The Harbinger Collection: Hard-boiled Mysteries Not for the Faint of Heart (A McCray Crime Collection)

by Carolyn McCray

  Kent rose, took Delia’s hand, and headed to the door.

  Nicole rose, as well, but put her hand into her coat and pulled her engagement ring out of her pocket.

  She realized now why she had waivered about putting it on. Kids.

  Nicole also understood why she’d stayed with Ruben so long. It wasn’t that it was comfortable or convenient, it was because of kids. As a lover or husband, Ruben was a snooze fest, but when she thought about having kids, that’s when Ruben shone. She could see him holding up their imaginary son, tossing him and catching him. She knew that despite being a homicide detective, Ruben wouldn’t miss a single Little League game or ballet recital. Hell, he’d probably be the baseball coach. He’d be with the kids each and every second he could.

  Compared to Kent? Their last go around hadn’t gone so well, and she feared the profiler would be a distant father figure. Nicole had lived through that herself, and didn’t want that for her children.

  But now? With his arm draped over Delia’s shoulder, bumping her with his hip as he made a joke about Justin Bieber? Nicole saw him in a completely different light. Sure, he might miss a few birthdays or family movie nights because he was out chasing down a psycho, but when the kid needed him, really needed him, Kent would be there.

  The decision was made. She slipped the ring onto her finger.

  She was ready to announce to the world that she was Kent’s fiancé.

  Buzz Kill- the final book in the Harbinger trilogy

  CHAPTER 1

  Kent could feel his attacker’s fingers dig into the flesh of his neck. The guy was super strong. Chemically strong. The guy must be on some kind of cocaine, PCP, methamphetamine cocktail.

  Lights flashed before Kent’s eyes as his brain started to feel the crimp in the oxygen pipeline. It would all be over soon if Kent didn’t figure out how to get his neck out of this guy’s iron grip.

  He’d tried clawing, punching, elbowing and a good swift kick to the groin, but nothing fazed the gangbanger. And not even a high level banger, but some street middle-management banger.

  That was not going on Kent’s tombstone. “Killed by an idiot nobody banger.”

  No, if his career and life ended it would be at the hands of one of the most elite serial killers in the world, not a 50 Cent wannabe punk.

  Time to go back to nature. The guy might be pumped on some serious chemical enhancements, but there were a few things chemicals couldn’t override.

  Like the instinct to protect your eyes.

  Kent stopped trying to pry the man’s clench-like hands off of his neck and instead used his thumbs to press against the man’s eyes. Kent’s vision began to tunnel as his brain prepared to shut down like a computer whose battery was about to run out.

  He kept his focus sharp though and poured every ounce of oxygen he had left toward gouging out the man’s eyes. He really was high because despite the fact that Kent had turned his fingernails inward, slicing into the man’s eyelids, the guy didn’t let go of his throat.

  Effer.

  Kent doubled down, digging his fingers into the chollo’s scalp, giving his thumbs even more leverage. He could feel the man’s eyeballs flattening under the pressure. No one, no matter how high should be able to withstand that kind of danger to the eyes.

  The reptilian brain should take over, overriding both the man’s desire and his drugs.

  Come on, reptilian brain, wake up!

  Just as the world was about to go black, the man’s fingers loosened, letting sweet air past them. Kent kept up the pressure on the eyeballs until the man completely let go of his neck.

  Sucking in a second gulp of air, Kent went for another anatomical hot spot. He brought his hand down, flattened the palm and jammed it right in the man’s solar plexus.

  No amount of drugs could stop his diaphragm from contracting. With his attacker doubled over, Kent could now get back at the chollo. Using both hands, he hit the man over the back of the head knocking him down to his knees. Next a nice kick to the gut.

  He would normally feel mildly bad about attacking a half unconscious man, however Kent’s vision was still swimming and those pressure points on his neck were going to leave a mark.

  Just when he thought he was safe, his attacker on the ground, hugging his belly, another gangbanger burst into the warehouse. Kent barely had time to drag his attacker up to act as a human shield before the guy opened up his automatic weapon.

