2nd Cycle of the Harbinger Series: The continuation of the #1 Hard-boiled/Police Procedural smash Plain Jane

by Carolyn McCray

  Martin was punch drunk to say the least. He staggered into the center of the room, then dropped to his knees. How very convenient.

  Kent stepped behind the serial killer and put his fingers into the man’s hair and forced Martin’s head forward.

  Time to end this.

  Drawing his blade up, Kent prepared to deliver the keening blow. He just didn’t have time to rig Martin’s body up. This would have to serve as vengeance for all those victims.

  “Kent!” a voice called out. “Don’t!”

  It was Nicole. Of course it was Nicole. She aimed her weapon towards him. Kent wasn’t worried. She wouldn’t kill the father of her child. Ruben, however, Ruben was right next to her, aiming straight at Kent’s head.

  It was a fifty-fifty proposition that the detective might shoot.

  Kent got his blade ready.

  * * *

  “Kent, please,” Nicole begged. Martin was down. He was defenseless. This wasn’t self-defense, no matter the logic Kent used.

  He smiled at her. “Think of all those bodies. All those young lives snuffed out, Nicole.”

  When had she stopped thinking about them?

  “Martin didn’t draw the blade, but he just as surely killed them all. And he will do it again. Over and over. This is the only way.”

  “No, no it’s not,” Nicole urged. “We can make sure it never happens again.”

  She knew her words weren’t penetrating Kent’s extremely thick skull.

  It all happened in a single moment.

  The sprinklers turned off. The sudden lack of noise was disorienting. Martin tried to lunge, Kent swung his blade, and Ruben fired. Blood seemed to explode everywhere.

  “Kent!” Nicole screamed, holstering her gun, running over to her husband.

  Ruben had tried to disable Kent’s arm and shot him in the shoulder. Nicole dropped to her knees, grabbing some gauze squares and put pressure on the wound. At the very least, Kent had gotten injured in the right place. The infirmary.

  “Sorry, but I had to,” Kent said, his one good eye indicating toward the downed Martin. Ruben checked his the serial killer’s pulse. Her partner shook his head. Martin was dead.

  “So you shot him for nothing,” Nicole hissed at Ruben.

  “Sorry, but I had to,” Ruben replied, echoing Kent. Why did it sound so much more convincing from Kent?

  “Get an ambulance,” Nicole rumbled, keeping pressure on her husband’s wound. As Ruben stepped away to make the call, Nicole leaned over Kent as he whispered something. Was he fading away? Was the wound worse than it looked?

  “Are you wearing your pink thong?” Kent asked.

  Okay, her husband was fine. Just fine.

  * * *

  Ruben could hear the response team coming down the hallway. The clack, clack, clack of the gurney wheels announced the arrival of the EMTs long before they arrived.

  Martin was dead. Like stone dead. Dropped to the floor by Kent’s knife wound, nearly severing the serial killer’s head off. Ruben’s shot came a few seconds too late. Or did it?

  Certainly Ruben’s official statement was that he shot Kent to try and save Martin, however that might not have been the entire story, but it was the story he was sticking to. If Kent could claim self-defense, over and over again, then Ruben could surely stand behind his own shooting in the line of duty defense.

  No one had to know about that momentary lapse between Kent’s knife swing and Ruben’s shot.

  No one had to know. Except for Kent. By the way the profiler was glaring at Ruben, the profiler knew exactly what had just happened.

  The EMTs finally arrived and got working on Kent. Rapidly they loaded the profiler onto the gurney to escort him out to the ambulance.

  “I’m coming with you,” Nicole said, her face streaked in mascara. At first there had been tears of sheer terror, then tears of relief. They had co-mingled on her cheeks.

  “No,” Kent said, shaking his head with a wince. “Ruben. Ride along.”

  Ruben backed away a step as Nicole stepped forward.

  “Kent…” Nicole said.

  “Seriously, I want to have a few minutes alone with Ruben.”

  Okay, this could not bode well for Ruben.

  He really wanted Nicole to put up a fight and avoid this hell-ride to the hospital, but Nicole stepped aside.

  “I’ll meet you at the hospital,” Nicole said, turning away.

