The Throwbacks, Book 1 of The Scotland Yard Exchange Program Series

The Throwbacks, Excerpt # 33

He woke with a start and at first he thought it was because of the awkward angle of his head and shoulders as he slept in the chair.  The chair back wasn’t quite high enough to accommodate his height.  The room was still dark and he glanced around for a clock.  Then he heard a metallic clanging noise loud and clear.

            He rose from the chair in a swift but stealthy motion, plastered himself to the wall next to the window and allowed himself a look down from an impossible angle.

            He heard the clanging again and then saw that there was someone climbing up the fire-escape.  In their attempt to be quiet, the ascent was slow, but David knew he had no time to get down to the street and chase him from there.  Trying to stop him from this window he’d get his head blown off.  He looked around the moon-lit room and cursed the tiny open floor plan.  His eyes adjusted and he studied Grace’s sleeping form for a millisecond.

            He moved to the couch and lifted her from it and carried her to the bathroom and deposited her into the shower before she was fully awakened by his action.

            “Don’t make a peep—we have an intruder about to make his entrance in 15 seconds,” he said.  Before he closed the shower curtain on her now alert face, she reached out and squeezed his arm and mouthed something without a noise.  He wished he knew what she was trying to say, but then he was glad he didn’t.  He squeezed her hand back before dashing from the room and back to the window where the fire escape rattled louder than before.  He grabbed his jacket, found his gun and took his place near the window.

            Then the noise stopped.  He heard a dog bark—it was noodles who climbed up on the lamp table in front of the window and started yapping his brains out.

            “Fine time you picked to be a watch dog,” he said out loud.  He crouched low and grabbed the dog from below and petted his head.  His excited little body trembled.  As David listened to the retreating steps, much quicker and louder than the ascent, he ventured a look and saw the man about to reach the bottom.

            “Shit!”  David dropped the dog and ran for the door.  Luckily he’d slept fully clothed—for a variety of reasons.

            He ran down the stairs and made a sharp turn to the right when he banged through the door to the street.  He saw the man at the corner and for a split second they looked at each other before the man turned and bolted.  David started after him, gun drawn and pulled his phone from his pocket to call in backups.  He was in good shape, but not street-chase shape—not like the old days, he thought as he pressed the number for the police HQ and told them to get a car out there.

            “Make it quick—I’m in pursuit and he’s starting to lose me,” he grunted as the man took a turn down an alley.  David’s advantage was an intimate familiarity with Beacon Hill, including this alley.  He knew there were a dozen doorways and gates the man could disappear into and wasn’t surprised when he made the turn that the man was no where to be seen.  He retreated to the street corner and called the police again to let him know where he was and waited for them to get there.

            “Noodles, here puppy!”             

“Shit!”  David’s heart nearly stopped when he heard Grace’s voice.  She apparently woke up and came outside for some reason and wasn’t far from him—and the would-be intruder.  He raced in her direction, looking everywhere and frantic that the intruder might get an idea and find her first.  He rounded the corner down two blocks from her building and bowled into her.

            She screeched and fell backwards, but he caught her against the brick wall at the edge of the sidewalk before she collapsed against him.