As they got closer, the two gangs moved toward them, their leaders heading them up. Midnight was surprised when she caught sight of the Perros Locos leader; she knew the man. He recognized her too.
“Juarita,” Javier Reséndez said, nodding.
“Javi.” Midnight nodded back, still looking guarded. Whether she knew him or not had no bearing on how she planned to handle this situation.
“You know this puta?” one of Javier’s members asked him, referring to Midnight in not very polite terms, but she was used to it. She raised an eyebrow at Javier, her face schooled in an ever-confident expression.
“Yeah, I used to run with her set,” Javier said, looking Midnight over. “But she didn’t look that good then.”
Midnight felt Rick tense behind her, but she didn’t look back at him. She hoped he wouldn’t say anything, and he didn’t.
“Yeah, but now she’s a cop,” the leader of the B Street Boys said. “You a fuckin’ snitch now, Javi?”
“Hey, fuck you, puto. You come over here and I’ll show you somethin’!” Javi stepped toward the other gang leader.
“Whoa, whoa, hold up there, Javi!” Midnight reached up and shoved the gang leader back. Javi slapped her hand away but made no move to go toward the other man again. “You know I can’t let you two kill each other,” she said.
“And who the fuck’s gonna stop us?” one of the members of the B Street Boys yelled.
Joe lifted his shotgun, drawing back the stock. “We are.”
There was murmuring and some rude comments, but no one else spoke up.
“So what’s your fuckin problem, eh?” Javi snapped. “Why do you care if we fight?”
“Look,” Midnight said calmly. “You guys want to kill each other, fine, but my problem is that you never manage to kill each other. You kill innocent bystanders, you kill kids on their way to school and what not, and I can’t have it, not on my watch!”
“Fuck you, puta!” the leader of the B Street Boys spat as he lifted his T-shirt. He pulled a gun from his waistband and started to point it at Midnight. Before he even knew what was happening, the gun was knocked from his hand and he was lying flat on the ground with Midnight standing over him. He also had a nasty-looking gun pointed at his head by a brown-haired Englishman. Midnight and Rick had reacted at the same time.
“I’m a cop, kid, not an idiot,” she said angrily. “Someone else want to try that?” She looked up at the B Street Boys, her eyes narrowed, then glanced at Javier. “You wanna try me?”
“I don’t fight chicks,” Javier said, leering at her. His gang laughed.
“No?” Joe stepped forward. “How ’bout me then?”
“Shit,” Javi said, giving Joe a dismissive look. “Not with that fucking shotgun in your hands.”
Without looking, Joe tossed it to Rick, who caught it without looking away from the guy his own gun was trained on.
“Come on,” Joe said scornfully. “Try me now.”
Javi looked at Joe as if sizing him up. He stepped to his right, his hands down at his sides in a badass way, like he didn’t have to worry about someone like Joe. He paced Joe off, stepping to his right again and then back to his left. Joe’s eyes followed him, but he didn’t react to the younger man’s tactics. He waited and watched.
Randy and a few of the officers nearest to the confrontation had come in close enough to see what was happening. Randy watched her husband, holding down the urge to shoot the young man pacing back and forth, trying to bait him. She realized suddenly how dangerous Joe’s job really could be. She hadn’t been so close to it since she’d had training, and now she knew what Joe’s limitations were in terms of the law, and it was scary. She knew the younger man had basically all the rights and laws on his side.
Javier was still trying to throw Joe off. Midnight eyed him warily, but she stayed where she was. Joe had thrown down the challenge, and it was up to him to take Javi out. The other members of FORS split their attention between Joe’s encounter and the rest of the gang members watching. They knew better than to assume they would fight fair. Suddenly, it had become FORS against the other two gangs, pretty much what Midnight had wanted.
In a flash, Javier lashed out, trying to catch Joe in the face. But Joe was just as fast and moved deftly to the side, grabbing Javi’s fist as it went past. Utilizing the younger man’s momentum, Joe flipped him easily, taking him to the ground. Javier let out a grunt of anger as he knocked Joe’s arm aside, and with surprising agility got to his feet again. This time he pulled out a switchblade, depressing the button. The blade locked with a resounding click. The other gang members made “Ooooh” sounds and yelled out obscenities. FORS remained silent; they knew better than to distract Joe
Javier crouched, his eyes on Joe. He was obviously angry about being shown up once and didn’t intend to lose this round. Joe could see the determination in the younger man’s eyes. He took a few slow, deep breaths, his eyes never leaving his opponent’s as he centered himself, focusing on Javier alone. He knew FORS was watching the others; he had no concerns but the young man in front of him. “C’mon, kid, try it,” he goaded. “Or are you all bluster and no balls?”
