by Honor James
“I know.” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s just killing me. I would like to be able to blame pregnancy but we all know that I’ve always been like this. High-strung and antsy. I just know that I will feel far better when we have him in custody. Maybe then I can think about taking maternity leave. Or just leaving the force.” She still hadn’t decided and they hadn’t said anything one way or another on which they would prefer.
That apparently caught enough of his attention to have him looking her way from under his lashes. “You are not high-strung, Lacey. You are a finely tuned machine that works best under extreme situations and conditions. This is not your idea of fun and, honestly, it’s not mine either but I also don’t mind the downtime when you consider all the possible outcomes of tonight from nothing to the extreme. So. I plan on lazing here, listening to the chatter and waiting on the subject to show up so I can beat his face into pulp.”
“Good. And don’t forget that you are going to hold him down so that I can beat the heck out of him too,” she said with a grin. “I really and truly do want to be able to hit him or kick him at least once. This bastard deserves it and so very much more.” Which was the honest-to-god truth.
“Yup, I did promise that and I always keep my promises. But make it count, you may only get one shot at him,” he said. “And darling, if you plan on kicking him in the nuts, warn me ahead of time will you? I’d rather not watch that even with this guy, some things a man just doesn’t want to witness no matter how bad the bad guy is.”
“Don’t worry. I will make it count. Even if it means that I get to kick his gonads up and into his rectum I will warn you if I am going to, I promise. No worries at all about that, darling. I will let you know.”
Shuddering, he made a face and settled back into his seat. “You’d better. Just thinking about it makes my nuts want to hide from you. I know the kind of power you’ve got in those luscious legs, makes me twitchy just thinking about it.”
“Don’t worry, I would never do anything to hurt you. Promise.” She would never hurt her guys, not willingly of course. Not now that she had them in her life. Now she had, once or twice, hurt them by accident, but that was different. That was then, this was now. For now she was simply happy to be in their lives and would do anything to make them happy just as they would her.
“I can see your lips twitching over there. I know you remember the time you decked me,” he said with a low growl. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten it either, woman. There will be retribution in the future for that, just as soon as I figure out how to make you pay.”
“I hadn’t meant to,” she said quickly. “I really didn’t mean to deck you but you came in just as I was lifting my purse with a hefty swing because I was pissed, and boom.” She no longer carried a purse because of that but she didn’t think he realized that part.
“Zhubin still laughs his ass off now and again over that. He’s got a copy of the recording that he occasionally plays to get to me when I’ve been annoying him. Or so he claims. Personally, I just don’t see it, it’s not like I go outta my way to annoy him.” His lips curled up slightly. “Much.”
“Oh, whatever.” She rolled her eyes and snorted. “We both know that there are days that you do go out of your way to annoy him. It’s mostly on the days where he’s being far too serious but you know as well as I do that you do it, mister man. But that’s okay, because I do as well.” She ended with a laugh.
“He does get too serious, doesn’t he?” He let out a big sigh. “I worry about him sometimes. I don’t know if it’s because of who his father is that he’s naturally this way or if I just didn’t notice and he’s always had this inclination before but…” He shrugged. “Hell, I dunno what the hell I’m trying to get at here.”
“Well whatever we do we will make sure that he doesn’t get too serious on us. It’s going to be okay. Promise. I think between the two of us we will be able to keep his uptight ass from being too overbearing and boring. No worries.”
A low growl sounded in her ear and she and Ansell shared a shocked look. Oops! “You know, if you two are going to talk about me you really should ensure the comms are off,” Zhubin said in an annoyed-sounding voice. “And if you’re done picking apart my apparent character flaws, we have a target moving into the zone, so pay attention.”
Lacey just grinned. “Who said that I wanted to ensure that they were off?” Lacey did, however, sit up and she added, “Besides, you know I love you. Goofus,” she teased and moved slightly. “Got it. Eyes on,” she whispered this time.
