by Margaret Kay
“So, this is where you live. A little uptown and pricey for a massage therapist.”
“Is there a question in that statement?”
“Convince me you’re not a cop,” Diaz said.
“This place is a little pricey for a cop too,” she said. “I’m not a cop.”
His free hand groped over her. “Oh, what do we have here?” He pulled her gun from where it was holstered at the small of her back. “I don’t know many massage therapists who carry a gun.”
“Then you don’t know many who work in Chicago. How did you find me?”
Diaz laughed. “You’re not the only one who can plant a tracker on someone, sweet-thing. I knew it had to be you.”
“Okay, I’m not just a massage therapist. Juan Carlos sent me.”
She felt him flinch. “No way. Juan Carlos got scooped up in Compton. If he sent you, you’re a cop.”
“Juan Carlos bought his way out. He’s in hiding and not sure who to trust besides me. He sent me to check you out, see if you could be trusted.”
“Juan Carlos knows he can trust me.”
“Evidently not. Someone gave up his location at that warehouse. The DEA went in specifically for him.” She waited a second. Diaz was quiet. She wished she could see the expression on his face to gauge his thoughts. “Now get the fucking knife off my neck. Juan Carlos happens to love my neck the way it is and will be super pissed if you mar it. He is intimately familiar with every inch of my body.”
Diaz withdrew the knife and spun her around to face him. He looked pissed, not what she expected. “I am loyal to Juan Carlos!” His hand still grasped her bicep, tightly. She was sure there would be a bruise there. His other hand held the knife between them, ready to strike.
“Okay,” she said.
“So, you’re Juan Carlos’ woman?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me, when he needs to bang his demons away, does he bend you over the table or tie you to the bed?”
“I’m not answering that.” Instantly she saw something flash over his face. She knew she answered wrong.
“That’s what I thought, sweet-thing. You’ve never been with Juan Carlos,” he spat and then lunged at her with the knife.
She deflected the knife that was slicing down towards her, blocking his assault with her left arm. It cut through her jacket and slashed her arm. Ignoring the pain, she followed up with a right cross, landing the blow on his jaw. His head snapped back. She kicked the blade from his hand. Then she rolled to the ground and retrieved the backup weapon from her boot just as Diaz pulled her 9 mm from the top of his pants.
She pulled the trigger twice, direct hits, center mass, just as the door burst open and Cooper came in, his .40 caliber leading the way. He immediately went to the still form on the floor that was bleeding all over his light beige carpet. He kicked the gun and the knife away from Diaz. Madison still sat on the floor, gun aimed at Diaz.
He turned his attention back to her. “Put the safety on and put it down, Madison. I’ve got him covered.”
She breathed out a shaky breath. With trembling hands, she activated the safety and sat the weapon to the floor beside her.
Cooper eyed the blood staining the arm of her jacket and dripping from her fingers. “Are you okay?” He asked as he checked Diaz for a pulse at his neck. There was none.
“Yes,” her unsure voice softly spoke.
He came over to her and dropped to the floor beside her, taking her into his arms. He pressed a kiss to her cheek. “He’s dead. You’re safe.”
She dropped her head against his shoulder, nestling into the crook of his neck, and just took in the sensation of safety that his arms brought.
He pulled his phone from his belt and called the Ops Center. “Threat neutralized at my place. Alert the local authorities that I have a DB, our suspect, Pedro Diaz. He attacked Madison.”
“Roger that, Coop,” Yvette’s voice replied just as Doc and Garcia entered the Condo, weapons drawn, in assault formation.
“Doc and Razor are on site. Give a sitrep to the rest of the team in route,” Cooper added.
“Roger,” Yvette acknowledged. She and BT then got busy with the notifications.
“Control, weren’t the trackers on Diaz monitored? How the hell did he end up at my place without us knowing?”
“Coop, the trackers still show him at his motel. He must have found them,” Yvette answered.
Doc went to the kitchen and got a kitchen towel from the drawer where Cooper kept them. He kneeled in close beside Madison and removed her jacket. He blotted the wound gently with the towel and then examined it. He elevated her arm and held the towel over the wound. His eyes flickered to the way Cooper held her and the realization came to him.
“Do you still have that medicine kit in your pantry?” He asked Cooper.
Cooper nodded. His eyes met Doc’s, and he saw his hard stare in return. He knew Doc had figured it out. “Can you grab that, Garcia?” He was not letting go of Madison. He didn’t care if every member of the team knew about their relationship. That boat had kind of sailed already. There would be no explaining why she was letting herself into his place.
Garcia retrieved it and stood behind Madison and Cooper, watching the door. He handed Doc supplies at his prompting.
Jackson came through the door next. “Mother is in guard position in the hallway,” he said, pointing back over his shoulder. His eyes took in the scene. “Are you okay, Madison?”
