“I love you too,” Zoey said, “I didn’t say it before… but”
“Yes you did,” Jericho said, nodding. “By doing everything you were doing for me, by taking care of me and worrying about me… I honestly had no choice but to love you back.”
Zoey’s smile could have lit an entire city for a month it was so bright. She couldn’t even begin to think of a way to respond to what Jericho had just said, so she leaned down to kiss her again, pulling back to stare into her eyes. That’s when she saw how tired Jericho was suddenly.
“Sleep babe,” she said, knowing then that Jericho was tired and fighting the pain meds in her system.
Moving to lay above Jericho, she stroked her silky black hair and watched as Jericho drifted to sleep. Moving to lay next to her, Zoey touched her cheek, thinking that things could have turned out so differently this day. She was grateful to Cat and her team finding Jericho, no matter what they said about it being ‘too easy’, Zoey knew that had they not done what they’d done they could have found Jericho dead. The idea of that made Zoey feel sick, if she’d lost this woman… She wasn’t sure she’d ever find anyone this incredible again in her lifetime. No matter how afraid she’d been when she’d heard about the weapon the man had pointed at Jericho, and how Jericho had ‘pushed’ him for information, Zoey knew that Jericho knew what she was doing. The woman was so incredibly admirable and her thoughts had been for her agents, not herself. Who did that kind of thing? Apparently Jericho Tehrani did.
Jericho’s phone started to ring, and Zoey jumped at it, glancing at the display. It said “Kelly” and without thinking Zoey picked up the phone climbing off the bed and walking out of the room with the phone to keep from waking Jericho. Then she decided to answer it.
“Hello?” she answered her tone official.
There was a hesitation at the other end of the phone. “I was looking for Jericho Tehrani, maybe I have the wrong number.”
“No, this is her phone,” Zoey said.
“Then who is this?” Kelly asked, her tone sharp.
“What can I do for you Kelly?” Zoey asked, not bothering with pretense.
There was another pause, “You obviously have me at a disadvantage,” Kelly said, her tone placating, “Since you seem to know who I am, but I don’t know you.”
Zoey blew her breath out, “What do you want?” she asked again.
“I want to talk to my wife,” Kelly said, her tone sharp again.
“Well, your wife is asleep at the moment, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to wake her up so she can deal with you right now.” Zoey said, her anger at what had happened that day and not in the mood to spar with Kelly, but far from interested in making the woman’s life easier right now.
“I see, and who are you?” Kelly asked, her tone accusatory.
“I’m the person taking care of her.” Zoey snapped.
“Oh I’ll just bet.” Kelly said, her tone sneering.
“You know what, Kelly,” Zoey said, letting her anger get the better of her at that moment, “I love that woman more than you could ever imagine. She and I could have died today, so I’ll be Goddamned if I’m going to listen to your petty jealousy right now. You had her and you were stupid enough to throw her away with both hands, so get the fuck over it already.”
With that Zoey hung up the phone and tossed it across the room. Riley dutifully retrieved it and brought it back to her. Zoey looked down at the beautiful white dog, and knelt, to give her a thorough petting.
Two hours later, Jericho was still asleep. Zoey was starting to cook dinner when the doorbell rang. Doing exactly as Jericho had instructed, she checked the monitor for the door and saw that it was Midnight standing with Tiny and Kana. She opened the door.
Midnight surprised her by walking in and hugging her.
“How’s our girl?” Midnight asked when they parted.
Zoey nodded, “She’s asleep thankfully,” she said “the doctors said she was fine and that she has a hard head.”
Midnight chuckled, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”
Zoey lead them into the living room. Midnight reached into her leather satchel style brief case, pulling out a box handing it to Zoey.
“Jericho will be happy to get this back,” Midnight said.
Zoey took the box and looked at Midnight questioningly.
“It’s her weapon, they recovered it at the house,” Midnight said, “It’ll save her a lot of paperwork.” She said with a wink.
“Well, she’ll be happy to hear that,” smiling her eyes on the box.
