“Yes,” he hissed, but not with quite the gusto Rubin had expected.
Was fear of his own mortality knocking on Kirnon’s door? Was he suddenly starting to understand how this was going to play out?
It was hard to see the other Downers in the dim light, but Ruben sensed most of them were young.
“Kirnon do not waiver,” another Downer said. “We have chosen this righteous path. We must stick to it to the end.”
“Easy for her to say,” Nicole stated. “Look at her she’s gone. Over the hill.”
“Do not listen Kirnon.”
Ruben watched as Kirnon gave a cruel smile. “Do not worry. I know that if I do not die today, I will be locked in a prison cell for the rest of my life.”
“Life,” Ruben repeated. “You would be alive.”
* * *
Nicole nodded. “And alive is always better than dead.”
Where the hell was their backup? They had requested no sirens, no lights, so there was no way to tell how far away they were. The problem was if the Downers decided it, they could kill so many before their back up even kicked in.
And where exactly was Kent?
He should have rescued Joshua and Jimmi by now. Or did something go wrong there too? Were her friends still alive? Was her husband?
She couldn’t worry about that right now. Nicole had a little bit of stuff on her plate at the moment.
How was she going to wrangle all of these cultists to not kill, when their sole purpose in life was to kill?
Kent would have a way. Which he would tell her as soon as she screwed this up. Maybe if there was just the father and daughter, but there were another dozen Downers in here. No strategy was going to work on all of them. Some might not be as hard-core as Kirnon. That minority had been in it for the thrill. For the surge of power. Those wouldn’t want to die. But there were going to be some even more fanatical than Kirnon.
She didn’t even want to imagine what those few were like.
If she couldn’t reach Kirnon, she wasn’t going to reach the rest.
However, there was one thing on her side. They hadn’t killed anyone yet. And why was that? Why not just start the slaughter?
Apparently Kirnon was slightly less eager to meet his maker than he claimed.
Could she use that to their advantage?
CHAPTER 13
Ruben squinted, trying to see into the darkness. Trying to assess exactly how many victims and how many Downers were present. By his calculation they would lose at least fifteen people if they got trigger-happy. Fifteen lost within seconds. He didn’t get into police work for odds like that.
Nicole was doing her best to talk them down, but they all knew that it was a fruitless endeavor.
Soon, very soon the Downers would tire of this and slash some necks.
He craned to hear if their backup had arrived. Yes, they would lose some people, but hopefully not fifteen. Some might be spared.
“Kirnon. You must have dreams,” Nicole coaxed the nudist.
“I dream of a world without sinners.”
Nicole chuckled, she actually chuckled, just like Kent might. “Let thee without sin cast the first stone.”
Kirnon’s eyes narrowed, pressing his blade against the victim’s neck. “Do you really want to go toe-to-toe with me over scripture?”
“No, I just want you to drop the knife,” Nicole replied.
That didn’t look like it was going to happen.
A noise from above caught everyone’s attention. Kirnon pushed the blade into the man’s neck. “What is going on?”
Ruben had no idea. There was no way backup would be up in the rafters. They would have come through the doors.
Nicole’s eyes flickered over to Ruben. Then he got it. It wasn’t backup. It was Kent. But why? Why in the ceiling?
The profiler was frustrating on a normal day. But now?
“What is happening?” Kirnon demanded.
“Drop the knife,” Nicole demanded, taking a step forward. “I mean now.”
The man snorted, but then a loud click sounded.
An explosion rang out above them, collapsing the maze of catwalks high above the club.
The victims, rigged to the catwalks all slumped to the floor, out of range of the knives. Metal from the scaffolding rained down upon them.
Ruben dove for one of the tables.
What the hell was happening?
* * *
Kent watched Nicole jump over the bar and take cover. Good girl.
He rode a cracked bracing down to the floor. The club was in chaos.
Ah, how he liked a good routing.
He had to go for the unexpected. Poor, poor Nicole had tried to talk the Downers down, but that was never going to work.
