Hotshot by Catherine Mann

Jaworski barked through a megaphone. “Halt. Step back, or we will be forced to remove you.”
    The cop’s orders all but bounced off the heads of the half-dozen or so teens pushing at each other while the rest of the crowd jeered. Shay could only think of pregnant Amber in the middle.
    Elbows jabbed into her side as Shay pushed through, her gaze locked on the vulnerable girl. A heavy foot stomped hers. She bit back a curse.
    Eli slid past. “Take it down a notch, Rickie.”
    Rickie hauled back a fist and let it fly toward Brody. Eli ducked, barely dodging the punch and hooking the kid around the waist. His flailing foot grazed Shay’s stomach.
    Ouch, shit, damn it.
    She knew better than to get in the middle, but seeing Amber cradle her belly . . . Shay shouldered ahead to grasp the girl’s wrist and wrap her arms around Amber’s huddled body. Thank God no weapons had been drawn yet. This was seconds away from tear gas and drawn guns.
    There had to be a better way.
    She ducked clear of Rickie and Brody taking on anyone in their path. An elbow nailed her on the cheekbone. Sparks fired behind her eyes, wiping out her sight for a second before she blinked it clear again. She hauled the pregnant girl closer and backed away.
    The smell of sweaty bodies and rancid hatred clung to the air. The lot filled with the shouts of their gang mates urging them on, the battle cry of street violence whooping it up until all she could hear were obscenities and shrieks.
    Strong hands gripped her waist and ushered her out of the way with Amber. Shay started to scream, then swallowed back the sound in shock.
    She sagged with relief. She didn’t even need to see his face to know. She recognized those intimidating shoulders in a biker rally T-shirt. The high-end motorcycle parked a few yards behind him only confirmed it.
    Vince’s face came into sharp focus, a black do-rag over his scalp. “That way, Shay. Go. Now!”
    Good God, was this man living in her pocket? How else could he always know when to show up?
    He gave a careful but forceful nudge that sent her back and away, her fingers locked with Amber’s. Finally, Shay stumbled free of the smothering press.
    She clasped the pregnant teen close to her side, surreptitiously checking the girl’s pulse at the wrist. A steady throb pushed through the cherry blossoms inked along Amber’s arm. “Are you all right?”
    The teen swept the back of her hand across mascara-stained cheeks. “Fine, it’s no big thing.”
    Shay wasn’t so sure the girl was as unaffected as she claimed, but her heart rate was only slightly elevated, not dangerously so. Shay gave Amber a gentle squeeze, her eyes zipping back to search the crowd to find Vince, her unlikely savior. He blocked a punch then secured his attacker in a headlock.
    Now that she had a better vantage point, she could see the cops making headway. Vince’s presence helped even the odds, shoving apart the rival gang members. The street began to open up like the Red Sea to divide the warring parties of onlookers. Cops filled in blank spaces as they worked without weapons.
    Amber twitched against Shay, the girl’s feet inching closer to the brawl. “He’s going to get hurt.”
    Which “he” did Amber mean?
    “You need to think about your baby. You’re having a little girl, right?”
    Tears welled in her eyes. “Yeah, but what about him?”
    Shay didn’t even know how to answer that other than to tuck the girl closer to her side.
    A handful of cops stayed on the fringes, eyes darting, monitoring, hands on their holstered service revolvers. If anyone started pulling guns . . . Part of her longed for her own weapon, and another part of her was grateful the 9 mm was tucked away safely in her backpack somewhere in her office.
    Slowly, the tide turned. Eli and Vince restrained Rickie and Caden, while Officer Jaworski and two other police officers snapped cuffs on the other offenders.
    Caden gave a final token struggle against Vince’s hold, a