After Joe had left England, he had fallen into the habit of doing what his parents wanted him to, which was date the debutantes that his status afforded him. The girls he dated were very proper in appearance, although he had found that many of them could get down and dirty with the best street walkers in London, in private. He’d spent a lot of time, getting very jaded on the whole scene, the parties, the openings, the balls … that had been one of the reasons he had left England and come to see Joe. That and a certain woman … but that was history now too. Rick was devoted to Midnight now, even if it was a hopeless venture.
As he looked at her, he was pleased to realize the shirt she was wearing was his. It was big on her, but it made her look even more attractive to him. She looked like a waif, wearing anything to be clothed. The shirt hung halfway to her knees, her jeans were tapered, so her shapely legs were outlined by them. She looked sexy even in that and it amazed him over and over how she could look incredible even in the most casual of outfits. There was nothing fake about her, she was genuine; no nose jobs, no lifts, no tucks, no boob jobs, she was the real thing, and it made her a glaringly difference from the women he had been trying to get away from in England.
****
When they got to the office, Spider was sitting in Joe’s office. He had become the person to keep things running while Midnight and Joe were out of the game. Midnight was very happy that he’d worked out so well. In fact, she had recently recommended both him and Tiny to the police academy, and the chief had just signed off on the request. When Spider saw Midnight and Rick enter the office, he stood and walked out to them.
“Hey,” he said, looking down at his boss, “how you feelin’?”
“Oh, I’m okay, Spider. What’s goin’ on here?” Midnight responded, moving toward her office. Spider and Rick followed. Midnight sat down at her desk, gesturing for Spider to sit down.
“As a matter of fact,” Spider said, sitting in the second chair in front of Midnight’s desk. Rick took up a position on the low credenza behind Midnight’s desk, next to the window. “I’ve just been talking to BNE …”
“BNE?” Midnight asked.
“The Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement …” Spider supplied. “Yeah, it seems that they have a new program that might help us out some.”
Midnight looked skeptical. “Narcotic enforcement? What’s that got to do with FORS?”
“Well, normally not a lot, other than the drug dealing aspect of it, but it seems that BNE has just started a new unit called the Illegal Weapons and Violence Suppression Program. They call it VSU. Anyway, they target violent repeat offenders, and one of those main targets is gang members, and especially parolees …” He waited for the impact of what he had said to sink in. He watched with a smile on his face as Midnight’s eyes widened slightly.
“You mean … they can get info on the Scorpions?”
“Yep, and as luck would have it, I talked to one of their Criminal Intelligence Specialists just today, and she said that the unit can keep an eye open for our boy too, as well as the rest of the Scorpions.”
Midnight was nodding, her eyes alight with the desire to catch Robbins. “What’s their main thing though? I mean VSU, how are they going to spot Robbins?”
“Well, their main thing is getting illegal weapons off the street and out of the hands of parolees, gang members, and the like. But they do a lot of hits on houses like the one we hit, when I took one …” His voice trailed off as he remembered the day he’d been shot. His recovery had been long and painful, but Tammy had been there for him the whole time.
“Shit …” Midnight said. Her mind worked through the assistance this VSU could be to them. “Spider, do you realize how much that increases the odds … this is great! But hey, what can we do for them?” she said then, always wanting to return the favor when it came to working with other agencies.
“Well, I’d say we have the biggest handle on the gangs in this area, we could give them all the info on that. I was thinking it might be a good idea to meet with their special agent in charge down at their office, it’s downtown here too. We could offer our information and formally ask for their assistance … What d’ ya think?” Spider asked, not wanting to take too much for granted. Midnight was still the leader, no matter how much she’d been through recently.
“Yeah, Spider that sounds good, let’s get that set up. I’ll go, and I want you there with me, since you’re the one who seems to know about this new unit of theirs.”
“You don’t want to wait for Sinclair?” Spider asked, happy that she was willing to let him stand in for Joe, but unsure if he felt comfortable about it.
