Code 11- KPD SWAT Box Set

by Lani Lynn Vale

  She just shook her head. She was used to it. We had a string of restaurants we couldn’t go to, because I arrested someone there, or we just plain didn’t like it.

  I no longer surprised her with my stories anymore.

  She’d heard it all and then some.

  The woman was a miracle. My miracle.

  “’Night, Nico. Go to sleep. You’re on duty tomorrow,” she whispered.

  I wanted to argue, but I knew it was my turn to get up with the kids. She only got to pull that card once a week, so I’d give her that play.

  My eyes were closed for less than an instant when they shot right back open.

  Bell chose that moment to wake up and start wailing the most pitiful little wail I’d ever heard from her. She was Daddy’s little girl, and if given a choice, would always choose me over her mother. That’s why, when her little eyes opened, she came to me and not her momma.

  The boys were Momma’s, though. It was nice to have a child who actually wanted me over Georgia.

  Bell was nine months old, going on fourteen.

  She was the biggest little diva I’d ever seen, and one of the cutest as well.

  But she was our sickly baby.

  Being our third and youngest, she got away with things the boys couldn’t. For instance, whereas the boys had to eat what we were eating, I’d give Bell whatever she wanted if she only asked. Not that she did. Unless it was for Georgia’s boob, which she did ask for on occasion still.

  The only reason Georgia was still breastfeeding was because it was what was best for Bell. Georgia and I would do anything to make Bell’s immune system better.

  In the past six months, Bell had been hospitalized with pneumonia twice, had been on antibiotics for four of the last six months, and had two surgeries. One to place tubes in both ears, and one to have her tonsils removed.

  Needless to say, she definitely earned the right to be babied.

  I picked my baby girl up and she curled her chubby little arms around my neck and wiped her snotty nose on my collarbone.

  I didn’t get grossed out by this type of thing anymore. Three kids had given me immunity to the grossest of things.

  The same couldn’t have been said when we’d brought the boys home.

  Although I’d done my fair share of diapers with my sisters, I’d never had to deal with other… stuff.

  The stuff that came with being the parent of the child, and not the sibling.

  Such as this moment right here… staying up with my child when they had high fevers, or when they had the stomach bug.

  With three children, it was inevitable with the closeness we shared that I’d be getting whatever my kid had. Then I’d be going to work sick.

  But it was fucking worth it. Every single goddamn minute of it.

  Getting out of bed, I walked to the window and opened it slightly.

  The cold January air poured through, instantly making goosebumps pebble over my bare chest.

  Bell was like a tiny hot pack, though. Keeping the front of my chest and face warm.

  Going back to the bed, I laid down and pulled the large comforter up and over Georgia’s shoulder. Then I waited for another hour before Bell’s fever finally broke.

  Only then did I sleep.

  ***

  Georgia

  The next morning

  I blinked my eyes open to see my husband sleeping soundly with our baby girl wrapped around his chest.

  They were skin to skin, my husband shirtless in a pair of soccer shorts, and Bell in nothing but a diaper.

  Her brown curls were in disarray around her head, and each time Nico breathed in and out, a lone curl would move up and down against his lip.

  I smiled as I snuck slowly out of bed and shivered at the cool bite to the air.

  The first thing I did was to walk around the bed and feel Bell’s forehead.

  Not hot, but not perfect either. Though she wasn’t running a fever that would warrant more Tylenol.

  Leaving her and Nico be, I closed the window and walked out, closing the door softly behind me.

  Then I went straight to the coffeepot and made a large pot of coffee, knowing I’d be needing it for the morning that we had planned.

  The boys had their four-year-old checkups in less than an hour, and I’d overslept.

  Last night had been rough.

  The boys had been bouncing off the wall from all the sugar they’d received at Lolita and Sol’s place.

  Then Bell had started running a fever the moment we’d entered the house.

  After giving Bell medicine and getting the boys in bed, I spent the rest of the night trying to console my sick little girl.

  It didn’t help that Nico was late, and he was the only person that could ever get her to truly stop crying.

  It wasn’t anything new, but it never stopped hurting to know that she didn’t feel well since she was sick nearly once a month with a cold of some sort.

  She was so used to medicine that she never put up a fight anymore. Sometimes she even asked for it.

  “Mommy, I can’t find my shoes,” Boothe cried loudly.

  I winced.

  I’d been up less than five minutes, and they were already awake.

  Would it kill someone to let a girl have her coffee before they started yelling?

  “I have no idea Boothe Eden Pena, the shoes were in your room the last time I saw them. If they’re not there, then I don’t know what you did with them,” I replied tiredly.

  My head hurt. My back hurt. I was cramping. And I was pretty sure I was getting whatever Bell had last night.

  And I had to get the boys dressed so we could go.

  At least I didn’t have to take Bell with me.

  Nico would be here to watch her so I could get my errands done since it was his day off.

  Or would’ve been his day off.

  His emergency pager started to alarm on the counter next to me.

  With a heart filled with dread, I looked at the readout and wanted to throw the fucker across the room.

