“I . . . I had a fight with Vicki. She’s acting like I’m the prize at the end of a race between you and her. The first one to have sex with me wins.”
“Well that is an interesting idea, now isn’t it? However, I’d never attempt such a thing. Your feelings mean too much to me to treat you like that. Not that you aren’t a great prize though.”
I rubbed my cheek against his hand. He seemed so honest, so caring.
I still don’t know if I want a boyfriend or not. The idea is more than a little disturbing to my old heterosexual male mind. But, this body has deep feelings for him. That along with the fact that he acts like the textbook definition of the perfect boyfriend, just makes me want to be around him more. Dammit, this is so confusing!
Suddenly I noticed Tanaka’s arms sliding around me. He’d left his seat to kneel down in the isle and hold me. The touch was for comfort not sex.
How dare he know what I needed before I do! Why does he have to be so perfect? He knows what I used to be, and he acts like it doesn’t matter.
“Quit thinking about it! You’ll figure out what you want in time,” he said as if he’d heard my thoughts while gently rubbing my back.
“Why do you have to be like this with me?”
“You know. But you don’t need to hear it right now. Right now I am just a friend, that’s all.”
He said before that he loved me. Can I be in love with him too? Do I just lust after him in some strange way I can’t understand, or is it really love?
* * *
Cassie and I were both tired enough that we slept on the rest of the plane ride back with Tanaka watching over us. It was late, well past dinner when we got home.
In the elevator Charles had asked how our visit to the Council went.
Cassie smiled sweetly like a perfect little angle as she told him, “Good, we only had to kill two of them.”
My jaw hit the floor at her blunt honesty. He took it as a joke and laughed.
If he only knew.
We left him at the elevator and went to the doors. Sounds of muffled gunfire came from inside the apartment behind the doors.
“Die scum!” Mary screamed.
Cassie had her guns in hand before I did. Her reaction time was well beyond fast. We both burst through the doors armed and ready to join the fight.
“Don’t shoot! It’s just me!” Mary screamed as she jumped up from the couch, arms in the air in surrender, dropping the game controller. The character on the TV was soon caught and eaten by killer zombies.
“Mary you scared us,” I said putting my guns up.
Cassie still had her guns out pointed at the TV. “What’s that?”
“It’s just a video game. Sorry, I must’ve had it too loud.” Mary held her hand to her chest right below her neck for a few breaths.
Cassie put her guns away never taking her eyes off the TV. “Video game?” she asked no one in particular in a whisper.
“Yeah. It’s like a simulation. A war game without real bullets.”
I can’t believe I just had to explain a video game to a seven-year-old.
“Can I try?” Cassie asked walking towards the TV in a hypnotic daze.
I think we just introduced her to a bad habit. So much for my parenting skills.
“Sure. Sit down and I’ll show you how it works.” Mary scooted over on the couch.
It only took Cassie about five minutes to catch on to the game. She was having the time of her life shooting the computerized man-eating zombies. Mary made us some sandwiches that we ate in the living room while watching Cassie play. She was so determined and focused. It was almost as much fun to watch her play as it would’ve been to play myself.
The doorbell CHIMED.
“Miss Kieran, can you get that?”
What?!? I choked down the bite in my mouth. Mary was closer to the door and doing absolutely nothing, and I was still trying to eat. Fine. I take advantage of her all the time. It wouldn’t kill me to get the door once and a while I suppose. If it does, I’m coming back and haunting her for all eternity.
Vicki was at the door with both hands tucked inside her overcoat.
“Hi,” I said flatly as a greeting.
What else am I supposed to say?
“I wanted to apologize for the mess this morning. Can you forgive me?”
I was not ready to have that conversation yet. I still had no idea what to say.
Vicki took her hand out from her coat. A tiny black and white kitten filled her hand. She handed me the kitten. “Please?”
“Are you trying to bribe me with a kitten?”
“No . . . with two kittens.” She pulled out her other hand. The orange and white kitten blinked annoyingly at the lights. “I promise no more competition with Tanaka or anyone. I would rather share you than lose you. You are too important to me to lose, even if we’re just friends. You’re like family to me. I can’t lose that. I’m so sorry. Forgive me?”
The kittens started to mew. Even as a guy, I’d had this weakness for cuteness. How could I say no? I just hugged her and kissed her lightly on the cheek. It was hard to fight back the tears, until I heard the giggling behind me. I looked over my shoulder. Mary and Cassie were leaning over the back of the couch watching us and giggling, the video game long forgotten.
“I already cleared the cats with Charles. Can we keep them?” Mary left the couch to come grab the orange kitten from Vicki.
“You set this up?”
“Yep! I know how you two feel about each other. You should be together, or be good friends at least. Besides, I wanted the kittens for me and Cassie.” She sounded so proud of herself.
“Fine, yes we can keep them.” I didn’t tell anyone that I wanted the kittens as much as they did. It seemed like it would spoil it somehow.
“Yay! Cassie we’ve got kittens now.”
“Kittens?” Cassie asked lifting an eyebrow.