  Kent could feel the impact of each bullet in the man he was holding. Then he heard the door open again along with numerous footfalls. He was going to go with the safe bet and guess Vans.

  By his count they were at least five other gang bangers in the warehouse now.

  This little standoff of theirs wasn’t going to last that long.

  As much as he hated to, Kent grabbed his first attacker’s gun and squeezed the trigger, spraying the room with bullets. Screams answered along with a whole hell of a lot of “putas” and “cabrones.”

  There, see? Nicole was always saying he was too stubborn and set in his ways and here he just fired a gun. That would show her.

  Which gave Kent a small measure of satisfaction.

  This wasn’t even supposed to be his case. He shouldn’t even be in this warehouse. Sure the guy who just ate up a bunch of bullets for him had killed nearly twelve people, but he’d done it for profit, thinning the ranks of the gangs. Therefore he was just a psycho, not a serial killer.

  But Kent had been bored. Lucky 37 was laying low. And every other case he was working on had hit a wall. So he’d taken Glick’s challenge to do some “real” police work.

  Which, of course, ended in a Mexican standoff, literally.

  Kent dragged his body shield with him as he tried to get behind some cover. This warehouse apparently stored fabric. Bolts were stacked high, plus many were crisscrossed like they were in some kind of bizarre Escher pattern.

  He couldn’t make it to the high, thick stacks so he had to hide amongst the stray bolts.

  Shouts in spanish, mostly cursing filled the high ceilinged warehouse. There were a few directions. Out of the ones that Kent could recognize they were trying to circle him.

  The bastards might be drug dealers, but they weren’t stupid. They were more like classic predators, running off rudimentary instincts to capture and kill. Luckily Kent wasn’t just any prey.

  He had a gun against three men still standing.

  Not bad. Certainly better than filling out another crossword puzzle to keep his mind alert during this lull.

  Shouts rose again, more footsteps. Now there must be at least five to six bangers. Not so good.

  Kent ducked his head out from a lovely bolt of yellow taffeta. The back exit was a good thirty feet from him with no cover. Granted these guys weren’t sharp shooters. They relied on quantity rather than quality, however sometimes quantity did the job.

  Damn it.

  If only he had an incendiary device. If only he had run into a cleaning supply warehouse instead of this fabric factory. He couldn’t exactly choke them with silk now could he?

  The firing started again, as the gang tightened the noose, firing like they had seen Scarface a few times too many. Firing that quickly their guns were likely to jam. All five at once, probably not so likely, but Kent would take any help the universe decided to give him.

  Bullets zinged between the bolts, singeing the light yellow into a dark brown.

  It wouldn’t be long now.

  Then a shout came from the catwalk. “Police! Drop your weapons.”

  Before the men could re-train their weapons, a single shot went out. The closest banger’s head snapped back, blood spraying from a wound to the forehead. He couldn’t even crumple to the ground before another shot rang, dropping another banger. Then a third.

  She’d never been so hot.

  That was his girl. All that time at the range had honed Nicole’s skills to a fine point. Kent took out the other two while they were distracted.

 
The warehouse was plunged into silence. Smoke rising from his and Nicole’s guns, snaked up into the filtered sunlight from the skylights.

  Nicole, still armed and tense, made her way down the metal staircase. She went up to the first banger as he climbed out from the bolts. She kicked away his gun, then leaned over and felt for a pulse. With the blood seeping from his forehead, Kent felt it was a pretty safe bet the guy was dead. Way dead.

  Nicole repeated the procedure each time, in perfect academy form until she confirmed they were all dead. Only then did she holster her gun as sirens clamored in the distance. Her engagement ring glistened on her finger. Boy, had she deserved that one.

  She hadn’t waited for back up. So she was learning a thing or two from him.

  “You’re welcome,” Nicole said with a slight smirk.

  “For what?” Kent protested. “I had it under control.”

