Killer Storm

by Jen Wright

  My dogs were at first overjoyed to see me. They ran up to me and licked me anywhere they could. Cocoa howled and talked at length. Then they both tried to ignore me. They were determined to give me the silent treatment. I always find that funny. At some point, they forgave me for the unexcused absence and demanded to be adored again.

  After dinner, Kathy and I went to my house and shoveled our brains out. There really was a lot of snow. It took two hours to finish the little garage apron and two sidewalks. Normally, when you shovel, you scoop the fallen snow up into one shovel load and work your way forward down the sidewalk. With this much snow, it took three or four shovel loads to get from the top of the pile down to the sidewalk. The exercise felt good. I contemplated staying at my house but decided that waiting for the security system made some sense.

  Back at Kathy's, I called Zoey. She filled me in on her day. She proudly told her coworkers and students about her donut driving and snow angel making. They were unimpressed. She listened to the details of my day, and we made a dinner date for the next night at my house. A moment of uncomfortable silence followed. This is when you tell a lover that you love them. I told her I missed her, and we hung up. I wasn't going to think about this. It was too soon for love. Lust, yes. Like, yes. But love?

  Chapter 21

  I woke the next morning at 5:58. Back on schedule. Weird. I had time before meeting the security company, so I took the pups out for a walk, using Kathy's huge snowshoes. She would definitely thank me for tracking her trails. With over three feet of fresh snow, the going was slow. The dogs thought they had to lead, and they had to jump the whole way. After an hour, they were clearly as exhausted as I was.

  Midway down the trail, my mind began to wander to Zoey. I imagined driving up to my house and finding her car already in the driveway. There were lights on in my house. I walked inside. Zoey was nowhere in sight. I walked back to my bedroom. She had my robe on and nothing else. She was holding my handcuffs. Raising them into view, she asked, "Do you only use these for work?"

  She had a "dare you" grin on her face. I didn't speak, but walked over to her, took the handcuffs, and secured her to the bed. I then began to tease her slowly. When she got to the point of pleading with me to take her, I stood back, saying, "Oh, I'll take you all right."

  That was the end of the fantasy. After the dogs and I got back to Kathy and Donna's, I enjoyed a long hot shower and headed over to meet the security folks.

  While they were installing the system, I took the opportunity to reclaim my house. First I brewed up a pot of coffee. I then called work and told them to call me at home if they needed anything. I connected to my work e-mail from my home computer and completed all of the correspondence I hadn't gotten to the day before. Then I did laundry and made chocolate chip cookies for the two guys working on my house. I think they worked a little harder because of it. I had just snuggled into the couch with Patricia Cornwell's latest novel when my cell phone rang.

  It was Nate. "Anything on Smithy Nichols?" I asked. "He's our last big catch, right?"

  "According to Lou, he is the guy in charge of keeping the gang in weapons. He steals, buys, sells, or trades them. Lou is out right now working his connections to get information. If anyone can get at his location, Lou can. Most likely Smithy would not sell to local gangs, though, for obvious reasons. The FBI is bringing in some dogs trained to sniff out weapons. I think it's overkill. I mean, you have to be near the weapons for the dogs to catch a scent. We're checking our Computer Aided Database for any weapon thefts. That will take time, but we may put some pieces together that way. Can you ask your PO's to renew their efforts in the community?"

  "I'm on it. Thanks for keeping me in the loop here, Nate."

  "No problem."

  I called Don's cell number. As the most senior PO, he was acting supervisor in my absence. I asked him to talk to the other probation officers about the need to flush out information about Smithy. I also asked him to check in on Warren. He generally likes to work alone, but I prefer for him to have someone there for backup. I'd rather be out in the trenches myself, but I also find it harder to coordinate things from there. I get too focused on the fieldwork to see the big picture. I sent a group e-mail to the juvenile unit asking everyone to prioritize finding information about Smithy.

