Returning Tides

by Radclyffe

  “Oh my God, I am so glad to see you,” Tory exclaimed.

  “Hi, beautiful,” Dr. KT O’Bannon said with her trademark grin. “Miss me?”

  “You have no idea. What are you doing here?”

  “Reese called me a couple of hours ago and said you were swamped over here. I figured I needed a little easy work and caught one of the puddle jumpers over from Boston.”

  Tory didn’t even have time to consider why Reese had called KT, a trauma surgeon and long-ago lover of Tory’s. She was just glad she had. “We’ve got a stab wound arriving any second in full arrest.”

  KT’s grin never wavered but her eyes took on the intensity Tory recognized. KT was ferocious when faced with a life-and-death challenge. There was no doctor she trusted more, and very few people she loved more.

  “Guess I got my wish for something simple,” KT said as she flicked a lock of dark hair out of her eyes and pulled off her blazer. “Just like old times.”

  *

  Carter didn’t know what to do about the blood on her hands. As it dried, the crimson turned a dull, lusterless brown, caked and cracked like barren earth devoid of life. A figure blocked the sun and she squinted up, recognizing Reese’s broad shoulders and tapering torso.

  “Any word?” Carter asked.

  Reese sat down on the wall next to her. “KT and Tory stabilized her—the helicopter should be here any minute to take her to Boston.”

  “What are her chances?”

  “I don’t know. It looked bad to me.”

  “I must have just missed him,” Carter said hollowly. “One minute earlier and I might’ve saved her.”

  “One minute earlier and he might have cut her throat. Or yours,” Reese said. “There was another door on the far side of her suite. He went out that way. So far, we don’t have any witnesses.”

  “She was terrified,” Carter said softly. “She knew I didn’t like her, and I was all she had. I tried. I really tried.”

  “I’m sure Marilyn knows that.”

  Carter jumped up, suddenly too agitated to sit still. “What the fuck! What the fuck is going on here, Reese? Two federal agents down in two days? Jesus, what were the feds into over here?”

  Reese shook her head angrily. “I don’t know, but I intend to find out. Marilyn only brought one other agent with her and he’s riding back to Boston with her on the medevac chopper. I doubt he would have told us anything even if I questioned him.”

  “I’ve still got contacts with the troopers who liaise with the feds. I’ll make some calls. My old partner might know something.” Carter knew the feds would not cut them in on the operation, especially not now when something had obviously gone very wrong. This chaos had all the markings of an investigation that had gone south, and the FBI did not acknowledge mistakes like that. None of the federal agencies did—especially not to the locals.

  “Good. Check with your contacts. I’ll be pounding on some doors too, for all the good it will do.” Reese rose and signaled Bri to join them. “Bri, drive Carter home. Carter, go shower and change. Get something to eat. Take a few hours’ downtime. Then I—”

  “I’m okay,” Carter insisted. “I’ll change and head back to the station.”

  “We’ve still got interviews to finish out here,” Reese said evenly. “I want you to take a few personal hours.”

  Carter gritted her teeth but nodded in acceptance of the order.

  Reese put both hands on her hips and surveyed the bedlam in the courtyard of the Driftwood Inn—officers milled about, searching for evidence, documenting the scene, interviewing guests and potential witnesses. Detritus left behind by the hasty departure of the EMTs littered the ground. A battlefield. And she was losing. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us. I’m tired of coming in last because I don’t know the terrain or the enemy. That’s going to change, as of now.”

  *

  Tory removed her bloodstained shirt and bra and rolled them up to take home and launder. She opened her locker, tucked into the corner of the clinic staff lounge, and searched the top shelf for a clean scrub shirt. When the door opened and closed behind her, she said without turning around, “You were great, as usual. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

  “I take it KT arrived,” Reese said.

  Tory spun around, her scrub shirt in her hand. “Darling! What are you doing here?”

  “I came to take you home.” At Tory’s perplexed expression, Reese took the shirt from her hands, shook it out, and held it above Tory’s head. “Arms up.”