  “Jesus, would it kill people to stop being stupid for three freakin’ hours so I can take my kids to the doctor?” I growled as I walked into our bedroom.

  Nico was already on his feet and handing Bell over to me before he quickly got into his clothes.

  He was out the door in less than five minutes, and I was left with a screaming baby who wanted nothing but her daddy. A four-year-old who refused to wear anything but a certain pair of shoes, and another four-year-old who refused to get up because his ‘feet were tired.’

  Three hours later, though, as I listened to the news conference on the radio, I knew I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Nico had been a part of saving a two-year-old’s life. A two-year-old who’d been beaten and molested by his stepfather for nearly two hours before the mother realized what was going on.

  While she was offering her body up to make money on a street corner.

  When the cops had been called, the stepfather had turned his gun on the child, thinking that would get him out.

  But it hadn’t.

  The Kilgore SWAT had been there.

  SWAT was always there. Even when they had to put their life on the line to do it. Those kinds of situations didn’t always turn out as well as the one did today.

  I smiled as I turned down the road that our house was on. Liking the view of my children in my rearview mirror. All fast asleep in their seats.

  I pulled into my driveway and smiled when I saw Nico outside swinging on the porch swing.

  I got out as quietly as I could and walked over to my hero.

  “Hey.” I smiled. “I heard what happened. Are you okay?”

  As I came within reach, he pulled me down into his lap and wrapped his arms around my waist.

  His lips skimmed along the outside of my breast as he answered. “No. Yes. I don’t know. The kid was fucked up. Nobody thinks he�
�s going to make it.”

  I didn’t doubt it.

  A child as small as that wouldn’t survive that being done to him for a prolonged period of time.

  “I’m sorry, Nico,” I whispered against his forehead.

  He squeezed me tighter. “It’s not your fault, baby love. How’d the appointments go?”

  I started scratching Nico’s head as I told him about how his son’s had to go through hearing as well as vision screenings today. How Bell had thrown up all over the exam room and we’d had to move during the middle of the exam. And how Bell had been put on yet another antibiotic after they’d worked her in to the schedule and discovered she had strep throat.

  He sighed. “Guess it was a good thing she went then, wasn’t it?”

  “It was fate,” I agreed.

  That was usually how our life went, though.

  Things we didn’t want, happened, but every single time, it worked out in the end.

  I was happy.

  My kids were happy.

  My husband was alive and in good health.

  My brothers and sister-in-laws were fantastic.

  Nico’s parents were doing well.

  There was seriously not one thing I could ask for that I didn’t already have.

  My life was everything I’d ever wanted it to be, and Nico had made sure of that.

  The one and only thing we ever fought about was how many kids we would have.

  He wanted to stop at three. I wanted as many as God would give me.

  For now, we were leaving it up to fate.

  Although fate would be delivering us three more little miracles. One after the other. For a total of six children.

  A perfectly rounded, magical number.

  ***

  Lolita

  My heart was full to bursting.

  I watched as my son, his wife, and two of their three kids ran around their backyard, playing soccer.

  It was three against one. Boothe, Bourne, and Georgia against their daddy.

  “I think he’s finally met his match,” Sol said, coming up from behind to wrap me in his long arms.

  I melted into him, happy. So happy.

  I’d only thought I was happy when my kids were born.

  But now, seeing my kids with kids of their own, I was full. Seeing my grandbabies running and playing with their father, something I’d used to do with him when he was a young boy, made me so exultant.

  Boothe, the four-year-old love bug, executed a perfect sliding tackle and cleared the ball from his father’s feet.

  It was done so flawlessly, so amazingly, that my jaw dropped open.

  Then Bourne took the ball up the field as not just Georgia, but Nico stared in shock.

  “Holy guacamole!” Nikki exclaimed in astonishment.

  Boothe and Bourne passed the ball expertly to each other until they reached the small goal Nico had built in the corner of the fenced-in yard.

  Then, like they’d done it a million times before, Bourne lobbed it perfectly. Booth expertly headed it into the goal. Then they celebrated. Just like their father did by running around the goal area with his hands over his head.

  My eyes went back to Nico to see his expression, and I could do nothing but laugh as Georgia laughed in his face.

  Nico had a chagrined expression, as if he’d finally realized how obnoxious he looked before when he celebrated excessively like his sons were now doing.

  “You think that’ll make him cool it the next time he scores?” Sol asked me.

  I snorted. “Yeah right. Our boy? He’ll do it till he can’t score anymore.”

  Sol laughed. “You’re probably right.”

  “Are you happy, Mami?” Sol asked me.

  I looked up into my husband’s eyes and nodded. “Yes. I never thought this would happen after the Valentine’s deaths. I saw it when they were younger. Hoped that something would come of it when they were both of age. But then that senseless act happened, and I thought they’d never find it again. I’m so glad they found their forever together. No two people deserve it more.”

  We turned as one to watch as Nico ran toward his sons, scooped up each one underneath an arm, and ran yet another circuit around the goal area.

  Each boy laughed, and Bell, not one to be left out, started crawling as fast as her arms and legs could move her.

