Joe rolled his eyes. “That ought to put my undercover career safely in the basement.”
“The price of fame. But in all honesty, I think people will change their opinion of law enforcement after this trial. I think your unit made a lot of people sit up and take notice. Your unit is worthwhile, and what you’re doing is important. It’s the kind of unit I’d like to be part of.” She looked straight at him, pausing until he looked down at her. “So?” She gave him a pleading look. “Can I have a job?”
Joe laughed out loud, shaking his head as he pushed himself away from the pillar and turned to face at her. “I dunno. I’ve heard you’re pretty skittish in a firefight.”
“Shut up!” she said, grinning as she swatted him on the arm. Joe dodged out of the way, laughing. Jessica stood with her feet apart and her hands imperiously on her hips. “I’ll have you know that I have the best range master in the country training me.”
“Really? And this is as far as you’ve come…” He trailed off as he had to dodge her again. He clicked his tongue. “Maybe you should take up dogwalking, or somethin’ a little less hazardous.”
“And maybe I should just shoot you in the butt, to prove to you how much my aim’s improved!”
“Okay!” Joe held up his hands in surrender. “You win. You got the job.”
“Really?” Jessica said, stopping in her tracks.
“Really.”
“You can do that?”
“Gee, thanks for your confidence in me,” Joe said, grinning.
“Joe!” Midnight’s voice came to them from the door to the courthouse. Joe looked over at her. “The jury’s back.”
Joe glanced at his watch. They’d only been out for an hour and a half. He and Jessica strode to the double doors, Joe stopping long enough to put out his cigarette.
They met up with Randy and Nick outside the courtroom. Midnight ushered Nick and Jessica in, giving Randy and Joe a chance to talk alone.
“Are you ready for this?” Joe asked, taking her into his arms.
Randy leaned heavily against him but nodded. She pulled away to look up at him, her eyes searching his. “No matter what happens in there, Joe, I want you to know that I love you and that I always will…” She trailed off as if she were thinking about what could happen to her.
Joe kissed her on the forehead. “Come on, let’s get in there and get this over with.”
Joe and Randy Sinclair entered the courtroom side by side, hand in hand, as if they were standing together against everyone there. They walked down the aisle, and Joe let go of her hand long enough for her to go around to her seat up front. She turned and looked at him as the judge walked in. Joe held his hand out to her again, his wedding band glistening in the lights. Randy focused on it as the jury entered from another room. She was afraid to look at them, afraid she’d see a guilty verdict in their eyes. Cameras were rolling and clicking away as they waited for the foreman to stand. Randy looked up into Joe’s eyes and saw the confidence in them, and then she was brave enough to look at the jury. She waited for what seemed like forever.
“Has the jury reached a verdict?” the judge said.
An older man, the jury foreman, nodded. “Yes, we have, Your Honor.”
“On the first count of attempted murder of Lieutenant Midnight Chevalier, how do you find?”
The foreman’s gaze shifted to Randy, and she felt her heart skip a beat. “We find the defendant not guilty.” A cheer went up from the observers as Randy smiled, with tears in her eyes, her hand clutching her husband’s.
“On the second count of the attempted murder of Sergeant Joseph Sinclair, how do you find?”
“We find the defendant not guilty.”
Randy let out a yell as she was caught up in Joe’s arms. He lifted her over the barrier between them and hugged her to him, as if he’d never let her go again. “It’s over, Randy. It’s over,” he murmured in her ear as she cried tears of relief and joy.
“Okay, give way here, Sergeant!” Midnight yelled over the din.
Joe obligingly released Randy, and she turned to Midnight. The women regarded each other for a fraction of a second, and then they both yelled triumphantly and caught each other up in a hug. Randy was congratulated and patted and hugged a number of times by the members of FORS and of course by her brothers, who had just come in that afternoon. Darrell had said that being at the trial would have made him too mad; he just wanted to be there when they acquitted her. He said he’d never had any doubt, and he hadn’t. Randy never strayed far from Joe, always keeping within arm’s reach.
Chapter 8
The drive home was almost unreal. Randy kept looking over at Joe as if expecting him to have disappeared. Her hand was gripped tightly in his.
“So, how do you feel?” he asked once they were on the freeway. They’d had a hard time even getting out of the courthouse. The press had been hard at their heels, wanting to know more about them, congratulating them, asking them question upon question. Joe had held her hand tightly and, lowering his head, basically bulldozed out of the courthouse to his Porsche, which was parked not too far away. The press were surrounding the car as well, but Joe managed to push his way through on the passenger’s side and open the door for Randy, then shove through the throng to his side. He looked over at her now, waiting for an answer to his question, but aware that she was trying to decide.
“Better, but I just feel like we need to be together for a while before I know everything is really okay.” She was hesitant, and Joe knew what she was talking about. Things had definitely changed between them, and some things couldn’t be undone no matter how much they wanted them to be.
“We’ll get through this,” Joe said, his voice sure.
Randy just nodded, looking out the window.