  Smiling wryly, Tory obeyed and Reese pulled her shirt down over her arms and head. Then she smoothed her broad palms over Tory’s shoulders and down her arms before leaning forward to kiss her. Reese felt solid and warm, and as Tory relaxed into her embrace, the empty aching places inside her calmed. “You must have a million things to do. How did you get away?”

  “It helps to be the boss,” Reese murmured, rubbing Tory’s back. “I took an hour to get you and Reggie and take you home. You’ve been here long enough today.”

  Tory sighed and shook her head. “I can’t leave right—”

  “Yes, you can. I just told KT you were leaving.” Reese shrugged. “She said no problem, she had it covered.”

  “She would.” Tory rolled her eyes. “Have you ever known her not to think she could handle anything?”

  “Nope. That’s why I called her.” Reese released Tory and gestured to the open locker. “Did you get everything you need out of there?”

  “You know that this is highly irregular.”

  Reese grinned. “You mean I can’t make a habit of manhandling you?”

  “I wouldn’t put it exactly that way, but basically, yes.”

  “You could think of it as practice,” Reese suggested agreeably.

  Tory frowned. “Practice for what?”

  “Being pregnant again.”

  “Sweetheart, that’s blackmail.”

  “Might be. But I don’t really care.” Reese reached around Tory, closed the locker door, and took another step closer, corralling Tory against the lockers with an arm on either side of Tory’s shoulders. “If Wendy says it’s safe for you to be pregnant again, I’d like for us to have another baby. But there have to be some ground rules.”

  “Ground rules,” Tory said softly. Reese was so close, looming over her, her eyes intent and unblinking. Tory knew Reese’s body better than that of any person on earth. She knew her voice, her scent, the sound of her breathing in the dark. She knew her so well that sometimes she forgot how strong she was, how lethally powerful. Reese was more than a Marine, more than a cop. She was a warrior at her core, and just at that moment, Tory understood completely how men and women would follow her anywhere, into battle, into death and beyond.

  Reese nodded slowly, her gaze so fierce Tory quickened deep inside.

  “You come first,” Reese said, her voice low and steady. “You and the baby come first—before your patients, before your colleagues, before even me and Reggie. I’ve got the Reggie show down pretty good now. We’ll be fine while you concentrate on keeping yourself and the baby healthy.”

  Tory smoothed her hands over Reese’s chest, then gripped her shoulders and pulled her closer, so their bodies touched. She forgot the stress and horror of the last few minutes when death hovered just over her shoulder, mocking her for her inadequacies. She forgot the fear of being too late, of being able to do too little. She forgot every demand on her heart and her time and her energy except one. Except the one critical force that guided her life. “Take me home. I need you.”

  Reese’s mouth came down hard over hers, pulling the breath from her body, pulling her blood like the moon draws the tide, surging, crashing, roiling with wild ecstasy. She moaned and arched into Reese.

  Reese released her mouth and rasped, “Does the door lock?”

  “No.” Tory laughed shakily and Reese grinned.

  “Then we really need to go.” Reese rolled up her sleeve, released the Velcro
strap, and removed the monitor from around her biceps. “I don’t need this. I just need your promise.”

  “Oh, darling. You have it. Always.” Tory kissed her softly. “You can trust me. I am forever yours.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Carter braced her arms against the shower wall and let the hot water drum on her neck and back. Steam rose to fill the enclosure, blurring the room beyond the glass door. She wished her mind would fog over as easily. She couldn’t get the terrified look in Marilyn’s eyes out of her mind. The agent must have known she was dying and that Carter was all the hope she had. Every cop lived with the possibility of a bullet or a blade waiting for them in a dark alley or a deserted hallway. In order to do the job, they locked the picture away, down deep inside. Carter had never had a partner or even a colleague mortally wounded in the line of duty. She knew for certain she never wanted to see that look in Bri’s, or Reese’s, or any of her fellow officers’ eyes.

