Prologue

December 2023

“I was dead?” Dawn Hudson spoke with a raspy voice to her husband, Luke.

“Yeah. For a few minutes. Dude, you ever do that again, I’ll kill you myself.”

She laughed hard but everything hurt as she groaned from the sudden sharp pains everywhere in her body.

“Do you remember anything?” Luke asked.

“No. Everything is so fuzzy still.”

“Everyone is here for you.”

“Everyone as in everyone?” she checked.

“Yup.”

“Charlotte, Neo, Marie, Peter, my team, they are all here?”

“Well…”

“What, what is it! Tell me, Luke!”

Luke blew out a few breaths. He closed his eyes. Then opened them and stared into hers. How could he tell her?

“Luke!” she demanded.

Luke rubbed his mouth. He shook his head. She closed her eyes and slammed her hands on the bed. Someone didn’t make it. But who? She had to know who.

“I’m sorry, Dawn. But Marie didn’t make it. Charlotte and Neo, well, they are still missing. Your team is okay, they are all here.”

“What!? Oh, my fucking gosh!”

There was nothing else she could say. And she knew she wouldn’t be let on this case. But if it was a burglary, she would demand to be. That was her team’s specialty.

“Dawn?” Luke checked.

“I’m here. I just, I just wish I could remember!”

“I know babe, I know. This is gonna be hard. The hardest thing we’ve faced since you lost Jacob. I’m here with you. Austin is here with you. Trudy and Joseph are also here. Your family wants to see you next. Are you up for that?”

“You mentioned that but Peter, is he here too?”

“Yeah, he’s here. Sorry. Look, I know this is going to be hard. But Dawn, we’ll get through it.”

“Can I have a few moments please?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Dawn closed her eyes as Luke left. Marie was gone. The boss, her good friend, gone. And just before Christmas. It was the day before her birthday, which was on December twenty third. Somehow, her birthday would never be the same again. Not after this. Not after losing a very good friend.

The door to her room opened. She opened her eyes and smiled as Austin came running in with Trudy and Joseph. Austin hopped onto her bed by her side.

“Oof!” Dawn squawked.

“Sorry, mom!”

“It’s okay, buddy. How are you?”

“I’m worried about you.”

“I’ll be okay.”

“Yeah, you sure about that?”

“Well, you know as good as I can be.”

“We’re glad you are alive!”

“Me too.”

She pursed her lips and shook her head. How can she be thankful she’s alive? One of her good friends is dead because of some jackass who tried to blow up the police station. Her eyes widened.

“I remember!” Dawn exclaimed.

“Oh?” Joseph checked. “What do you remember?”

“Someone blew up the station!”

“Yeah. But we have no leads, Huds.”

“Nothing?”

“Sorry, nothing yet. It’s going to take some time.”

“We need to find out who did this!”

“I know, we will, trust us. The FBI are here.”

“FBI?”

“Yeah. We can’t touch this, Huds.”

“BS!”

“Huds, we can’t touch this. I know Peter will tell you the same.”

“I know. I just can’t believe this. Let this be a bad dream!”

“I wish it was a bad dream too. We’ll let you spend some time with Austin.”

“Thanks!”

Joseph and Trudy left. Austin stayed with Dawn. They just sat in silence for many moments. Dawn kept her eyes closed the entire time until a knock woke her.

“Hey, you up for more visitors?” Choo asked.

“Of course. You guys! Anything? Anything at all?” Dawn asked him.

“Sorry, no. Too early.”

“We’ve been kicked off. Relieved of duty until further notice,” Chris said.

“Um what?” Dawn asked.

“Yeah, it’s a bunch of BS!” Rohan said.

“Well, we are actually reassigned,” Stephanie said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, to Warren PD. Or we can take a leave of absence,” Choo said.

“Wow, that’s whacked!” Dawn said. “Where’s Peter?”

“He’s waiting to come in,” Chris said.

“Oh.”

She closed her eyes once again. Memories of the explosion flashed before her mind’s eye. As she was entering the room to inspect it for anything, she saw a package on a desk. When she inspected it further, she immediately called the bomb squad after hearing some ticking noise.

“Huds?” Choo checked.

“I told Luke I remember.”

“What?” Steph asked.

“I remember walking into the station with you all. When I went into that one room, I saw it. I saw a package on the desk.”

“Well, that doesn’t help at all,” Chris said.

“What else can you remember?” Rohan asked.

“After the bomb squad inspected the package, I remember seeing an envelope. Like the size of a greeting card,” she said. “They said the card was addressed to me.”

“Did you read the card?” Steph asked.

“Yeah, it said you’re going to pay.”

“Was it signed by any chance?” Choo asked.

“No. But I’m sure they can analyze the writing. It was written in cursive. Which has become a lost art.”

“I’m sure they will. Anything else?” Rohan wondered aloud.

“I saw a person walking away from the room after you guys left. I tried to check the camera that’s on the office door before calling the bomb squad. But the ticking was loud. I had to call them.”

“That will help. Anything else?” Choo checked.

“The man was tall. He wore a black hoodie. I couldn’t see his face.”

“Just take it easy. You need some rest,” Choo told her.

“Yeah. I’m glad you guys are safe. Any word on Char and Neo yet?”

“Nope. But we will let you know as soon as we know anything,” Chris said. “Rachel is here too.”

“Oh?”

“Do you want to see her?”

“Sure.”

They all smiled, gave gentle hugs and left. Austin still stayed with her. He hugged her tightly. The tightest he ever hugged her in his entire life. A knock on the door told them Rachel was there.

“Come in,” Dawn rasped.

“Hey!”

Austin ran to her and hugged her tightly too. She smiled and hugged him back. He led her to the right side of the bed where a green leather chair sat.

 

“Well, I’m so glad you are alive!” Rachel said.

“Yeah.”

“Look, I talked to Chris, he said if you need anything at all, we are here to help you.”

“Is it that bad?”

“Well, you were hurt but it may take some time to get back to normal. Doctors say your right leg was messed up. You may have a limp for a while.”

“Wow, really? That explains a lot. Messed up, what do you mean?”

“There are some burns on your thigh that will have your leg not being able to bend all the way it should, you know what I mean?”

“Yeah.”

“Dawn, I know it’s hard right now. But I have a bad feeling.”

“What, what is your feeling?”

“Austin, can you give us a few moments?” Rachel asked.

He nodded and left the room. After he closed the door, Rachel turned to Dawn with a hard look. She knew what she was going to say.

“I think this is Dimitri’s doing.”

“How is that possible?”

“Even though he’s in jail, I think this is him. You never went to visit him, did you?”

“Nope.”

“There you go.”

“Would he leave a greeting card with a bomb though? This doesn’t sound like him, at all.”

“If I know Dimitri, he isn’t predictable. And as for the greeting card, maybe that was just the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?”

“One by one, they will fall. One by one, they get the call,” Rachel said.

“What did you just say?”

“That’s what I remember Dimitri telling me.”

“When?”

“Before I left him.”

“That’s a threat. You know, someone else said that same thing to me just yesterday!”

“That guy, Sam?”

“Yeah, you know who I mean? You saw it happen?” Dawn asked.

“It was all over the news.”

She told Rachel to send Rohan in. There was something amiss here. What was it about that saying? She thought back to the other day. Her eyes widened. That saying was on the card as well. Now, just one question remained. How the hell did this Sam guy end up with Dimitri? Were they both connected?