Quid Pro Quo

by Sherryl Hancock

  “I don’t think I’d cuss at Remi if I were you either, love,” Quinn said, her Irish accent clear.

  “Who the fuck are you two? Her bodyguards or what?” the woman said, laughing. She clearly thought she was hilarious.

  Remington and Quinn exchanged a look, both knowing that the girl was more drunk than stupid. Remington gave Quinn an upward lift of her head to tell her to take Finley upstairs. The femme, however, wasn’t having that.

  “Hey! We weren’t done!” she said, stepping past Remington to grab at Finley’s arm.

  Remington’s vice-like hand encircled the woman’s wrist gently but firmly. “Don’t touch her.”

  “This is between me and her.” The woman tried to yank her hand out of Remington’s grip. “Let me go, damnit!” she screamed, looking up at the rest of the crowd on the stairs—people she’d just tried to blow past to get to the bathroom first, and also some who actually knew Remington’s and Quinn’s reputations and that this woman was just too drunk for her own good.

  Remington pulled the young femme closer to her, leaning down. “Calm down and I will let you go. But be warned, if you try and go after my friend again, I won’t have any trouble stopping you.”

  “You’d think she was your lover or something,” the femme snapped, though a little less sharply now as her idiotic behavior seemed to be heading beyond even her own boundaries of smart.

  “My lover is upstairs with the rest of my friends, but I take the protection of women quite seriously, I assure you,” Remington said.

  “Well, you’re manhandling me just fine. That doesn’t seem to bother you!”

  “Because Finley didn’t start this—you did with her, because you were embarrassed that you fell down some stairs.”

  “She tripped me!”

  “Our friend who was standing in line saw what happened,” Remington said. “So you can let that lie go right now. Finley is a doctor—she would never deliberately hurt someone who she’d likely see in her ER a half hour later.”

  The femme was done then, realizing that really she had just been embarrassed—because fat girls always fall down, right? She’d latched onto Finley because she was so pretty and skinny…

  Suddenly she had tears running down her cheeks. She knew it was the alcohol and the fact that she’d peed herself when she’d fallen and that people would make fun of her when they smelled it. She felt her wrist being let go, and glanced up at the strong woman with cornrowed hair and light-colored eyes.

  “I’m sorry,” she said simply, crying harder.

  She was stunned when she felt arms encircle her in a hug. It was the same woman that had been holding her wrist just moments before.

  “Let me help you get out of here and get you a cab home, bebe,” Remington said, having smelled the urine and guessed that the tears were more embarrassment and alcohol than actual hurt.

  The young femme nodded miserably.

  Remington carefully moved them up the stairs, keeping her body between the girl and the women standing in line for the bathroom so the smell would be less noticeable. At the top, she pulled out her phone, and keeping one arm around the girl, she used her other hand to unlock it and request an Uber pickup.

  “I heard what happened—is Finley okay?” asked Minnie from the sidebar.

  “She looked fine, but go check—she’s with the group.” Upon seeing Minnie’s narrowed eyes, Remington added, “It was an accident. We’ve got it handled, Minnie.”

  “If you say so, Remi…” Minnie said, trailing off to indicate to the girl that she was lucky Remington was handling this, and not her.

  Remington nodded, and led the girl to the front of the club. Outside, she turned to her, taking her face gently in her hands. “Are you okay? Do you need to be seen by a doctor?”

  “Like the one I just took down with me?” the girl said, crying again.

  “What’s your name?”

  “Tammy,” she replied, her head bent in embarrassment.

  “Tammy, I’m Remi. Accidents do happen, and sometimes we let things get away from us. I think that’s what happened tonight, right?”

  Tammy nodded. “I’m so sorry. Please tell your friend that I’m sorry.”

  “I’ll do that,” Remington said as the Uber pulled up. She helped Tammy to the car.

  “What’s the address?” the driver asked.

  “410 West Pico, but you need my credit card,” Tammy said as Remington shut the cab door.

  “Been paid for—just need the address,” the driver said.