  Okay, the one time Ruben really need his partner to dig in her heels and she just capitulated.

  “Come on, it’ll be fun,” Kent said, winking as the EMTs rolled him out of the infirmary.

  Ruben doubted very much it was going to be fun for him.

  * * *

  Kent waited until the doors of the ambulance were closed and locked. He even waited from them to roll away from the prison. He didn’t want Ruben to have any kind of escape route.

  “You aren’t leaving town. You aren’t going to Houston,” Kent stated.

  Right on cue, Ruben’s cheeks flared red and the tall man took in several deep breaths. That was the problem with Ruben, always squashing his emotions.

  “Out with it,” Kent prompted but no response came. “Say something, like ‘I’m not the boss of you,’ anything.”

  The EMT did her best to look away, to not be involved in this conversation, while still trying to keep track of Kent’s vitals.

  “I am going to do what I need to do,” Ruben replied, stilted all to hell.

  “No, you’re not,” Kent stated. “And do you know why?”

  Ruben shrugged trying to act disinterested in the conversation, but his pupils betrayed him. They were straining the confines of his eyeballs.

  “Nicole,” Kent explained. “We both know I’m going to die during one of these cases.”

  Emotions darted across Ruben’s face. The detective tried to hide them, but there was no use.

  “Don’t try and act like you haven’t fantasized about just that happening. As a matter of fact my death blow almost came from your gun tonight,” Kent said.

  “I went for the good shot,” Ruben countered.

  “Ah, but not for a good reason,” Kent replied. Like he didn’t know Ruben had just shot him to get back at him. That bullet had nothing at all to do with Martin Goodling and Kent knew it.

  Ruben didn’t respond, confirming Kent’s suspicions.

  Now to convince the detective of the larger truth.

  * * *

  Ruben really didn’t want to be in this ambulance right now. As a matter of fact if there weren’t a witness in the EMT, he might have just flung himself from the vehicle.

  Which was probably a good thing.

  “You know, even if this magical move to Houston results in a promotion, marriage to a county fair queen and four perfect baseball athletes, it won’t make you happy.”

  “And why in the world not?” Ruben shot back. Kent toyed with his dreams just like he did everything else.

  “Because you had to run away to obtain it all. You will always wonder, could I have done this with Kent around? It will feel like a pale victory. Always tainted.”

  “Pretty much because you taint everything,” Ruben fired back, not caring that he was making the EMT squirm.

  “Only if you let it,” Kent replied calmly. “Stand up, for god’s sake, Ruben. So what, you were engaged to a serial killer, who hasn’t been in this job?”

  Ruben did his best to keep his anger, hurt, and despondence at bay. Why he bothered, he really didn’t know. Kent could read him like a Kindle book, backlit and all.

  “The men don’t respect me,” Ruben choked out.

  “Oh boo-hoo,” Kent said, using his good arm to fake rub his eyes. “Like I said, grow a pair. They don’t respect you because you don’t respect yourself anymore and you really think changing locales is going to change that?”

  Ruben really had tried to keep his cool, but damn Kent always knew how to push his buttons. “Maybe if I didn’t have my face rubbed in it ten
times a day, then yes, I could get over it.”

  Kent just smiled, that God damned smug smile of his. Just like he always did. “But imagine how much sweeter it will feel if you do it all in spite of me.”

  Ruben leaned back against the wall of the ambulance. Yes, he could imagine just how amazing it would feel to be named captain despite Kent and Paggie. But he didn’t want to give Kent that satisfaction.

  “I have to move on,” Ruben stated. He hoped definitively.

  “You won’t leave Nicole. Not in her moment of need,” Kent replied sounding a whole hell of a lot more sure than Ruben had.

  “She doesn’t have any need. You’ll be fine. The baby is fine,” Ruben explained wondering where Kent was going with this.

  “She’ll have a moment of need. Maybe not today. Not tomorrow, but soon and you know it. She’ll need you,” Kent went on. “Now imagine you’re sitting in Houston with your Barbie doll wife and shiny captain’s desk and you find out Nicole needed you and you weren’t there.”