“You’ll see, puto,” Javier chanted, shifting his weight back and forth. “You’ll see.”
“Bring it on, big man. Let’s go, I got a date,” Joe said, his grin sardonic.
“Yeah? Well I’ll fuck her for you after you’re dead.”
“She don’t do wetbacks.” Joe had used the right words to push Javier past his limits. Javi charged at him with surprising speed. Joe managed to step aside, but the youth’s knife curved around in a wide left arc, catching Joe’s arm. He winced, but brought the injured arm up and knocked the blade aside so it couldn’t do any more damage. Javier once again surprised Joe by spinning around and bringing the knife up, intent on driving it home in Joe’s chest, but Joe reached up and grabbed his wrist. After that it was a battle of who was stronger. Javier was trying to push the knife home using both hands now, as Joe held him off with one unfortunately weaker arm. He held his injured right arm to his side. It was bleeding pretty badly by now, but he paid no attention to it. He heard Randy yell his name, but he couldn’t take the time to look at her. He was concentrating on Javier’s red face, and he noted movement behind him. He knew that Midnight was most likely drawing her weapon, preparing to shoot the man who had been part of her own gang years before if it looked like he might actually win this battle.
“Javier!” Midnight howled, but the fight went on, because Joe gave a quick shake of his head. Midnight knew he meant for her to hold off. He knew that beating Javier was important; at this point, it could be a quick end to the whole show.
With an effort born of years of discipline, he tensed his bleeding arm and caught Javier in the upper-left rib cage with an unexpected blow. Both men cried out at the contact, but Javier crouched down in pain. Using his advantage, Joe drove his fist home on the side of the younger man’s head, knocking him down. FORS cheered, and the members of the other two gangs looked a little stunned. If these people could knock down their leaders…
Rick gestured to Spider with his head, indicating the guy he was still covering while Midnight’s attention was diverted. Spider moved to cover the downed leader of the B Street Boys as Rick went toward Joe, whose back was to him as he looked down at Javier. Rick backed up to his lifetime friend, putting his shoulders firmly against Joe’s, lending him support without it looking like he was doing just that. He could feel Joe’s weight relax against his back, and he knew Joe was hurt pretty badly. He nodded to Tiny, who moved to cover Javier with his rifle as Rick turned around slowly. “You alright?”
Joe nodded, but it was obvious he really wasn’t. He glanced around, trying to locate Randy. He saw her at the edge of the group; she was watching him worriedly. He gave her a cavalier grin.
There was movement from the other two gangs then. Someone shouted, and someone else pulled out a gun. Things got confused from there. FORS, who had
stood so calmly by moments before, mobilized into a well-organized gang. They moved into the other two gangs, knocking people to the ground, backing each other up. Joe moved to the side, catching a guy Dibbins had just shoved back and taking him to the ground.
“Joe!” he heard Randy call out, and as his head snapped up he saw her launch a kick at a gang member who had been coming up on his flank. The guy started to turn on Randy, but she grabbed a handful of the back of his shirt and a handful of his hair. Looking very much like Midnight, she took him to the ground and cuffed him.
As she stood, Randy saw Joe was watching her, even as he took yet another gang member down. He gave her a salute and she smiled, feeling very much a part of his life now. She turned to watch for any others trying to take advantage of any of her friends’ split attention.
She didn’t see Joe again for twenty or so minutes. By then it was over. Many of the members of the B Street Boys and Perros Locos lay on the ground, either cuffed or out cold. Some of the others had run off, only to get caught by the waiting squad cars. The FORS members and the other officers were for the most part uninjured. A couple of them had gotten cut or bruised, but they’d done the job they’d been trained to do, and no innocent citizens had been hurt.
