Rhino Ash (Saturday Barbies Book 2)

by Lindsey Black

  ‘Hey, White’s just packing up the hose over on the shore,’ Bell said wearily. ‘Who’s this?’

  ‘Adi,’ they said in unison. ‘Look, the Riot Squad are on their way. Did the Conquistador sink?’

  ‘The what now?’

  Ashley looked around him, squinting to see past the flames on the crumbling jetty and then he sighed, cursing softly under his breath. It had sunk.

  ‘Dammit! There was a boat out there. I pulled Adi off it but his parents were on there.’

  ‘I’m sure they’re fine,’ Bell tried to placate him.

  ‘I’m sure they’re not, since they’d been murdered and their insides were all over their outsides when I got there,’ Ashley scowled.

  ‘What?’ Bell gaped at him.

  ‘Have you seen the Arson Command Vehicle yet?’

  ‘We don’t know it was arson,’ Bell argued, but he was frowning, scanning the Marina for the familiar car. ‘I don’t see it. Are you sure they were dead?’

  ‘Yes, Bell! I’m absolutely fucking certain they were dead!’

  ‘Okay, but then shouldn’t we call the Police? The Arson Squad don’t do murder …’

  ‘Oh, I think they do,’ Ashley said darkly. ‘The Conquistador is Zhao’s boat. He’s asked me out on it before.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Zhao, the arson guy …’

  ‘Yes, I’m aware of who he is, I wrote a complaint against him,’ Bell reminded him but he was clearly confused and Ashley was very aware he was acting erratic and sounded insane. He had to look like he was in shock, ranting and raving like a lunatic, but he knew he was right. Knew it in his bones.

  ‘There!’ He spotted the arson car in the far parking lot, shoved Adi into Bell’s arms and started running. It was hard in wet boots and overalls. He was exhausted, physically and mentally running on empty. He’d worn himself out in the gym before they even got the call. Adding that to fighting the fire and swimming and he wasn’t sure he’d be walking tomorrow but he found the reserves he needed to bolt. Determination did amazing things to the body, like flood it with adrenalin.

  Stankovic saw him first, lifting a hand and waving, calling out and unknowingly alerting Zhao to his presence. Maybe it was the look on his face, or maybe it was having six and a half feet of solid muscle sprinting furiously toward you, but Zhao realised he wasn’t there to say hi and turned sharply on his heel to run.

  A police siren went off to Ashley’s left but he didn’t slow, sprinting across the carpark after Zhao who fled into the factory outlet centre.

  ‘Ash!’

  Finn. But he had no time to stop and knew Finn would catch up.

  At this time of night it was abandoned, the old brick building dark and illuminated only by the bright green exit signs and the occasional flickering fluorescent light that hadn’t been switched off. Ashley followed the sounds of hammering feet as he sprinted past the locked doors of shops and cafes, quietly pleased he didn’t have time to stop and think about what he was doing. The place was freaky enough without him realising he was chasing down a murderer.

  He saw Zhao ahead, slowing, nowhere near as fit as Ash in a rage. He sprinted after him and was almost on him when Zhao turned with a knife in his hand, a long hooked thing that was probably used for gutting fish but Ashley knew worked equally as well on people.

  ‘You bastard!’ he bellowed, lunging for the man but something collided with him, knocking him into a closed display in the centre of the aisle. As he fell Ashley saw Finn dodge the knife, sliding under Zhao’s arm on one knee and kicking out with the other, knocking Zhao to the floor. They crashed down together, Finn pulling cuffs from his belt and snapping them over the wrist with the knife even as his other hand slid over Zhao’s and folded it back in against his wrist with a crunch that echoed in the cold halls for a moment before Zhao’s scream of pain replaced it. The knife fell from lax fingers.

  Finn didn’t hesitate, pulling the broken wrist behind Zhao’s back and rolling him over onto his stomach, grabbing Zhao’s free hand and locking it into the other cuff. It was mere seconds of work, everything smooth and calculated and Finn barely looked like he’d broken a sweat.

  Ashley thought his lungs were going to explode as he sat back on his elbows and gulped at the air, staring at his boyfriend in awe.

  ‘How the hell did you do that?’