  “Baby,” Rica called softly from outside the shower, “are you okay?”

  “Yeah. Be right out.” Carter straightened and shoved the images back down where they belonged. When she was sure she had a handle on things, she twisted the knobs and stepped out of the shower.

  Rica held up a large towel and wrapped it around Carter’s shoulders. “You were in there a long time.”

  “Sorry,” Carter murmured.

  “For what?”

  “Just…” Carter shook her head.

  “It’s all right. You don’t have to say anything,” Rica said gently. When Carter had come home, her uniform splattered with blood, her eyes blank and her expression carefully neutral, Rica hadn’t asked what had happened. She’d just kissed her and asked her if she needed anything. Carter had said a shower, and immediately disappeared into the bathroom. As the minutes passed, Rica had grown more and more uneasy, and finally realized that whatever had happened, Carter shouldn’t be alone with it. Now she grabbed another towel, handed it to Carter to dry her hair, and started to blot the water from Carter’s body. When she bent to towel off Carter’s legs, she felt Carter’s fingers in her hair. Stroking, trembling. She rose and rested both hands on Carter’s shoulders. “What happened?”

  “Marilyn Allen was stabbed today,” Carter said. “I found her. She might not make it.”

  Rica’s stomach clutched. Three law enforcement officers injured in two days. “Is everyone else all right?”

  “Yeah. Whoever did it was already gone—or heard me coming and took off.” Carter briskly rubbed her hair and draped the damp towel on one of the hooks next to the shower.

  “I hate her for what she did to you,” Rica said, “but I would never wish anything like this on her.”

  Carter slid her arms around Rica’s waist. “None of that mattered to me when I found her.” She closed her eyes. “There was so much blood and I couldn’t stop it. She had to know how bad things were. I hope she knew I wanted her to live, with everything that was in me.”

  “Oh baby,” Rica murmured, stroking Carter’s face. “If she was aware at all, she had to know. She might have had it in for you because of me and my family, but she knows what kind of cop you are.”

  “I hope so.” Carter pressed a kiss into Rica’s palm and shook her head when Rica handed her the sweatpants and T-shirt she’d brought in with her. “I need to get dressed. I have to go back to work.”

  “Now? You were up all night.”

  “I’m okay. None of us are going to be sleeping much until we get a handle on what’s going on.” Carter clasped Rica’s hand and led her down the hall to the bedroom. “We’ve got a cop killer out there, and we’re way behind the curve in this investigation.”

  Rica sat on the side of the bed and watched Carter pull a polo shirt and jeans out of the closet. “Do you think it’s something personal—with Marilyn and the other agent? Payback of some kind?”

  Carter tucked her shirt in and buttoned up her fly. “What do you mean?”

  “Two federal agents in two days? Where’s the gain? Anyone would know that kind of assault only brings dozens more agents into the picture. Why risk that kind of attention unless you’re sending a message?”

  Sending a message. Interesting phrase. Carter never forgot who Rica was, but sometimes she forgot that Rica had been groomed since childhood to assume her father’s business. Rica might have turned her back on her father’s legacy, but she couldn’t undo the instincts he had instilled in her. And she was right. Marilyn Allen had been investigating the organized crime syndicate for months, probably years, and her quarry had to know that. The last thing anyone in the syndicate wanted was more federal eyes on them. And if the attacks on Marilyn Allen and her agent weren’t mob related, then what the hell were they? “You’ve got a point.”

  “What is she doing here, Carter? Do you think it’s me?”

  “If she’s still interested in you,” Carter said, “and I’m not saying she isn’t, I’d think the last place she’d want to be is here. Why telegraph her intentions?”

  Rica rose and walked to the double glass doors that led out to the bedroom balcony. “Do you think one of her agents had something to do with my car?” She spun around, her arms folded beneath her breasts as if warding off the chill. “And the break-in here at the house?”