“Got it,” Ansell said as well. “Looks like one occupant trolling for a good spot to park. Which, given where we are, there are more than a few options.”
“Could just be a delivery driver,” one of their snipers commented. “But I can’t see a face through that windshield, it’s got an odd tint to it.”
She shared a look with Ansell before his eyes went to the rearview mirror. “Could be, but for some reason that doesn’t really fit with the time of day.”
“Unless it’s to test us, see where we are when we move in to take it down,” Zhubin commented.
“Be a good plan if we hadn’t already thought about that being a possibility,” another of their team commented in a dry tone. Artaxias, if she remembered the voice correctly. The Vhampire sounded beyond bored and very uninterested in what was happening. “Picking up speed again,” he added into the comms.
“Something’s not right.” Lacey felt it in the pit of her stomach. “Okay, this will sound silly, but is that one of those old-fashioned manhole covers that the guy stopped over?” It looked like one, they hadn’t been used in many, many years but she still knew what they were.
“Confirmed,” the sniper said. Shawn, that was his name, she realized. “No movement though, but I can only see the outline in the vehicle. Anyone with eyes on the side or undercarriage?”
A few of their team checked in with reports they had visual and there was no movement from anywhere in or under the car.
“What are you thinking, Lace?” Ansell asked quietly. She could feel his eyes on her, waiting.
“It feels wrong. They stopped and then scuttled away quickly. Okay, don’t think that I’m nuts but I watched one of the old movies a while back and there was something that this team did where they lowered a guy into the sewers so that he could move without anyone seeing him. It was from like the twentieth century so the sewers and stuff were still working, but even though they are no longer used, the tunnels are still there…right?”
“For the most part,” he said, leaning in closer to her, his cheek to hers. He was obviously trying to get the view she had and to see what she was seeing. “Some were sealed, others were blocked off at key points with bars or steel doors and some more, specifically in the downtown, were filled with the expanding foam stuff,” he murmured. “Did you see something we missed, love?”
“For just a moment I could have sworn I saw a flash of light. I know how stupid that sounds. I know how strange that sounds, but there it is. I felt as if I had seen something but just as fast it was gone. That was what drew my attention to the circle impression in the ground.”
Nodding against her cheek, he drew back and kissed her skin lightly. “Ax, can you get underground and see if anything at this spot’s been moved or disturbed?”
“Uh, yeah, I’ve got another cover not that far from my spot. But I need someone to move over here and take over my location,” the Vhampire replied.
“Jonas,” Zhubin said over the comms. “Work your way around to Artaxias’s position. Slowly though, we don’t want to tip anyone off, especially since we all know our target is out there watching this location.”
“Copy that.”
“I’m going to feel really, really bad if I’m wrong on this,” Lacey whispered. “Like crazy bad if I am wrong. But let’s hope and pray that I’m wrong.” She would rather it be that than have Ax get hurt underground in such close quarters.
“Better to be wrong
and know it than to sit here and wonder and find out later you were right,” Artaxias said. “At least the damn things are out of service now. I would seriously hate to go mucking around down there like they were before the Veil fell.”
Ansell gave a shudder next to her and made a face. “Amen to that.”
“Sorry,” she whispered again. “I promise if you get dirty I will wash your clothes myself.” She laughed when she heard several “no’s” all spoken at once. “One red sock in your gym clothes. I’m sorry but I didn’t know that colors could bleed like that.” And they had. All over Zhubin and Ansell’s white shirts, and the white shirts of several of the other guys on the force that had tossed their clothes together in the washer at the department.
Artaxias’s laugh could be heard over the comms. “It’s all right, Lacey. I wear leather for a reason, it’s very easy to wipe off with a slightly dampened cloth. And if I get dirty enough that my clothing requires cleaning, I’ll just toss out these and buy new.” A moment of silence before he was back on the comms. “Jonas is here, I’m moving to the manhole cover and heading below. I’m going comms dark,” he said, then silence from his end.