  ‘What the fuck were you thinking?’ Finn bellowed at him. ‘You could’ve been killed! He had a knife, you moron!’

  ‘And he knows how to use it,’ Ashley agreed, still struggling to get his breath back. ‘He murdered Adi’s parents, and those people on the buses and the girls at the apartment and the people in the warehouse …’ He shook his head, staring at the man and trying to comprehend how someone so evil could look so normal.

  Your average fifth generation Australian-Chinese guy. Going around murdering his slaves when they rebelled. Did he know what century it was? And no one had suspected because his father was powerful. You didn’t mess with old Chinese money. Not in this economy. How many times had he heard that lately? But some of the money hadn’t been old. Some of it was new, made by slaves and handed to dirty masters serving their own self-interests.

  ‘Killed, Ash! He’s a murderer! You don’t chase murderers!’ Finn was looking at him like he was a moron.

  ‘Well, I did,’ was the only smart arse thing he could think to say and he heard Taylor and Clay snickering behind him. Tilting his head back, he looked up at them where they were standing on either side of him watching Finn and Jones haul Zhao to his feet.

  ‘You broke my arm!’ Zhao wailed.

  ‘Did I?’ Finn mused. ‘Strange. I thought I only used the minimum force necessary to subdue the threat. It certainly felt that way, when you had that giant knife pointed at me. Is that what it looked like to you, Ash?’

  ‘Yeah …’ What the hell? They were all grinning, Jones pushing Zhao toward Mendel, who looked like a dark sentinel standing behind them all in his riot gear with a Taser pointed at the criminal.

  ‘Please, give me an excuse to shoot you,’ Mendel begged.

  ‘You can’t prove anything,’ Zhao spat at Mendel’s feet and Jones tugged on the cuffs, causing him to cry out as pain shot up his arm. They marched him away, snivelling. Taylor checked Ashley was okay and dragged Clay after them, leaving him with Finn.

  The look on Finn’s face said leaving him wasn’t their best idea; he was going to die. He forced himself wearily up, ready to start grovelling.

  ‘You scared the shit out of me!’ Finn hissed, lunging at him and suddenly he had Finn’s legs around his waist, his arms around his neck and warm lips demandingly prying his mouth open so Finn’s tongue could invade. He barely had the strength to hold Finn up, but he let him have his way, needing the closeness as desperately. Finn slid down his body while they kissed and eventually his feet found the ground again.

  ‘Seriously, what were you thinking? You’re not a cop, Ash!’

  ‘I knew you’d catch up to me, and I didn’t want him to get away.’ Ashley tried to get more kisses but Finn held him at arm’s length and looked him up and down, eyes wide and mouth working without any sound coming out.

  ‘What the hell happened to you?’

  ‘Did you see the Marina?’ Ashley asked, incredulous, but by the look on Finn’s face he realised he hadn’t. They must have arrived at the carpark and seen him before they had time to look around.

  ‘I saw you and jumped out the back door and ran. I didn’t have time to look …’

  Ashley started laughing, shaking his head and pulling Finn back toward the entrance.

  ‘You gotta see this. It’s like a once in a lifetime thing …’

  They emerged to the fire being mostly extinguished, the odd red flicker still burning on a mast and the jetty. People were being put in ambulances or handed over to loved ones after being seen by paramedics and the fire crews were packing up their trucks. The smoke was still heavy in the sky, the water black with soot and ash and scat
tered throughout the Marina were the remains of million dollar yachts.

  Finn started laughing as soon as he saw it, taking it all in with a long sweeping gaze before turning to look Ashley up and down again, then laughing harder.

  ‘What the hell?’

  ‘Best I can figure out? Pyromaniac Zhao likes to cover his tracks by burning them to the ground, right?’

  ‘That would appear to be the case, yes,’ Finn agreed, looking at him curiously.

  ‘So, I found two murdered bodies on a boat called the Conquistador, which happens to be the name of the boat Zhao is always nagging me to go spend time on with him. I doubt there are two of them, but you’ll have to check. Anyway, I’m assuming he murdered Adi’s parents and then set the whole place on fire to cover it up.’

  Finn was quiet, turning to take it all in again while he absorbed this new information into his timeline of events.

