Here is the first 10% of the second story included in Book One of the Cuffed series.

Stop or I’ll Shoot!

Officer Lance Yandell placed his coffee mug in his car's cup holder when his radio crackled to life. The 911 operator had a problem for Lance to solve. The 911 calls went through the local dispatch center, where the operator answered the phone and sent the police to emergencies.

"Dispatch to 109 and 106," the operator said. Lance was number 109 and his buddy, Jonathan was number 106. Whatever the dispatch center wanted, two officers needed to respond. Something serious, then.

Lance checked the time on his dashboard. 1:30 am. The local bars were still open, so maybe he had to go to a bar fight. Lance liked sorting out bar fights. "109 to dispatch," he answered. Time to find out what he needed to do.

The dispatcher continued, "Entry alarm at the Renwick Shoe Store on Columbia Avenue. The alarm company reported broken glass." A burglary! Lance liked solving burglaries too.

Renwick Shoes had been robbed before. Each time, the thieves stole expensive shoes and the money in the cash register. Sometimes criminals found robbing a particular store so easy and profitable, they returned again and again. After four break-ins in two months, the owner of the shoe store promised to install a silent alarm system. Tonight, that new alarm system may have caught a burglary in progress. Most alarm calls were false, but each needed to be checked out.

Excellent! Time to fight crime. Lance considered himself a man of action. His buddies called him "Quick Draw", because he'd size up a situation and draw his gun while the other officers were still figuring out a plan. As many times as he'd drawn his weapon, though, he'd never actually shot a person.