Double Take: A Short Story

By Alan Jacobson

NYPD detective Ben Dyer awakens from cancer surgery to find his life turned upside down. His fiancée has disappeared and Dyer, determined to find her, embarks on a journey mired with potholes and startling revelations—revelations that have the potential to forever change his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Media
• Release date: Jul 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781497655911

Alan Jacobson

Alan Jacobson is the national bestselling author of the critically acclaimed FBI profiler Karen Vail and OPSIG Team Black series. Jacobson’s years of extensive research and training while embedded with federal and local law enforcement agencies have influenced him both personally and professionally, and have helped shape the stories he tells and the diverse characters that populate his novels.

Book preview

Double Take

A Short Story

Alan Jacobson

THE CRACK OF LIGHTNING PULSED against the pitch sky, backlighting the barren landscape around the Westchester Surgery Center.

Lieutenant Carmine Russo, arthritic joints aching from the winter rain, paced outside the door to the operating suite where Oliver Henry, MD was at work. He felt the jolting belt of thunder as the sound waves concussed against the windows, shaking the building in an explosive burst. The storm was close.

Russo ignored it, keeping his feet moving and his mind off what was going on in the adjacent room where a much younger Ben Dyer lay. A lifetime ago Russo had been Dyer’s Big Brother, taking the at-risk youth under his wing and mentoring him. Now Russo was trying to save him yet again.

The door to the surgical suite swung open and out stepped Dr. Henry, clad in maroon operating room greens. His creviced face was long and drawn. He joined Russo near the window and in a low voice, said, The medication’s already taken effect. He should be okay to travel now.

Russo, who’d stopped pacing when the door opened, had only one question: How’s he doin’?

Henry turned toward the window as another flash lit up the dim room. Here’s the deal. The tumor’s been removed and he’s got some dissolvable sutures in the sole. I’ll want to monitor his condition closely, check him in a week. Remember what I said about the drug’s effect on his memory. Be patient.

Russo faced the window but said nothing. Finally, he nodded.

I think the prognosis is good, Henry said. We got it early. It could’ve been a lot worse if we hadn’t taken care of it so quickly.

A noise from behind them. Hey, Loo.

Both men whipsawed around. Detective Ben Dyer was standing in the doorway, aluminum crutches shoved beneath his armpits and a medical boot on his foot.

You ready to go?

Russo forced a smile. Sure, Ben. Let’s blow this place.

THEY ARRIVED AT DYER’S APARTMENT in midtown Manhattan and took the elevator up to five. Russo helped Dyer navigate the hall, then waited in front of the door while Dyer rooted out his keys.

This new? Russo asked, nodding at a wreath made of wine bottle corks that hung around the peephole.

Amy, she’s got good taste.

Dyer keyed the lock and pushed the door open, then grabbed the crutch and hobbled inside.

Amy? Dyer