Farther along the freeway they were overtaken by two TV news vans. Both were rolling, probably taping the happy couple going home. Joe glanced at the driver of the closest van, gave a quick salute, and proceeded to floor it. The Porsche, its turbo engine kicking easily into overdrive, sped away, leaving the much slower vehicles behind. Joe looked over at Randy and grinned. She returned it with one of her own.
“It’s not going to be that easy, ya know,” she said.
“Yeah.” Joe grimaced. “Jess was already sayin’ today that we’d probably be a household name tonight.”
“She’s probably right. I mean, here I was, the damsel in distress, and my handsome knight and his trusty companion came charging in to save me. Can’t beat that for a news story.”
“Yeah.” Joe shook his head ruefully. “Guess you won’t have to worry about me doin’ UC for a while.”
Randy looked chagrined. “I guess undercover work would be a little risky after all this, huh?”
“’Fraid so.” He didn’t sound too upset. “Have you thought about what you’re gonna do now?” The question was simple enough, but it made Randy start to worry.
“I don’t really know what my options are at this point. I guess I’ll have to wait and see.”
“Well, one of your options is to return to the academy and finish.”
Randy looked at him for a long minute, trying to detect any inflection in his voice, but she knew he was keeping it neutral on purpose. “After everything that’s happened,” she said softly. “What do you want me to do?” It was an honest question. After everything he’d done for her, she wanted him to have his way on this. It was important to him, and she knew it.
“In court you said that if I had forbidden you to become a cop, you wouldn’t have gone through with it. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Randy nodded.
“But that was because it was the easy way out, and that way you didn’t have to find out if you could cut it or not.” His light blue eyes pinned her momentarily. “What about now?”
“What do you mean—do I think I can cut it?”
“Yeah, do you?” There was no accusation, no put-down in his voice, only the question.
Randy thought about
it for a few moments, then nodded. “Yes, I think I can. I don’t think I’ll ever be the chase ’em down and hook ’em up kind of cop, but I think I could do some good out there. But it’s a moot point, Joe. If you don’t want me to do it, I won’t. If I learned anything through all of this, it’s that nothing is worth risking losing you.”
Joe surprised her by pulling off the freeway and bringing the Porsche to a halt on a side street. He turned to her, taking her hands in his. “That’s what I needed to hear,” he said, his light blue eyes searching hers. “Through all of this, I’ve learned something too. I’ve learned that if I want to be happy with you, you have to be happy with you. What I’m saying, Randy, is that if being a cop is what you want, then I want it for you too.”
Randy smiled as he pulled her into an embrace. She couldn’t believe the change in him. And she was very happy that she hadn’t been the only one to do a little bit of growing after everything. Knowing that Joe was behind her, Randy knew she could do anything in the world, and it made her feel very powerful.
After a few minutes, Joe put the car into gear and headed home. When they arrived, there were press people out front. Joe glanced over at her. The black Porsche sat at the entry to their driveway; they could see the press down the hill by the front of the house.
“Think we should run off for a while and try an’ out wait them?” His grin was sly. “Or should I run a few of ’em over and make us real headline news?”
Randy smiled widely, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. “Sergeant Sinclair, run over innocent news personalities? I’m surprised at you! Maybe we should run over a few cameramen, just to make it seem unbiased.”
Joe laughed, leaning back against the headrest. Randy laughed too, and it took them a few minutes to recover from their fit of hysteria. It was as if the intensity of the last month had finally gotten to them, and laughing was the way they worked through it. Randy would point out a cameraman, and Joe would nod, pointing to a reporter. They went a whole five minutes like that, eventually having to wipe tears from their eyes, they’d been laughing so hard. Finally, Joe drove down the short hill and pulled into the garage. They walked out hand in hand and were greeted by a hundred questions.
“Randy, will you go back and finish the academy?” asked a dark-haired female reporter.
Randy looked at the woman, remembering her as one of the reporters who had recounted her side of the story most accurately. She smiled. “Yes, provided the police department still wants me after all the bad PR I seem to have caused them.”
“You didn’t cause it, Dickerson did!” yelled one of the cameramen in the back.
Joe and Randy laughed.
“Sergeant Sinclair, how are your wounds healing? Are you back at work yet?”
Joe grinned. “Well, like I told the jury, Dickerson’s a really lousy shot, so no major damage was done. Yes, I’ve been working since the week after it happened.”
“Randy,” said another female reporter, though she was looking at Joe almost dreamily. “Is your relationship with your husband really as romantic as it sounded in the courtroom?”
Randy turned to look up at Joe as she answered. “More.” She reached up, and in front of twenty reporters and assorted news crew, kissed her husband passionately. Joe swept her up into his arms, kissing her forehead as he looked out at the press.
“You’ll excuse us. Up until this morning in court we hadn’t seen each other for a month.” With that, he walked up to the front door, punched in the new security code, and opened it. Inside, he kicked it closed with one booted foot. The entire press corps seemed to sigh, the women reporters continuing their reports about the happy couple while the men exclaimed over what a lucky man Joe Sinclair was to have two such beautiful women to take care of him.