  ‘You’ll have to come to the station and file a report. You’re the only witness to the dead bodies. But we can send in some divers tomorrow to retrieve them, and if the wounds on the bodies match the knife we found on Zhao that’ll be adequate evidence.’

  ‘Does that mean I get to go in the Riot van?’ He asked excitedly.

  ‘Um …’ Finn laughed at him and then shook his head. ‘With Zhao? I don’t think so. But I can take you in the van anytime, fanboy. For now, Stankovic can take you in.’ He pointed to the man, who was looking lost by his vehicle, his notepad tucked under one arm as usual.

  ‘Hey. I’m sorry, I … I had no idea,’ Stankovic’s shoulders slumped and he looked beyond miserable. Ashley wondered if there’d been any hint, if Stankovic had for a second wondered what if, but knew that was pointless. Asking would only hurt the man and it was unnecessary because what was done was done.

  ‘It’s okay,’ Ashley forced a smile.

  ‘Hey …’ Finn was looking around, frowning. ‘Who’s Adi, anyway?’

  ‘That’s the bit you found confusing?’ Ashley laughed at him, leaning in to kiss his temple. ‘Little Indonesian boy, Bell or Hayley have him. I’ll pick him up and bring him to the station. He’ll need a carer from Services. He might have seen something.’

  ‘Okay. I’ll see you there.’ Finn was already jogging toward their van, jumping in the back because they were already moving. Shaking his head, Ashley watched them leave and then turned to his lift.

  ‘Shall we?’

  ‘Would you mind terribly if we did a quick sweep of everything? I am supposed to be doing a job, and since I’m the only one here now I’d like to get it done.’

  ‘Yeah, ‘course,’ Ashley agreed. ‘How about I go find Adi, and you do your thing and we’ll meet back here in a half hour, yeah? That enough time?’

  ‘Thank you.’ The man looked broken, and Ashley had to wonder if maybe this would be the last report he wrote. He couldn’t imagine finding out his partner was a murdering modern-day slaver, people smuggler and drug trafficker.

  Left alone again, Ashley wandered down to the waterline, looking out at the yacht graveyard and imagining the headlines tomorrow. With the amount of rich people it would affect, the reports were likely to be spectacularly biased, and untrue for a while until the facts came out. It would at least be entertaining to watch the media circus.

  ‘Hey,’ Hayley called out, walking over with Adi’s hand in one of hers. He had a blanket around his shoulders and a juice box in his free hand. He looked up at Ashley and immediately dropped Hayley’s hand to grab his instead, but otherwise seemed content to suck on his straw.

  ‘You finished?’

  ‘We’re packing up, then we’ll head to the hospital. A few need to go, but no one’s urgent. He’s been checked over, I’m assuming you’re heading to the station and will need him. I’ve contacted Child Services and they said they’d send someone over there.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘You should get checked,’ she looked him up and down again, shaking her head. ‘You look …’ She waved her hand as if that explained anything.

  ‘Roguishly handsome?’

  ‘Hideous. Go do something about that.’ She walked away muttering about how stupid her brothers were, collectively cursing them in some rather creative ways.

  Adi looked up at him and sucked his cheeks in hard trying to get more liquid out of the fruit pack before he tossed it on the ground.

  ‘Yuck!’

  What the fuck. Why was everyone in his life crazy?

  16

  Please, don’t escalate this any further

  He refused to ever be involved in a crime again, even as a witness. Especially as a witness. He did not need those sorts of nightmares, thank you very much. Ashley slumped against the wall and watched the very formal Child Services lady take Adi away. She promised to tell him where the kid ended up and let him visit, or call and say hi, but for now she seemed to think finding a stable environment with no connection to what had happened was best.

  Adi had seen everything. They found a translator who met them at the station and he’d spilled everything he’d seen in a tearful confession, hands waving wildly while he tried to convey the horror of what he’d seen and the enormity of what it meant to him personally. He was only small, but he knew his world ceased and now turned in a different direction. It had been heartbreaking to see and Ashley had only watched through a glass window, not permitted to listen.

  He was glad he was not a police officer; he didn’t want to do their job.

  He’d given his own testimony to what he witnessed and they had organised divers for the Marina search the next day. Everything happened easily, but it seemed to take forever. There was far too much paperwork.

  ‘Hey.’