“What is it?” Midnight asked.
“She said he pointed it at her,” Zoey said, “And I guess it’s kind of a powerful gun.”
“A Ruger forty-five caliber is nothing to sneeze at,” Midnight said nodding, then canted her head, “Have you ever handled a gun?”
Zoey shook her head.
Midnight nodded, reaching over to open the box, she picked up the gun. Handling it expertly, she released the ammunition clip and pulled back the slide to check for a bullet in the chamber, then she released the slide and clicked it back into place. Then she handed it to Zoey butt first.
“First thing is you never point a gun at someone unless you are willing to shoot them,” Midnight said.
Zoey held the gun by the butt, with two fingers, as if it were offensive to her, her eyes wide. She noticed that Kana and Tiny grinned.
“Don’t ever let Sinclair see that,” Kana said.
“Oh, he’d flip,” Tiny said, grinning.
Midnight smiled, “Joe Sinclair is our range master and all around badass when it comes to shooting.”
Moving to Zoey’s side, Midnight took the gun and put it in Zoey’s hands, putting her hands around Zoey’s to show her how to hold it properly, pointing it at the wall across the way.
“Now,” Midnight said, “We know it’s empty because I just cleared the chamber, but you always, always, always assume a gun is loaded. Okay?”
Zoey nodded, “Okay,” trying to settle the gun in her hands.
“Well, Jericho’s gun’s a bit big for your hands, she needs to teach you on a single stack.”
“Single stack?” Zoey asked.
“It’s a lower capacity ammunition clip, but it’ll fit better in your hands,” Midnight explained.
“Okay, now the other thing to remember is the safety on the gun.” Midnight said, showing Zoey the side of the weapon where the safety located, “Okay, you see that?” she said, pointing to the white dot visible on the side of the weapon.
“That’s the safety, and the thing to remember is simple, ‘if you see the dot, the gun is hot.”
“Hot?” Zoey queried.
“Ready to fire,” Kana supplied.
“Oh,” Zoey said, nodding.
“Get Jericho to teach you to shoot,” Midnight said, winking at the girl.
“Do you think she will?” Zoey asked.
Midnight grinned, “You’re dating a cop now, Zoey, you’ll need to know what we do about guns and how to use them.”
Zoey nodded, looking very serious.
“So, does everyone know now?” Zoey asked, “About Jericho and me?”
Midnight smiled, “Trust me, everyone that knows is happy to see it.”
Later as Zoey climbed into bed next to Jericho, Jericho turned over looking at her.
“Hi,” Zoey said, smiling, “How’s your head?”
“Still hurts,” Jericho said, shrugging.
Zoey made grimaced, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s way better than being dead,” Jericho said simply.
“Don’t say that,” Zoey said.
“Sorry babe,” Jericho said, her look contrite.
“Oh, um,” Zoey said, reaching into her pocket to take Jericho’s phone out and lay it on the nightstand again.
Jericho’s eyes followed the movement then looked back at her, “Um?” she queried.
“Yeah, I should tell you that Kelly called while you were asleep.”
“Okay,” Jericho said nodding.
“I kinda answered the phone,” Zoey said, biting her lip.
“Kinda?” Jericho asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, yeah, I answered it, and I’m sorry, but I told her off too.”
“Oh, lord, Zoey, what did you say?” Jericho said, her look hesitant.
“Um,” Zoey stammered, suddenly regretting what she’d said to Kelly.
Jericho closed her eyes, then opened them again, “What did you say?”
“I’m sorry, Jericho, she was being really nasty and I just lost it and said that I love you and that she was the one to let you go, so she needed to get over it.”
Jericho grimaced, closing her eyes, then opening one eye to look at Zoey, “You do remember that she’s still my wife, right?”
“Yes,” Zoey said, worried suddenly that Jericho was going to be mad that she’d been disrespectful to Kelly.
“And that we’re about to battle it out in divorce court, where technically I’m considered an adulterer at this point in time.”