  Just as I was finishing up, Lou called and gave me a quick update. A guy in West Duluth who owned an upholstery shop had allegedly been increasing his net sales by selling meth. Informants claimed that he also had a large collection of guns and would know who's who in the black market gun trade in Duluth. Lou was going to see if Nate and his team of Feebies would set up a buy, then leverage a deal with the shop owner to get information on Smithy. Lou could set it up himself, but he wanted permission to bring in the FBI for the sting. My radar went up about his motive for asking. He would normally just do it without my knowledge.

  "Tell me exactly what you have in mind."

  "Nothing, boss. I just think this is going to go somewhere, and I want to be a part of it. I have never seen the Feebies work up close and personal. It could be a great training experience for me."

  "OK, but keep me posted. Call me if you need me to come out there."

  "Got it."

  By the time I hung up with Lou, it was four in the afternoon. Zoey was scheduled to arrive at six.

  The installers were just testing the system. They would finish after doing some clean-up and demonstrating the unit for me. The system was activated by disturbance at the doors or any of the windows. I had to turn it off and on in order to enter and leave. If I failed to set the alarm, I would be unprotected. If I entered or exited without disarming it, I would set off the alarm and would have only thirty seconds to disarm it with a code before the police were notified. The call would go right to the cell phone of the township police. If they were unavailable, it would forward to the DPD. There was a huge installation fee, plus a monthly charge. Chances were that once we got the last of this gang, it would not be an issue. By the time these guys got sentenced, they would have a whole host of others to focus their anger at. It was probably overkill. I hoped so, anyway.

  Chapter 22

  Zoey arrived right on time. We had steaks and baked potatoes from the grill. I was a little embarrassed by the frozen veggies, but I hadn't had a chance to get to the store to replenish my supplies. It was good to be home. After dinner, we settled into my living room in front of the fireplace.

  The dogs had also settled back into their routine, but Java was having another set of issues. He is a lab mix and very tall, weighing in at about eighty pounds. Put out by Zoey's presence, he kept inserting himself between us. It was really something. He would first sit between us. Then he would put his back to me and his paws on her, and literally push us apart.

  Together we came up with a plan to help the poor guy out. I showed her where the treats jar was and suggested that she run my boys through several of their tricks. She had them sit, stay, bark, shake, roll over, etc. Each time, she rewarded them with a treat. She then wrestled with one while I held the other one back. Once the roughhousing was done, we settled back down in front of the fire. Java inserted himself between us but this time didn't try to push. We both petted him for a little bit, and then I told him to scram. He obeyed, but went off pouting. He wouldn't look at us. Dogs are so funny.

  After settling in, we talked about both of our days. She had a student in one of her classes who was clearly mentally ill, trying to figure out her own issues by taking psychology courses. Zoey said that while life experiences really can help in the learning process and eventually aid a student in assisting others, some mental illnesses just need medication. The troubled ones ended up coming to her for advice or just plain acting out, so she had to gently, or not so gently, get them help.

  This student appeared to be depressed and thankfully could remain in school if she got some medication and therapy. The student seemed to be taking Zoey's advice.

  Once we were done with the work u
pdates, Zoey got to her feet, smiled, and said, "I think you forgot that CD you wanted to share with me in your car. Could you go get it, please?"

  I obediently went out to the car to retrieve the disc. When I returned, Zoey was nowhere in sight. I put the CD in and wandered back to my bedroom. Zoey was standing in my bedroom holding out my handcuffs, saying, "I found these on top of your bureau. Do you really use them in your work?"

  "Uh, sometimes... not often." I could feel heat rising from my neck into my face.

  "What's wrong?" She asked. "You're blushing!"

  "Nothing... I mean, when I was snowshoeing, I happened to think of you and those at the same time."

  She got that fearless look again and said, "Maybe you should show me what you had in mind."

