Betrayals Stand (MidKnight Blue Book 5)

by Sherryl Hancock

  Randy stared up at him, shivering as if he were talking dirty to her. “I love it when you talk guns.” She smiled. “It’s almost like foreplay.”

  Joe raised an eyebrow. “Now, if that’s what you’re lookin’ for… Put the gun down, Officer, and I can show you that too.” He leered at her, his eyes glittering with humor.

  Randy carefully tossed the gun aside and held her arms out to her husband. “C’mere, you.” She pulled him down over her as she lay back. She kissed him, burying her hands in his hair. A few minutes later they were breathless.

  Joe rolled over, pulling her with him, and lay looking up at her. “I love you.”

  “And I love you,” Randy said. “Thank you for letting me do this. It’s really important to me.”

  “Then it’s important to me too, because you are everything.”

  “What can a girl say to that?” Randy said softly.

  “Just that you’ll never leave again.” His voice caught in his throat, and Randy realized the depths to which she had hurt him. The thought stabbed at her, and she knew she would spend the rest of her life happily making it up to him.

  “That’s easy enough to promise.” Randy kissed him and then pulled back to look down at him. “Because even wild horses couldn’t drag me away from you again.”

  Joe hugged her close, and they kissed for a while longer. Eventually they rejoined the party and proceeded to get fairly drunk. It was the first time Randy had ever actually gotten buzzed around these people; it was an eye-opening experience.

  It was a loud, happy party, and the members of FORS ended up passing out or falling asleep all around Joe and Randy’s house. Rick and Midnight wound up in one of the guest bedrooms. Midnight was just a little bit tipsy; Rick was too.

  “I’m gonna take a shower,” Midnight said.

  “Be careful.”

  Midnight nodded as she walked toward the bathroom luckily located within the bedroom. She stripped off her jeans, tossing them over her shoulder. Rick sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard. He laughed when her shirt was also tossed over her shoulder, then piece by piece the rest of her clothing.

  Twenty minutes later, when she climbed out of the shower, Midnight saw that her husband was standing in the doorway, watching her. Rick had been getting ready to lie down when he caught her movements in the shower. He was still wearing his jeans, but nothing else. Midnight grinned at him as his eyes travelled down her body appreciatively.

  “You,” he said huskily, “are an incredibly beautiful woman.”

  Midnight smiled, strolling over to him. “You’re not too bad yourself,” she said, her voice just as sultry. She slid her hands slowly up his body, bringing her lips down to kiss his chest. Rick buried one of his hands in her hair. The other slid down her still wet back, pulling her to him. He released his hold on her long enough to grab a towel to wrap her in, then swept her up in his arms and carried her over to the bed. He began kissing her, and any thoughts she might have had about sleep went right out the window.

  They made love for hours and wound up sleeping comfortably in each other’s arms, all of the troubles of the past months totally forgotten.

  ****

  A week later, Rick and Midnight were on their way to the office. Midnight was driving her Corvette; she had told him she needed to on that particular day, because she needed to take the edge off her nerves. Rick glanced over at her. She had managed to shock him again. She was wearing a hunter-green dress with a tiny print on it and gold buttons all the way down the front. It was open just above the knees, although the dress itself fell to halfway down her calves. And since her car was a stick shift, she had hiked it up a little bit farther so as not to catch it with the three-inch black heels she wore. The lower halves of two very shapely, perfectly tanned thighs were drawing his attention constantly. Her hair was pulled up loosely on the sides with a green clip, tendrils of curls escaping to frame her face. She wore actual makeup this time; she’d brought out her cat-like green eyes with ivory and brown eye shadow and dark green eyeliner. Her cheek bones were accented with an auburn shade of brown, and her lips were touched with a similar color.

  Rick had been sure his heart had stopped when she’d walked out of the bathroom that morning. He had wanted her immediately, but she had danced just out of his reach. She’d chided him for his lack of control and, with a grin, had told him she’d let him take the dress off her later. Rick had warned her playfully that it had better not be too much later, or he’d probably die. It was an important day for her, and he knew she wanted to look her best. She had accomplished that with seeming ease.

