Jordan Summers - [Dead World 01] Read Online Free PDF Page A

go out. She didn't have time to fight a fire and the suspect.
    She scanned the loft area. The shot came from above
and to her right. At least she was pretty sure it had ... but at the moment she
couldn't discern the unknown from the darkness shrouding the rafters.
    "Move, damn you," she
muttered. "Give me some thing to aim
at."
    Dust motes from the earlier disturbance danced in the
sunlight. From where Red took cover, the un known
had her pinned down no matter which direction she moved. Her heart remained calm and her mind focused as she listened
for the sound of humming en gines.
    Where in the hell was the tactical team? She'd radioed
"man down" over thirty minutes ago.
    A glint of metal caught Red's
eye as sunlight filtered through the
holes in the roof. With animal-like reflexes, she swung the barrel of her
pistol around and squeezed the trigger. Blue light snaked out toward her
intended target. The scream that burst forth shattered the silence,
but was abruptly cut short by death's embrace. The man toppled from the rafters
and landed with a thick thud onto the ground. The showdown was over.
    Red didn't bother to check and see if either man
survived. There was no point. She never missed.
    She stood, slipping the pistol back into the suction
grip holster
strapped to her thigh and walked to the door. She grabbed the canteen clipped
to her belt and doused the wood frame. Smoke coughed into the air as the flames gasped for breath. The fire sizzled, hiss ing one last time, before extinguishing.
    Red stepped out of the warehouse into the heat and the smell of death dissipated. The second her boots made contact with the dirt, the
hair on the nape of her neck rose. She released a heavy breath, her hand resting on her pistol. Red turned to find the rest of the
tac tical team approaching her position
from the north.
    About friggin' time.
    "I see we're late again," Lieutenant Bannon
Richards quipped as he looked at the bodies on the ground. 'This was supposed
to be an eyes only patrol in the
southwest quadrant. I sent you and the rookie to this part of the
boundary because I thought it would keep you out of trouble. I see I was wrong
again."
    At first glance, Bannon seemed attractive with his
blond crew cut squaring his jaw, deeply tanned skin, and a body mass three
times her size. But there was a hint of cruelty lurking behind his pale blue
eyes. That look could leave any woman with a case of frostbite.
    Bannon never missed the opportunity to throw his
weight around or remind Red that he was the one in charge. Technically, he
wasn't her commander, since she was a lieutenant, too. Unfortunately on-site,
due to a one-month difference in seniority, Bannon had final say ... and
control of the patrol schedule. That's why Red had been spending more and more
time on bogus patrols that took her hours away from tactical team headquarters,
when she could've been sent out on real calls.
    She glanced at the bodies lying around them. Okay,
maybe today's assignment hadn't been a waste of time. And the dead rookie was
certainly real enough. Yet those tiny
details did not make up for all the other days she'd spent driving for
hours, staring at sandy rubble, and it certainly didn't earn Bannon her
respect.
    'There are two inside. One perched near the rafters,
the other on the ground." She pointed, not bothering to spare Bannon a
second glance. She covered the short distance to where her backup lay lifeless
next to an unknown. Flies buzzed and landed on the bodies. It wouldn't be long
before they planted their larva. Red swallowed hard, forcing her mind to clear.
Nothing killed an appetite quicker than a body full of maggots.
    Bannon barked orders to the various team members. Red listened with one ear as he began directing the scene investigation
so it would be finished before the cleanup crew
arrived.
    "It's nice to know you're still living up to your
rep, Red ," he called out from somewhere behind her.
    She grimaced, shifting her feet once more,