No, he had to bring the ceiling down on them. Literally.
Take that. The Downers were scattering, losing their sense of self-annihilation. Most times, no matter how devout, the survival instinct kicked in, wiping away their moral indignation.
He let most of them go. Nicole’s backup wasn’t far. They could scoop up the strays. No. Kent was most interested in Kirnon. Due to his age and status amongst the cult, Nicole had picked Kirnon out as the leader, but he was just a man with a ring in his nose.
It was Mrs. Hackney who ran this particular cult. She would be the one who could be seduced by Martin’s words. An old woman without a husband, children? She was a psychopath’s dream recruit.
Kent jumped in front of her. The old woman startled, giving off a high-pitched squeak. Yes, honey, you are human.
Joshua and Jimmi were busy putting out the small fires around the club as Nicole and Ruben emerged from their shelter to help free the victims from their riggings.
All and all, not a bad three minutes worth of work.
Mrs. Hackney tried to run to the right. Kent blocked her. She faked right again but tried the left. Please.
She stopped, gritting her teeth, trying to glare Kent down. Oh, sweetie. I’m not Nicole or Ruben. That little pout is actually cute.
“I won’t…I won’t drop the knife,” she sputtered. Kent kept trying to tell Nicole that stillness was the most effective weapon against a suspect, but she was always trying to talk her way out of situation. Think it. Let that shine through. So much more effective than rhetoric for the most part.
“Oh, my darling. I don’t want you to drop it,” Kent stated.
Confusion crossed the old woman’s face. See fifteen seconds in and he had thrown Mrs. Hackney off her game. He certainly hoped that Nicole was watching. Let the suspect conflate the threat in her mind. Such a simple thing really.
“Why?”
He’d forced the old woman into the submissive position in the conversation. She was probably starting to worry that she had to break out right about now. He kept his gaze on her upper chin. Even now her finger went to the spot to check. You just had to know your suspect’s leverage points.
“Because I need you armed in order for this to look like self-defense.”
See, once he got specific, Mrs. Hackney gripped her knife tighter. “Try.”
Kent smiled spreading his arms, crossing his feet and bowing.
Yep, that pissed her off. He needed her both off balance and angry. That was a perfect recipe for unforced errors. Kent uncrossed his feet and took a step forward. Natalie took a step back and to the side. Unconsciously, she was angling toward where her father had fled.
“Abandoned by everyone. That must sting,” Kent stated. As long as he had her on the ropes, he might as well poke her. He could stab without a blade in hand.
Mrs. Hackney frowned, taking an aimed strike. Kent didn’t even have to dance out of the way, he just sidestepped it and gave a right handed jab, landing the punch in her ribcage. She tilted over, grabbing her ribs.
This really was going to be too easy. Maybe he should give her a bow and arrow, give her some kind of advantage because this woman was going down in five more moves.
He could see tha
t knowledge in Mrs. Hackney’s eyes. She knew the end was near and she was none too thrilled with it.
Then a shot rang out.
Mrs. Hackney dropped to her knees, blood seeping through her robe. A leg shot.
Kent looked up to find Nicole aiming her gun. She rushed over, calling paramedics to the old woman.
“I had her,” Kent complained.
* * *
“Oh, I know, you did,” Nicole spat as she put pressure on the woman’s wound. Unlike her husband, she preferred arresting suspects rather than killing them. “Which is exactly why I took the shot.”
Kent waved her off. “You realize she can’t be rehabilitated. She could spawn more Debbie Downers.”
“That is just the risk society will have to take.”
“You know the DA is going for the death penalty in this case.”
As the paramedics took over for Nicole, she rose to face her husband. “But then at least there will be a trial, judge, and jury. You know, the whole judicial thing.”
Kent rolled his eyes, sighing. “If you say so.”
“I do,” Nicole said, stepping forward, giving Kent a kiss. Yes, he was about to kill a lunatic old woman, but he had just saved not just Joshua and Jimmi, but all of these other people, including herself and Ruben.