  Rick watched her as she sang along to the Def Leppard CD. He was surprised; Def Leppard wasn’t usually her thing. But she seemed to know every word. It struck him that the song called “I Wanna Touch U” was very fitting for the moment. He did very much want to touch her, and much, much more. When the song ended, he grinned. “Do you realize that you just sang a Def Leppard song word for word?” he said, raising an eyebrow.

  Midnight glanced over at him, her eyes twinkling. “Did I?” She sounded surprised.

  “Yes.” Rick reached out to touch her bare leg. “Have I told you that you look incredible?”

  Midnight smiled. “Yes, a couple of times now.”

  “Can I tell you again?” he said, grinning rakishly.

  “I think you just did,” Midnight said, laughing now. She reached over to turn the radio down a little bit. Rick could see her hands were shaking. He reached out and took her hand in his.

  “Nervous?” he asked, eyeing her.

  “No,” Midnight said, not sounding sincere in the slightest. Rick raised his eyebrow at her again. “Okay, maybe a little. Captain’s a big deal, you know.”

  “I know. But you can do it.”

  Midnight looked over at him and shook her head slowly. “I don’t know, Rick. It’s a lot. It’s… it’s a whole bureau of my own. Not just my little corner of the world—a whole bureau.”

  “You can do this, babe. I know you can.”

  “Promise?” Midnight said, sounding very much like Mikeyla.

  “Promise.”

  Midnight drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. She nodded. “Okay.”

  An hour later, Midnight’s single-bar insignia for the rank of lieutenant was taken from her hand and the double bar indicating the rank of captain was pinned in its place. The chief was very proud of her, especially her exemplary behavior in handling Dearborn. She had brought to fruition a program conceived, developed, and run by herself. She had maintained a level of professionalism and influenced her own members to act in much the same manner. Spider and Tiny had both made sergeant, and the chief was hinting that he’d like to make Joe a lieutenant if Joe was so inclined. Joe’s response was lukewarm. He wasn’t really into the whole rank thing; he just wanted to do the job. He had, however, assured the chief that he appreciated the thought and that he would definitely consider the promotion. The chief hadn’t been very surprised by Joe’s attitude; he hadn’t even been offended. He’d grown very fond of many of the members of FORS. Jessica had been hired strictly as a law enforcement member of the unit—Midnight had called in a favor with the chief. Jessica was very happy to be part of the family now, although everyone had already accepted her because of her quick thinking during Joe’s abduction as well as her ever-growing relationship with Tiny.

  Things in the unit were moving along nicely, though Midnight felt very melancholy about having to release some of her control over it. Managing a whole bureau for the department would involve the supervision of other investigative units as well. She wasn’t sure how their lieutenants would take her promotion, but she was determined to do a good job.

  Sitting in her office, Midnight watched as her mother admired her wall of achievements. It was still unreal to Midnight that her mother was there. Carrie had insisted on coming to the promotional ceremony. Even Jack had come, but he had had to leave right afterwards to get to his new job. Midnight had be
en astounded by their presence, and in a remote way happy that her father had seen fit to attend. She’d long since realized that her relationship with her father was never going to be a close one, but she was happy that he had at least acknowledged her accomplishment.

  Now, as Carrie exclaimed over yet another award that Midnight had received over the years, she sat at her desk, her crossed ankles resting on a bottom drawer that she’d opened just for that purpose. She was trying to adjust to the idea that she might have to pack up her office and move in the coming weeks. She had requested to be allowed to stay where she was, since the two other units she was to supervise were located on the same floor and her current office was, after all, centrally located.

  Joe walked in a few minutes later, a wry look on his face. “I can’t believe I have to ask this, but do you have any street clothes with you?”

  “Why?” Midnight sat up to face him.