  Thankfully, before Ruben had to answer, they drove into the ambulance bay at the hospital and the EMT popped that door open like she was the one escaping Kent’s emotional wrangling.

  “We’re here,” she said with a spring to her step, wheeling Kent out and snapping the back legs down.

  Ruben watched as Kent was taken out of the ambulance and rolled into the hospital. If it was all right with everyone, he’d just stay in there for a few minutes.

  * * *

  Joshua rushed into the emergency room, Jimmi hot on his tail. Kent wasn’t admitted to the hospital proper yet, so he should still be down here behind one of the curtains.

  He pulled back one to find an old lady, teeth out, trying to pull her urinary catheter out. Okay, there were just some things you couldn’t unsee…

  “Sorry,” Joshua said, heading to the next curtain. This one held a young girl, groggy-eyed with black all around her mouth. Probably post-stomach pumping due to alcohol poisoning. At least this one wouldn’t give him nightmares, at least not super bad ones.

  “Over here,” Nicole’s voice drifted through the ER.

  Joshua and therefore Jimmi turned on their heels and headed to the back of the unit. Nicole stood in the folds of the curtain, her finger to her lips. Like Joshua and Jimmi were going to make a scene.

  Once he was past Nicole, Joshua forgot about everything, including her warning.

  “Kent,” he cried, lunging forward to hug the profiler.

  “Careful,” Kent grumbled. “Bullet wound to the shoulder.”

  Joshua didn’t care and gave the man another hug. “Don’t you ever scare us like that again.”

  “No guarantees,” Kent said, as Nicole glared at him. “Could you?” Kent asked.

  “I’ll go get some coffee,” Nicole said, slipping out through the curtain.

  “Well? Did you fix the hack before or after Martin went down?”

  Joshua shuffled his feet. “Before.”

  Kent looked down. Clearly that wasn’t good news. It was going to be hard to claim self-defense when the suspect was on his knees, beat the hell up, with two armed cops in the doorway.

  “So you also caught Ruben’s hesitation?”

  Joshua nodded. That show seemed a little late to help save Martin. But that was between Kent and Ruben.

  “But when we tried to play it back, all we got was static,” Jimmi said, taking Joshua’s thunder away.

  Why did he always have to do that? You’d think friendship would mean a little bit more to the guy, since Joshua was it in the friend department.

  It wouldn’t matter. Kent had eyes only for Joshua.

  “And we barely got a peek at the original footage,” Joshua reassured Kent.

  “So, nothing admissible?” Kent asked.

  “Nothing,” Joshua stated.

  Kent leaned back in his bed. “No harm, no foul.”

  Well, Joshua wasn’t quite sure of that, but sure. “You got it.”

  Then Kent did the most amazing thing. He smiled at Joshua. Smiled. A real smile, not one of the profiler’s manipulative lip confirmations, but a smile.

  Okay, so it might have been the morphine, but Joshua would take it.

  EPILOGUE

  Nicole paced at her desk, waiting. Kent had kicked her out of the ER, saying she was harshing his buzz. She’d left him in capable hands enough in Joshua and Jimmi. Lord knew if her husband needed a sponge bath, Joshua would be right there to help. As a matter of fact Joshua would shove the nurse out of the way to have the opportunity.

  No, instead she was waiting for Ruben. He’d never shown up to the ER and she had to get one more lick in before he left.

  At this time of night, no actually early morning, the bullpen was empty. It would be a few hours before everyone started arriving. She’d called her father to check on Logan and he’d finally settled down. She promised she’d be home in an hour, blaming paperwork.

  Which there was plenty of, but it could wait.

  Ruben finally walked in, a look of surprise on his face that she was there, waiting. “I thought you’d be at the ER with Kent.”

  “He’s stable. I needed to talk to you.”

  Ruben held up a hand, but Nicole wasn’t going to take “no” for an answer.

  “No, you are going to hear me out.”

  “Nicole,” Ruben pleaded, but she might have only this moment.

  “Look, I gave a bunch of reasons, but the reality is I don’t want to lose you as a partner. I know that may be super selfish, but there it is. I want you to stay. Glick wants you to stay.”

  She handed Ruben a letter.

  He glanced at the envelope. “This is my resignation letter to the Captain.”