She looked to Ansell and this time she turned off her comms. “Am I silly for thinking this way? Is this just the pregnancy nerves that have me jumping at every flash or shadow?” Was she still an effective and good cop? That was the question. She certainly had changed an assload with this pregnancy, but now she wasn’t so sure.
He reached up to turn his off. “You’re not silly to be thinking this way, Lacey. You are thinking outside the box and considering something none of us would have ever thought about. Who would ever think about using the old sewer system to get around? It’s so bloody obvious and yet none of us even gave it a passing thought.”
“It’s only because at one time I was hooked on those old movies on DVD or whatever they were called back in the late 1990s. I liked them, though. I know, I know, I’m an odd duck but you love me all the same.” She looked at him and smiled, her hand covering his. “I just really hope I’m wrong because if not, we have no idea where he will pop up.”
“We may not know but Ax is pretty damn talented at tracking anyone and anything. He seems to be able to pick up vibrations, no matter how faint, and track them. At least that’s how he describes it, but I know for a fact that’s not actually what it is, just the closest thing he can compare it to.”
“I’ve heard that before. That he’s got the best tracking skills of anyone on the force, ever.” Which was a wild thing. One would think that the Luhpynes would have a Vhampire beaten but from everything that she had learned, Ax had them all beaten which was totally weird, but good in her book. So long as the perp was found.
“He’s scary good. If I was a bad guy on the run, that Vhampire is the last being I’d want tracking me. Hell, if I was the bad guy and knew Ax was on my tail, I’d just give myself up to the nearest officer to avoid what he’d do to me when he caught me. Not if, when.”
“Damn, that’s wild,” Lacey muttered. “Oh lord, let’s hope that he’s never around when we have our child. Between baby poop and puke I think that his poor sensitive nose would whimper in pain.” She was teasing, mostly. “But babies can also smell so good. Especially just after a bath with powder on them.” She sighed. Shit. She was losing her edge now and thinking of all this mommy stuff. Not good. God blessed it all.
Ansell was grinning at her and shaking his head. “Right off the edge,” he teased. “You are so in mommy mode these days it’s actually a little freaky. The woman who was ready to hit me and Z at the drop of a hat is now thinking diapers and all sorts of baby stuff. My how things change when you actually grab hold of life, funny that, huh?” Clicking his comms back on, he listened and looked at her. “Everything will be fine,” he said softly.
“I hope that you are right,” Lacey whispered and turned her comms back on. She just hoped that she would get that edge back. If not, she would have to quit the force. “If I have to leave my job, you guys will be okay with it, right?” she spoke quietly into the comms, knowing that the rest of the team would allow her mates to answer that question alone.
“If that’s what you want, Lace, we’ll always support you,” Zhubin said, his voice gentle in her ear. “We love you, sweetheart, and you have to do what is best for you first and foremost.”
Ansell was nodding. “What he said,” he murmured with a smile. Taking her hand in his he gave it a squeeze as he lifted it to his lips to kiss her knuckles.
She nodded and tried to once more put her head in the game. It was rough though and she had no idea why she was having such a hell of a time focusing on what needed to be done, but she tried all the same. “Thanks, guys.” She spoke to the whole team, for letting them have that moment and for understanding her breakdown. “Ax, have you found anything?” she asked even though she knew that he was still in silence with the comms.
A single click of the comms came through and Ansell shook his head. “Negative,” he murmured. Leaning his head back, he rubbed the heels of his palms to his eyes. Checking the time, he frowned. “Uh, is anyone else seeing the time here? We’re plus five minutes on our deadline.”
“I’m telling you. Something happened.” She felt it. In her gut she felt that when that van stopped, something happened but she didn’t know what. She just knew that there was something that changed in the game in that moment, but had no fucking clue what it was.
