15 Seconds Read Online Free Page A

others. Even Baldy, who tossed me a final glare that to me said, Don’t let me meet up with you again .
    I started to think this seemed like a positive sign. If they were transporting a dangerous suspect to jail, they wouldn’t all be driving off. I even let out a hopeful breath. Maybe I would get out of this with only a ticket. A ticket I didn’t deserve maybe, but it damn well beat jail!
    Finally, Martinez came around and opened the rear door again. This time his tone was different. Softer. “I’m not going to apologize,” he said. “I told you several times to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?”
    This time I wasn’t looking for any moral victories. “Yes, you did, Officer, and I guess I—”
    â€œAnd I haven’t violated any of your civil rights . . .” He stared at me. “Isn’t that correct . . . ?”
    Sitting there, unfairly, in the backseat of a police car, my wrists aching from the cuffs, I took a chance and smiled back at him. “That part, I’m not sure the jury isn’t still out on . . .”
    He gave me a bit of a chuckle in return. “Turn around. I’ll get you out of there. Truth is, I suppose the streets are kind of confusing back there. Bay Shore West is only a couple of lights down the road. We do try to be friendly here . . .” He took off the cuffs and a wave of relief ran through me.
    â€œYour sidekick back there . . . I assume he’s just the friendly type too?”
    â€œRowley?” Martinez snorted. “Me, I’m a teddy bear.” He slapped me amicably on the shoulder. “Him? Guess he’s just a little embarrassed by the misunderstanding. Let’s just say, better you don’t run into him again, if you know what I mean?”
    â€œNo worries,” I said, wringing my hands free.
    He said, “I’m going to write you up a warning. For speeding up through a yellow light. No proof of insurance required. That sound okay?” Martinez winked, like the whole episode was just some kind of a shared joke between us. “Just take a seat back in your car.”
    A warning? If the guy had said up front that all he was doing was writing me up a warning, we could have avoided the whole mess . . .
    I got back in the front seat of the Caddie, glancing back once or twice through the rearview mirror, as Martinez, back in his car, wrote on his pad.
    And suddenly it all began to make sense to me—how they were all just standing around grinning, like it was some kind of joke . . . How, what if there never was any other person in a federal office building? Or someone who had been stopped earlier. With a woman in the car. How what if they were all just covering Martinez’s ass for totally overreacting. He’d probably told them that he had this rich, out-of-town doctor in cuffs, and they all stared back at him, like: Are you out of your mind? You’re arresting him for that, protesting a traffic violation . . . ?
    My blood was simmering, and I could feel myself growing more and more angry at how the whole thing had gone down.
    That’s when I saw an old-model blue sedan, a Ford or a Mercury or something—I wasn’t the best at those kinds of things, and nor was I really paying attention—pull up next to Martinez’s patrol car.
    Yeah, that’s what I’m sure it was, I said to myself —a cover. To give him some justification for what he did, yanking me out of my car. There probably never was any other person or woman in any car. In fact—
    Suddenly I heard a loud pop coming from behind me. Like a whip snapping.
    Then another.
    I spun around and saw the blue sedan pull into a frenetic U-turn, screeching away from Martinez’s car.
    Everything was scarily still. Just this total absence of movement or sound. Including my own heartbeat.
    What just happened?
    I looked in my mirror as horror began to