  Tammy rolled down the window. “You didn’t have to do that,” she said to Remington.

  “I want you to get home safe.” Remington put her hand on Tammy’s arm, which she was resting on the window frame. “Take care,” she said, and stepped back with a grin.

  It was something Tammy would never forget, the night a handsome butch took care of her even when she was in the wrong.

  In the meantime, Quinn had taken Finley upstairs and over to the group, though not before Natalia and Raine had gotten to Quinn first. Fadiyah was called in from the patio where she was talking to Jet as her wife smoked.

  “Guys, I’m fine, really,” Finley said, embarrassed by the flurry of attention.

  “That why you’re limping?” Dakota asked.

  “Well, I probably twisted my ankle a bit—high heels are not conducive to falling down stairs.”

  “Your arm is bleeding too,” Fadiyah stated as she walked up. “Jet, can you please get Minnie’s first aid kit?”

  “Of course,” Jet said with a nod, and jogged over to the bar.

  “Please just have a seat, and be careful. That dress is lovely—I would hate for blood to ruin it,” Fadiyah said, her voice so smooth Finley didn’t realize she was being managed for a few moments.

  Ginny had come rushing over when she saw Quinn helping Finley up the stairs. “My God, what happened?” she gasped, seeing blood on Finley’s arm.

  “I’m okay,” Finley said.

  Ginny didn’t hear it, because she suddenly realized where she was. She was in the midst of the group, and everyone knew who they were. Her eyes darted from face to face as she mentally ticked off each of them. She couldn’t miss Wynter Kincade or Xandy Blue, but she’d also recognized Quinn Kavanaugh right off the bat. The other women she’d seen but didn’t know much about, including their names. Hell, it was part of the reason she was going out with the rich doctor, so she could meet the group that she knew Finley was friendly with.

  Quinn and Xandy exchanged a look. Quinn shook her head slightly, indicating she didn’t like this match at all. A grin twitched at Xandy’s lips as she recognized Quinn’s disapproval, finding it amusing that Quinn laid all of the blame for the matchmaking at her feet and rarely at her own. Xandy was always entertained by the way Quinn liked to see things.

  Later, back at Finley’s house, Ginny went on and on about the girls and how really cool they all were. Finley nodded, not for the first time in the twenty-minute gush session. The sex was expectedly mediocre that night, and not Finley’s part in it. That was the problem with younger women—what they lacked in experience they should make up for in imagination and staying power. Score zero for zero for youth on this night.

  ****

  “So you take dogs out of the shelter and train them?” asked Jericho—the director for the Division of Law Enforcement for the California Department of Justice, easily one of the most powerful women in law enforcement at that moment. Her feet were up on her desk as she leaned back in her chair, looking across at Kai.

  Kai nodded. “Yes.”

  “And you’d charge how much to train them?”

  “Five thousand dollars for each dog that passes a six-month qual,” Kai said, her pose much less casual.

  Jericho could easily see the ex-Marine in her, just as she could always see it in Kashena’s stance. They even seemed to sit at attention. She nodded slowly, her expression calculating. “What’s the cost of acquiring the dogs?”

  �
��Nothing.”

  Jericho turned her head slightly, giving Kai a sidelong look “How much does a K9 normally cost?”

  “I hear you can pick up a decently trained one for around twenty thousand,” Kai murmured.

  “So you’re basically offering me four dogs for the price of one,” Jericho mused. “Is that a financially sound strategy for you?”

  Kai smiled mildly. “You leave that for me to worry about.”

  Jericho inclined her head. She knew this was a matter close to Kai’s heart, but didn’t want to take advantage of a friend. “So what do you see as the application for these dogs within DOJ?”

  “The possibilities are endless,” Kai said, spreading her long-fingered hands wide. “Obviously drug detection, but also chemical detections, like your labs group, or plastique, PTEN or RTX, weapons caches—that’s what we used them for a lot in Afghanistan—or even body detection, live or dead.”

  “What about money?”

  “Can they find money?”