  Carter strode to Rica and pulled her into her arms. “No. If they wanted to plant a bug or a camera in the house or the car, they wouldn’t make it obvious. They wouldn’t break the car window. They might be heavy-handed, but they’re not that dumb.”

  “You’re right.” Rica laid her head against Carter’s shoulder. “Just the same, I’m going to call my father. He might know something. Are you all right with that?”

  “There’s nothing you can tell him that he probably won’t already know by the time you talk to him. The feds will try to cover this up, but you can bet he’s got eyes and ears on them, just as they do on him.” She tilted Rica’s face up and kissed her. “But I’d rather you not get involved. It’s not about not trusting you. It’s about wanting to keep you far away from this.”

  “I would never do anything to compromise you professionally,” Rica said. “Or put you in any kind of danger. But he’s still my father. If his business dealings eventually land him in legal difficulties, that’s one thing. But these attacks—they’re crazy. I don’t want him to be ambushed, Carter.”

  “I know. Which is why if you do talk to him, it’s okay. Like I said, there’s no way to keep any of this quiet.”

  “Caroline went home after Bri called and said Everly had been picked up. Do you think she’ll be all right by herself?”

  “Everly says he wasn’t the one who tried to break into her apartment, but he’s the most likely suspect.” Carter kissed her again, then went back to the dresser to gather her badge and gun. “I can’t see any reason why she should be a target now.”

  “When will you be home?”

  “I don’t know. I’m going to arrange a meet with Kevin tonight. See if I can get some information on the feds through the back door.”

  “Will he talk to you?” Rica asked, referring to Kevin Shaughnessy, Carter’s old partner in the state police. Kevin had been one of the few people who had stood up for Carter when Marilyn Allen had accused Carter of changing sides and joining the mob. Still, Rica knew that Carter’s association with her, and by extension, with her father, had seriously strained all Carter’s relationships with her former law enforcement colleagues.

  “I don’t know,” Carter said quietly. “I don’t want to jam him up, so if he turns me down, I won’t push.”

  “You’ll be careful, won’t you?” Rica knew it was a senseless question, because Carter would do whatever her duty required. But she had to say it. On some irrational level, she believed that by wishing Carter to be safe, to be careful, she could help make it come true. A wave of foreboding washed through her, and she put her arms around Carter’s neck, holding on to her tightly. “I love you. Please be careful.”

  “I will. I
promise.” Carter kissed her. “I love you too. I’ll be home soon.”

  Rica walked her to the door, then turned back to the silent house and the long night ahead.

  *

  Reese hung up the phone and swiveled on the stool at the breakfast bar to watch Tory finish reading a story to Reggie. Reggie had a favorite book now, one with a plethora of farm animals and buttons that she could push to make the book crow, or moo, or oink. When Tory got to the end, Reggie bounced on her lap and said story in a clear and demanding voice while banging on the cover. Reese laughed.

  “Want me to take a turn?”

  Tory raised an eyebrow. “I’d love it, but don’t you have to go back to work?”

  “That was Carter. She’s got a meet set up with Kevin Shaughnessy in Yarmouth tonight. If she gets any kind of lead, we’re going to want to move on it. Until then, we’re in a holding pattern. I can’t get anything about Marilyn or what she and her team were doing here from the FBI. Maybe in the morning I’ll be able to call in some favors.”

  “I’ll never understand why different branches of law enforcement can’t get along. It doesn’t make any sense. You’re on the same side.”

  Reese joined Tory on the couch and lifted Reggie into her lap. “We would be on the same side, if upholding the law were our only goal. But law enforcement is politics too. And these days, it’s also bureaucracy. If I knock on the right doors, I might get someone to talk to me. Right now, everyone is playing deaf, dumb, and blind.”

  “And if Marilyn Allen dies?” Tory asked quietly.

  “We’ll be in the midst of a deep freeze that won’t thaw this century.” Reese slid her arm around Tory’s shoulders and pulled her close. “How about I give Reggie a bath and put her to bed before I read her the story. You might want to take a little nap while I do that.”