Code 11- KPD SWAT Box Set

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I knew what I left that date with, though.

  My daughter.

  Although the best thing that had ever happened to me, I wouldn’t hesitate to say that she’d been anything but hard.

  I’d been in the middle of nursing school at the time and, thank God, my due date fell on the summer break, or I wouldn’t have graduated.

  The last five years had not been easy, but I had a very good thing that come out of it all, and she kept me getting up every morning. Kept a smile on my face. Kept me going when all I wanted to do was lay down for a single freakin’ nap!

  “No, baby. Daddy’s not coming over this weekend. But if you’re good and you go get your shoes on, I’ll take you to see the new movie you’ve been wanting to see,” I bribed her.

  She came out of her room looking skeptically at me. “Promise?”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.”

  She gave me the look. The one where you feel like a shitty parent.

  The one where she knows that you’re probably lying, but she’ll have hope anyway.

  I was going to hell.

  ***

  The next day I found myself at the movie theater with a room full of screaming children excited to see the newest Disney movie.

  I wasn’t a fan of animated movies.

  I also wasn’t a fan of theaters.

  But I’d do just about anything for my daughter, even sit in a theater with kids who wouldn’t shut the fuck up.

  Didn’t these parents know how to tell their kids to be quiet?

  Surely they wouldn’t let them do that throughout the entire movie…right?

  But when thirty minutes went by and the couple in front of us continued to let their kids fight and run around the entire fucking theater, I was about out of tolerance.

  I hadn’t realized that anybody could be so rude.

  I’d just about made my mind up to say something when a big man, two rows in front of us, stood and walked down the aisle.

  He walked calmly up the main row; I thought that he was just going to the restroom, but he stopped on the row where the parents were busy playing on their phones.

  Sounds and all.

  “’Scuse me,” a familiar voice rumbled.

  The cop.

  What was his name? Luke?

  Yeah, that was it. Luke Roberts.

  He had to be seeing the movie with his daughter, because why the hell else would a man like him be watching a Disney movie?

  “Sir, ma’am. I’m going to have to ask you to make your children behave, or I’ll have to ask you to leave,” Luke said softly.

  I wanted to stand up and applaud. Would that be rude?

  Rowen didn’t even notice, being on the other side of me. She was enraptured with the fat blobby robot on the screen, not bothered in the least by the kids, nor the man.

  Turning my face away from my child, I watched as the asshole father stood up, bowing up his chest.

  The man was big, I’ll give him that. But he wasn’t the same caliber as Luke.

  The two were like night and day.

  Where Luke was fit, the man was large. Where Luke was intimidating and authoritative, the man came off as a jerk who used his size to get his way.

  A particularly bright part in the movie lit the theater, showing me Luke’s amusement at the man’s show of attempted intimidation.

  When the man got up and got face to face with Luke, I turned in my seat more fully to get the full effect, tossing a piece of popcorn into my mouth in excitement.

  Now this was what I was talking about. I was an action kind of girl. I didn’t like movies where there was nothing exploding and no shirtless guys.

  Now the scene in front of me I knew wasn’t going to escalate much past raised voices, but it was better than nothing.

  “Listen here, boy. I’ll have you know that I paid for my tickets just like the rest of these folks. I want to sit here and enjoy the movie,” the man yelled.

  “You want to enjoy the movie? How about you tell those,” he pointed to the kids. “To sit down.”

  The man’s two fighting kids slipped in between the seat and Luke’s legs.

  Then Luke lost his patience. “Sit.”

  They followed direction instantly, sitting down and staring at the movie with quivering chins.

  It was as if that was the first time they’d ever heard a reprimand; although, it probably was.

  The mother stood in outrage, but Luke’s glare had her quickly sitting back down.

  Which caused me to snicker, making Luke’s eyes turn toward me.

  His glare showed me he wasn’t as amused as I was, but he winked at me, eyes flicking down to Rowen before he turned back to the man in front of him.

  Who was absolutely livid.

  “I’m going to call the cops on you,” the man snarled.

  Luke’s lips tilted up into a slow grin. “Go on, make my day.”

  Turns out that the man didn’t have to, because in the next moment the show was stopped, the lights turned on, and two cops came striding down the theater’s main aisle.

  They were in uniform.

  Just not the standard black uniform with yellow writing that most cops wore. These men wore black cargo-type pants, and a black shirt with KPD on it in large yellow letters.

  Large gun belts were strapped around their waists. They had a walkie talkie that was strapped on to the belt that had a wire connected to a handheld device that clipped to their shoulders.

  Their badges, worn around their necks, were big, gold, and shiny.

  The taller of the two was a red head.

  Big and brawny.

  I bet he could pull off a kilt very nicely. I could visualize him perfectly playing a bag pipe and his kilt floating up to reveal his nicely muscled ass.

  He had a beard, as did the other man. Must be a thing, because now that I thought about it, Luke did, too.

  The other man was Mexican American. He was tall, but only about six foot or so. His eyes were dark, taking in the theater in a quick efficient way that only someone who was experienced would.