“But adultery isn’t grounds for divorce,” Zoey said.
“It isn’t in California,” Jericho said, “But it is in Virginia, where we got married.”
“Oh… Oh, God, Jericho, I’m so sorry… Oh God…” Zoey said, feeling horrible and knowing that she’d just screwed Jericho when it came to Kelly.
Jericho pursed her lips, considering things, finally shrugged, “I’ll figure it out, babe.”
“Yeah, but… I gave her ammunition to use against you… and I’m so sorry about that.”
“Well, did you tell her we’re sleeping together?” Jericho asked.
“Well, no, I just said that I loved you,” Zoey said.
“So maybe she can’t prove anything.”
Zoey bit her lip, “I can hope.”
“Me too,” Jericho said grinning, “So what was going on there?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what made you do that?”
“I just hate that she thinks she can just call you whenever she wants, because it’s never about you it’s always about her.”
Jericho chuckled, “Well, that’s true.”
Zoey was relieved that Jericho wasn’t mad.
Catalina sat smoking out on the patio of the office. Jeanie walked outside, moving to sit in the other chair, looking at her long time teammate.
“Still waiting to hear back from BFS.” Jeanie said, sighing.
“I heard they recovered Jericho’s gun,” Cat said, “That’ll make her happy.”
“Yeah a lot less paperwork.” Jeanie said, grinning. “So, how are you doing, otherwise?”
Cat looked back at Jeanie, her eyes narrowing slightly, her teammates talked a lot and she was sure that Christian had shared their conversation with Jeanie, just from the look on the girl’s face.
“I’m fine.” Cat said mildly.
“Those are nice.” Jeanie said, her hand gesturing to the still dark bruises Cat had gotten from sparring with Quinn a few days before.
Cat glanced down at the bruise on her shoulder, shrugging, “I went a few rounds with Quinn,” she said.
“I heard about that little scene at the gym,” Jeanie said.
“Hey, can’t have them thinking I’m some kind of wall flower.” Cat said grinning.
“Them?” Jeanie queried.
“Jovina’s friends, and Jericho.”
Jeanie nodded, her look assessing, “You’re a good narc, Cat,” she said then, “You really don’t have to prove that to anyone.”
Cat looked back at Jeanie her face inscrutable, but Jeanie knew that Cat’s confidence had been shaken. She knew it well, her husband Donovan had been made once too, and it had taken a lot for him to get his confidence back.
“So what did the director have to say about the guy that had her?” Jeanie asked then, knowing that harping on Cat was only going to piss her off.
“She says that he wasn’t the ring leader,” Cat said, grimacing.
“What made her think that?” Jeanie asked.
“She said he seemed to be waiting for someone else, that he told her she was going to die, but he didn’t seem to be the one that was going to do it.”
Jeanie looked pensive, “So, at least getting there fast probably forestalled that,” she said, “But that means he’s still not done.”
“I know,” Cat said, looking unhappy. “If we can collar the guy that grabbed Jericho he might be useful.”
“We’ve got the APB out on him and his car, hopefully it’ll just be a matter of time. Maybe we can get more leads from his house too.”
“Well, as soon as BFS can come back with anything it would help.” Cat said.
The Department’s Bureau of Forensic Services was the Department of Justice equivalent of what most people knew as CSI. They had lifted a number of finger prints, and were hoping to that they belong to more than just the man who’d lived there.
They’d also taken the computers and paperwork that was at the house. Devin was working on the computer while the rest of the task force was going through all the paperwork they’d taken.
“So we’re pretty convinced this guy is after Jericho,” Jeanie said.
“Yeah, so I’m going back through her diaries and things. I’m telling you though, nothing is jumping out from her cases.” Cat shook her head, “I just don’t know where we are gonna get.”
“We’re gonna figure this out, Cat,” Jeanie said, her tone sure, “We just gotta keep looking.”
“I know,” Cat said, moving to stand and stubbing out her cigarette.
Inside, Cat noticed that Jovina was now going through some of the paperwork as well.
