Turning Tables (WeHo Book 3)

by Sherryl D. Hancock

  “Let’s go home,” Jovina suggested.

  Cat agreed.

  They went home and Cat went to take a shower. Jovina walked into the bathroom as Cat was drying off and couldn’t help but gasp at the bruises on her back and sides.

  “I’m okay, babe,” Cat said, even though she was moving carefully.

  “Sure, yeah,” Jovina said, her tone sarcastic, “I can totally see that.”

  Cat grinned, her blue eyes twinkling.

  Later as they lay in bed, Jovina did her best to get Cat to go to sleep. Finally Cat closed her eyes, Jovina lay watching her sleep, thinking that there really was no end to the sides of this woman she didn’t know. Cat fell asleep thinking that something had to break on the case soon…

  Something broke the next day, in the worst way.

  Cat was in her office, Jovina was sitting at the small table across from her when Cat’s phone rang. She picked it up.

  “Roche’,” she said.

  A moment later she shot to her feet. “Dave!” she screamed dropping the phone.

  The whole group came at the sound of Cat’s voice.

  “They’ve grabbed the director.” Cat said, her voice a devastated whisper. She wavered at that point, and if it hadn’t been for Christian’s agility, she would have hit the floor instead he caught her as she passed out.

  Jericho came to slowly, feeling cold cement under her, her head was screaming. She lay still, letting her mind catch up and slow down. She and Zoey had been leaving the parking garage, Zoey had been in front of her in the stairwell. Someone had been coming up the stairwell, and at the same time she’d heard the door above and heard steps coming down. She’d just glanced up, then turned to tell Zoey to wait, when she saw the guy holding Zoey. She’d started to reach for her weapon as something was placed over her face. Everything started going black instantly, the last thing she’d heard was Zoey’s scream and then she’d dropped.

  Reaching up carefully she felt the side of her head and pulled back bloody fingers. So she’d smacked her head too, and she could still smell whatever they’d knocked her out with. She noted that she was not bound, which was good, it meant she had more a shot to fight her way out of this… But Zoey…. Jesus, what had happened to Zoey? Jericho had to clamp down on the fear that climbed her up spine she couldn’t worry about that right now. She wasn’t going to be able to help anyone if she couldn’t get out of here.

  Slowly she moved to sit up feeling her head want to explode. She reached to her back where her gun was kept, no luck there naturally. She had to stop for a moment to catch her breath, resting her arms on her bent knees. She’d started to climb to her feet when she heard a door open. She looked over her shoulder to see a man walk in and he was holding a gun… her gun…. Lovely, she thought to herself. She carried hollow point ammunition in a .45 caliber weapon, if she was hit with her own ammo she was likely dead.

  “Get up,” the man said, his tone harsh.

  “Exactly what I was just doing,” Jericho said, moving with exaggerated care to get up, lest she scare him into shooting her right off the bat.

  When she was standing she slowly turned to face the man who held her gun.

  “Who are you?” she asked him.

  He smiled, he had crooked, yellowing teeth, handsome fella, Jericho thought wryly to herself, even as she studied his face. If she got out of this at all, she’d need to describe him.

  “Don’t worry about that, bitch,” he said, his voice strident.

  Jericho blew her breath out slowly, “Okay,” she said, her tone even, “Do you want to tell me why you killed my agents?” she asked, her tone taking on an edge.

  The man grinned again, and Jericho found she just wanted to bust out every one of those yellow teeth. Her eyes narrowed, and she let a sneer spread across her lips.

  “You didn’t even do it, did you?” Jericho said, her tone contemptuous, “No, you don’t have the balls for that…”

  “Shut the fuck up!” he yelled, angry now, taking a step closer to her.

  Jericho grinned, “Did I hit a nerve?” she asked.

  “You need to shut up bitch, or I’ll shut you up.” He said, raising her gun.

  Jericho lifted her chin slightly, knowing she was taking a serious chance, “Think you can?”

  His face registered complete shock at the challenge, he made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat and turned and walked out.