“Don’t tell me you don’t know what kittens are. Here take a look.”
Mary gave the small orange and white kitten to Cassie. Cassie held it out at arm’s length until Mary made her put the cat in her lap. Cassie sat there gently petting the kitten in her lap just like Marry showed her. Mary came and got the other one from me. She was spoiling them already.
“Mary called me when you left. We spent hours talking. Then she came up with the kitten idea. She said you would agree to anything when cuteness was involved. You aren’t mad are you?”
“No Vicki, just confused. I’m not good with relationships. I put Tanaka and Marsala on hold because I didn’t know what I wanted. You, you just seemed more right somehow. I still don’t know what I want though. But, I do know I like having you in my life.”
“Just not your bed?”
“Vicki, don’t start,” I warned her. “Besides I like what we have now. Isn’t that enough for you?”
“Yes and no. I just want to be more physical with you. To see if it is real or not. No, I mean, I know it’s real and I love being with you the way we are. . . .”
“But you want more?”
“Just a little. But, I don’t want to force you into anything.”
I threw my arms around her and kissed her passionately. That just felt like the thing to do.
“Thank you Vicki. Thank you for not pushing. I love having you around. And, I will try to give you a little more. How does that sound?”
“Like heaven.”
“Big Sister! I think I broke it!” Cassie shrieked in near panic.
Oh shit!
The thoughts that crossed my mind were not pleasant ones.
I can see the headlines. HOMICIDAL KID SLAUGHTERS INNOCENT KITTEN! This is not going to end well at all.
We rushed over to her. She sat there with her hands out afraid to touch the ball of fur.
“It’s breathing funny. Did I break it?” Tears were forming in the corners of her eyes.
I reached down, hesitating before I placed my hand over the kitten.
It purred.
>
It’s only purring.
Relief washed through me.
“No honey, it’s just purring. Cats purr when they are happy. It is a good sign. You made the kitty happy.”
“I didn’t break it?”
“No, not at all.”
“Thank goodness.”
No kidding! Another crisis adverted! Hurray for us!
The phone rang and Mary jumped to get it. A second later she was handing me the cordless.
“It’s Ren.”
I took it and glared suspiciously at the phone before I put it to my ear. “Let me guess. You have another victim and you want me to come look at it?”
“This is becoming repetitive isn’t it? And you were even home this time. Look, hurry here okay, we may have them trapped inside the park. There’s a moving van near one of the entrances. We have it locked down. I think you’d be safer going through the park than any of us would be, and SWAT is busy with another problem right now,” she explained sounding both tired and excited.
“Which park?”
“River Park. You know where it is?”
“Yeah, I blew up the office building just downstream from it a few weeks ago, remember?”
She laughed at that. “Oh yeah, I’d forgotten. Just hurry please.”
“I’m on my way.” I turned off the phone and handed it to Mary. “I have to go, don’t wait up for me.” I grabbed my jacket and the rest of my sandwich as I headed for the door.
“Take me with you! Don’t leave me behind like you did last night! I’m your partner, remember? And, I can help you, I just know I can.” Cassie handed the kitten back to Vicki and grabbed her jacket then stood beside me.
She had a point, and she was good in a fight. I looked up at Vicki and Mary.
“Go, we’ll take care of moving the kittens in for you.” Vicki smiled and waved.
“I’ll call ahead and have them bring you a car,” Mary said.
I thanked them and we left. Both of us still in our uniforms, minus the silly folding hats. We were still almost mirror images of each other. Once downstairs I saw the McLaren pull up to the door.
Good choice Mary.
Chapter 12
River Park was like the rest of the city, blanketed in snow. Almost waist deep snow where it hadn’t been plowed, and it was still snowing so hard you could only see about ten feet in front of you. Cassie shivered when she stepped out of the car. My shields kept me warm, and I hadn’t even thought about her being cold.
Would she get sick? Can a self-healer even catch a cold?
I took the badge off my jacket clipping it to my belt, then I placed my jacket on her. The jacket was way too big on little Cassie. It made her look like a white penguin, especially since her legs were covered by the thick snow. We rolled up the sleeves so that her now gloved hands were free. I didn’t know how combat effective it would be, but at least she looked a little warmer.
Ren came running up to us and stopped dead in her tracks. She was pointing at the car with her jaw open, then she pointed at Cassie with her jaw still down and eyebrows raised in a question.
“Right?!? Okay, first where did you get the car, and second, uh, what’s with the kid?”
“I own the car, neat huh? And, this is Cassie. She’s my little sister, and my new partner.”
Cassie held out her badge like a trophy. “See.”
“Little sister and new partner? When the hell did you get a little sister? You didn’t have a little sister the other day. You’re kidding me, right?”
“Not at all. Cassie is a psionic. She’s also a Hunter Class Officer for the GCP just like me.”
“Psionic huh? What’s her power?”
“I heal fast,” Cassie declared clearly proud of herself.
“Self-healer. Good power. But come on Kieran, she’s just a kid. This is serious work we have here.”
