Demon's Trust (The Chronicles of Arcayos #1) - Raven Dark Page 0,73

take off after him, but he’s already in the alley. So much for knowing police procedure. He’s supposed to wait for his partner.

“Police, stop right there,” he calls out. He’s walking smoothly into the alley behind the two men as one opens the car’s back door and the other tries to shove the struggling woman into the vehicle. Arcayos has his firearm out, cupped in both hands and pointed at the men.

By the time I reach the mouth of the alley, the men have turned, one of them holding the woman to him with her hands pinned behind her back, his hand over her mouth. The other guy draws a gun.

“Stay out of this,” the gunman snaps. “Get the fuck out of here now, and you won’t get your head blown off.”

“Can’t do that, sir.” Arcayos’ voice is impressively cool and calm. “Release the woman and put your hands in the air.”

The woman whimpers from behind the kidnapper’s hand. She’s trembling from head to foot.

Slowly, I make my way toward Arcayos, careful not to escalate the situation by distracting him or alarming the men. I pull my own gun carefully out of my holster and cup it, pointed down.

“Get the fuck out of here now,” the guy holding the woman snaps. He pulls a gun of his own and presses the muzzle to her temple. “Or she dies.”

Son of a bitch. That escalated in a hurry. We never covered this in the crash course I gave him. Suddenly I’m wondering how in the hell I ever thought it was a good idea to put a guy from a demon realm who hasn’t been properly trained on the police force and give him a loaded gun.

Arcayos clicks the safety off his pistol, raising it more firmly to the level of the shooter’s head.

“Please,” the woman rasps now that the kidnapper has released her mouth. “Help me!”

Arcayos fires a warning shot. The loud crack echoes through the alley, the bullet shattering one of the car’s windows. “Release her and put your hands up! Now!” The command in his voice gives me chills.

Both men toss their guns aside and raise their hands.

“Cassidy,” Arcayos says, without taking his eyes from them.

I wave my hand for the terrified woman to come to me. “It’s all right. Come here. They won’t hurt you now.”

She runs to me, sobbing with fear. As soon as I have her, I put her behind me. “There’s a pay phone across the street,” I tell her. “Call the police. Tell them we need a car.” I give her the street corner.

Footsteps scurry down the alley behind me.

Arcayos has already grabbed the first of the two kidnappers, pinned his arms behind his back, and spun him to face the car. As I make my way toward them, he shoves him against the vehicle.

He’s in the middle of putting the cuffs on the first guy when the other whips around and grabs the back of his head as if to bash it into the window. My breath catches and I step back.

Arcayos whips around. His hand lances out. He grabs the kidnapper’s wrist and flips him onto his back, neatly and cleanly and without violence.

The guy he just cuffed whips around, kicking. Arcayos shoves him, chest first, up against the car, easily pinning him there with his arm across his nape.

“On your stomach, now,” he orders the other over his shoulder.

“Okay, okay, chill out, man. No need to get testy.” He rolls over onto his belly.

I leap to the guy’s side. He tries to roll onto his back. I pin him to the ground with one hand on his shoulder, my knee on his back.

“You really want to go there?” I say.

He slumps in defeat, hands up. I cuff him and haul him to his feet.

Arcayos cuffs the other guy.

The man I’m holding spits on the ground at Arcayos’ feet.

“You don’t want to see what I’m like when I get testy,” Arcayos says.

I can’t help smiling at that, wondering if he threw in a little Incredible Hulk between all those cop shows he watched.

“Brilliant plan you two had,” I tell the man I’ve cuffed, marching him over to the hood of their car. “Kidnapping a woman in broad daylight with the cops thirty feet away.”

“Fuck you, bitch,” he spits out.

“Put your head on the car,” I order.

His forehead clunks onto the hood.

Arcayos reads them both their rights.

Two squad cars show up to take the kidnappers and the victim back to the station, one