“Now you put it down, Robbins, or I’ll snap her fucking neck,” Joe said, his tone acidic
Tasha was gasping in pain. Joe’s good arm was the one that held her hair. His wounded arm was around her waist, keeping her in front of him. Robbins looked at Joe for a long moment, hatred burning in his eyes. Joe wasn’t sure that this would even work, he didn’t know if Robbins gave a shit about Tasha. He didn’t notice Tasha’s hand moving down to her pocket. Joe continued to back up. Glancing behind him, he saw that Randy was standing against the wall about three feet from him.
He took two steps back then stopped. e looked over at Midnight who was still looking up at the man who had the gun trained on her, but he was looking at the scene going on with Joe and Robbins. Midnight’s gun rested by her knees and Joe saw her hand moving toward it. He waited until it was on the gun and he knew she was ready. He felt, Randy’s hand at his back, she pulled the gun out that he had stuck there. He wasn’t sure if he was doing the right thing; he didn’t even know if Randy could shoot a gun, but he knew that one of the only reasons that Robbins hadn’t shot him yet was because he could still see Joe’s hands and didn’t consider him much of a threat empty handed and twenty feet away.
Everything happened in a blur; Joe shoved Tasha away but she whirled on him. The knife that she’d kept hidden in her pocket was in her hand now and she drove the knife home, catching him in the chest. She brought it back a second time aiming for his heart, but she was stopped by two bullets in her chest. Joe had time to glance back at Randy and saw that she had fired the gun.
He looked over at Midnight and saw that she had picked up her gun and from a squatting position had fired a shot at the other man. Joe charged Robbins, who was standing in momentary shock. He brought the gun up as Joe charged him, but Joe hit him first, knocking him to the floor. They grappled, Robbins tried to bring the gun up a second time, but Joe grabbed for it. He grabbed Robbins’ wrist and twisted it, hearing a crack as Robbins dropped the gun. Midnight had stood and run over to where they were fighting. She stood watching them fight, with her gun trained on them; if Robbins even looked like he was going to win, she would kill him. Robbins hit Joe’s wounded shoulder twice, but Joe came back with surprising strength. He was letting his anger flow for all the things that Robbins had done to all of them. Joe let his temper flair, he let it burn hot, and Robbins never had a chance. He beat Robbins until he was unconscious.
Joe was gasping for breath as he stood up. Suddenly the pain hit him. Randy was there instantly supporting his weight against hers. Midnight darted back over to Rick and checked for a pulse. Her hands were shaking so hard she couldn’t feel anything. A dark fear was clutching at her heart, and she didn’t want to know …
“Rick?” she said desperately. “Rick!”
He didn’t move. “Oh, God, no … ” Midnight said, tears flowing down her cheeks, “not you Rick, not you … come on … please … ”
Randy had led Joe over to the stairs and sat him down. His head rested on her shoulder, his eyes closed. She was watching Midnight over his head. Neither one of them saw Robbins stir.
Midnight was looking down at Rick, trying once again to feel for a pulse, her hand clutching as his arm. She caught his hand twitching out of the corner of her eye. Then she noticed Robbins. When she turned her head, she could see that he was watching her with an evil smile holding a gun. Midnight screamed like a banshee warrior as she dove for her gun that lay a foot away.
She heard Robbins’ first shot, and she ducked her head before firing back. She emptied the weapon into his body with a vengeance. Only when the gun clicked, the slide locking back because the gun was empty did she lower it, breathing heavily. She saw the bloody mess that had been Robbins. She stared at it for a moment, thinking of what he had done to her, what he’d done to Joe and Randy, and what he had done to Rick … Rick!
She turned to him, sliding to her knees next to him. She pulled out her cellular phone and dialed for an ambulance, telling them to come code three, an officer was down …
****
Later in the hospital, Midnight sat watching the monitors and machines that were hooked up to Rick. Her face was a mask of sorrow. He hadn’t regained consciousness yet. The doctors had done everything they could. The bullet had barely missed his heart, but had managed to do some serious damage to his body. Midnight knew that he could easily die, much like Joe could have when he had been shot. But Joe hadn’t died, and Rick wouldn’t either, she just had to hold onto that. She sat in the darkened room and as she held his hand she cried silently. He couldn’t die, he just couldn’t.
In another room in the hospital, the doctor was looking Joe over, coincidentally the same doctor who had treated him previously. The knife wound in his chest wasn’t as bad as it appeared. Fortunately, she had missed his heart altogether. His breastbone had kept the knife from going very far into his chest. There was some minor muscle damage, and he had lost a lot of blood. His shoulder wound was more severe. Fortunately for Joe, the bullet had gone all the way through, so it was not in his shoulder. The doctor explained that having to do surgery to remove a bullet of that caliber, a forty-five, would have probably caused more muscle damage to his shoulder than the bullet had done. There was some minor repair work necessary to make the shoulder usable again, but that could be done under a local anesthetic, avoiding the general anesthetic that had taken Joe almost three weeks to get over previously.