  I’d found since I’d started being in the presence of my sister’s boyfriend’s motorcycle club, The Dixie Wardens, that all of those men took in a room much the same way.

  Most of them had military backgrounds, and quite a few were cops. There was just a certain aura about them that fairly screamed ‘Cop!’

  They passed my row, both of them looking at me before dismissing me completely, eyes on the scene in front of us.

  “Well, the police are here,” Luke drawled. “What now?”

  By now the man had the attention of the entire theater, instead of the back four rows, and you could tell he was losing steam.

  He knew he was in the wrong.

  “It’s time to go, woman. We’re getting our money back for this shit. Fucking cocksuckers,” the man growled, grabbing his wife’s arm and forcing her to stand.

  The kids followed nicely, slipping out of the theater as quickly as they could manage.

  “Downy, follow them to make sure they actually leave without causing any more trouble,” Luke sighed.

  I blinked in surprise.

  “What an asshole. He ruined my movie,” Rowen exclaimed, drawing the attention of Luke and the other officer.

  My eyes closed, and my face heated. “Goddamn Tru. I’m going to kick her ass.”

  I said it softly, but when I opened my eyes, I realized that both men had heard, somehow.

  What, did they have super hearing as well?

  Luke smiled.

  The other officer did not.

  He looked like he had a permanent scowl on his face.

  “Nico, would you mind asking them to restart the movie on your way out. Preferably from about fifteen minutes ago. We missed some,” Luke said, not sparing me another wink…or look.

  The officer, Nico, nodded and started back out the door.

  Luke
went back to his seat in front of me and kissed a child’s head who was sitting next to him. By my guess, it was Katerina, but I couldn’t see her over the edge of the seat, so I couldn’t confirm my suspicion.

  When the lights darkened again, and the movie started to rewind, I sighed.

  This had to be the most boring movie ever.

  On the plus side, though, Rowen was excited.

  With a quietness I’d never heard before in a theater, the movie played.

  And the entire two hours, I watched the dark form of Luke in front of me, all the while wondering why I had it so bad for him.

  He was just a man, after all.

  Right?

  Chapter 4

  You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do will probably be put on YouTube by the time you make bail.

  -Fact of life

  Luke

  “I need for you to place your hands on the hood of the car. Slowly,” I ordered the man I’d just pulled over for speeding.

  “Fuck you, you fucking pig. You can go fuck yourself,” the old man hissed.

  However, he didn’t resist, which was good. I didn’t want to have to hurt him.

  I’d originally pulled him over because he was naked. Now I was taking him in because he fit the BOLO, or be on the lookout, for an old man out of Oakland Heights Nursing Home who’d gone missing last night.

  I’d been at the stoplight in my SUV cruiser at Stone Road and 259 when I’d looked down at the car next to me. What I’d gotten was an eyeful of ball sack.

  Pinching the bridge of my nose, I waited for the light to turn green, then immediately pulled him over.

  The man had been pleasant at first, but I figured the man had to have some sort of short-term memory loss, because the next thing I knew, he was running down the street naked.

  Which had caught the attention of Downy in a police cruiser of his own.

  Now, I knew exactly what was going to happen the moment I realized who it was that was pulling up.

  Did he help?

  No.

  Did he watch and laugh?

  Yes, his ass off.

  Did he stop traffic?

  Fuck no. Instead, he laughed with passing motorists as I was led on a turtle’s pace chase down the main fucking road in Kilgore.

  I was fairly sure I was going to be the butt of every joke in the near future, too.

  But it was all in good fun.

  If this had been anyone else in my position, I’d have done the same.

  Cops were nice like that.

  We had a sick, twisted sense of humor. In all honesty, laughing was used as a stress reliever, so if the PD could get a laugh out of my pain, then Oorah!

  “You know, if you were a vegetable, you’d be a cabbitch!” the old man yelled.

  I cracked a smile as I led him to the car, one of my hands around his scrawny arm.

  “That’s the problem with you Jarheads. So goddamned stupid. I could’ve outrun you, you know. Hey, why am I naked? Did you steal my pants?” He eyed me speculatively.

  That was about the time that Downy burst out laughing, covering it by turning away from me as I put my hand on the man’s head and lowered him into Roscoe’s car.

  Roscoe was still a rookie, so it was fun to give him the bad stuff because we all knew he wouldn’t complain about it.

  He would eventually, but right now, he was still trying his hardest not to offend people and doing a damn fine job of it.

  Thankfully another officer had placed a towel down, so he wasn’t rubbing his balls on the seat.

  Most cops didn’t sit back there, but it was the principle of the matter.

  “Take him to the hospital. They’ll be able to get ahold of the family from there,” I instructed Roscoe.

  Roscoe nodded.

  Closing the door, I turned back to the three other officers who had turned around the moment I had, acting as if they’d been busy as I apprehended the old man.

  “Alright, boys. Show’s over,” I drawled, eliciting chuckles from the crowd that’d formed.

  There were plenty of smiles as they all got in their cars and left, except for Downy.

  “You wanna go to breakfast?” he asked, looking at his watch.