“Joe’s gonna be down for a while longer. I want him back full strength, so … no I don’t think we should wait. I think this is too important, we need to get the ball rolling. Can we try to set it up for today?”
“I can see,” Spider said, standing up and turning to leave her office.
“Great!” Midnight said. “Hey,” she called, causing Spider to turn back around.
“Thanks, Spider … if it wasn’t for you … you kept things goin’ and I appreciate it,” Midnight said, smiling at him.
“For you, boss, anytime,” Spider said, smiling back. Then he turned to Rick who nodded to him, appreciating his loyalty to Midnight.
Midnight turned to Rick, putting her booted feet up on the credenza. “This might just work yet,” she said, her eyes bright.
“You love your work, don’t you?” Rick said, smiling down at her.
“Ah, yes, I do. Give me a gun and a raid to go on and I’m a happy camper,” she said, turning to her computer. She turned it on and as it was warming up, she starting going through some of the stuff on her desk. After hovering around her office for a bit, Rick finally headed over to his desk and checked out things there.
Spider came back a half hour later saying that they could meet with the SAC at BNE at three o’clock. “Perfect,” Midnight said, then turned back to her work.
A few hours later, Spider went into her office to retrieve her for the meeting. As they walked by Rick’s desk, Midnight stopped and said, “Why don’t you come too.” He looked up at her questioningly. “Moral support,” she said smiling. He stood, stretched, and pulled his jacket off the back of his chair. Midnight watched him as he did. He was wearing jeans and a navy-blue shirt. She thought how gorgeous he was, for the millionth time since she’d met him. He was tall and lean, leaner than Joe, and his face had finer bones than Joe’s. She shook her head, thinking how fate was a nasty character, having not created him for her.
“What?” Rick said, seeing her shake her head.
“Nothing,” she answered, smiling at him. “Come on.”
They drove over to the BNE office in Rick’s Mustang. They parked in the lot below the building and went up to the third floor in an elevator. When they got to the reception area, Midnight showed her badge to the receptionist. The receptionist noticed that Spider and Rick seemed to be standing guard behind this blond woman who identified herself as a police officer. A couple of minutes later, the special agent in charge came out to greet them. He was a handsome man, with short dark hair, that was graying at the temples, and blue eyes. He introduced himself as Jim Griffin and shook all their hands warmly. He escorted them back to his office and introduced them to one of his special agent supervisors, Mike Buffington.
“Mike’s one of our best, and he’s running the Violence Suppression Unit out of this office,” Griffin said.
Mike shook hands with the three members of FORS, but didn’t say anything.
“So, I’ve heard a lot about your unit,” Griffin said, sitting down at his desk, and gesturing for them to sit too. “You’ve done a lot of good work.”
Midnight nodded. “Thank you.” Then she leaned forward, her eyes on Griffin. “I’m sure you’ve heard about what happened to my partner, just recently …”
Griffin nodded. “I hear he’s doing okay now though, is that right?”
“Yes, that’
s true, but the guy that did it, got away, and I want him back,” Midnight said seriously.
Griffin looked at this small woman, amazed at her size, and her appearance; she didn’t quite fit the image he had of her. He had heard about the highly intelligent, highly efficient, rough-edged, ex-gang leader turned leader of FORS. He hadn’t quite expected this small, beautiful woman that sat in front of him now. But there she was, and he could see from the look in her eyes that she wanted this guy that had “gotten away” really badly. Griffin had also heard what the leader of the Scorpions had done to Lieutenant Chevalier, and looking at her now, he couldn’t believe that this woman had been through all that, and had bounced back so quickly. It hadn’t even been two weeks since the incident. Griffin’s respect for Lieutenant Chevalier doubled in that moment.
“Well, I think we can help you,” he said to Midnight. Then he looked at Mike. “Mike, why don’t you tell Lieutenant Chevalier what it is your unit will be doing, and let’s see if we can come to some sort of agreement.”