That evening, Midnight, Rick, Jessica, Tiny, Spider, Tammy, and their new baby boy, Joseph Nguyen, joined the Sinclairs in celebrating their victory. They ordered a lot of takeout, the men drank a lot of beer, and the women a lot of wine and mixed drinks—except for Tammy, who was breastfeeding. They turned on the news and watched as each and every station told the story. Joe and Randy were surprised when they saw their conversation in the courtroom during the lunch break. The reporter talked about the two of them as if they were Romeo and Juliet and had had to overcome incredible obstacles to be together.
The story of Joe and Randy’s early romance and subsequent marriage was told over and over. Midnight and Rick were portrayed as a very intense but very much in-love couple. There were shots of their testimony, and more importantly the touching moment when, as Rick left the stand and Midnight took it, they touched hands. The press weaved a story of love, commitment, loyalty, and dedication, and Midnight and Joe were portrayed as the heads of one of the most important organizations in the country. The members of FORS, although not shown—Midnight had strictly forbidden it, threatening a huge lawsuit if even one of her people appeared on any news cast—had been described as one-time hoodlums turned police officers. The program was discussed—although in very little detail, again under Midnight’s strict admonishment—and was touted as the premiere gang interdiction operation in the country.
“Great,” Rick said when he heard that description, but he was grinning all the while. He pulled Midnight closer to him. “I’ll never see you after this.”
Midnight laughed and looked over at Joe. “Well, since you are now the fair prince of San Diego and worth zilch in the undercover field, maybe you can help with the program setup stuff, huh?”
“Oh goody.” Joe sounded very unenthusiastic.
“We have more immediate issues to deal with.” Rick looked pointedly at Midnight. She nodded seriously.
Joe glanced at them. “What?”
When Midnight didn’t answer, Rick gave Joe a sour look. “Dearborn wants Midnight in his office at nine tomorrow.”
“What for?” Joe asked suspiciously, his eyes narrowing.
“He wants to ream me for disobeying his direct order about the raid.”
“At least that’s what he says,” Rick said angrily. “I think his intent is a little more about the first part than the last.”
Spider, Tammy, and Tiny were listening intently. Jessica and Randy already knew about what the assistant chief had said to Midnight in their earlier meeting, so they caught Rick’s meaning easily.
“What’s goin’ on?” Tiny asked darkly, not liking the tone of the conversation at all. He was looking at Midnight over the top of Jessica’s head; she was sitting on the floor in front of him.
Midnight looked at Rick and Joe, and then over to Tiny. “The assistant chief has, uh, different opinions about the way I achieved my lieutenantship…” She trailed off as Tiny caught her meaning.
“That bastard, who the fuck—” Tiny started, then looked a little embarrassed at using such language in front of the ladies, but he knew Midnight was used to it.
Midnight held up her hand, nodding as she saw Spider’s expression mirroring Tiny’s. “I know, I know, but the point is, how do we call him on it?”
The men looked at each other. It was obvious what they wanted to do to call Dearborn on his possibly fatal mistake.
“Okay, okay!” Tammy said, laughing. “Let’s just bring the testosterone down to a manageable level here.” She was holding her new son, grinning as she patted her husband on the head. “Beating the assistant chief to a bloody pulp, although in theory sounds wonderful, in reality is a felony. Let’s just attempt to be a little more proactive here. What can we do to put the sonofabitch away for good without breaking many major laws?”
“We could take him to Mexico and do it,” Rick said darkly.
“Canada would be effective there too,” Joe said.
“If we kill him in an aircraft, would that be considered on American soil?” Spider asked.
“I don’t know, but we could test it out,” Tiny said.
All four women were laughing by this time.
“My heroes!” Midnight said, still grin
ning widely. “But I have a better idea.”
The next morning at 8:50 a.m., Midnight was escorted into Greg Dearborn’s office by his secretary. Midnight thanked the young woman and sat down across from Dearborn.
“Thank you for coming, Lieutenant. I hear there was good news for your friend.”
“Yes,” Midnight said, as if still responding to a lawyer.
Dearborn picked up a folder. “I’ve been looking over your file.”
Midnight nodded, saying nothing.
“Your record is impressive, considering…”
Midnight refused to rise to the bait. She just waited.
“Well, anyway, the reason I called you here today was to discuss the incident of a month or so ago. The only reason I haven’t done so sooner was that I have been so busy trying to run this department, and I knew your unit was caught up with the trial.”
Again, Midnight nodded.
“I want to explain to you why I didn’t want you to do the raid that day. I don’t think you fully understood the big picture. And your disobedience of my orders was insubordination in its purest form.” Dearborn paused, expecting Midnight to rebut his words, but most disconcertingly she remained silent. He could detect no anger in her expression, and she certainly wasn’t acting defensively. Maybe she’s finally coming around to my way of thinking, he thought. “Lieutenant?”
“I’m listening,” she said calmly. “You were going to explain to me the big picture.”
“Yes, well, in these days of political correctness, we have to be much more careful about the way we handle certain situations. This is not the Old West, Lieutenant, and we don’t hang our prisoners in lynch mobs. Charging off after Sinclair’s alleged abductors could have caused an international incident. Our position with the Mexican government is very precarious. One bad incident and it could easily crumble. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Midnight said, her voice almost tinged with actual respect.
Betrayals Stand (MidKnight Blue Book 5) Page 21