The comms double-clicked, then and Ansell went perfectly still. “Ax, what’s going on?” he said. Then the comms started clicking all over the map. “Got it,” Ansell said and looked over at her. “He’s picked up a trail that’s fresh and he’s following it. Says that it’s a Luhpyne and a human. They appear to be walking together toward an unknown point.”
“Well that’s just not good,” Lacey muttered. “Should we get down there and help him flush the trash from the systems?” She didn’t necessarily want to, but she wouldn’t leave one of hers out to hang either. Period.
A single click that had Ansell grinning. “Negative.” He chuckled. “But he has a point, the less people down there the easier it is for him to track the ones he’s looking for. No muddying of scents and whatever it is he uses to follow them.” Some more clicks sounded and Ansell frowned as he listened, his head cocked to the side. “They are heading toward the warehouse we have staked out, he’s picking up voices but the words are too distorted from the echo down there for him to get anything. He’s moving in closer.”
“Well let’s hope that he is able to get something from this.” She sighed and shook her head. “I’m still thinking that something is just hinky. I really do.” She shrugged however, trusting them all to ensure that things went the way that they should and that no one would be hurt. “Just make sure that they don’t get hurt in the process, please.”
“We’re taking all precautions, Lace. You just make sure that, no matter what, you protect yourself,” Ansell said. Looking to her, he gave her a hard stare, “No matter what. We’ll worry about everyone else and our own asses, you just keep yourself and Junior safe.”
“Don’t you worry, I fully intend upon protecting myself and our child. I know that you boys will be able to protect yourselves so I just need to ensure that I’m keeping our baby safe.” That was what was the main goal for her. She would have to talk to them, the more that she sat there, the more she knew she wouldn’t be able to continue in this line of work, not with such precious cargo inside of her, someone, something depending on her as their child was.
Reaching over, he touched her hand, making her realize she’d pressed it over her belly. “No matter what you decide to do, Lace, Ax says that they are right under the warehouse now. The Luhpyne appears impatient but the human seems to be rigging something up. Not an explosive. Ax thinks it’s a listening and recording device of some sort.”
“Probably wiring the place for sound,” Jonas commented. “If they want to ensure it’s not a setup then that’s probably the
easiest way to do it. And with them out of sight, who would be the wiser?”
“Exactly.” And they wouldn’t have known if not for that one small light that she caught on a chance. It was wild, honestly. “Well all that I do know is that we know that it’s wired. We will have to assume that there may be explosives as well so we will have to ensure that whatever we do, we are moving with utmost care and caution.”
“Our guy is coming in,” Zhubin said into the comms. “Blue car coming from the south. Repeat, our guy is moving into play.”
“I’ve got the other guy coming in from the north,” Jonas said. They had two agents playing the role of killer and helper for the purpose of their sting. They were armed, but they needed to be given they’d be going into the warehouse. They were playing the parts to draw out the real killer, hopefully.
“And we just sit here and wait? I mean come on, seriously?” she asked and rubbed her hands down her jeans. By this point she had turned off her comms unit again. She turned it off so that her words didn’t broadcast to everyone and their brother as she spoke, constantly.
“For now, we have to let them get in there and start their meeting. Then Z will give the signal and the team they know is here and waiting will start closing in for the apparent takedown. But we have to take care, we can’t get in a position where they end up coming up behind us.”
“Which is why we have to double up on men.” She just prayed that this was just what they needed, who they needed in order to get this final case sewn up so that she could sit behind a desk and not worry about some asshole trying to poison her or kill her men.
“Exactly.” He nodded. Lacing his fingers through hers he squeezed her fingers. “I have eyes on subject number one. He’s looking damn cocky,” he said with a chuckle. Norman was playing the bad guy in the scenario, and he was playing it well. He got out of the car when he’d parked and did a slow look-around, a hand under his jacket and likely on his weapon. When he was apparently satisfied he let his hand fall and then headed toward the door of the warehouse to wait in the shadows.