  “Yeah, obviously it’d have to be scented differently from the money in, say, my pocket or yours, but…”

  “Well, yeah, if it’s different… like fake?” Kai asked, picking up on Jericho’s train of thought. “Yeah,” she said with certainty when Jericho nodded.

  Jericho got up, extending her hand to Kai, who also stood. “I’m definitely interested,” she said. “I need to send it up to Midnight, and I guarantee she will want a demonstration. I know I want to see you work the dogs…” She let her voice trail off in her own enthusiasm. “Yeah, I suck as a client—too much open excitement,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity for us, and Midnight better approve it or I might get my own credit card out.” She winked at Kai.

  Kai laughed. “Then Zoey’ll just kill you.”

  “Probably.”

  “Let’s try this way first. I don’t want to be responsible for breaking up a marriage—that’d get around…”

  Jericho laughed outright at that, nodding. “Okay, throw together the proposal for Midnight, including your figures, and get it up to her. As soon as I hear back from her, I’ll get ahold of you with some dates for a demo, okay?”

  “Sounds good. Thanks, Jericho.” Kai shook the other woman’s hand, her eyes level with Jericho’s even at her height of five foot nine, direct and sincere.

  After Kai left, Jericho sat down at her desk and looked over the information Kai had given her. She shook her head slowly as a grin started on her lips. She was beginning to wonder if it was ever going to stop being Christmas at DOJ lately. With this resource she’d have air and ground coverage like never before and could maybe turn the tide on this war they were attempting to wage.

  She turned to her computer and started typing, firing an email off to Midnight Chevalier.

  ****

  Kai and Cassiana were just coming back from grocery shopping, Kai having bought more junk food than she’d purchased in many years. She’d already informed Cassiana that her eating was going to change, but she’d phase her off the junk food slowly so as not to send her young body into too much of a shock. She’d said that grinning.

  They’d just gotten back in the Navigator when Kai’s phone rang. She hit hands-free on the display as she backed out of the parking lot, even as she glanced at the display on her phone and grimaced.

  “Hello,” she said, keeping her tone mild.

  “Kai,” barked a man’s voice.

  Cassiana quickly recognized it as their father’s, and winced at how much anger and accusation he’d managed to stuff into Kai’s short name. “Dad, look, it’s not Kai’s fault,” she began.

  Kai put her hand out to touch Cassiana’s, even as they both felt the tension on the phone line go up a couple of notches.

  “Are you speaking to me, Cassiana McGinnt?” Marou Temple asked, very clearly emphasizing that she was not a Temple to him, nor that she had any right to take such liberties.

  Cassiana blinked a couple of times at the impact of his words, and Kai’s lips curled in anger at what he’d just done to the kid. It was one thing for him to have cut her to the quick like that over the years—she’d been raised by him and his family and their ways, but Cassiana hadn’t. Naturally the mighty Marou Temple wasn’t going to soften his ways for a girl.

  “So talk to me, sir. What is it you need?” Kai snapped, not giving a damn about the sharpness in her voice.

  “Kai, you must send Cassiana home right now.”

  “Let me guess, you got the boarding school all lined up?” Kai asked mildly, even as she saw Cassiana look over at her in sheer terror. Kai put her hand out to Cassiana and shook her head. She wondered how many languages she was being cursed in—he knew seven—for being a disrespectful child.

  “You will do as you’re told,” Marou said, gritting it out between clenched teeth.

  “Yeah…” Kai said. “Not gonna happen this time, sir, I’m sorry. She doesn’t belong in military school. She wouldn’t make it there.”

  “You were fine in military school.”

  Kai laughed, a mirthless sound. “How would you know?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “You wouldn’t have known if I was alright in military school, sir, because you never checked. You just took the credit when I graduated with honors.”

  “What does this matter? You will send Cassiana home tonight.”

  “You gonna tell them she’s gay too?” Kai asked, and waited for a full minute for an answer that didn’t come. “You gonna do that to her too, sir? Make sure they know she’s a dyke so they can try to beat it out of her until they break her? Or until they kill her?” The last was said with so much venom mixed with pain that it had Cassiana reaching both hands over to Kai to hold the arm closest to her.

