Chapter 4 That's when Nina leaned close to my earpiece and started screaming : [ ] " Ryan ! She's totally out of control ! I tried to stop her but she just cuffed me and now she's gonna kill me ! " [ ] " You gotta help me ! " ]] Behind me , the door EXPLODED open . A brick nailed me right in the head , and I hit the deck hard . [ ] I barely managed to look up and there was Ryan , standing over me with eyes like arctic ice . [ ] " You wanna play soldier ? Disobeying direct orders , beating up your own team ? In the Army , they'd shoot you for that shit . " [ ] " But hey , you're just a cop , so I'll cut you some slack . " [ ] He turned to Nina : " She roughed you up , right ? Go ahead , break a couple ribs . You've earned it . " [ ] He strolled over , uncuffed Nina , and tossed her the brick like it was nothing . Nina caught it and started walking toward me , grinning like a psycho . [ ] " Guess it's my turn , huh ? " Blood was pouring into my eyes , but I still managed a bitter laugh . ] Even with a do - over , I STILL couldn't escape this nightmare ? She raised that brick high . I squeezed my eyes shut . [] Then - WHOMP WHOMP WHOMP - a chopper came thundering down , and a voice blasted through the loudspeaker : [ ] " NOBODY MOVE ! " ] The mayor and police chief spotted us three up there , and you could see their faces just DROP . [ ] " What in the HELL is going on here ? " ] The chief was standing down on the ground , absolutely livid . The second they'd spotted us on that rooftop , he'd ordered us all brought down immediately . [] The mayor had already bolted for the hospital the moment he saw his kid was hurt I was barely staying vertical . Once the adrenaline crash hit , pain started radiating from everywhere - Ryan's cheap shot plus Nina's earlier kicks had me about ready to face plant . ] But I was still on my feet , still able to talk , running on pure spite - the kind of rage you get from being totally screwed over . ] Before Ryan or I could get a word in , Nina - who'd been playing dumb this whole time - suddenly started running her mouth : [ ] " Chief ! I gotta report this ! Claire totally screwed up , exposed our sniper position , and almost got everyone killed ! Then she tried to shut me up , trapped me on the roof , and was gonna murder me to cover it up ! " ] Plus she kept pissing off the hostage guy on purpose - like she WANTED people to die ! " ] ] Instead of jumping to defend myself , I just stared Ryan down . ] He gave me this cold ass look and then goes :] ] " Chief , Nina's telling it straight . This whole dusterfuck happened because Claire lost her shit up there . " The chief knew me - wed worked together before . He frowned and looked down at me : [ ] " Claire , you're usually rock solid . This isn't like you to screw the pooch this bad . Talk to me . What really went down ? " [ ] I spat put the blood in my mouth , my voice all raspy and weak : [ ] Nina's the one who kept poking the bear , screwing with our rescue timing . She deliberately blew my position , made me a sitting duck . Then she literally put her hand over my scope so I couldn't take the shot " ] And I got proof of every damn bit of it . Body cam , radio logs , video - the whole nine yards . " ] Chapter 4 I pulled out a phone I'd stashed near my sniper nest - caught everything from Nina kicking down that door to Ryan trying to brain me with a brick . [ ] " Oh , and I'm filing a complaint against Team Leader Sterling too . [ ] He covered for Nina , threw team safety out the window , made garbage calls that turned this into a shitshow . All to save his little girlfriend's ass while the rest of us nearly got blown to pieces . I want a full investigation , starting now . " [ ] The chief was stunned speechless . Just as he was about to respond , Ryan - who'd been keeping his mouth shut this whole time - suddenly jumped in : [ ] " Claire ! Are you out of your goddamn MIND ? What is this bullshit ? " [ ] " Sorry , Chief . She took a knock to the head , plus the stress of fucking up this bad - I think she's having some kind of breakdown . She's just talking crazy now . " I held up the phone and my earpiece memory card right in front of the chief . ] ] ot . " " Chief , you can check for yourself . See if I'm lying or not .' The chief took the evidence . Ryan's face went white as a sheet , but he tried to play it cool , acting like nothing was wrong . [] 1 couldn't see the chief's face while he was going through the footage , but I knew it had to be BAD . Ryan was his golden boy , and now this kind of mess ? His reputation was toast . But Nina was STILL clueless , thinking we'd just saved some random kid , totally missing how everything had just flipped upside down . [ ] She kept running her mouth like she owned the place . " Don't get all smug , Claire . " She was practically cackling . " Me and Ryan got people EVERYWHERE in this department . City Hall too . We can have your ass fired by lunch tomorrow . w . " ] " So enjoy your last little victory lap while it lasts . Once we make our calls , you're gonna be lucky to get a job as a mall cop in this town ! " [ ] I was way too beat to keep fighting with this psycho . I found an ambulance and dragged myself into it . [ ] Right now , all I wanted was to sleep for about a week . [ ]