A Shot at Love. Peggy Jaeger

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СКАЧАТЬ and I’ll shoot,” a man holding a gun aimed at her face declared.

      Gemma’s first instinct was to run. She pulled back, using the door as armor and pushed. Her intruder pushed right back, knocking her to the floor when the force of the door smashed into her. Flat on her butt, she crab crawled backward and tried to stand while the man flew into the apartment, banged the door shut and was on her in a second.

      He grabbed a fist full of her hair and pulled her up by it.

      Tears of pain sprang into her eyes. She ignored them, slipping into full defense mode. She flattened one of her hands over the one he had on her hair, pushed down and twisted, turning to face him as she’d been taught to do. If she stood upright she knew she’d be taller than he was, so she stayed stooped. He was attempting to yank on her hair again, but Gemma pulled her other hand back and, opening the web between her thumb and index finger wide, shot her hand out like a snake, striking him with the “V” straight in the throat.

      The hit had its intended effect. He let go of her hair and staggered backward, one of his hands flying to his gullet. Gemma took a split second to stand tall, stepped one foot behind her and then, raising her opposite leg, kicked him full force straight in the chest with the ball of her foot, knocking him back. The gun dropped from his hand and she ran to it, but he reached out and grabbed her leg, jerking her down hard to the floor. Gemma felt her knee splinter into the hardwood floor and she recoiled into a fetal position from the impact. With his advantage, the intruder jumped over her, grabbed the gun and pointed it straight at her face again.

      “Bitch! I should kill you now.” His neck was bright red from her strike, his voice raspy and raw like sandpaper gliding along fresh-cut wood.

      “What do you want?” The gun bobbed up and down in his hand as she stared down its barrel.

      “Where is it?”

      “What?”

      “The camera you were using today.”

      His eyes flicked around the living room and then back to her, the gun still pointed straight at her face. “Where is it?” he repeated.

      “I don’t have it. The police took it.” She rubbed her knee, gauging if she’d be able to stand on it. It wasn’t broken, but she’d landed hard.

      “Try again. I watched you leave the FBI building. You had it in your hands. Now stop wasting my time and give it to me.”

      Gemma quickly ran through all her options. Her knee was pounding, she had a lethal weapon pointed at her face and she was on the floor flat on her butt: a very bad position to deal from. Her gaze swept from the gun to the man’s face, memorizing it, detail by detail.

      “It’s in the kitchen,” she told him, rolling over and trying to rise up on her uninjured leg.

      “Get it. Now.”

      “My knee is blown,” she told him, standing upright on her good foot. “I can’t move fast.”

      To prove her point she tried to walk and hobbled, almost going down to the floor again.

      Her intruder swore. “Forget it. I’ll get it.” He turned his head, the gun still directed at her. “In here?”

      “It’s on the table.”

      He never moved from her sight as he went into the kitchen. Gemma took the few moments to think what to do.

      With the camera in his hand, he popped the back open and asked, “Where’s the memory card?”

      “The FBI took it.”

      He swore again and threw the camera against the wall, smashing it. The anger on his face was murderous as he came at her.

      “You stupid bitch. You could have told me that instead of wasting my time.”

      He lifted the gun to her eye level and just as he pulled the hammer back, Gemma went into action. Sidestepping backward on her uninjured leg, she brought the other one up to her chest and in one fluid, swift move, knocked the gun from his hand with the front of her foot. Pain recoiled all the way up her leg, but she ignored it. While the gun bounced across the floor she spun and, using her injured leg again, struck three swift kicks to his temple, knocking him to the floor. The effect of the single-footed spin unbalanced her, and she fell flat on her backside again. Her recovery was swifter than his, though, and she shot up, jumped to the door on her good leg, and, throwing it open, screamed as loud as she could.

      She fell into the hall and, due to the early evening hour, doors around her opened, quizzical heads popping out from the commotion of her shouting.

      The intruder didn’t waste a second. He sprang up and ran from the apartment, sprinting down the hallway toward the stairwell.

      Breathing hard and in serious pain, Gemma collapsed against the wall as her neighbors gathered around her.

      Chapter Two

      “She gonna be okay?” Ky asked the emergency room resident when he came out of Gemma’s cubicle.

      “You family?”

      Ky held up his badge.

      “Oh. She should be. Knee is pretty tender. Not broken though, which is good. She needs to keep it elevated for a while, ice it down. Other than that, she should be good in a day or so.”

      Ky thanked him and turned to his partner. “Anything?”

      Jon shook his head. “Not yet. She gave a dynamite description of the guy. Profetti’s making copies of his sketch right now. She’s got a good eye for catching details.”

      “Considering she was getting pummeled at the time.” Ky sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Okay, I’ll get her statement. Why don’t you try to find out what you can about the guy who attacked her.”

      “CSU should be done with her apartment. I’ll see if he left any prints. The gun might be an avenue.”

      Ky nodded and turned his attention back to the emergency room cubicle.

      When her call had come through to his cell he’d been packing it in for the day, just about to head back to his apartment. She sounded totally in control when she told him about the armed man who’d shoved his way into her apartment, demanding her camera. In less than ten minutes he and Jon were at her condo, which was already packed with people, including two paramedics and most of the neighbors on her floor. She was being tended to by one of the EMTs when she spotted him. He’d told himself he wasn’t going to feel that right jab to his stomach when he saw her again, but the minute she lifted those china-blue eyes and caught his stare, it came: quick, hard, and undeniable.

      With little emotion, she told them what happened. When Ky asked Gemma if she could describe the man, figuring the answer would be “no,” he was shocked when she gave them a detailed rundown of the intruder’s appearance. She told Jon to get a sketch artist and she could give even more details, and he’d arranged for one to meet them in the emergency room. While waiting to be x-rayed, she’d done just as she’d told them. The sketch was almost like a photograph, it was so comprehensive and thorough. Just as Agent Profetti had finished, Gemma’s sister and brother-in-law arrived and were with Gemma now.

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