Randy was hovering nearby, a worried look on her face. He smiled at her, wincing as the doctor touched his shoulder again.
“Now that we’ve stabilized your blood pressure, Sergeant, I’d like to get to work on that shoulder,” the doctor said.
Joe nodded and the doctor said he would go and get the nurse to prepare the local. Randy walked over to Joe and touched his face gently, worry written all over hers.
“I’m okay, babe, I swear,” he said, smiling down at her.
“Yeah,” she said, grimacing. “So okay they have to do surgery on you again …” She thought he was downplaying things.
“Randy, it’s not like last time, I’ll be fine,” he said, trying to reassure her. He was astounded at how calm and clearheaded she was. He was sure it hadn’t hit her yet that she had actually killed Tasha. He dreaded the questioning she was going to get from the department; he knew it would be rough on her. But he’d be there with her and he’d defend her all the way. He was sure the department would dismiss any charges against her; she was only defending him after all. He smiled at her remembering again that she had saved his life. He wondered if that had occurred to her yet either. He didn’t think she had come to grips with any of what had happened yet, and he knew he’d better be there when she did.
The doctor came back then with the nurse and told Randy she had to leave. It was an hour later when the doctor came out and told her she could go in and see Joe. She walked in the room; he was sitting on the edge of the side of the bed, his feet planted firmly on the floor. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he was still wearing his blood-stained jeans and his boots. He hadn’t heard her come in and was staring down at the floor, going over the events of the last twenty-four hours in his mind. She stood at the door looking at him. She could see the still red scar from where he had been shot. She walked over to him, still not making a sound, and leaned down to kiss his good shoulder. He jumped a little in response, then turned his head and he smiled at her.
“C’mere you,” he said softly.
She walked around to face him. She was taller than him, since he was sitting on the bed, but not by much. He reached out with his good arm and pulled her to him to hug her close. Her hands went around him, one hand burying itself in his hair, the other grasping his good shoulder.
They were still hugging when Darrell Curtis walked into the room, with Donovan trailing not far behind him. Darrell stood watching them for a few minutes. He had been told that Randy and Joe had been kidnapped and held by a gang. He had also heard that Joe had been shot, again, and that
Randy had shot someone. He hadn’t been too happy to hear that his sister had shot and killed another person, but he wanted to hear the whole story from her before he made a judgment. He was doubly unhappy to walk in and find his sister hugging the guy that had gotten her into all this mess in the first place.
Randy looked up and saw Darrell. She stared her brother down for a long moment, not making any move to leave Joe’s embrace. Joe felt Randy tense though, and looked up at her. He saw she was staring challengingly in the direction of the door. Joe turned his head and saw Darrell. He started to stand, but Randy’s hand on his shoulder stopped him. He turned, bringing one leg up onto the bed so that he could look at Darrell without twisting his neck around. Randy’s hand remained on his shoulder, and Joe’s arm remained around her waist. Joe and Randy stared Darrell down not saying anything. Darrell did the same. It was Donovan who broke the silence.
“Hey,” he said, as he walked around his brother and over to the bed. “So you got shot again, huh?” he asked, his youth overriding any notice of the tension in the room.
Joe smiled at the young man. “Yeah, that seems to keep happening.”
“Yeah,” Darrell said derisively, “and my sister seems to keep getting involved.”
Joe looked at Darrell with narrowed eyes. “I didn’t mean for Randy to get involved, Darrell, it just happened that way …” He was feeling a bit guilty, knowing the consequences could have been much different.
“You see, Randy, even Mr. Wonderful can’t protect you all the time,” Darrell said, his eyes narrowing at Joe.
Randy looked down at Joe. Her hand touched him under the chin, lifting his eyes to hers. Without a word, she leaned down and kissed him softly on the lips. Then straightening, she looked at her brother.
“That’s where you’re wrong again, Darrell. Joe did protect me. If it wasn’t for him, that bastard Robbins would have raped me, but Joe distracted him,” she said indignantly. “He kept them all from hurting me. So I wouldn’t say he can’t protect me, he did, and he protected the others too, that’s how he ended up shot. So don’t you dare presume to tell me how Mr. Wonderful, which he is by the way, can’t protect me, because he can and he has!” There were tears of anger in her eyes by the time she’d finished speaking.
Darrell stared at her for a long minute, surprised once again by his sister’s newfound boldness. “So who did you shoot?” he asked then, his voice accusing.