  “Well,” Joe said, leaning casually against the door jamb, “it seems that a couple of your personal favorites have decided to make your promotion a real event…” He trailed off, and Midnight narrowed her eyes at him.

  “What’s goin’ on?” she asked. She knew he was referring to the B Street Boys and Perros Locos, two particularly nasty gangs that tended to clash on a frequent basis, causing a great deal of damage to passersby, personal property, and each other.

  “They’re on the move. Word’s out they’re gonna rumble,” Joe said, watching Midnight expectantly.

  “You did this, didn’t you? Somehow, you did this,” Midnight said with mock accusation. “Yeah, I have street clothes.” She looked down at her dress, shrugging. “Hell, I think I was freaking everyone out in this anyway. I looked too captainly.”

  Joe laughed and left the office.

  “What’s that mean?” Carrie asked, eyeing her daughter. “These people are going to fight?” Midnight nodded as she stood up. “And what are you going to do?”

  “Stop ’em, hopefully. I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

  Carrie nodded as Midnight walked out. Ten minutes later, she returned clad in her usual uniform of jeans, boots, and a black cotton shirt. She was carrying her holstered weapon. “Mom, you can hang around and watch the briefing, or I can get one of the uniforms to take you home…”

  “That’s okay, I’d like to see this briefing.” Carrie was interested in every aspect of her daughter’s job now.

  Midnight nodded as she walked over to her desk and reached around to fit the holster flaps over her belt, the muzzle of the gun pointing down into the small of her back. Joe walked by. “Briefing?” he said, and Midnight nodded, beckoning her mother as she walked out of the office and toward the conference room.

  Carrie was shocked by the number of people there. Midnight was a little surprised herself, but she recognized some of the extra faces in the room as members of the two units she was taking over command of. Midnight stopped by the officers who weren’t part of FORS, making good eye contact and keeping a firm-but-not-too-firm grip as she shook hands with them. Then she made her way to the front of the room.

  “Okay, let’s get this rolling here, boys and girls!” she shouted over the raised voices. Everyone quieted right away. “It seems that two of our social clubs have a little territorial dispute going on, and it looks like it’s gonna be an all-out fight this time. So as you can guess, it’s our turn to go in and shut ’em down.”

  “Who’re we lookin’ at?” one of the younger members of FORS asked.

  “The B Street Boys and Perros Locos. Now, a lot of you know these gangs, and you know they like to pack heavy and they have no problem with killing a cop, or even one of us.” She smiled at that. The members of FORS had always considered themselves outsiders in the department, and for that reason Midnight had always put herself on their level when referring to them as a group. They started to chuckle at her inference. “So I want body armor on, weapons loaded heavy, and extra trimmings for everyone. Joe, have you got us a stock of MP5s?”

  Joe nodded. “We got twenty.”

  “Good. I want my best shotgun handlers on those twenty. Spider, you get ’em set up.”

  Spider nodded.

  “It’s my intention here to hit ’em head on, unless anyone has any better ideas?”

  “Head on?” asked one of the officers from the vice unit. “Isn’t that a little risky?”

  Midnight inclined her head slightly, acknowledging that yes, it was. “Yeah, but a lot of times that’s the only thing these kids respond to—a show of force. A bigger, badder gang, as it were.” Midnight grinned. Many of her team cheered, and the officer seemed happy with her answer. Midnight had said it in a way that allowed him to be right, but for her to be right too. That was her style. Many of the non-FORS members in the room began to think that working for this woman might not be so bad.

  “Who’s gonna lead us in?” one of the other non-FORS officers asked, obviously not familiar with the fact that Midnight was a “working supervisor” in every sense of the word.

  “I am,” she said. The officer stared back at her, but was smart enough to nod rather than voice the protest that showed on his face. Midnight didn’t take it personally. She knew that a lot of police officers were of the opinion that women didn’t belong in the field, because most women didn’t have the physical strength to handle real attackers. Midnight had the strength and agility to handle just about anyone, and anyone she couldn’t manage would be dealt with by any other member of her unit.