  “Come on, it was five against one. And you didn’t even have adequate cover.”

  “Which is what legends are made of,” Kent stated. “I was trying to broaden my mythos.

  * * *

  Nicole rolled her eyes. That was Kent for you. If she’d wanted a thank you, she should have stayed with Rubin. With Kent you got what you saw. And despite not getting the kudos she would have liked, she had to say Kent looked about as sexy as he could.

  That line of sweat along his brow, his eyes still dilated from the fight, only enhanced his sex appeal. Even the black and blue marks along the scar on his neck made him the silverback of all time.

  Kent pulled her into his arms, pressing their hips together before he leaned in and kissed her. It was an unhurried kiss. As if they were at a picnic out in a field. The only minor detail to disturb that image was the taste of blood on his lips. Whether it was his own or someone else’s she wasn’t sure and quite frankly didn’t care.

  The world melted away as their lips explored one another.

  “Nicole!” a shout came from the warehouse door. Only one person could sound that concerned in the wake of safety.

  Ruben.

  “We’re fine!” Nicole yelled back. Still Ruben and about a dozen other cops charged into the warehouse, guns drawn on non-existent danger.

  “Them, though,” Kent chuckled as Nicole helped him up. “They aren’t doing so great.”

  Ruben stumbled to a halt as he came across the bodies. They littered the floor.

  “What the hell…”

  Then he looked to Kent and Nicole.

  “But I should have guessed when you sent me that 911 text.”

  Nicole shrugged. “Kent got his man.”

  “And that man, and that one…” Ruben frowned his disapproval, but you could already hear the whispers behind him as the young uniformed cops started gossiping, expanding Kent’s already bulging portfolio.

  Kent coughed and gagged a bit, his one concession that he had nearly been choked to death.

  “I’m not letting you drag me to the hospital,” Kent complained.

  “Wouldn’t think of it,” Nicole stated. “I actually only came because another body has turned up.”

  “I was thinking a nice hot bath before heading back out to a murder site,” Kent explained, pushing off of her, trying to stand on his own which didn’t go so well.

  “This isn’t just anybody, it’s one of Buzz Kills.”

  “Buzz Kill’s?” Kent repeated. “Don’t tease me.”

  “I’m not,” Nicole insisted. “The body was hacked up by a chainsaw on the other side of town.”

  “Well, then what are we waiting for?” Kent asked as only he could.

  “For you to be able to stand on your own?” Nicole suggested.

  “I’m good.” The profiler took several steps that would never pass a DUI check point, however he did stay on his feet.

  Nicole followed slowly, staying close enough she could catch him, but far enough behind he didn’t feel like she was hovering. He hated hovering, even if it was for his own good.

  She passed Ruben.

  “I take it you are giving your report tomorrow?” Ruben asked, already knowing the answer.

  Nicole handed over her and Kent’s gun to him. “Those are the rules. I have twenty-four hours before having to give a statement on a police involved shooting.”

  “Wouldn’t it just be easier to wait for the shooting team and clear it up now?”

  Normally Nicole would agree, especially with this potentially racially charged shoot out. However another Buzz Kill victim had been found, and catching Buzz Kill was the police commissioner and the mayor’s priority.

  Having women torn up by a chainsaw was definitely not helping tourism.

  “It’s alright, Ruben,” a voice said from outside the warehouse as Captain Glick walked in. “I’ve already cleared it. Nicole will sit down with the shooting team tomorrow morning.”

  Nicole nodded. Kent didn’t even acknowledge the Captain had spoken. He wasn’t required to meet with the city’s shoot team since he was FBI. The bureau certainly had procedures for after-action reports, but apparently Kent killed enough people in the line of duty that his shootings just got rubber-stamped.

  Plus, he did have those dark bruises on his neck. No one was going to argue with self-defense on this one. On others, sure. Like shooting a serial killer’s two eyes out. That had been a stretch, but this one? This one had actually pretty much been by the book.