She raised her head from Cooper’s shoulder and made eye contact with Jackson. She nodded faintly. Then her eyes went to Doc’s hands that had cleaned and had just finished bandaging the knife wound.
“You don’t need stitches. Good thing it was so cool today, and you had the jacket on. The cut would have been a lot worse if the knife hadn’t had to go through something so thick.”
Tears burned her eyes as she nodded.
“I cleaned it well enough to get you through the police interview, but later I want to irrigate it and get more antibiotic ointment on it.”
She nodded again, her eyes still locked onto Doc. His eyes kept flickering between her and Cooper. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She’d killed a man. She’d have to give a statement to the police. When she reopened her eyes, her gaze shifted to Cooper.
“What do I tell the local authorities?” She asked.
“The truth would be nice,” a detective at the door said. He was in plain clothes, his badge pinned to his jacket. “I’m Detective Russell, Arlington Heights PD, and I need to see some badges pretty damn quick or ask you to relinquish your weapons.
All the men of Shepherd Security pulled their badges and credentials.
“Mine is in my backpack,” Madison spoke after the detective had viewed the others and was satisfied.
Cooper handed her the backpack from the floor where she’d dropped it upon entering his condo. Her hands still shook as she unzipped the pocket, they were in. She handed them to Detective Russell who had come in closer.
“I meant, I need authorization from my superiors to disclose the details of the case I was working that involved our victim. I don’t know what I can tell you yet.”
Russell handed the badge back. “DEA, FBI, and CIA all in this room. Is this some kind of task force?”
“You could say that,” Cooper replied. “It’s also my personal residence and my neighbors do not know my line of work. I’d like to keep it that way. The official story will be that my girlfriend’s ex stalked her and attacked her at my residence.”
Just then Shepherd rolled through the door, Homeland credentials and badge displayed. His eyes went to Madison, still seated on the floor. “Are you okay Miller?”
“Yes, sir,” she replied.
“I’m the agent in charge,” Shepherd declared, his eyes on Russell. “But DEA will be taking control of this investigation.”
“DEA over Homeland?” Russell remarked, not expecting a reply. He was sure whatever it was they were working on was
way above his paygrade.
“We were just all lending a hand. It’s the DEA’s case,” Shepherd clarified. “Our DB is a member of the Juarez Cartel.”
“The Juarez Cartel?” Russell repeated. His eyes went back to Madison, still seated on the floor. “Are you okay, Agent Miller? Up to making your statement?”
Madison’s eyes gazed at the large bandage on her forearm. “Yes,” she replied.
“Let’s get you up then,” Doc said. He helped her to her feet and walked her to the dining room table.
The next several hours were filled with statements given, the arrival of the Crime Scene Investigators, and the Coroner. When they were finished, Detective Russell’s eyes swept over each member from Shepherd Security as he came to his feet. “I guess that’s it then.” He shook each person’s hand, thanking each for their cooperation. Then he left, closing the door behind himself.
“Okay, now let’s get down to our own debrief,” Shepherd said.
“First, I’m going to open that bottle of wine. I want a large pour.” She came to her feet.
“Sit, I’ve got it,” Garcia said. He grabbed the bottle of wine from the floor where it still sat and took it to the kitchen. “One glass of wine, coming up. Do you want a beer, Coop?”
“You better believe it,” Cooper answered.
All the men requested one.
Shepherd stared at her with expectation as Garcia passed out the beverages. After she took a drink of the smooth red blend, savoring it in her mouth, she met his stare. “I didn’t know he was there until I entered the unlock code on the front door.”
She told them what happened from that moment until she shot Diaz and Cooper came through the door. No one asked why she was there.
“How did he plant a tracker on her? And why didn’t we know?” Shepherd demanded, his eyes on Garcia.
“We had the car she drove under surveillance in both the massage parlor and diner parking lots. He never went near it. It has to be on her someplace,” Garcia said.
Madison thought about it for a few seconds. “My coat, it has to be in my coat. That’s the only common item on me. I even washed my hair and combed it completely out. I would have found it.”
“Get with Michaela. I want a new protocol and tech in place that scans everyone coming through the Shepherd Security access points,” Shepherd ordered.
Garcia nodded as he rose to go retrieve her coat from where it still lay on the floor. “Your carpet is toast, Cooper.” Garcia pointed to the multiple places that were saturated with blood.
“Yeah,” Cooper agreed dismissively. Like that mattered to him? His eyes went to Madison and the bandage on her arm. Her safety was all that mattered.
Garcia retrieved a device from his backpack. He activated it and ran it over the jacket. The dial shot up as he ran it over one of the pockets. Inside he found and removed a small chip. He then retrieved a shielding bag from his backpack and dropped it inside. “Just in case anyone else is monitoring it. I doubt it though. In surveilling Diaz, the last few days, he appears to operate mostly alone.”
