BLOOD TIES (Decklan Jennings Thriller Book 1) by Philip Duncan (book recommendations for young adults txt) 📕

As he made his way closer to the building, trying his best not to be seen, he heard several shots fired. He was no stranger to this sound and he instantly went for cover. This was what he was trained to do when shots were being fired. Stay low and find cover.

Once he was certain no more shots were going to be fired, he continued to make his way closer. If nothing else, he wanted to be close enough to hear a conversation and possibly find out what the hell just happened.

Shit, someone is coming.

He immediately sprinted for a giant palm tree that was sitting adjacent to the building. He stared at the warehouse door, waiting for someone to walk out, but no one came out. Finally, he heard someone talking through one of the police radios.

“Officer down! Officer down! We need an ambulance now!”

Decklan recognized Parker’s voice. Finally, he saw his brother exit the warehouse. His hands looked like he’d just butchered a deer in the woods after a kill. His clothes were also covered in blood, but it wasn’t his own blood. The female cop was the one who was shot. But was she alive or dead? It wasn’t a good sign that Parker had come out without her.

That lowlife must have killed her. This was a setup.

Decklan stood there watching, unsure what to do next. He knew he couldn’t sit behind the tree all day. Eventually someone would see him, which would look suspicious, at best. He did have one burning question, however. Where was the guy they came here to meet? Did he get away? Did he meet the same fate as the cop? Unless he could get in there and see for himself, he wouldn’t know for sure.

Parker and the other two cops started making their way to their cars, waiting for the ambulance to arrive. This would be his only chance to get inside, but he had to be quick. He managed to slip inside undetected, but he only had a few minutes before this place would be flooded with people. As he made his way farther inside, he noticed two bodies on the floor. Both were surrounded by a pool of blood.

Dead.

The female cop, probably no older than twenty-five, had a single gunshot to the abdomen. This particular wound usually resulted in a slower, more excruciating death because it didn’t kill you instantly. You slowly bled out until you could no longer talk and then slipped away into death. Decklan had seen this too many times on the battlefield.

The other body also had a gunshot wound but it was much different than the cop’s. The pool of blood around his body drained from his head. He was also lying facing away from where they all would have been standing. By the looks of it, he was shot in the back of the head as he was trying to make a run for it. Parker must have stopped him dead in his tracks after he managed to shoot the female cop.

Although Decklan was happy that someone like this was no longer alive to hurt people, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed. Not only was he back to square one with potential suspects, but if this guy was one of the murderers, he didn’t get to make him pay for what he did. Yes, he was dead now, but his death was more swift and painless than what Decklan had in mind.

***

Time to get the hell out of here.

Decklan headed back out the same way he came in, but he could hear voices approaching. He knew he couldn’t just walk by without someone asking questions, so he quickly changed his route and went to look for a different way out. He made his way through some old factory equipment until he finally saw a back door. He managed to slip outside, unseen, and found himself behind the building.

Now I have to find a way to get back to my truck without anyone seeing me, especially Parker.

As he racked his brain for his next move he heard a loud booming sound, as if someone just shot off a cannon. It was Parker. He had kicked the door open with such force that it almost came clean off the hinges.

“Damn it! I can’t believe I let this happen,” he could hear Parker saying to himself.

Decklan didn’t move a muscle as he sat crouched behind a rusty old dumpster. He just sat there listening to his brother cuss up a storm, clearly upset about losing a fellow cop, and a young one at that. Finally, the cussing stopped and he heard the door shut.

Coast is clear. Time to get the hell out of here.

He made it back to his truck without being seen and headed back home. He knew Parker would be calling sometime soon to let him know how it went. It was getting late and Decklan could feel his eyes getting heavy, but he didn’t want to miss the call. Rather than lie down on the couch, he went to his kitchen to make coffee.

Finally, his phone went off.

“Hey, any good news?” Decklan asked.

“Unfortunately not,” Parker said.

“What happened? Did he tell you anything?”

“He shot and killed one of my officers before we had the chance to get any information, so I had to kill him,” Parker said.

“So what now?” Decklan asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s your next move?”

“Jesus, Deck, we just lost a good cop to a lowlife piece of shit and that’s your question?”

“She ain’t coming back, man, you know that. The only thing you can do is get back out there and try to find the rest of these guys.”

“We don’t even know if he had anything to do with it. Right now, all we know is that he killed a cop for no good reason.”

“There is always a motive. You just need to dig deeper.”

“Don’t tell me how to do my job! I am working my ass off here, but nothing