As FORS regrouped around their leaders, people started to come out of the nearby stores. Several police cars had pulled up, as well as two Paddy wagons, for all the gang members to be arrested. Uniformed officers were taking them into custody, reading them their rights and leading them away. Randy was assisting her field training officer, but he could see that she really wanted to be with the group gathering around Joe and Midnight.
“Go on, I got it,” Sergeant Grunwald said, grinning as he nodded toward FORS.
“Thanks!” Randy smiled at the older man. She finished putting her prisoner in the Paddy wagon and walked over to the group. The members of FORS made an aisle for her, knowing she wanted to get to Joe. “Hey!” she said as she broke into the inner circle.
Joe was sitting on the ground, and he looked up at her, his light blue eyes squinting in the sunlight. “Hey, yourself,” he said, grinning.
She sat next to him, touching his arm gingerly. Someone had given him a bandana to press against the wound to stem the flow of blood. “You okay?”
“Bloody as ever. You?”
“Unharmed,” she said, her tone indicating that he’d made the mistake, not her.
“Funny.”
The members of FORS laughed. Midnight stood in the circle of Rick’s arms, looking down at her second. “I called for the paramedics—I want you checked out,” she said, her voice no-nonsense.
“Yes, ma’am.” Joe saluted with his injured arm and winced at the pain that shot through it.
“See,” Midnight chided.
“Yes, Captain.”
“Hey, yeah,” Spider said. “We probably have the only captain in the history of the department to ever lead a gang fight, ya think?”
“At least!” someone yelled.
“Maybe the first captain in the history of the State,” someone else said.
“Maybe in the country!” Tiny put in.
“Maybe the world!” Dibbs yelled.
“Alright, shut up!” Midnight smiled. “Don’t you guys start on me now. I expect no trouble from this motley crew when I take over command.”
Many of the crowd laughed, others issuing catcalls.
Spider eyed her. “You still gonna go out with us?”
“On shit like this?” Midnight said, and Spider nodded. “Hell yes! I’m promoted, not dead!” She yelled out a banshee war cry and was joined by many other voices.
Later, at the Pit, FORS celebrated their victory. They both celebrated and mourned Midnight’s promotion. At one point Joe raised his bandaged arm, signaling for silence, and everyone quieted eventually. Joe had his other arm around Randy, and Midnight and Rick were sitting in a booth very close by. Rick had his back to the wall, with Midnight leaning comfortably against him. His arms were stretched out on either side of her, a bottle of beer in one hand. Midnight had a glass of Southern Comfort. Tiny sat on the bar, with Jessica on a stool between his legs. Spider and Tammy were at a table close by, his arms around her. Kana stood with one of the guys she’d been seeing recently; he looked just as tough as her, but she seemed to be having a good time. Dibbs sat on the bar next to Tiny, telling him over and over that if he took his eyes off Jessica for a minute, he was going to grab her. Tiny would hold up a meaty fist and tell him to go ahead and try. The other members of FORS were sitting or standing in a large semi-circle around Joe and Randy.
“I want to offer a toast,” Joe said, looking over at Midnight. “To my partner, my boss, my best friend. For all the shit she’s put up with, for all the times she held my hand or dragged my sorry ass out of a bottle. I know that all of you have something you could pin on her and make stick—she’s been there for all of us. And now we have to share her with the rest of the department, with those other guys…” The members of FORS laughed at his derision. “We want you to know, Midnight, that even if they bust you back down to lieutenant for any unpolitically correct gem you bring up at the executive staff meeting, we at FORS will always be your followers. We are your family, and we’re the ones who love you.” He was sincere, and as Midnight looked around at everyone else’s faces, she knew they all felt the same.
After a moment, she lifted her glass. “To all of you, and to all of us,” she said, her voice carrying. “To FORS.”
Everyone raised their drinks. “To FORS!”
You can find more information about the author and series here:
www.sherrylhancock.com
www.facebook.com/SherrylDHancock
www.vulpine-press.com/midknight-blue-series
Also by Sherryl D. Hancock:
The WeHo series follows a group of women from Los Angeles as they navigate the ups and downs of love, life, work, and everything in between.
www.vulpine-press.com/we-ho
The Wild Irish Silence series. Escape into the world of BJ Sparks and discover how he went from the small-town boy to the world-famous rock star.
www.vulpine-press.com/wild-irish-silence-series
Betrayals Stand (MidKnight Blue Book 5) Page 24