For such a sophisticated profiler, Kent had gone physical, literally bringing the roof down. She loved him already, but for that act, she loved him even more. If Kent was anything, he was a flexible thinker.
“So, I’ve got a ton of paperwork, most of it yours,” Nicole said to her husband and he wrapped his arms around her waist.
“And?”
“Well, if you could go home and relieve my Dad with Logan, that would be nice.”
“Yes,” Kent said pulling them closer together. “Because I’m sure your father wants to see his ex-con son-in-law.”
Nicole smiled. “If it gets him out of diaper duty, I’m sure he will.”
Okay, maybe not, but Glick was coming through the door and it was always best to keep Kent as far away from her Captain as possible.
“Go home, okay?” Nicole asked.
Kent gave her a peck on the cheek. “You know it.”
Why was it that Nicole didn’t believe him?
* * *
Joshua sat on the edge of the ambulance’s bumper. Kent hadn’t gotten them medical attention, but that was okay. Joshua didn’t mind. They’d gotten to the club in time to save all those people.
The EMT pushed on Joshua’s cheekbone. “Ouch!”
“Dude, it is just a bruise. No fractures. You’ll be fine,” the EMT responded.
“Here, take a pic,” Joshua urged, handing the guy his phone.
This was going to look great on his Instagram profile. He was always talking about how he fought crime. How he helped take down serial killers. Here was the proof. The EMT took the picture then handed Joshua his phone back.
Joshua studied the picture. Sure there was a bruise, but with a few filters that side of his face was going to be black and blue. Joshua could hardly wait. Jimmi came over. He had a shiner around his eye, but nothing like Joshua’s cheekbone bruise.
“Hey,” Jimmi said, kicking at Joshua’s feet. It was like a bro hug between two socially awkward techies.
“Great job on faking the catatonia.”
“Oh, that was only partially faked. I came out of it about half way through.”
“Still. Great job.”
“No,” Jimmi said. “It was you who got us out of those restraints.”
“True, true,” Joshua acknowledged. “But you knew, didn’t you. You knew that Kent went to prison only as an undercover assignment?”
Jimmi nodded. “Afraid so.”
Normally that would have really, really, really bugged Joshua, but after what they’d been through, Joshua just couldn’t rev up the energy to be super jealous. Besides, Joshua had known Kent wasn’t dead and that was a whole lot bigger deal, so he was still Kent’s favorite.
“Want to get out of here and get some bubbly yogurt?” Joshua suggested.
Jimmi scrunched his nose. “You really are über weird.”
Yes, Joshua might be über weird, but he was alive and über weird, so there was that.
* * *
Ruben had given his statement fifteen times to what felt like fifteen different agencies. Everyone wanted a piece of this action. Even the ATF, which was awkward since only one shot was fired, and that was by Nicole.
Why anyone wanted to talk to him was a little obtuse. He’d been useless. Simply useless. Once again it was Kent, all Kent. Which speaking of….
Ruben flagged his partner down as she spoke to a rep from Homeland Security.
“Where’s Kent?” he asked, looking around not seeing the profiler anywhere around.
“I sent him home,” Nicole replied.
“Home?” Ruben asked, knowing he was repeating Nicole, but unable to stop himself. “Um, wasn’t he the main architect of what happened here?”
“You know he doesn’t play well with others,” Nicole answered, indicating to the myriad of bureaucrats buzzing around the place. She was probably correct. Kent would have infuriated one if not all of them by now.
“Besides,” Nicole continued. “Joshua and Jimmi are the ones that rigged the explosion.”
Of course they had. Kent somehow always kept his hands clean.
“Make room,” an EMT announced as he rolled one of the victims out of the club. It was probably the last one. They’d had a bit of trouble getting them safely unhooked from the wire riggings. But now they were down and all of them heading to the hospital.