“What’re you doin?” Cat asked, grinning.
“Trying to help,” Jovina said, her look cautious.
Cat walked over to her, leaning down to kiss her lips, “I’m sorry, thank you for trying to help, did Dave tell you what to look for?”
“Yes,” Jovina said nodding.
“Great,” Cat said, smiling.
She walked back over to her desk and picked up one of Jericho’s diaries from when she had been a DEA agent. An agent would write their daily activities in a diary, keeping track of case numbers, changes, progresses all things related to the case. There was also a summary of the case when it was finished with suspects that had been arrested their information and what their sentence had been.
Cat was trying to note any cases where the suspects were particularly connected, and also where threats had been made. She was cross checking any of those with the list of offenders that had been released from prison in the last year. So far she wasn’t really finding any stand outs. Jericho had closed a lot of cases in her time as a field agent, it was definitely impressive.
Jericho and Zoey took the day after the incident off, since the doctor had insisted that Jericho rest to recover from the knock on the head she’d taken when she’d fallen in the stairwell. It was evening when Jericho’s phone rang. Glancing at the display she saw that it was Kelly. They were lying on the couch watching a movie. Picking up the remote she paused the movie and put the phone on speaker.
“Hello,” Jericho said, glancing at Zoey who had moved to sit up.
“Jericho?” Kelly queried.
“Yes?” Jericho said her tone leading.
“I heard what happened, are you okay?” Kelly said, her tone worried.
“How did you hear?” Jericho asked, raising an eyebrow at Zoey.
“I’m still listed as your emergency contact,” Kelly said.
“Oh,” Jericho said, making a mental note to get that changed.
“So are you okay?” Kelly asked again.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Jericho said, rolling her eyes at Zoey.
“Okay, good,” Kelly said.
Jericho waited, knowing that Kelly had been calling for more than that and not willing to beg her for the reason.
“Jericho?” Kelly queried after a long minute of s
ilence.
“Still here,” Jericho said, her tone even.
When Kelly still didn’t say anything, Jericho sighed, “What did you need, Kelly?” she asked.
“Don’t be like that…” Kelly chided.
“Let’s just get to the point,” Jericho said.
“Don’t use your cop tone on me, Jericho,” Kelly said, instantly annoyed.
Jericho grinned, “It’s my voice Kelly, I can’t help that.”
Kelly was silent for a long moment again, Jericho made a circling gesture with her hand, like she was trying to speed Kelly up.
“Did you get the email from the lawyer?” Kelly asked finally.
“Yes, I got the laundry list from the lawyer,” Jericho said her tone annoyed.
“I’m sorry,” Kelly said, “He is the one that put that together…”
“Really?” Jericho said, “How’d he know about my Soft Tail Kel?”
“Well, he had me list our assets,” Kelly said, “You know that Soft Tail was expensive because of the custom work on it…”
“Right, so had to make sure that went on the list,” Jericho said, her tone sharp.
“I told you he did the list,” Kelly said.
“And you didn’t take a look at what he was asking me for on your behalf?” Jericho asked, her tone disbelieving.
“Jericho, I didn’t call to fight with you,” Kelly said, avoiding the question.
“Then what did you call for?” Jericho asked.
“I was hoping we could talk,” Kelly said.
“We are talking, Kelly,” Jericho said, glancing at Zoey and shaking her head, rolling her eyes.
“I meant in person, Jericho.” Kelly countered.
“Well, babe, I don’t really have time to come to El Paso right now.” Jericho said, her tone snide.
“I meant that I’d come there,” Kelly said.
Jericho narrowed her eyes, like she was trying to figure out what Kelly was up to now. Finally she sighed.
“Fine, when?” Jericho asked.
“I was thinking tomorrow.” Kelly said.
“Fine, where?” Jericho said, her tone short.
She could almost feel Kelly narrow her eyes at the other end of the line, she grinned, good! She thought.
Turning Tables (WeHo Book 3) Page 17