  Nicole nodded. “Open it.”

  Ruben did so and turned it over. Tiny resignation confetti fell out of the envelope. “That’s what Glick thinks of your resigning.”

  “I’m not resigning.”

  “No, the hell you aren’t,” Nicole shot back. Wait. What? “You aren’t?”

  Ruben shook his head. “I decided against it.”

  “Because of what I just said?” Nicole asked. She hadn’t thought it was that great a pitch.

  “No, because of Kent.”

  “Kent?”

  “Someone calling me?” Kent asked, walking into the bullpen with his arm in a sling.

  “What are you doing out of the hospital?” Nicole demanded, rushing over to check his bandage to make sure he wasn’t bleeding.

  Kent waved her off with his good hand. “The bullet glanced off my clavicle and out the back. No biggie.”

  No biggie? Nicole didn’t bother to argue though. This was Kent after all.

  “So Ruben is staying?” Kent queried, but clearly knew the answer. “I think I’ve got someone to set him up with…”

  Nicole raised an eyebrow and Ruben frowned.

  “Okay, so she’s a meter maid, but still.”

  Ruben looked ready to punch Kent, a pretty standard look on her partner’s face. Nicole stepped in between them.

  “What? Too soon?” Kent teased.

  “An eternity too soon,” Ruben grumbled.

  “That was for shooting me,” Kent replied.

  “And shooting you was for crap like that.”

  Well, Nicole was glad to see that after the wild ride they’d had over the last few days, everything was back to normal.

  RAW – the bridge short story between Debbie Downer and Cry Baby

  CHAPTER 1

  Nicole rocked her little Logan back and forth. She’d always dreamed of this moment. This intimate moment between mother and baby. The sacred bond of nursing. She didn’t expect it to hurt quite so much.

  Logan had quite the grip and forget about trying to get him to unlatch before he was ready to. She would be the one to pay the price, if she tried it.

  A soft knock came at the bedroom door. Well, it certainly wasn’t Kent. Then who? Nicole wasn’t sure so she tossed a blanket over Logan’s head.


  The door opened slowly to reveal Ruben…and Joshua. What the hell?

  “Nicole?” Ruben asked as if he was surprised to find her in her own bedroom. Imagine how she felt.

  “Yes?”

  “I just… Well…” Ruben stuttered.

  “We were expecting Kent is all,” Joshua said. He was far better at awkward situations, which was pretty much the tech’s life, so he was used to it. “The front door was unlocked with a note to head on up.”

  Of course there was. Because that was just how Kent rolled.

  “Sorry, just me and Logan,” Nicole replied.

  “Well, then, we will be on our way,” Ruben said, backing out of the room.

  He seemed more than slightly uncomfortable with her boob being exposed, even if it was under the blanket. Joshua, on the other hand seemed like he wouldn’t mind hanging around, just in case there was a blanket malfunction. Kind of a like a dog who stayed underfoot in the kitchen, hoping for a scrap of food to fall to the floor.

  She wasn’t sure which impulse was more dysfunctional.

  “No, don’t be silly,” Nicole said, waving Ruben back into the room. “I’m sure Kent will be here any minute.”

  She actually had no idea where her husband was. He was supposed to be downstairs fixing her some herbal tea, but apparently that wasn’t happening.

  It was really Kent’s world. They just lived in it.

  * * *

  Ruben tried to find anything in the bedroom to focus on rather than Nicole’s breastfeeding. It was moments like this he seriously wondered why he hadn’t left for Houston.

  Kent had set this up, of course. He was like that. Why had Ruben thought that Kent would back off one iota after convincing Ruben to stay in town? Ruben should have known that Kent would double down. And now here he was, standing in Nicole’s bedroom watching her nurse another man’s baby.

  Yep, this was how his life was going.

  “Ah,” Kent said as he entered. “Wow, you got here faster than even I imagined.”

  Ruben tried not to snort. Kent just rubbed him the wrong way. Like a thousand wrong ways. “You said it was urgent.”

  Kent was the one to snort as he walked across the room and made a show of kissing Nicole, on the lips, not the forehead or the cheek, but the lips. And long enough for Nicole to push him away.