  Jericho leaned back against the wall, closing her eyes as her vision swam again. She took slow deep breaths, trying to clear her head. Her logic had been that if he was there to kill her, he would have just done it in the stairwell. No he wasn’t the one that was going to kill her. She had no idea who he was working for, but she knew she needed to buy some time. She hoped she’d just bought enough.

  On the other side of town, Cat and the crew were working as fast as possible. Cat had recovered from her dead faint, she attributed it to shock and lack of sleep. Zoey had been found outside the stairwell unconscious but unharmed. She’d been able to catch a glimpse of the car they’d shoved Jericho in before they’d put the rag over her mouth knocking her out. She’d even managed to get a partial plate. They were running it down.

  “No fucking way…” Christian said as a name and address popped on the screen, “Cat!”

  Cat strode over to him, looking over his shoulder, then turning to beckon Zoey, “Is that the guy you saw?” Cat asked.

  Zoey looked at the man, she nodded immediately, “He was the one that grabbed Jericho.”

  Cat and Christian looked at each other, their faces reflecting apprehension.

  “What?” Zoey asked.

  Cat shook her head, “There’s no way it’s this easy,” she said, looking back at Dave who shook his head

  “You have to go get this man,” Zoey said, her tone almost hysterical, “He’s got her!”

  Cat looked at Christian and then at her other teammates.

  “It’s probably a trap,” Kevin said, his tone sure.

  “Probably,” Jeanie agreed.

  “But…” Christian said, “How can we not?”

  “We can’t not” Cat said, “Suit up.”

  Within ten minutes they had their vests on, their guns in holsters and were picking up their rifles. Jovina had watched everything in both fear and fascination. They were discussing how they were going to hit the place they’d located on the map, when Cat stopped.

  “Shit,” she said, shaking her head.

  “What?” Christian asked.

  “What if it’s a way to get us out of here…” she said, looking over at Jovina and Zoey.

  “I’m coming with you,” Zoey said.

  “No you’re not,” Dave said. “Cat get Kash and Baz in here.”

  “We need them with us,” Cat said.

  “Fuck,” Christian muttered, “Just bring them, they can stay back.”

  “No fucking time for this,” Cat said, beckoning Jovina and Zoey, and handing them bullet proof vests and helmets. “You’re going to stay where I tell you, do you understand?”

  Both Zoey and Jovina nodded. Cat was not happy about having to take them, but she didn’t have time to call in other agents to watch them. She couldn’t take any more chances right now.

  Twenty minutes later, Sebastian Bach and Kashena made entry into the front of the house, while Cat and Christian entered through the back. In ten minutes it was over, and Sebastian came out his arm around Jericho supporting her weight.

  Zoey ran to Jericho, Sebastian stepped out of the way in time to keep from being run down, Jericho grabbed the smaller woman up in a tight embrace, even as Sebastian steadied her from behind as she wavered.

  “Director, we need to get you to a hospital,” Cat said, walking up.

  “Okay,” Jericho said nodding.

  Cat went over to talk to the DOJ Forensics team that was setting up to go through the scene. The man that had held Jericho had managed to escape, much to Cat’s dismay, but she had an APB out on him. She
asked the Forensics team to get anything they could to maybe identify the guy.

  Two hours later Jericho had been checked out. She’d been told she had a fairly hard head, to which she’d replied that she’d heard that before. The doctor’s weren’t too concerned with long term effects of whatever chemical they’d used to knock she and Zoey out, as it seemed to have dissipated completely. Jericho just had a fairly nasty headache that they gave her pain meds to manage for the next couple of days. They also suggested that she get some rest.

  They were taken back to the house in a car driven by an agent. Jericho rolled her eyes at the extra care that was being taken. She’d been told that her car was being brought home by another agent, and that her house was being thoroughly checked before she arrived home to insure that it was safe for her and Zoey to return there. Jericho did note that it was specifically stated that they wanted to make sure it was safe for her and Zoey to return there, so it was apparently common knowledge that she was seeing the girl. She did her best not to grumble about that. She really preferred that her love life stay off people’s radar, but she didn’t want Zoey to feel that she was trying hide anything from the world. That wasn’t her style.