  To defend her, Kai was using every weapon in her arsenal, even if it hurt her and exposed her. Cassiana couldn’t imagine not having this warrior at her side. She’d never have made it alone against their father; she didn’t have Kai’s strength or confidence, and their father terrified her.

  Marou Temple was a large man standing six feet two inches and weighing 220 pounds, most of which was muscle, with the dark, fierce looks of his Indian ancestors. He’d also inherited his Japanese ancestors’ habit of abandoning their daughters. Fate had only given him girls, however, and he was about to lose both of them.

  “I have another suggestion,” Kai said into the silence.

  It took Marou another full minute to muster a response. “What is it?”

  “Let me take over custody.” Kai glanced over at Cassiana and saw a smile of wonder bloom, but it was quickly quelled as Cassiana began to fear they would hear a booming “No.”

  “You are the reason this happened,” Marou said conversationally.

  Kai shook her head. “I know, I somehow managed to make someone I’ve never met in person gay. Hell, maybe it was the room, or… you know, they do say it’s genetic…”

  “Stop!” Marou commanded, even as Kai and Cassiana had to practically stuff their hands in their mouths to keep from laughing out loud.

  “So what do you say, sir? Ready to stop being a dad?”

  Again there was silence. Kai and Cassiana pulled up to the house as Marou answered. “It will be done,” he said, as simply as if he were selling a car.

  “Excellent, sir. Have your lawyers prepare the paperwork and send them to mine as soon as possible. Good night, sir.” With that, Kai hung up.

  “Did you just adopt me?” Cassiana asked, sounding a little shell-shocked.

  “Technically I just gained custody of you till you’re eighteen. I’m still your sister.”

  “So I don’t get to call you Mama Kai or anything?” Cassiana asked as they opened the back of the Navigator.

  “Not if you want to keep breathing,” Kai said, giving her a narrowed look.

  Cassiana laughed. “Okay, okay, we’ll stick with KaiMarou,” she said as they headed inside.

  “Can we negotiate on that?” Kai asked, setting bags on the counter in the
kitchen.

  “Nope.”

  Kai shook her head. And before she could head back to the car for more groceries she was hit with the full-on assault of a teenager hugging her tightly.

  “Thank you, Kai,” Cassiana said, her voice small from the tears clogging her throat.

  Kai wrapped her arms around the girl, kissing her on the top of the head and hugging her tight. “What else was I going to do?” she said softly.

  “You could have done anything but what you did.”

  “Not anything else and have lived with myself after, no,” Kai said, shaking her head. “You’re meant to be here—you were meant to find me, Cass. I know that. Fate has her ways.”

  “Well, I’m glad she decided to put me with you,” Cassiana said, hugging Kai again. “Because I love you, sis.”

  Kai smiled down at the much lighter version of herself. “I love you too, Cass.”

  Kai was ready to chew nails. Fuck with me, fine, she thought, but fuck with dogs and my people? I don’t think so!

  It was the only thing that would send her to the colonel’s office voluntarily. She was called into Kathy Binder’s office far too often and she was sick of it. The woman was relentless—she wanted her for a lover and Kai had very politely declined. The last thing she wanted to get into the middle of was some straight-marriage sex game. They could find someone else for that. Ever since then she’d been on report she didn’t know how many times, for bullshit the woman made up in her head. She’d refused to sign any and all reports, not even willing to acknowledge that they existed.

  She rapped sharply on the colonel’s door, waiting for a response that took far too long to come. When she was given permission to enter she stepped through the door and stood at attention with a sharp salute, the tip of her right forefinger barely touching her eyebrow. Unfortunately, she had to hold the salute until the colonel felt it necessary to return it, which, since she could easily sense Kai’s ire, took a while. Kai gritted her teeth in an effort to keep her arm from shaking. The last thing she wanted was for Kathy to see her weak.