“Trust me, Cassie may be small, but she can really fight. She’s been combat trained since she was born.”
“Whatever, just send the kid home.” Ren reached in her pocket.
In one quick move she pulled out her pen and threw it at Cassie. Cassie caught the pen in mid-air, while spinning around down into a crouch with her pulse gun pointed at Ren. She was so fast I’d never saw her draw the gun. Ren put her hands up in surrender.
“Damn that was fast.”
I took the pen from Cassie and handed it back. “Told you she’s good.”
“I am never going to hear the end of this one. I’m going in without SWAT, but instead I’m taking a little girl for protection. Everyone at the department will tease me about this for months.”
I explained as much as I could about Cassie to Ren as we walked to the front entrance of the park. Cassie had on her glasses and was constantly scanning inside the park walking in front of us through the snow, hands folded up her sleeves for warmth. From behind she really looked like a penguin. She was well devoted and trained, never losing focus on the task at hand.
Too bad I’m not like that.
“Here is the deal,” Ren explained. “Teenage couple sneaks into the park for some heavy petting in the snow. Some punks show up and start chasing them around. They got separated. The guy finally doubles back and finds his girl’s clothes in a shredded pile. He hears muffled screams and goes to look. Then he saw something scary and starts running out of the park. A patrol car making normal rounds almost runs over the kid coming out of the park entrance. He’s in deep shock, babbling away, white as a sheet. The officers get a few tips out of him. Then they see the moving van. That’s when they call it in, to my team.
“I’d put out a request, anything weird going on with a moving van or something like it in the area, or involving a giant spider is to be forwarded to me. Most people think I’m crazy for asking – especially about the spider. But here is a moving van, and one of the only things they got out of the kid was a story about a giant mutant-spider-thing. So I got the call. We have snipers on the roofs on this side of the river only, it’s snowing too hard for them to see from the other side – not that the others can see that well either from this side. One of them had a fairly clear view of another bloated body just like the others, then the snow picked up and he lost visual.
“So far there are no tracks to be found outside the park, except from the moving van to the main entrance. The prints match those we found on the roof last night. As I see it, we have them cornered inside the park. We need to clear the park and then take a look at the body. What do you think?”
“Thermal vision, sweep in teams, shoot for the head,” Cassie answered for me, her voice flat and emotionless.
“Yeah, what she said.”
No fair! I’m supposed to be the one with the good ideas.
“Nice thought, with two problems, equipment and manpower. It would take me at least another hour to get thermal goggles here. Also, I barley have enough men to cover the perimeter. So, new idea.”
“Nope,” I countered. “The two of us are the best suited and trained for this that you have right now anyway. We’ll go in and look around. If need be, I can fly around and look from above.”
Cassie stopped waddling in her tracks. She looked up at me from behind her glasses. “You can fly? I thought you could only float.”
“Nope, I can fly too.”
“My Big Sister can FLY!!!” Cassie went back to walking and looking around with a huge smile plastered on her face.
“She’s easily impressed.”
“You were too the first time you saw me fly, remember?”
* * *
Ren had a map of the park unfolded across the hood of her car. We were looking at the layout before we went inside. So far, the other officers on scene had just stared at Cassie. No one had questioned her presence yet, though one of the other female officers had given her a blanket and a cup of hot cocoa from her cruiser. The penguin-looking girl stood in front of the main entrance to the park, covered with the police blanket, steaming cocoa cup to her lips, never taking her
eyes away from the park in front of her.
That is so disturbingly and adorably scary for some reason.
Ren pointed at the map as she laid out her plan. “The main path here will take us right past the body to the river overlook. The overlook is the only way out of the park that we don’t have covered. But, I’m not sure they would want to go swimming in that ice-water. We need to make our way through to the overlook, just to make sure that they didn’t go for a swim. If we have them cornered inside the park still, I want us to block off the overlook until SWAT shows up to sweep the rest of the park. SWAT should be here in under a half-hour.”
A plainclothes detective approached the car, glancing disgustedly at Cassie with each step.
“Uh, Detective Michaels? You sure you don’t want to just wait for SWAT? Would thirty minutes really make that much difference? I mean come on, you can’t be serious about going in with that RUNT as your backup.” He jerked a thumb in the direction of the penguin with the cocoa.
“RUNT!?!” I was getting upset now, not that it took much. I stepped up in his face. “Detective, do you have a problem with my partner?”
“Partner, yeah right! Why don’t you take the shrimp home and play cop somewhere else. We have this under control. Just let the REAL police handle this, Missy.” He placed his finger on the center of my left shoulder just above my breast and pushed me away as he talked.
I went straight from upset to flat out pissed off. Grabbing his hand off me, I used my shields to enhance my strength and started to slowly grind the bones in his hand together, just this side of enough pressure to break them. He cringed in pain then finally went to his knees in front of me.
“That girl is a Hunter Class Officer for the GCP. She outranks you, out shoots you, and out classes you! You will show both her and I the proper respect we deserve. Do I make myself clear?”
Revenge's Web (Kieran Grey Psionic Hunter) Page 10