  Cat was waiting at the house for them.

  “What have you got?” Jericho asked, walking in to the kitchen and pulling out a beer.

  “Uh,” Zoey said, her look pointed, “Pain meds?”

  Jericho looked back at her for a long moment, grinning as she reached into the pocket of her windbreaker pulling out the bottle, opening it and popping a pill in her mouth and washing it down with beer.

  Zoey narrowed her eyes at Jericho. Jericho simply grinned unrepentantly.

  “Do the words Division of Law Enforcement mean anything to you?” Zoey asked her tone sassy.

  “Yep,” Jericho said, “They mean I gotta keep other people from getting these,” she said holding up the bottle of Vicodin and shaking it, and then winked at Zoey.

  Zoey sighed shaking her head and grinning at Jericho.

  “So, what do you have?” Jericho asked Cat again, moving to lean on the counter.

  “I’m still waiting for the preliminary report from BFS,” Cat said, then grimaced, “But that SOB that was holding you got away, I’m sorry Director.”

  Jericho shook her head, “Don’t worry about it, he wasn’t the one in charge,” she said.

  “How do you know?” Cat asked.

  “He was waiting for someone,” Jericho said, “It was like he wasn’t authorized to actually kill me himself. He told me I was going to die, and he pointed my gun at me, but he didn’t seem to be the one getting to do it.”

  Cat looked perplexed, but nodded, glad to hear that it wasn’t likely they’d just lost their main suspect. Regardless having the guy would mean having someone to question.

  “Hopefully we can find him and get something out of him,” Cat said.

  “I pushed him to see if I could get him to tell me something since he thought I’d be dead soon, but he wouldn’t give it up.”

  “He was pointing a gun at you and you pushed him?” Cat asked, “And did you just say he was pointing your gun at you?”

  Jericho nodded, “And that’s another lovely chunk of paperwork I’m going to get to deal with,” she said, sighing, knowing that she was going to have to file a report that her weapon was now in the hands of a criminal.

  “I’ll get it going for you,” Cat said, nodding, “What do you carry?”

  “Ruger SR forty-five,” Jericho said.

  Cat looked at her for a moment, her mouth open slightly, “You carry a forty-five and you were pushing the guy pointing it at you? You carry hollow point too?”

  Jericho grinned, nodding.

  “You’re fuckin’ crazy director!” Cat said, shaking her head.

  “I’ve heard that,” Jericho said, “I needed to try to find out why this was happening, I need my agents to be safe again.” She said the last with a shrug.

  Cat looked at Zoey, seeing that the girl had no idea what they were talking about, but she wasn’t about to rat the director out to her girlfriend.

  “I’m gonna get out of here,” Cat said, “I’ll check on BFS and see when we can get that report and any results, and then start some follow up. You get some rest Director.”

  Jericho nodded, finishing her beer and moving to stand from the counter she’d been leaning on. Walking over to Cat she extended her hand.

  “Thanks for finding me,” Jericho said to Cat, her look direct.

  “I hate to say it, but it was easy. Between Zoey getting a partial plate, and the guy’s name and address being on the registration, it wasn’t hard.”

  “More evidence that he isn’t a major player here,” Jericho said.

  “Yeah,” Cat said, nodding unhappily.

  Cat left a minute later. Zoey turned to Jericho as soon as she did.

  “What did she mean that you’re crazy?” Zoey asked.

  Jericho looked back at her for a long moment, having hoped that she’d have missed some of that conversation; she knew she should have known better.

  “Well, I carry a forty-five caliber weapon, it’s got a lot of what we call knock down power. You get shot with a forty-five you’re not likely to be getting back up, especially not with the hollow point ammunition I use. It mushrooms when it hits you so it causes more damage.”

  “And he was pointing it at you.” Zoey said, her look withering.