  Two hours later, FORS and a few members of the department’s vice and investigative units arrived at the scene. They were in east San Diego, in a semi-commercial area, although you wouldn’t have known it from the deserted streets. There was a gathering of youths farther down the street, and another off to the left. It was obvious that these were the two gangs set to fight each other. The law enforcement group was easily equal in numbers to one of the groups, and many of them looked much more fierce than the kids in the real gangs—not counting the particularly lethal-looking weapons they loaded and slid into various holsters or, in the case of the rifles, slung over their shoulders.

  There were police cars stationed around the area, and the officers were standing in front of their vehicles, keeping an eye on things. The uniformed officers had been given orders to maintain the peace until FORS got there. So far the two gangs had only yelled insults and flashed gang signs at both each other and the police. No guns had been shown as of yet, but Midnight did not doubt for a minute that they were carrying.

  Joe noticed that the car down the street they were on was the one Randy was assigned to for her field training. He stifled the worry that jumped into his heart. Randy could take care of herself; she’d done pretty well so far. She’d been in a couple of scuffles, which she’d come out of fairly well. She’d been working with Midnight to improve her hand-to-hand combat skills, and Midnight said she had been doing well. Now, as he looked down the street, he caught sight of Randy, and she spotted him. She turned to her field training officer and said something, and the man nodded. She walked down the street toward Joe.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” she said, grinning.

  “Tell me,” Joe said, returning the smile. “Are our little friends being good?”

  Randy shrugged. “They haven’t tried to shoot anyone yet, if that’s what you mean. On the other hand, I’ve been propositioned by about four of them so far.”

  “It’s nice to see they have taste.”

  “No real luck though.” Randy sighed. “I’d better get back. I just wanted to tell you to be careful.”

  “Aren’t I always?”

  He was hailed with four cries of “No!”, one from Midnight, one from Jessica, another from Rick, and the last from Randy. Joe laughed, as did the others. “I guess not, eh?” He glanced down the street and, like a conspirator, pulled Randy further into the knot of people. He grinned as he leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the lips.

  “Why, Sergeant Sinclair, I think that could be
considered sexual harassment!” Jessica said with a grin.

  “Shut up, you,” Joe said, still smiling. He looked down at Randy. “And you. Be careful yourself, okay?”

  “I will.” She smiled as she turned to head back to her post. Halfway there, she glanced over her shoulder and saw that he was still watching her. She flipped him a wave and continued down the street.

  When everyone was set, Midnight called out, “Mount up!”

  Joe and Rick fell in behind her, with Tiny, Spider, Dibbins, and Kana flanking them just to the rear. The other members of FORS fell in behind their leaders. Coming down the street, they did indeed look like a gang. Midnight’s strides were long and purposeful. She looked every bit the gang leader, and Randy imagined it was much how she’d looked when she’d led her original gang, the Vettes. Randy’s eyes fell on Joe as they came toward her squad car. It was obvious he was focused on what they were heading into, and she could see in him, too, the gang leader he had been. Randy reflected on the change in him again. He had been ever supportive since her return to the academy, and even more so when she got to the training part of her job. He was always offering ideas to help her with her problems, but he never pushed them on her. He made suggestions and she decided the best way. Reaching down, she touched the grips of her duty weapon, the gun he had given her. He’d told her later that he wanted her to have the best gun he could get her, and the idea that he had taken the time to figure out what would be best for her warmed her heart again. It was a far different relationship than they had had less than eight months ago, but it was better.

  Midnight kept watch on the two gangs as she walked down the street. She could feel the presence of her husband behind her and to her right, and she could also sense Joe’s strong presence. She knew she was lucky have such strong, supportive men there for her when she needed them. FORS was her extended family, for a long time her only family; it meant everything to her, and she was glad that Rick had finally come to understand that. He’d learned that taking her away from FORS would be taking away a part of her, and that she wouldn’t be the woman he loved without that integral part of herself.