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him to go after Mason. I know how dangerous he is. Jason isn’t trained for this kind of work.”
    Dan shook his head and squeezed my shoulder once before removing his hand. “All you asked him to do was keep his eyes and ears open for any signs of Mason’s whereabouts. I was there when you asked him. Mason is a sick freak who decided to use Jason as a tool to warn us off. That wasn’t your doing so don’t blame yourself for that man’s actions.” As he spoke, Dan pointed in the direction Mason had run and I wondered for the first time how the chase was going.
    I rose slowly, not willing to release all of the blame but wanting to drop the matter. “How’s the pursuit?”
    “So far nothing,” Dan said in disgust, his blue eyes narrowing. “The uniforms say it’s like he ran out the door and vanished. They called in more backup to help with the search, but…” His hand waved aimlessly to indicate his opinion on how that would work. I knew. It would make no difference, and once again Mason would get away.
    “We should go see how Jason is doing,” Dan said, pushing me to the exit. “We’ll deal with the fallout of this later.”
     
    The walk to the squad car was silent as the morning’s events were running through both our minds. I began to wonder how the ripped up floor of the warehouse would be explained. It was obvious to me that Jason had seen no other option, but why?
    “Dan, where’s Sam?” I asked, freezing in place as I reached to open the car door.
    “He’s with one of the uniforms, giving his statement.” Dan climbed into the car, and I relaxed slightly, happy that Sam was safe. “They saw him running away, but he looked back, saw them, and came back to talk to them,” Dan continued as I sat next to him.
    I felt my eyes widen in surprise at this revelation. “Jason’s been a good influence. Usually his kids scatter when they see a cop other than me.”
    “Yup, it surprises me too; Jason usually does the same.” Dan pulled a U-turn as he entered the flow of traffic several minutes behind the speeding ambulance. He didn’t turn on the siren, but we were definitely pushing the speed limit.
    “They won’t try to hold Sam, will they?” I asked. “He needs to let the others know that he’s okay, so they don’t worry about him anymore.”
    Dan’s eyebrows crinkled in concern. “He’s a young kid living on the streets, Alice. You know they have to call Social Services. As much as Jason cares about those kids, he doesn’t have the means to support them or put them through school. That being said,” he continued lightly. “You can bet that as soon as he’s done talking, that kid is gonna take off running.”
    “You’re probably right.” Despite their differences, Dan understood Jason and his kids better than he would admit. “Jason would know we’re not out to get him, so he’d want the kids to be able to go to us for help. But he wouldn’t risk them getting sent back to their parents, so he’d be sure to tell them to run away as soon as they were done talking.” We were covering old ground, but anything was better than dwelling on the injured informant.
    Jason had told me some of what the kids had been through at their homes. I knew, even if Social Services didn’t, that the kids were better off on the streets with Jason than they had been at home. He never had told me exactly what made him leave, except to say that he and his father had a difference of opinion in how he was being raised. The look in his eyes as he’d said it warned me not to ask for details. From what I’d seen, it would have had to be something bad for Jason to leave. He was responsible enough that he would not have left over a slight disagreement, but he wanted me to believe the lie. For his sake, I could pretend—at least until he felt he was able to share the truth.
    “Did you ever find out what made Jason leave home?” Dan asked, unconsciously mirroring my thoughts. I’d known Jason since very