  All the excitement, and it was only seven in the morning.

  “Sure. I promised Katy I’d pick up some cookies at the bakery on the corner,” I said, indicating the new store that’d just opened. “Wanna try there?”

  He looked at it skeptically. “It looks like a frou-frou place. I was more thinking a plate of eggs and twelve pieces of bacon from The Back Porch.”

  “That’s fine. I can run by the bakery first and then I’ll meet you there,” I offered.

  He glared. “Guess we’ll never know if it’s any good if we don’t go.”

  I nodded.

  I wasn’t a big fan of bakeries, either.

  However, I’d do just about anything for my girl. Kind of like going to see a freakin’ movie about princesses. Then staying for a double feature just because she wanted to.

  Although, I guess it didn’t go all bad.

  I’d gotten to see a certain school nurse.

  What would she be wearing today? Were all of her clothes superhero themed? Was her hair up or down?

  “Meet you there,” Downy said, breaking into my thoughts.

  I nodded and got into my car before calling into dispatch. “Dispatch, this is Unit 6. Going 10-19.”

  “10-4,” Dispatch confirmed.

  I found a front row parking spot, pulling my cruiser through to allow Downy to park behind me.

  As I stepped out of the SUV, I looked at the cherry red 1970 Dodge Charger in mint condition parked at the back of the lot.

  I’d seen it as soon as I’d turned the corner, spotting it from several blocks away.

  My feet carried me unwillingly to the car, and I walked around it, checking out the paint, the sharp lines. The magnificent body. The interior.

  To most it’d look like I was inspecting a suspicious vehicle. But I wasn’t. I was admiring it.

  The thing was sweet, and my curiosity was piqued as Downy and I made our way inside twenty minutes later.

  “You know you just wasted ten of our precious breakfast minutes looking at a car, right?” Downy asked dryly.

  I nodded, not replying.

  Downy was a truck man. He liked his vehicles big…so if push came to shove, he could get out of any situation. Mainly by running them the fuck over.

  Me, I liked to be able to outrun my problems.

  “Yes, my boy,” I replied.

  My curiosity, which had been at a fever pitch, died the moment I walked through the door behind Downy and saw her.

  It’d been years since I’d seen Lydia, but she still looked exactly the same. Long black hair, emerald green eyes. Fantastic hips. Lush lips. Long eye lashes. A killer smile.

  Yet not a single thing did it for me anymore.

  Instead of the woman that I’d previously compared all my potential conquests to, I only saw Lydia. The bitch who had refused to be with me because she hadn’t wanted my kid to live with us. She’d wanted her own children…just not one who wasn’t by her blood.

  Oh, and the little part where she still lived off of daddy’s money and didn’t want to give that up.

  Turning my face away from Lydia, I scanned the room as I usually did.

  The woman currently sitting at a table next to the door, though, really did it for me.

  In her Hulk scrubs with the massive fists all over, I found the desire to smile.

  So I did.

  She looked up in time to see my lips twist into a grin, and her face blushed prettily.

  Seeing as there was only one car in the lot, I knew immediately whom the ride in the lot belonged to.

  I just hadn’t figured her for the type.

  “You know what I like. You’re buying anyway. You owe me. Oh, and don�
�t forget the cookies,” I said, trying my hardest to avoid the woman who was looking at me with longing in her eyes.

  As if she’d been starving for a lifetime and had seen her salvation the moment I walked in the door.

  I walked slowly toward Reese, coming to a stop next to her table.

  “Mind if I sit down?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No. I won’t be here long, though.”

  I nodded and took a seat. “Neither will we. I have about twenty minutes until I’ll have to go back on patrol.”

  She grimaced. “Back? How long have you been on patrol?”

  I looked at my watch.

  0720 hours.

  “About four hours now. I was called in since an officer had to go home because of a stomach bug,” I replied.

  She made gag face, causing me to smile.

  She nodded. “What do you do with Katerina when that happens?”

  “My sister lives here now. Most of the time I just take Katy to her. I used to take her to a friend’s house,” I explained.

  Why I was being so open with her, I didn’t know.

  I wasn’t the chatty Kathy type.

  But there was something about her that just made it easy to talk in front of her.

  “I wish I had that. My sister’s an hour away now. Although that’s why I moved here. So my hours would be better,” she said, opening up to me.

  “How’s your mom doing?” I asked.

  She looked like I’d grown a second head.

  “How’d you know there was something wrong with my mom?” She asked suspiciously.

  He grinned.

  “You told me the other day when I dropped off Katy’s prescription, remember?” He said with a raised brow.

  She winced. “I’m sorry. My memory’s shot. I can’t even remember what I had for dinner last night.”

  I laughed. I was the same way.

  Downy set a cup of coffee, and two ham and cheese breakfast sandwiches down by my elbow before pulling up a chair and sitting down.

  He looked back and forth between the two of us, a small frown turning down the corner of his mouth.

  “What?” I asked.

  He gestured to the counter with his head. “Lady at the counter. She says she’d like to speak with you before you leave. And she charged me full price, yet yours was free. What the fuck?”