  Nico caught sight of her as she crossed halfway across the field, and dropped his boys, taking the ball, and running toward her.

  He scooped her up and ran with her, dribbling the ball slowly all the while the boys chased after him with abandon.

  Full to bursting, indeed.

  Prologue

  If my dog doesn’t like you, I don’t like you.

  -T-shirt

  Downy

  “What’s that in your beard?” James asked me.

  I shrugged and kept eating my sandwich. “What’s it look like?”

  “Jizz,” James answered instantly.

  I snorted and flipped him off.

  “Then my best guess would be mayonnaise, since I’m eating a sandwich and all,” I said dryly.

  He laughed and went back to his nap, kicking back as far as his chair would allow, which incidentally wasn’t that much.

  We were waiting on Luke, our boss and the team leader of Kilgore SWAT, to get here so we could move out.

  Everyone was ready to go but him.

  Bennett was on the couch in Luke’s office with Foster on one side and Miller on the other. Jason was on his computer in the corner of the room. I was sitting on one of the visitor’s chairs and Michael was sitting beside me.

  Then there was Nico, always the loner, standing in the corner of the room gazing out the window.

  These men were my family.

  I had my own family, of course, but I wasn’t close to them. They were my half brother and sister from my mom’s other family. I liked my sister well enough. My brother was a little weird, but what sixteen-year-old wasn’t weird?

  Well, this one was weirder than most, but he was a good kid, which made him all right in my book.

  My mom and my stepfather, however, weren’t my favorite people.

  “Jesus, where the hell is Luke?” Michael asked.

  Michael was impatient lately.

  He was normally a saint, hence how he got the nickname ‘Saint.’ Today, though, he was acting off his rocker, and I had an idea that it had a lot to do with the woman I’d seen him out with three nights ago.

  I’d been out on a date… well ‘date’ was too strong of a word. More like I’d been out for drinks with a girl, and I’d seen Michael and a woman together. A woman who looked suspiciously like Nico’s little sister. However, I wasn’t one to pry into other people’s lives, so I kept quiet about it.

  Not that I wasn’t extremely interested in knowing what was going on; I just knew how much privacy meant to people.

  “I’m here. Let’s ride.” Luke burst into the office long enough to be seen, then left just as quickly.

  “So, what’s going on?” I asked, licking my fingers clean.

  “Holdup. It took so long because I was trying to talk the chief into allowing us to go. It’s out of our district, but not by much. Pierson, Tide and Associates,” Luke said as we made it to the armored truck and started piling in.

  I opened the door for Mocha, my dog, and shook my head as she refused to get in.

  We had a love-hate relationship right now.

  She loved to make me look stupid, and I hated to be made to look stupid.

  We were still learning how to interact as a team, her and me.

  Mocha had been very attached to her previous owner, Trance, an officer who’d trained her out of Benton, Louisiana. A forty-minute ride from where we were located.

  When Trance had left her with us, me in particular, he’d had high hopes that we’d get along fine. And we did, for the most part. As long as I did what she wanted, when she w
anted it, that was.

  I’d tried letting someone else on the team try, even Foster and Miller, who happened to be Trance’s brothers. She actually hated them and wanted nothing to do with them.

  And right now, she didn’t want to get into the truck.

  So I got in and closed the door. The doors behind us closed as well.

  Nico looked at me like I’d lost my mind, but I hadn’t. Not yet anyway.

  “Just start to drive, she’ll get in when she realizes we’re serious about leaving,” I said, answering his unspoken question.

  He shook his head, but started to pull out of the garage slowly, unsure if it was going to work.

  We didn’t even make it out of the garage before she started to bark.

  Nico came to a stop, and I opened my door.

  The instant the gap was big enough for Mocha to fit through, she was sitting in my lap, eyes staring out the window.

  “I thought you said she was getting better,” Nico muttered as he pulled out of the driveway and into the street, lights and sirens running.

  I pulled the cord that activated the horn and grimaced. “She’s doing better. We would’ve had to get to the road before she would’ve done anything a few weeks ago.”

  “Whatever. As long as she’s willing to work when she needs to, I don’t care. It’s just weird, though, that she’s been with you for nearly a year and she’s not any better. Just show her who’s boss. That’s what I have to do with Hamburger. Let him know who the alpha is, and he calms right down,” Nico said.

  Hamburger was Nico’s wife’s dog. A fuckin’ massive Saint Bernard that was, honest to God, two hundred pounds. He would also slobber on an intruder, while giving him kisses, rather than protect any of them. Mocha would protect me, but only grudgingly. Mostly because she considered my home her territory now, and wouldn’t abide any intruders entering her inner sanctum.

  My bed, for instance, was only allowed to be occupied by her, me and my cat, Rayburn.

  The last time I’d tried to bring a woman home had been just that. The last.

  She’d gone fuckin’ nuts and scared the poor girl to death. Sally… or Sandy…whatever her name was, had to be scratched out of my book. She’d refused to ever come back, and I’d been inclined to let her.