  “Thank you, Captain,” Nicole said, extending her hand. Glick shook it then nodded toward the parking lot.

  “Better hurry up before he gives you the slip again.”

  Her captain wasn’t wrong. Kent, in the short span of time it took her to thank Glick, had already made it out to the lot and gotten into her car and even revved the engine.

  Nicole trotted over. “You wouldn’t.”

  Kent grinned, really stepping on the gas. “Was that a challenge?”

  Dear lord, no it wasn’t. Why? Because Kent would rise to any challenge. Nicole wasn’t stupid enough to stir the pot like that. Instead she grabbed her Mustang’s stainless steel handle and opened the car door, slipping into the custom leather seats.

  Kent peeled out, zigzagging through the nearly army of emergency vehicles.

  “Do you even know where you are going?”

  “Across town?” Kent answered.

  “Yes, but where?”

  Kent’s lips fell from their grin. She could always tell when he was actually thinking and not just spouting off. Even the vaulted profiler had to engage his brain occasionally. His deductive ability wasn’t as magical as most people thought.

  “We’re on the east side so that indicates the body was found on the west side, the upscale part of town,” Kent said.

  He scowled. Nicole knew that his huge brain was now collating all of the data from the other two body dumps and everything they had deduced about the murderers. Which wasn’t much unfortunately.

  “I am guessing they found the body in a park.”

  Nicole’s eyebrow shot up despite her not wanting it to. He was spot on. Again. Sometimes his accuracy was infuriating. “Why would you say that?” she said, trying to keep cool and act like Kent hadn’t just hit the nail on the head.

  “The first was behind a grocery store, although it wasn’t fully disarticulated. The last was in the suburbs and fully dismembered. It feels like they are moving away from urban areas to more natural setting so the most logical conclusion would be a park, if they were sticking to the city limits, which since you indicated it was across town, left a park.”

  Would she ever be able to do that damn it? When she’d gotten the call that there was another body dump, she’d simply asked the detective where. If she’d paused long enough she could have figured out it was a park.

  Kent wasn’t perfect though. “Okay, smarty pants, which park?”

  “On the Westside? There aren’t a whole lot of options and I’m going to guess that it is the most remote on that side of town, so Faust.”

  Damn him. “It’s a
big park though,” Nicole stated.

  “Yep, over two hundred acres, your point?”

  “I’m just seeing if your psychic abilities are firing on all cylinders or not.”

  “You want me to blindly pick the exact point of the body dump?”

  Nicole shrugged, “Only if you aren’t too scared to try.”

  Kent’s eyes slid over as he glared at her. Nicole smiled. If he wanted to maintain his vaulted status with her, he was going to have go out on a limb.

  “Fine,” Kent said. “The park has four main areas. The covered picnic arena, the trails, the carousel and the playground.”

  Jesus, did Kent have every park in the city memorized? Nicole didn’t even bother to ask him, since yes, he did have them memorized. Parks were a common crime and body dump area. Of course he would know them intimately.

  She’d had to look up on her smartphone even the park’s general location, let alone what area of the park.

  “I think the killer wants the attention so he wouldn’t dump out in the trails. He is starting to like the attention, killing earlier and more publically each time. And if he wants shock value he is going for carousel. I am assuming the killer thought that the body would be found tomorrow morning by the early morning kiddie crowd.

  * * *

  Kent could tell by the frown on Nicole’s face and her lack of response that he had nailed it. Again.

  Why did she look surprised each and every time? Seriously?

  She really shouldn’t poke the bear unless she really, really wanted him awake, should she?

  “Alright, the good news is that Buzz Kill is starting to establish a pattern.”

  “And once you can establish a pattern, then you can start to pick out possible new victims and intersect the killer before he can kill again,” Nicole said with more than a little sarcasm in her voice. “Yah, yah, yah.”

  Kent glanced at her. “Okay, hot shot. Tell me about the victim.”

  Nicole went to get her phone out.

  “Oh no, my darling. I mean, tell me about what you think the new victim is like.”