  Jericho’s lips twitched as she had to suppress the desire to grin at the situation she now found herself in. Her wife, soon to be ex-wife, of over ten years wouldn’t have noticed or cared what had been said about the weapon that she’d been threatened with hours before. Whereas her girlfriend of about ten minutes was about to lampoon her for her perceived reckless behavior due to her new understanding of that same weapon.

  “Don’t you dare grin at me Jericho Tehrani…” Zoey growled, even as her own grin threatened to burst forth at seeing the look on Jericho’s face. “Stop it!” she exclaimed then.

  By this time Jericho was laughing and shaking her head, “I’m sorry babe, you just have no idea how cute you are when you’re trying to be mad at me.”

  “I hate you so hard right now,” Zoey said, rolling her eyes.

  “Uh-huh,” Jericho said, walking over to her.

  “No, get away from me,” Zoey said, putting her hands up and stepping back, still doing her best not to smile.

  Jericho reached out her arm, sliding it around her waist and pulling Zoey into her, leaning down to kiss her softly. Zoey sighed, sliding her arms around Jericho’s neck. They kissed for a few minutes, then Zoey dropped her arms, moving to take Jericho’s hand and lead her to the bedroom. There she pushed Jericho to a seated position on the bed. Kneeling she pulled off Jericho’s cowboy boots, then stood and unbuttoned the sky blue shirt she wore that had her own blood on it, and pulled it out from her jeans. The last thing she did was to pull the hair tie out of Jericho’s hair so that her hair flowed down around her shoulders. Then she pushed her back on the pillows of the bed and lay next to her, kissing her lips softly.

  Jericho slid her hands around Zoeys’ waist, pulling her close and kissing her again, deepening the kiss. When she pulled back, her blue eyes searched Zoey’s.

  “You need to know something,” Jericho said, her voice soft and very affected.

  “What?” Zoey asked, her tone worried.

  Jericho smoothed her thumb over Zoey’s cheek, trying to wipe away the look of worry.

  “First of all,” Jericho said, “I’m sorry this came that close to you.”

  Zoey blinked, and then shook her head, “You had no way of knowing what they’d do,” she said.

  “And that’s what scared the hell out of me, Zoey,” Jericho said. “When I woke up and you weren’t there with me, I was relieved, but then the thought occurred to me that there could be a reason for that…”

  “I was fine, Jericho,” Zoey said, touching Jericho’s cheek.

  “I
know that now,” Jericho said, “but at the time…” she said, her voice trailing off as she shook her head, her eyes reflecting the fear that she’d been feeling, then she pinned Zoey with a look, “It made me know that if I saw you again I needed to tell you.”

  “Tell me?” Zoey asked, her look confused.

  “That I love you,” Jericho said, “and that I’m so glad that I found you in what has literally been the hardest experience of my life up to this point. I love you.” She said again, her eyes shining.

  Zoey’s lips parted in shock at what Jericho was saying, closing her eyes a couple of times, as she let the feelings of relief and complete joy flow through her. When she opened her eyes, Jericho was still staring at her, her face so close, her eyes so very blue.

  Zoey shook her head, “I never believed I’d ever hear you say those words to me,” Zoey said, unshed tears in her eyes suddenly, “I thought… I figured… after Kelly… And when you were so devastated by the divorce… I just thought there was no way.”

  Jericho nodded her head, “Well, believe me, I didn’t really expect to be saying it to anyone again this soon, but you just… Have this way… I can’t resist it.”

  Zoey bit her lips, feeling so much and wanting to shout from every rooftop, instead she moved in to kiss Jericho’s lips hungrily. Jericho responded instantly, pulling her close, her hands in Zoey’s hair, her lips meeting Zoey’s with equal hunger.

  They made love, both knowing that this time was a gift of Fate, and that the day could have ended so very differently.

  Afterwards Zoey lay in Jericho’s arms, her head against Jericho’s chest, hearing Jericho’s heart beating. Moving to look up at Jericho, she saw that Jericho’s eyes were closed, but at Zoey’s movement, she opened them and looked down at Zoey.