Locke and Load Read Free Page A

cyber sanctuary.
    Although she’d love to follow him and the others, Nikki swiped her navy backpack from a hook on the wall, then rushed out the door, determined to wrap up the murder investigation and get the hell out of Florida as soon as possible.
    Seeing Cage again was going to hurt. And suck. Big time. But she’d learned long ago life was unfair.
    Why should today be any different?

Chapter Two
     
    D etective Cage Burnett scoured the dock in Jacksonville’s warehouse district just as he had every day for the last two weeks, ever since the murder of his partner and best friend, Detective Drew Johnson. The only lead was poor footage from a warehouse security camera corroded from the salted air. Lack of evidence brought him here daily, fueling his desire to find something… anything that would move the damn case forward.
    His insides twisted into a tight knot, and he fought to contain the bile racing up his throat as he stared at the dark stain on the pier by his feet. A stain made by the blood that had seeped out of the hole in Drew’s head.
    The image of his friend’s death-stare flashed through his mind, and the unrelenting band, squeezing his chest, restricting his breathing, had only happened once before…because of her .
    Drew had helped him through back then.
    Who would help him now?
    “Find anything?”
    He blinked at his new partner. Detective Brian “Jersey” Delaney had just transferred to Jacksonville from New Jersey almost two weeks ago. Similar to him in height and build, the northerner differed in other ways. The most noticeable wasn’t his accent or lighter coloring. It was the detective’s ready smile. Cage had just started to find his again when Drew had been murdered. Any lightness that had managed to creep into his demeanor was now buried with his friend at Saint Mary’s Cemetery.
    He shook off his dour thoughts and focused on Jersey. “No. Nothing. You?”
    Light brown hair turned golden by the sun, the Jersey cop cast a long shadow across the dock. Still in the assessment stage with his new partner, Cage figured the best way to get a true read was to gage the guy’s actions during pursuits or under gunfire.
    In the short time Delaney had been in Jacksonville, they’d been through both and, so far, his new partner had done well. But it would take more than a good collar and a handful of assists for Cage to form an opinion just yet.
    “No. I haven’t found anything either.”
    They both stared silently at the pier. The chalk outline was no longer visible thanks to the severity of several storms since that fateful night. Self-disgust rushed through Cage’s body with the force of a Category 3. He widened his stance and braced for the recurring onslaught of guilt. He should’ve been there with his buddy that night. Drew hadn’t deserved to die alone with a bullet between the eyes.
    What the hell had his partner been doing here anyway? None of their cases had anything to do with the docks.
    At least, not that he knew of. It didn’t make sense. Had Drew gotten a lead and didn’t call him in?
    A movement to the right had their hands automatically reaching for their weapons and their bodies twisting to the sound. Shadows from the warehouse gave way to a figure in a black hoody. Hands in his pockets, head down, the guy rounded the side of the building and stepped into the open.
    He was no security guard.
    “Jacksonville PD. We have a few questions for you,” Cage stated, moving closer.
    The man stilled, lifting his head enough to reveal a dark gaze bouncing from him to Jersey. He could feel the tension coiling in the man’s limbs. Ah, hell . The guy was going to run. No sooner had the thought emerged when the figure took off in a sprint down the dock toward the parking lot at the end.
    Dammit.
    “Don’t shoot. I want him alive,” he told his new partner as they set off in pursuit. 
    Finally, they would have someone to question. More importantly, maybe they’d get some