  He looked up to find Finn frowning down at him.

  ‘You look like hell.’ Finn stroked Ashley’s cheek and then hauled him back to his feet. He ushered him toward the door. ‘Come on, I want to get you home.’

  ‘Yours or mine?’ Ashley asked, not wanting to demand but hoping it was his because it was closer and he wanted to go to bed as soon as possible.

  ‘Either, it doesn’t matter. Wherever you are is home.’

  Ashley found himself staring at the man’s back as he stepped into the elevator and turned to look at him, confused. Did he even realise what he’d said?

  ‘Are you getting in?’

  Grinning, Ashley obeyed, pinning Finn up against the wall and kissing him harder than he’d intended but he was tired. Too tired to control his own strength and Finn didn’t seem to mind.

  ‘My place, it’s closer,’ Ashley demanded and Finn nodded, too weary to even reply. ‘Besides, there are clothes that fit both of us at my place.’

  ‘You want me to wear clothes?’ Finn arched a brow and smirked.

  ‘Touché.’

  ‘Seriously, what happened to you?’ Finn was still staring at him as if he had three heads and Ashley looked at himself in the reflective walls of the elevator and grunted in acknowledgement of what everyone had been trying to tell him.

  He looked like shit. He had small scratches all over his face and neck, and there was a large bruise blossoming on his forehead. One side of his face was blistered with a light burn that he felt even through his clothes, probably from the heat from the first explosion that knocked him from the jetty. He had an impressive collection of bruises and abrasions and even when he shrugged it hurt.

  ‘A couple of boats exploded on me.’ What did they expect, he wasn’t Superman.

  ‘A couple,’ Finn clarified. ‘As in more than one.’

  ‘Well, yeah, you saw the Marina …’

  Finn looked like he couldn’t decide if he should yell, laugh or cry. In the end he snorted and shook his head.

  ‘First a house explodes on top of you, now multiple boats. Please don’t escalate this further, I think you’ve proved whatever point you were trying to make.’

  ‘I wasn’t trying to make a point,’ Ashley frowned at him, crossing his arms over his chest self-consciously. ‘I was doing
my job! I’m a fireman. Sometimes stuff just explodes!’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Finn clearly did not agree with him, leading the way out into the parking garage where Harriet sat innocently waiting. ‘I seem to recall something about your mother’s house almost exploding with you in it, too. Tsk tsk, Ash. You know, I really don’t think you’re a very good firefighter.’

  Ashley gaped at him. But his eyes were bright and he was smirking, shaking slightly and Ashley realised he was teasing. Repeating Emma’s high and mighty claim from a barbeque a few months ago when Jay had put a deodorant can in the oven and almost blown the house up. Emma, for whatever reason, had blamed Ashley.

  It was a common theme in the family. If something didn’t make sense, blame Ashley.

  ‘I’m a fucking great firefighter, you arse!’ But he pulled up at the passenger side and frowned down at the hideous little car, sighing heavily as he forced himself to open the door and get in.

  Finn climbed in the driver’s seat and put the key in, turning it over.

  Of all the times, the bitch wouldn’t start.

  ‘Fuck me,’ Ash breathed. ‘It really is always on the way home.’

  Dave picked them up, pulling up at three in the morning, still in his pyjamas. Freya was in the passenger seat, so Ashley climbed in the back with Finn.

  ‘Thanks for coming to get us,’ Finn said immediately, the embarrassment clear in his voice, as was the weariness.

  ‘That’s what friends are for,’ Freya sing-songed, but she had turned in the seat to look at them and was gaping, looking up and down and back and forth between them. ‘What the fuck happened to you?’

  ‘Fire,’ they said in unison and she shook her head at them and turned to face Dave.

  ‘Sweetheart, Ash is covered in cuts and bruises, his head’s all swollen and there’s seaweed in his hair and he still somehow looks more attractive than you at three in the morning.’

  ‘Balls!’ Dave spat, gripping the wheel tighter and speeding up to get them all home. Freya stroked his cheek and tried to tell him she still loved him the most, but it seemed to fall a little flat. Finn, at least, laughed.

  ‘Are you sure you’ll be okay?’ Freya asked, watching them stumble toward the main bedroom. ‘I can bathe you, if you like?’