Not all had survived, but it was a hell of a lot better than it could have been. One had been killed by a Downer. Another two had been killed in the cave in, but the rest, while bloody and bruised, had survived.
Two Downers had been killed in the ceiling collapse. Ten had been arrested inside the club, another four had escaped the building, but had been apprehended within a few blocks.
With the three Kent killed at the church, it looked like they had accounted for all the Downers. It was hard to imagine that it was truly over. Finally over.
All over, except for the paperwork. Well, at least Ruben was good at that.
* * *
The next few hours were a blur. She’d been interviewed by every departmental law enforcement agency. She was pretty sure at some point she sat down with the CIA. This whole scene was a cluster to end all clusters.
Poor Joshua and Jimmi, after being checked out by EMTs had been grilled by the Fire Marshall and everyone else. Glick was over with them, making sure they didn’t dig themselves into more trouble.
Such was the price they paid to end a mass murdering cult. A night taken from them was a minor inconvenience. The Downers could have killed fifty people, this time. Out on their own they would have killed dozens more.
The Downer’s logic escaped Nicole and she’d tried really, really hard to understand them, just as Kent advocated, but she just couldn’t.
“I don’t even know why I’m here,” Ruben grumbled, sitting down in a chair.
“You were as much as part of this as I was,” Nicole reminded her partner.
He rolled his eyes, looking away. She’d seen this self-disparaging despair way too often since Paggie’s crime spree and consequent death.
“Ruben,” Nicole said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “You’re a good cop.” After he snorted, Nicole continued. “No, you’re a great cop.”
Her partner looked away. The Paggie situation had shattered his confidence. She could almost see into the abyss of his soul.
“Just because you can’t think like a serial killer, doesn’t make you a bad cop.”
Ruben looked up at her, tears swimming at the edge of his eyelids. “Then what does it make me?”
“Human, Ruben, human,” Nicole said squeezing his shoulder.
“Apparently being human isn’t good enough anymore,” Ruben replied, jerking out
from under her touch.
Her heart went out to him. He was a good guy. A nice guy. A decent guy and the universe had done nothing but bitch slap him across the face.
Nicole wished, she really wished that she could love him. But she couldn’t. Lord knew she’d tried.
“I should tell you first,” Ruben said, still not looking at her. “I’m looking to transfer.”
“Where?” Nicole asked sharply.
“Back to Texas. Houston. I have family there,” Ruben informed her, still not gracing her with his gaze.
Nicole didn’t know what to say. No words would come.
* * *
Ruben had, of course, hoped for Nicole to beg him to stay. Instead it was pure silence. She was probably relieved. Now no more tug of war between him and Kent.
“I put in the request before this, so it doesn’t have anything to do with this,” Ruben said, trying to fill the space between him and his soon to be ex-partner.
“I just…” Nicole sputtered. “I just…Why?”
Ruben turned back to her. “Seriously?”
“I mean, I can see… No, I can’t. Why?”
Ruben moved his chair to face her. “Why? My fiancée turned out to be a serial killer. Do you hear the snickers when we walk through the bullpen? I am the brunt of every uniformed cop’s joke.”
“Ruben, I’m sure --”
He held up a hand. “Please, Nicole. Don’t lie. Don’t try to comfort me. I may not be Kent-brilliant, but I’m not stupid.”
“I never said you were,” Nicole replied. “No one thinks you’re stupid.”
Ruben wasn’t quite sure that was true. Even his relationship with Glick had suffered. Ruben used to be Glick’s right hand man. Now it seemed painful for the Captain to even be around him anymore. Just take this evening. Glick had barely spoken with Ruben, spending his time with the two J’s.
“Nicole, don’t bother trying to talk me out of it. I am already looking at apartments in Houston. It’s time for a change.”
Before Nicole could reply, Ruben’s cellphone dinged. An incoming text. He looked at it, then to Nicole. “I thought Kent went home?”
2nd Cycle of the Harbinger Series: The continuation of the #1 Hard-boiled/Police Procedural smash Plain Jane Page 31
