STALEMATE [MAFIA] [MXM] ✓

14: HER

Ok just to let y'all know this chapter is pretty sad. I try to keep my books mostly upbeat so I marked the sad part with dashes (-) in case you wanna skip it. It's a very minor character death but it's kind of graphic just to give you guys a warning

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Salem hasn't really had to deal with something like this, yet. He and Donovan are still basically rookies, so they usually just handle the smaller, more boring things. This is going to be the first truly dangerous call they've had. Salem can't help but to feel nervous, as does Donny. He's still not voicing anything, clearly irritated with Salem for not being truthful. Still, the car is full of nervous energy. Salem is recalling all of his training the entire way there, trying to be ready for anything.

He prays it will be over fast. He's good at fighting and disarming. He's really hoping those qualities don't fail him now.

Salem isn't sure what exactly he expected, maybe a hostage situation? He definitely thought it would take place in an establishment. It's a shooting, which means that it is more than likely at a business or at the very least, a public area.

Except, that's not it. Nope, when they finally reach the address, they are met with the sight of a house. Salem and Donovan exit the vehicle quickly, just in time to see one of the neighbors jogging over. She's a short, slightly overweight woman with kind eyes and worry on her features. She stops right in front of them, and is immediately talking. "Thank you so much for coming, officers."

"Are you a resident?" Donny asks her, even though Salem's already figured that out. She's a neighbor, and it's very obvious if you look at the direction she came from, as well as her family which are waiting in the gravel driveway one house over for her. She responds with a negative, and Donny begins his routine questioning. Salem is now surveying the scene.

The front door of the house is ajar, and Salem does his best to look in all the windows he can. There aren't many, since it's a small house. Salem sees absolutely no life, no movement. He frowns, wondering why they were called here on a shooting. There doesn't appear to be any gunfire.

Another police car pulls up, and Salem vaguely recognizes the officers that get out. Salem and Donny never called for backup, but this is pretty common for calls of a certain danger level. The more people on scene, the less chance of a mishap or casualty.

The other two officers start walking around, also surveying the scene. They don't greet anybody, just simply start casing the house. They examine the outside before appearing as though they're about to enter it. Salem watches one knock on the doorway, calling something into the residence.

Salem just stands there, listening to the woman. Well, Donny is listening to her. Salem is just watching everything unfold, looking for something of concern. He jumps a bit when he hears a loud bang, eyes shooting over to the source of the noise. A second later he finds the front door, which had previously been cracked, burst open.

One of the other officers stumbles back at the sudden action, and Salem watches as a large man runs out. He's in a full sprint, and takes off in a random direction. The other two officers are immediately in pursuit, chasing the guy and calling it into their radios. Salem and Donny look at each other, having both seen something disturbing.

"Was he covered in blood?" Donovan asks, and he's not exaggerating. The guy had blood spatters on him, and he was clearly bleeding from a hidden wound, possibly several. So, there was definitely a decent amount.

Salem can't hide the slight nervousness in his voice when he replies. "He was."

The other two officers are gone, caught up in a foot chase, so it falls onto Donovan and Salem to check the place out. Salem sighs, proceeding with caution. The neighbor lady jogs away, clearly not wanting to risk getting caught in the crossfire.