Mike nodded to his supervisor, and then turned to Midnight. “Well, you see, Lieutenant, we plan to gather information on violent repeat offenders using some of the computer programs we already have online here at BNE, as well other Department of Justice online systems. When we have a hit on some of these people carrying illegal weapons, or in the case of parolees, any weapon, then we’ll arrest them and off they go back to jail, keeping the streets safe for women and children again.”
Midnight nodded excitedly, then she looked over at Rick and Spider. “Yeah, and you’ll probably put us out of business.”
Mike laughed, surprising Midnight, he seemed so sedate otherwise. “Well, we hope so.”
“So … ” Midnight said, looking between Griffin and Mike. “Since one of your targets is parolees, you don’t have to have warrants to search … but my guy isn’t a parolee. What do we do now?”
“Yeah, but most of his members are, right?” Mike said, warming to the subject.
“Yeah …” Midnight said, not sure where he was headed.
“So we track him through them,” Mike shrugged. “It’s a start.”
“Yeah,” Midnight said, working it all over in her mind. She looked over at Spider again, then back at Mike. “We may be able to help you guys out some too, maybe give you some info on whereabouts, and the like. Maybe tip you off on some of our guys …” She gestured to Spider to take over there, and he did. He and Mike talked about the computer system that FORS had set up, and how they could supply BNE with all the information it needed. As Midnight listened to Spider and Mike talk, something kept nagging at her, something that was just on the edge of her mind, but she couldn’t think of it. Rick watched her, as did Griffin. Midnight knew it had something to do with Robbins, but she just couldn’t grab it. Slowly, carefully she started to go over their last meeting. She closed her eyes, trying to mentally step around the rape, and get to what he had said to her, but even those were painful memories. She felt someone touch her hand, and she opened her eyes. It was Rick looking concerned.
“Night, what is it?” he asked softly. All talk in the room had stopped and all eyes were on her.
She shook her head slowly. “Something …” She closed her eyes again, and felt Rick’s grip tighten on her, as he realized what she was thinking of. She sat holding his hand tightly, as she remembered that night. She thought about waking up in that dark room, the pain in her head, the light on under the doorway, the terror she felt when Robbins had walked in and she had recognized him. She thought of what he said then. He had admitted to trying to kill Joe, and also trying to kill Rick … He had said that FORS was becoming a bother to him … Then she remembered!
“Wait!” she said as her eyes flew open She saw that Griffin was staring at her, concern etched on his face. “They’re working with the cartel,” she said, her voice strong and sure, “the Riveras. They’re working with the Riveras. You guys have to have an open case on them, they’re one of the biggest Columbian families working San Diego and the border!”
Griffin was nodding excitedly. “Hell yeah, we’ve got an open case on them, and you say this guy is working with them? That’s pretty high-level for a gang … These guys are well connected.”
“Tell me about it, they’ve tried to kill three cops so far, as well as having killed two kids, and trying to kill one of my members here.” She gestured to Rick. Griffin’s look went to Rick. He had seen the love and worry in Rick’s eyes a few minutes before, it was obvious these two were a couple, but they’d try to kill him too? This gang was dangerous, Griffin thought, he hadn’t realized just how dangerous.
“Well, in that case, I guess we have a new priority,” Griffin said, looking over at Mike. Mike nodded.
“We’ll give you everything we can,” Griffin said to Midnight, his eyes looking directly into hers.
“Thank you,” Midnight responded, her eyes shining with determination as she stood.
“I’ll have to run it by the deputy chief at HQ, but he’s real pro-interagency cooperation, so I don’t think it’ll be a problem. I hope your partner gets better fast, Lieutenant Chevalier. And I hope we can help you get this guy quickly, before he has a chance to do anymore damage to this community,” Griffin said. Midnight’s battle had just become his and his Bureau’s now too.