“You took a huge gamble that Diaz was still loyal to Juan Carlos,” Jackson pointed out.
“Yes, I know.” Madison breathed out a heavy sigh. Her eyes flickered to Cooper. “How much longer do you think we’ll be? And is Lassiter coming here or am I going back to the office to see him?”
“Where would you prefer?” Cooper asked.
“Here.” The fatigue was starting to show.
Jackson came to his feet. His eyes went to Shepherd. “Is it okay if I take off? I’ll file my report first thing in the morning.”
“Yes, everyone can go. I do want mission reports updated by zero-nine-hundred,” Shepherd answered.
Jackson leaned down and gave Madison a hug. “Hang tough. You are staying here with Cooper tonight, aren’t you?”
“Thanks, and yes, I plan to.”
Jackson’s eyes flashed to Cooper and gave him the faintest of head nods. He didn’t need to speak. Cooper saw the glint in Jackson’s eye and understood the nod to indicate that Jackson was glad she would be there, so Cooper could watch over her. There was no condemnation in Jackson’s features. He knew what the relationship was, and he approved.
Mother drained his beer and gave Madison a hug as well. “Glad you’re a badass and you took him out.”
Madison chuckled. “Thanks Danny, and thanks for responding so quickly.”
Mother followed Jackson out.
Cooper had been tapping out a message on his phone. He looked up when he was through. “Lassiter will be here in about forty minutes.”
“I’d like to take a shower and change into something comfortable that doesn’t have blood on it,” Madison said, not sure exactly who she was asking permission from.
“Let me thoroughly clean that wound and bandage it for a shower,” Doc said, coming to his feet. He grabbed his medical kit, which he had retrieved from his car while the local authorities were on site. “Let’s do it at the kitchen sink,” he prompted her as he stepped that direction. “And it’s not going to be too comfortable.”
Cooper rose as well and followed her into the kitchen. He took her into his arms as she reached her arm over the sink placing it into Doc’s hands. Doc cleaned the wound well, irrigated it, applied topical antibiotics, all of which hurt like hell. Madison cried out loud from the pain. Cooper wanted to stop it, but he knew the wound had to be properly cleaned.
“Shh, it’s okay, darlin’, he’s almost done,” he whispered in her ear. Then he pressed kisses to her forehead. He didn’t care who was watching. It didn’t matter at this point. Their secret was out.
Doc bandaged it and then wrapped it in saran wrap so she could get it wet in the shower. “Sorry that hurt,” Doc said when he was done. “I didn’t want to leave debris that could cause an infection.”
“I know,” she replied. She wiped her tears and refilled her wine glass and walked to the hallway, disappearing without another word said.
Cooper grabbed another bottle of beer for all who still sat at his dining table.
“So, how long has this been going on?” Doc asked as he took a seat.
“Not long,” Cooper replied without elaborating.
“What the fuck, Coop?” Doc shot in outrage.
“What, you mean, you and Madison?” Garcia asked. Doc’s questions made him realize that there was a relationship between Cooper and Madison.
“Yeah,” Doc replied sarcastically. “Why do you think Madison was letting herself into Cooper’s condo?”
“I just never thought that Cooper would break that rule, hell any rule,” Garcia said. “Really? After how you wanted to fire Jackson, you’re hooked up with Madison?”
“Enough,” Shepherd’s firm voice declared. “This is not up for discussion.”
Yankee
Lassiter arrived while Madison was in the shower. She came back into the living room, hearing the hushed voices. She was dressed in a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. Her hair was still coiled in a messy bun on her head. She had the half-drank glass of red wine in her hand. Her eyes met Lassiter’s and filled with tears even though she desperately tried to hold them back.
“Okay, let’s give them some privacy,” Shepherd ordered. His eyes shifted to Madison who stood frozen near the hallway. “Take tomorrow off. Both of you,” he added gazing at Cooper. Then he rolled towards the door.
Madison nodded.
“I’ll call or text before I come by to check on that wound,” Doc said. Then he stepped towards the door, following Shepherd.
Garcia’s eyes darted between Cooper and Madison. “I’ll be damned. I never would have guessed.” He shrugged his shoulders and his lips tipped into a crooked grin. “Not that it matters. I always thought that nonfraternization reg was unnecessary. Jackson and Angel proved it, anyway.”
Madison cracked a smile. She crossed the room and embraced him. “Thanks, Anthony. I’ll talk to you sometime tomorrow, I’m sure.”
�
��Yeah, anything you need. Just let me know,” Garcia replied and then followed Shepherd and Doc out the door, closing it behind himself.
Madison walked to the couch without saying a word. She sat in the middle of it drawing her legs up like a pretzel. Her eyes met Lassiter’s. “I’m ready.”
