PROLOGUE
Phoebe Banks shut the back door to Snappy's Buffet Resteraunt and checked to see if it was locked securely. She glanced at her watch and sighed as its digits read five minutes after midnight. After her regular eight hour shift, Phoebe had taken over for her friend, Rosie Sorguoy. In total, she had worked a sixteen hour day and she could hear her bed calling her.
She only lived three blocks away, but the time seemed to stretch as she walked down the dark streets. The area she lived in was considered to be one of the slums in her city, Vancouver of British Columbia. Her parents despised that she lived in such a bad area, but she needed to be near the Vancouver Community College where she was taking some Art classes. Phoebe had grown up in a small town in the Fraser Valley called Rosedale. Her parents and three brothers still lived there and urgently requested that she join them when her semester was finished.
The sudden chill of the night air, made Phoebe gather her jacket close to her body in an endeaver to keep the warmth inside. Above her a streetlight blinked eerily, and she shivered in nervousness as she drew near the alley which she often used as a shortcut to her apartment complex. At the sight of the familiar building, Phoebe breathed a sigh of relief, allowing all tension to flow from her rigid body.
As she was walking midway the alley she overheard forceful voices in the shadows ahead. One voice seemed to be pleading, whereas the other was just viciously angry. Phoebe did not know whether to turn and take the long way around, or push aside her fear and face those ahead.
After a wild debate with herself in her mind, Phoebe could not shake the need to crawl into her bed and fall fast asleep. So, although a voice in her head told her to be careful, Phoebe moved slowly foreward. The voices became clearer as she came closer and her heart seemed to beat wildly within her.
"Please don't kill me, man. I'll do anything to pay you back, I swear!" a pleading voice said thorugh sobs, "Just don't ...don't kill me."
Phoebe stopped in her tracks, panic instantly making her ease toward the wall of the building to the left. What was going on?
A deeper voice responded an instant later, "Well, you should have thought about that before you used up all my money! When you sold my merchandise, you were told to bring the money to me. I didn't tell you to buy drugs for yourself, did I?"
Phoebe heard a whimper come from the other man, and then waited for what would happen next. Her breath caught in her throat as he moved ahead and hid behind a garbage bin. She gasped at the sight which she beheld. A tall caucasian man with bright red hair and the tattoo of a snake on his neck held a gun to the temple of a young teenager who was weeping.
"I'm sorry, Mikey, " the boy said, his voice trembling, "It was wrong of me to steal your money, I'll do anything to make it up to you."
Mikey, as the boy had called him, took the gun away from his temple and stepped back, "Alright, I'll think of something."
Phoebe could see the boy nearly collapse in relief, and she found that she had been holding her breath in anticapation. Quickly, she breathed normally for a while as she watched Mikey walk close to where she was standing, his back to the boy, "Well, Keagen, I've thought about it and I cannot let there be a chance of you deceiving me again."
The next few seconds seemed to drage on forever. Mikey turned in sudden quickness and pulled the trigger to his gun three times. Phoebe gasped loudly as she watched Keagen fall back against the wall behind him and then slide down to the ground.
Instantly, she saw Mikey turn to face her and she crouched down behind some crates, hoping he had not spotted her. However it was too late, he had seen her face. Phoebe shut her eyes tightly as she waited for him to walk up to her, she heard him take some steps to her but then the loud honk of a car horn disturbed the night and he walked away.
Tears streamed down her face as she sobbed for the young boy and for nearly losing her own life. It was about fifteen minutes later when she heard sirens growing louder as they drew near. Someone in the surrounding buildings must have called the authorities. Phoebe wanted to move but her body would not let her, she felt like a stone; unmovable on its own. She could only stare ahead in stunned silence, beating herself up inwardly for not walking the other way home.
She was still staring at the wall before her when a gently hand patted her on the arm. At the instant of the touch, Phoebe jumped back in fear, looking into the face of a handsome man around the age of thirty. His blonde hair was gently tousled and warmth seemed to spring forth from his green eyes. Even though she had been through quite an ordeal, Phoebe still had sense to enjoy the physique of such a handome and strong speciman.
"Are you alright, ma'am?" he asked, calmly sitting down beside her on the hard concrete. Phoebe could not get her tongue to form the words she wanted to say. Instead her eyes filled with tears and she erupted into a blubbery mess on his shoulder.
He soothed her with calm words and said that she was safe now. As hard as she tried, she could not make her mind believe the words he spoke. After a while, the man stood up and helped her to her feet but as soon as she stood her legs got all rubbery and she fell right back to a sitting position on the cold concrete. Without another word, he picked her up in his muscular arms as if she weighed nothing at all and carried her down the alley towards the lights of the emergency vehicles. As she pressed against hi hard chest, she leaned her head against his shoulder and breathed in teh scent of his spicy aftershave and coll men's cologne. Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, but she dismissed them as a result of what she had just witnessed.
The strong amrs gently deposited her on a stretcher and she felt a sudden chill creep over her.
"I found this young woman in the alley. I presume she witnessed teh shooting," he said with a voice of authority, flipping open a notebook, "I am going to take a look at the other victim. Do what you can to make her comfortable and check her over. Wait until I am done here before you head back to the hospital. I will want to go with you."
Phoebe felt her heart clench within her, why did this man make her feel so sensual? He was just a man; a man who had been the first to comfort her after a scary incident. Yes, obviously it was just because he had a hero complex.
"Count it taken care of, Detective Cameron," the young female paramedic said cheerfully, spreading a warm blanket over Phoebe's shivering body.
The Detective nodded her way and then glanced in Phoebe's direction, "You're going to be okay, ma'am. but I will have to talk to you later so I want you to think about talking soon."
She said nothing but just watched him walk down the alley, o how this man was driving her senseless!
The paramedic introduced herself as Lisa and her partner Rick soon came out of the ambulance to assist. They were a good team, talking and laughing as if she were a part of the group and soon she felt the tension drift away. It wasn't too long before the entire alley was flooded with peopleand lights. A coroner came to look after teh body and determine the obvious truth. Within minutes tehy had the body on a stretcher in a black bag and in the back of another ambulance.
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This is great!! I love it!
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