Chapter 6 - Sirens on Cedar Street
Vance fought with the frantic, feral desperation of a man who knew he was facing twenty years behind bars. He scrambled toward a kitchen drawer, his fingers clawing at the brass handle, clearly aiming for whatever weapon was tucked inside. I drove my weight across his upper shoulders, pinning his right arm against the cold linoleum while twisting his wrist into an escort lock. ""Stop resisting! Stop moving!"" I commanded, applying precise downward pressure. He snarled, thrashing his legs against the refrigerator door, the sound ringing through the empty house like a drum. From down the street, the faint, wailing sound of approaching sirens rose above the neighborhood bustle—two patrol cruisers and a sergeant’s unit responding to my silent emergency distress call. Vance heard them too. The tension drained out of his muscles, replaced by a heavy, defeated slump as the reality of his situation set in. I clicked the first steel cuff around his right wrist, pulled his left arm behind his back, and secured the second bracelet with a sharp, final click. ""You're making a massive mistake,"" Vance wheezed, his cheek pressed firmly against the linoleum. ""You don't know the whole story. I took care of that kid when nobody else wanted him. He was safe with me."" ""You kept him locked in a house with forged passports and route maps of other people's children,"" I replied, standing up and dusting off my knees just as the front door was kicked wide open. Sergeant Miller and Officer Ramos swept through the entryway with their service weapons drawn, their eyes scanning the hallway before landing on me and the handcuffed man on the floor. ""Dunham! Status?"" Miller shouted, keeping his weapon trained on Vance. ""Suspect is secured, Sergeant,"" I answered, catching my breath. ""Call child protective services and an ambulance to the scene immediately. We have a child downstairs. And get district detectives down here right away. We just broke open something much bigger than a runaway case.""
