
“I was so scared, Decker.”
“So was I.”
“But you were a cop. You’re used to this stuff.”
“You never get used to somebody trying to kill you.”
Jamison pulled a tissue from her pocket and rubbed at her eyes. “I’m glad you showed me how to fire that gun.”
“Being taught how to fire a weapon isn’t that hard. Firing it when you really need to is the hard part. He obviously didn’t see you as a threat. He assumed you weren’t even armed. Big mistake.”
“But after I shot him, I panicked. I couldn’t even defend myself.”
“So it was my turn to help you out. That’s what partners do, Alex. We have each other’s back.”
“That’s the first time you called me that.”
“What?”
“Your partner.” She swiped a strand of hair out of her face. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“You need to go grab a hot shower, take a pill, and go to bed, and not think about it anymore for tonight.”
“But—”
“You need to turn your brain off. You can start to try to deal with it later. But not now.”
He watched her walk off. Right before she closed the bedroom door behind her she turned and said, “Thanks, Amos.”
“For what?”
“For…for not being your normal self right now.” She tacked on a weak smile to this and closed the door. A minute later he heard her shower start up.
Decker rose and stared down at his phone. He’d tried to call Mars a number of times to let him know what had happened, but there’d been no answer.