Midnight left the BNE office feeling very good, she was sure they’d catch Robbins now. It was only a matter of time, with an agency as big as the Department of Justice, Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement on board with the investigation and on her side.
“I think that went well,” Spider said, grinning as they took the elevator down to the parking garage.
“I’d say so,” Rick said, grinning too.
“Oh you two … well, is a major understatement, it went fucking great!” Midnight said, laughing.
They went back to the office. Midnight worked for a couple more hours, then Rick went to her office and leaned against the doorjamb watching her.
She looked up at him. “What?”
He looked pointedly at his watch. She looked up at the clock to see it was almost six o’clock.
“Oops,” she said, smiling at him.
“Oops nothin’ young lady,” Rick said, wagging a finger at her. “You promised, so let’s go.”
Midnight looked chagrinned for a moment, then a slow grin started on her lips. She rolled her eyes. “Okay! You win, I’ll go … but …” Her smile widened and her eyes sparkled mischievously.
“But?” he asked, smiling at her, glad that she wasn’t angry at his insistence that she not overdo it.
“You have to take me to dinner,” she said then, her eyes on him, her smile wide.
“I think I can handle that,” he said, walking over to her desk. He held a hand out to her, and she stood, taking it, and smiling up at him. She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out her gun, putting it into its usual place.
“Oh good, I’ll have protection too,” Rick said, smiling down at her.
“Oh shit, that reminds me,” she said, looking around on her desk, “I need your signature on this.” She retrieved a piece of paper from one of the piles on her desk.
“What’s this?” he asked, as he signed it.
“It’s your CCW paperwork.”
“CCW?” Rick repeated, handing her the paper back.
“Yeah,” she said, turning to her desk and rummaging through a drawer. She turned back and handed him a card and a gun. Rick looked at her perplexed.
“Permit to carry a concealed weapon. Rick, you’re legal now.”
“Oh,” he said, looking at the gun.
“Department issue, but you can buy your own if you want,” Midnight said, smiling at him.
“I have my own, thank you,” Rick said, handing her back the gun.
Midnight looked at him, furrowing her brows. She watched as he pulled a gun out from under his shirt. He was carrying his gun in the same place she carried hers.
She clicked her tongue at him. “Rich
ard Debenshire, that’s illegal.”
“Yeah, so is assaulting a cop,” Rick replied, his voice dead serious, his eyes searching hers. “I wasn’t takin’ any chances.”
Midnight looked at him for a long moment, knowing that she should give him a hard time for carrying a concealed weapons without a permit, but what the hell. She figured it was only a misdemeanor anyway, and he had the permit now. Besides, her mind qualified, he was doing it to protect her. She smiled at him.
“You win,” she said, putting her hands up in a surrendering gesture.
“Come on, love,” Rick said then, putting his arm around her, and escorting her out of her office. They went to dinner at a small Mexican restaurant in Mission Beach. Rick noticed that even though she seemed to know everyone in the restaurant, including the owner, she still picked a table where she could see everything that was going on, and sat with her back to a wall. Hazards of being a cop, Rick thought to himself. They ate in companionable silence, the food having come quickly, brought by the owner who doted on Midnight. He said the “señorita” never ate enough, that’s why she was “muy poquito,” indicating that she was very little. Midnight laughed good-naturedly with the owner, surprising Rick with the fact that she knew Spanish. She spoke to the owner in Spanish as well as some of the waiters that seemed to find it necessary to come by. Rick watched it all, his eyes on Midnight, seeing yet another side to her. She was being social. The owner’s wife came over at one point, looking at Rick appreciatively, elbowing Midnight companionably.
“Como te Llama?” she asked Midnight, still looking at Rick.
“Ricardo,” Midnight answered in a perfect Spanish accent.
“Es muy guapo,” the older woman said, telling her that Rick was very handsome. Midnight nodded laughing. Rick looked at them both, not knowing what the older lady had said.
Empires Fall (MidKnight Blue Book 2) Page 6