  I took them from her and cuffed both of her hands to the bed, using a bandanna to attach the cuffs to the headboard. I then painstakingly began to tease her. When she started to cry out, I touched her. What I love about making love with women is the ability to totally focus on pleasing, and then being pleased. I knew her well enough by then to bring her to the edge of orgasm and then to back off just a little. I held her on the edge for nearly a minute before sending her over the top. It was so exciting to me that I came with her. She hadn't even touched me. I removed the cuffs, and we held each other. Spent. She was able to bring me to climax one more time. It was short and intense due to my heightened level of arousal. She asked me if I was able to accept restraint. I felt a little panicked because I had never tried it before, but I heard myself say, "I'm willing to try."

  I asked her if she had fantasies. She said, "I sure the heck am going to start to. How do I do it?"

  "I don't know, they just happen. They just pop into my head."

  I asked her if she wanted to spend the night. She thanked me and quickly fell asleep.

  In the morning, I took the dogs out on the trail with snowshoes for a quick walk while she showered. When I got back, she had a big smile on her face. "You have a great shower. I think I had my first fantasy."

  "Tell me."

  "Oh, I will, but not now. I have to get ready for work, and I have papers to grade tonight. Can we get together Friday?"

  "Absolutely. Your place or mine?" I asked.

  "Here." She kissed me and nearly skipped out the door.

  Chapter 23

  I left the dogs inside the safety of the security system and headed off to work myself. My voice mail had a message from Lou.

  "Jo, call me on my cell when you get in. We have some interesting developments with the upholstery shop."

  When I called him, he was still rolling out of bed. He had had a late night. The FBI had successfully set up a buy at the shop.

  "The owner-operator, Mike West, had a ton of drugs on hand. He gave up information on the black market for guns in exchange for leniency on the drug charges. One guy in particular was looking to get his hands on weapons recently. West said that this guy was asking for semiautomatics and Uzi's. He wanted anything with big firepower. He even asked about a rocket launcher. That takes guts in this day and age. West didn't have anything that big, mostly handguns and high-powered rifles. Chances are he sold him something, but we may never know what. The buyer first called and then came to the shop. He fit Smithy's description. The PD got a warrant to obtain phone records. They should have a location sometime this morning, assuming he didn't make the call from a disposable cell phone."

  "Thanks, Lou. I'll wait to hear about progress. I'm going to call the jail to see how things are going there."

  Before calling the jail, I put a call into a florist. I ordered a dozen roses of assorted colors and requested that they be sent to Zoey at the University. I wanted to buy all red but for some reason struggled against it. On the card, I asked the florist to write, You are incredible. I so look forward to Friday. Jo. The woman who took my order didn't sound uncomfortable at all. I wondered if she had been through diversity training.

  The gang members had been put in isolation at the jail. Captain Jolene Greg was still concerned about their safety and would transfer them to another jail as soon as they were arraigned. Nichols was scheduled for a hearing of some sort at 1:30 P.M. in front of Judge Manning. This was some kind of a bail review set up at the request of his public defender. It pissed me off that Nichols had a publicly paid lawyer. He had no documentable income but probably had more cash than my entire staff makes in a week. It just didn't seem right.

  I called Nate to update him on the hearing. He said that he would have officers cover it. He also said that he had a possible address for the older Nichols brother. The call to the upholstery shop had come from the Blue Lagoon.

  The Lagoon is an apartment building that I can see from my office window. The owner is a convicted sex offender who routinely rents to guys fresh out of prison. The local supervised-release halfway house had developed a working relationship with the guy in order to gain some supervisory contact there. What irks us about this building is that offenders can watch their probation and parole officers come and go from work, and plan their mischief around it. We do like the close proximity, though, because it allows easy office visits for the clients and we can do quick home checks. Every once in a while, I see kids coming in or out of there, and I just cringe. I walk straight down to the parole officers' unit and tell them.

  I offered to let the police and feds use my office to set up the bust. Nate accepted. He had been waiting for Lou to grace them with his presence, hoping for just such an offer. The swarm would take place at noon.

