The Order of Brigid's Cross - The Wild Hunt (Book 1): The Wild Hunt by Terri Reid Page B

and his grandmother
seated in tall wooden chairs.
    “Are you here to arrest my grandson?” the older woman
snapped, ready to do battle against whoever threatened one of her own.
    “No, ma’am,” Sean replied. “I’m actually here for two
reasons, to ask him some more questions and to protect him.”
    He saw a moment of relief pass across the old woman’s face,
but then her features stiffened as she gazed down at him.
    “Protect him?” she huffed. “ Ain’t no one thinking about protection when they sent him home on
the bus through these neighborhoods. Boys get stabbed on buses every day around
here.”
    Sean nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “I agree with you, and I
apologize on behalf of the department. There was some kind of
miscommunication.”
    “That miscommunication could have cost my boy his life,” she
replied sternly.
    “But it didn’t, Grandma,” Jamal inserted, feeling sorry for
the poor detective who was facing off against his grandmother. He would hate to
be in his shoes. “I’m fine.”
    She whipped her head over to look at him. “You ain’t fine, Jamal Gage,” she stated emphatically. “You left
this house without my permission. You got yourself involved with that gang and
nearly got yourself killed. You is so far from fine, you might not ever see
fine in your lifetime.”
    Sean sent Jamal a quick, sympathetic look and cleared his
throat to draw the grandmother’s ire back to him. “From what Jamal reported
yesterday, the only reason he agreed to participate in the gang activity is
because they threatened to hurt you,” Sean said. “Did you know that?”
    She turned from Sean to Jamal and stared at him for a
moment. “Is that true?” she asked.
    He shrugged and nodded. “Yes, ma’am,” he said. “Devonte stopped
me when I was coming up the stairs.   He
told me if I didn’t come to the throw down, something bad would happen to you.”
    He paused for a moment, searching her eyes for
understanding. “I couldn’t let them hurt you, Grandma,” he whispered, his voice
thick with emotion. “You’re all I have in this world.”
    “I’d like to see them try and hurt me,” she blustered, but
Sean could see the old woman was afraid.
    “Grandma, this ain’t no game,” Jamal said. “They don’t care about no one but
themselves. They would have hurt you. They would have hurt you bad.”
    She took a deep breath and turned to Sean. He could see that
her frail hand clutching tightly to a handkerchief was trembling slightly. “So,
what you gonna do about this?” she demanded. “How you gonna protect us?”
    A thunderous pounding on the door interrupted the
conversation. “Police,” the word was shouted through the closed door. “Open up
immediately.”
    Jamal and his grandmother looked at Sean in confusion.
“What’s this all about?” the old woman asked.
    “I don’t know. But I’m going to find out,” Sean said,
standing and walking to the door.
    He started to open the door and was in the process of
pulling out his badge when the door was kicked open the rest of the way, and
four SWAT members ran into the room, their weapons drawn.
    “Freeze!” one of the officers shouted.
    Jamal wrapped his arms protectively around his grandmother
and stood behind the wooden chairs.   His
grandmother’s eyes were wide with fear.
    “There’s been a mistake,” Sean said, holding his hands away
from his body. “I’m Detective O’Reilly, First Precinct, and I’m interrogating
this witness. We haven’t charged him with anything.”
    The lead officer turned to Sean. “You got ID?”
    Sean slowly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out
his identification and badge and showed it to the officer. The officer reviewed
it and nodded. “Okay, you’re clear,” he said. “But I’ve got to take your
witness in.”
    He turned to Jamal. “Jamal Gage, you have been charged with
multiple counts of murder in the gang-related deaths of over one hundred
victims. You have the