I led Evan down a side street, hoping that all of the action would be on the main street.

When I slowed and Evan and Doug tried to run past me, I pulled them to a halt. Evan’s eyes were wide open and darting around wildly.

“What if they killed one of our friends?” he asked. “We’ve got to get over there and make sure they’re okay.”

The streets had gone eerily quiet, I pulled out my phone to dial 911. “Let me call this in. We can’t just go charging into a gunfight without backup. Doubly so when we don’t know what’s actually happening.”

Before I could hit dial, another gunshot exploded a couple of blocks to our right. Evan jumped away from the sound and bumped into me, causing me to drop my phone which fell to the ground. The screen shattered, the case fell open, and the battery bounced across the sidewalk.

Putting it together was taking too long and Evan had already started walking away. I finally managed to get the battery in place and snapped the case together but the phone wouldn’t turn on.

Cursing in frustration, I threw the phone against a nearby building and jogged to catch up with Evan. When I caught him, I tugged on his sleeve and said, “Slow and steady.”

As great as Evan looked in his tight khakis, I wished he’d worn something baggier and not left his phone at home.

My fingers twitched, begging for the comfort of my gun. Even though I rarely pulled it from its holster outside of the range, it was always there ready to help me out in a pinch. Without it and my bulletproof vest, I felt very mortal and small.

I heard Doug’s footsteps behind me. Not sure whether he’d be better off staying in a group with us or trying to get home on his own, I ignored making any decisions for him. He was a grownup.

At our cautious pace it took a few minutes to get back near The Firehouse. We were still a block away when the cop cars sped past in a whirlwind of red flashing lights and loud sirens.

The cavalry had arrived just in time. Encouraged by their arrival, I started jogging after them, making sure Evan and Doug stayed close behind. At least we wouldn’t be going into trouble alone.

There’s no way the whole station is in on whatever’s going on with these crimes, I said to comfort myself.

The scene around The Firehouse was pandemonium. A couple hundred people who’d arrived early to start partying had gathered from various nearby clubs in front of The Firehouse. Everyone was milling around in the middle of the street, holding up their cellphones to stream live video of the events on their social media pages, and talking excitedly with their friends.

Cops were busy pushing the crowd back, trying to get them far enough away to keep them safe while other cops were planning their attack.

I’d never been stuck on the civilian side of the police barricade before. Feeling helpless and useless, I blended in with the rest of the crowd and stood behind Evan with Doug at our side. We all watched the cops spreading out and trying to assess the scene.

“Evan. James. Over here.” Owen stood a little to our left waving for us to join him. Liam and Sean stood on each side of him. Sean looked like he would have preferred to go home, but the gravity of the crowd kept him in the center of it. Liam looked ready to storm all of the buildings and ferret out any criminals inside.

I hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid. The last thing the police needed was civilians jumping into the fray. It wasn’t like the bad guys wore uniforms that made them easy to identify, and when gung-ho regular people tried to play hero it made the cops’ job that much more difficult.

“What’s going on?” Evan asked.

“I don’t know,” Owen answered. “We were inside. It seemed like a normal evening until we heard the gunshot. It was close. We’re pretty sure it was either in the alley or the strip club behind The Firehouse.”

“Hey,” I said when I saw Liam creeping toward the front of the crowd. “Everyone needs to remember to stand back. If you’re not trained to deal with the situation, you’ll just get in the way and get yourself or someone else killed.”

Owen reached out and pulled Liam back to him. Liam looked at us all as if surprised to learn that he’d been walking away from the group.

Leave it to the drummer to be the crazy guy to accidentally put himself in the path of the bullets.

The guys all stood around catching up. Evan introduced Doug to everyone. It sounded like Doug was going to fit in just fine.

Good for him.

I heard the topic quickly switch from the shootings to our date. It had only been a few minutes ago, but it already felt like a million years ago.

Not knowing how to make small talk during a crisis, I watched the SWAT team break off into groups and set up around the strip club. They were preparing to storm the front door. I knew this was just the calm before the storm. Once the chief gave the command, they would crash through the front door, toss their flashbangs to confuse the bad guys and start their sweep of the building. The whole routine would take just a few minutes if it went well.

The SWAT team practiced so often that it almost always did.

Something caught the corner of my eye. Turning my attention to the alley I saw Trey disappearing into the shadows. None of the other cops seemed to notice him. Forgetting my suspension and the fact that I didn’t have any weapons, I crept toward the alley. I was halfway there before I heard Evan calling out to me to come back.

With the blood pounding in my ears and the taste of copper in my mouth, I couldn’t obey. I had to get Trey. Whatever else happened in the strip club next door, I had to make sure Trey was apprehended. He was some part of the very real threat to Evan and me, and I was certain he was mixed up in everything else that was happening, too. Letting him go free simply wasn’t an option.

I took two steps into the alley but didn’t see any sign of Trey. He’d either escaped into the strip club or The Firehouse, or was hiding in the dumpster.

Realizing exactly how much danger I was exposing myself to, I managed to stop myself from running to check the dumpster.

As I turned to flag down a cop and let him know they needed to keep their eyes open for Trey, two sets of impossibly strong hands grabbed me and dragged me deeper into the alley.

I kicked and tried to scream, but, with one of the hands pressed tightly over my mouth, no one heard me.

When they’d dragged me deeper into the alley, the two men said something to each other that I didn’t understand. In my panic, I couldn’t even begin to guess at the language.

I tried kicking backward, hoping to catch one of them in the nuts and give myself a fair chance to fight my way free. My kick barely landed on one of their thighs. The man grunted, but did not let me go. Instead his friend threw a punch that landed just below my eye. The first guy pulled me against his body and covered my mouth with his hand.

It smelled like sauerkraut.

“Bite me and I break your neck,” he whispered into my ear.

Further into the alley I heard two voices arguing. One belonged to Trey. I recognized the other, too.

O’Brian.

“What the fuck are you doing over here? I thought I told you to go home.” O’Brian hissed at Trey.

“Boss,” Sauerkraut whispered. “What you want us to do with this guy?”

“I was on my way,” Trey said. “I even had a friend who was ready to watch Netflix and chill. Your buddy cockblocked me, though.”

“Boohoo for you. That doesn’t explain why you’re here in this alley, though. With what’s going down in the strip club, you shouldn’t be anywhere in this fucking state.”

“Yeah, well, your buddy knows you’re involved and I thought you might want to take care of that loose end before it took care of you. But I can go home and rub one out instead.”

“Boss! This guy. Should I ice him?”

O’Brian and Trey both turned their heads and noticed me for the first time.

“Well, look at that, O’Brian,” Trey said, flashing a smile. “You white guys really are lucky motherfuckers.”

“Damn it, James. You shouldn’t be here,” O’Brian said under his breath when he noticed me.

“O’Brian, let me go.” I struggled uselessly against the two men who were still holding me. “You can’t just kill me in the alley with cops running around everywhere.”

“Yeah. I know,” O’Brian said, more than a small touch of sadness in his voice. Before I could relax, though, he gave his command to his goons. “Take him into The Firehouse.”

Any further struggles were cut short when a third man I hadn’t noticed stepped in front of me and punched me in the temple, making the world go black.