  Zoey called my office at 10:30, thanking me for the flowers. She also thanked me for the previous night. We purred a little at each other before hanging up. I sat in silence for a minute, letting my emotions wash over me. This was an incredible affair. I wasn't afraid of the intensity, but I was afraid it might not last. I thought about my past long-term relationships and about how the sex dwindled over time. In some cases, it was replaced by a deeper love; in some cases, companionship. I was going to ride this wave for all it was worth. Who knew? Maybe this relationship would last, and we could find a way to keep the passion alive. I realized I had started dreaming about a future with Zoey. That scared me. I did some mental gymnastics around that for a while and then refocused on work.

  The raid happened precisely at noon. The planning for it began at 11:30, and the raid was carefully strategized. Sam Lawson from the FBI coordinated the bust. Sam is the head of the local branch of the FBI in Duluth. Medium height, wiry, and intense, she seemed gay to me. I had never seen her out at any of the social functions, but she did regularly attend the women's hockey games with another woman.

  She first examined the Blue Lagoon on foot and then again from my office window. She drew a diagram of the building and sketched the interior hallways and exits. She assigned each person a location and role. They all had closed-circuit headsets on. I even got one and would watch the entire operation from my office. I was to alert the team to anything I saw that might help. Lou was set up in a hotel room with a view of the opposite side of the building and his own headset.

  The officers poured down the stairs and out of the building. Each took his or her assigned position. From the planning meeting, I knew that the building had no security door. The entry team would open the front doorway, traverse one flight of stairs, go down a long hallway, and ram the door of Smithy's apartment. I heard nothing on the headset except scuffling feet until they were in his one-room apartment.

  "Entry team in. All secure. Subject is not present. We have found something, though. All parties regroup at probation."

  When they came back to the meeting room, I offered them fresh coffee. They laid out what they had found – a diagram of the jail and the Courthouse, and a city map. There was a red line plotting a route from the jail to the Courthouse. It appeared that Smithy was planning to free Nichols.

  Lawson quickly called the jail to check on the status of Nichols. He was en route, being brought down to the Courthouse with the afternoon run.
The PD had assigned a squad escort. Nate checked in by police radio. They were just leaving the jail. Lou told them to "maintain 20 at the jail." I quickly called Jolene Greg's direct line and briefed her. She instructed me to drive right into the sally port. When we arrived, the van full of prisoners was sitting inside the sally port waiting to exit. Jolene was standing beside the van. Lawson and Jolene talked for a minute. They decided to send all of the prisoners in another van and replace them with FBI agents in the original van. The agents didn't take time to change into jail orange but just poured into the secured van. Lou, Nate, and I trailed from a safe distance in an unmarked squad.

  Nate launched into his usual diatribe about arming probation officers, and I looked at him, saying, "Nate, bring it up with the Minnesota Department of Corrections. I am in total agreement with you right now."

  Chapter 24

  Lou and I had bulletproof vests on. Mine was a lovely green camouflage with pockets for ammunition everywhere. His was plain gray. We trailed the secure van by three quarters of a block. Our vehicle was a tan 1999 Crown Victoria with civilian license plate tabs, and therefore was considered unmarked. I suspected that every bad guy out there could easily identify the unmarked squad cars. I also silently questioned the tactics of having us along at all, but what the heck. It was fun, right? Lou looked at me with a shrug, expressing the same sentiment.

  We made the entire trip without incident. At the Courthouse, no sally port awaited us because it was still in the planning stages and had been for nearly a decade. Because the Courthouse is an historic building, the addition would cost a small mint to build so that it would blend in. The prisoner van usually pulls up to the back of the building, and the prisoners file into a door that leads to the holding area. All of the prisoners are shackled and cuffed with belly cuffs. No one can tell the traffic offenders from the felons. The Courthouse also has no secure elevator, so when prisoners are escorted to their hearings, they travel on the same elevator used by the general public. This can make for some interesting elevator rides. I was relaying all of this information to Sam via the headset. All of the officers involved could hear.