Walking this particular stretch of road during the daylight was fine, but now, it made her uneasy. She was glad the sun had started to peek out. The line of dilapidated warehouses were supposed to be gone by now, but the lingering recession had slowed their razing and rebuilding. The stretch of unsightly buildings meant the rent in her building farther up the block was much lower than it would be once shiny new apartments replaced the graffiti-laced, abandoned units, but it also meant that she had to be watchful now. Muggings weren’t uncommon in this area.

She was almost past the last of them when raucous laughter jerked her head around. It had come from inside one of the warehouses, and it sounded more ugly than amused. Keep walking, Kira told herself, patting the pocket of her backpack where she kept a gun. You’re almost home.

That harsh laughter rang out again, this time, right on the heels of what sounded like a pained shout. Kira paused, listening hard. If it had been later in the day, the noise from cars and pedestrians would’ve drowned out anything coming from the warehouses; but with most people still sleeping, she next caught what sounded like a loud moan. Whoever had made that sound was hurt, and when it was followed by more of that ugly laughter, Kira knew the two were related.

She slipped her backpack off, pulling out her cell phone while walking faster toward the safety of her apartment building.

“Nine one one, what’s your emergency?” a voice intoned after Kira punched in the numbers.

“I want to report a Code 37,” Kira said.

“Say again?”

“Aggravated assault,” Kira amended, surprised the dispatch operator hadn’t registered the police code. She gave the address of where the warehouse was located. “Sounds like the bottom floor,” she added to be more specific.