Randy was taken back by the tone of his voice. She didn’t speak, she just stared at him. Certainly, he couldn’t think badly of her for what she had done.
“She was protecting me, Darrell,” Joe said. “She saved my life.” He looked up at Randy who stared down at him, her eyes reflecting surprise at his words.
She started to shake her head, but Joe stood, taking her face in his hand. “Yes, Randy …” he said, his voice stern, “that’s what you did. Tasha was bent on killing me and if you hadn’t shot her, she would have.”
He hoped that he was getting through to her, even as she stared up at him, her eyes wide. Then she slowly closed her eyes, and after a few moments nodded acceptance of what he was saying. She brought her head up again, resolve clear on her face.
“I saw her turn on you, and then I saw the knife. I yelled at her to stop, but she didn’t … she’d already stabbed you once, so I fired, I had to stop her, Joe … I couldn’t let her … she would have killed you …”
Her voice pleaded with him to agree. It was now becoming real to her. She had killed someone, and she could go to prison for it.
Joe pulled her into his embrace again, his good arm holding her tightly.
His lips were in her hair. “Yes, baby, she would have. You were defending me … It’ll be okay,” he said, his voice soothing as he stroked her hair. “I love you, Randy,” he whispered to her, “and I’m gonna be there with you through this. It’ll be okay.”
She nodded. She trusted him completely and it was that faith and devotion that had gotten him through the night before.
Darrell watched as they hugged. He heard what Joe told her and he saw the look in his sister’s eyes. The love and devotion she felt for Sinclair was very clear, and though Darrell didn’t think much of what Sinclair represented, he had to grudgingly admit that Randy obviously loved him. He only hoped that Sinclair really felt the same.
“You’d better be there for her, Sinclair,” Darrell said, eyeing Joe, who still held Randy against him.
Joe looked up at Darrell, a sardonic grin on his face. “Oh I’ll be there for her alright, for a very long time, in fact.”
Randy turned then, staying within the circle of Joe’s arms. Joe continued to watch Darrell over Randy’s head.
Darrell stared at the two them standing there united like a strong front. He knew he wasn’t likely to have any effect on their commitment to each other now. Until that moment, he’d still held out hope that things wouldn’t work out. The thought died as he stared at the two of them.
“What?” Donovan asked, looking between Darrell, Randy, and Joe.
Randy smiled at her younger brother, realizing that Darrell obviously hadn’t told Donovan about their engagement. She knew it was because Darrell was hoping it would change.
“Joe and I are getting married,” Randy told Donovan.
“Wow, serious?” Donovan asked, his teal-blue eyes shining brightly.
“Yep,” Randy said, smiling as she nodded.
“So cool!” Donovan said, smiling from ear to ear as he stepped over to Joe and held his hand out to the older man.
Joe took Donovan’s and shook it smiling.. At least one of the Curtis men was happy for them. His eyes trailed over to Darrell whose lips were twisted in derision. Joe quirked his lips in a sardonic grin.
****
Rick remained unconscious and Midnight refused to leave his side. Eventually, Joe and Randy came in to see Rick. Midnight was relieved to see them and Joe hugged her tight. “Joe, he’s gotta be okay, he’s gotta be …” Midnight said, her face against his chest, her fresh tears wetting his shirt.
“He’ll be okay, Night,” Joe said soothingly. “He’s strong. He’ll come out of it.”
Midnight nodded, her eyes on Rick. She looked at Randy then. “You okay?” she asked the younger girl.
Randy nodded. “I’m fine … Joe took the brunt of the punishment,” she said, her voice expressing her anguish over that fact.
“That’s his job,” Midnight said, looking up at her partner, glad that he was okay.
“How did you find us anyway?” Joe asked. He hadn’t had a chance to ask until now.
“Well, you know that’s an interesting story,” Midnight said, leaning back against the wall behind her. Her eyes kept straying over to Rick as she talked.
“I got a call from the watch Captain that one of my people had been hurt, it was Dibbins. He had been hit in the back of the head and left for dead down in Chula Vista. He’s okay, just got a nasty concussion, and a big lump on that hard head of his. So I got on the phone to you, even though you told me not to call …” she said then, grinning at him. He was very glad she had not listened to him.
“Anyway, I found that you weren’t home, and I thought that was a little weird, but I figured you and Randy had stopped off and had dinner or something, even though it was eight o’clock by then. So I tried your cell phone, with no answer, so as a last ditch effort I texted you. I even put 911 on the end of the message …Nothing. I decided I better check your house out then. Rick and I went over there and realized you’d never made it home. Of course, we checked for traffic accidents and all that, but something told me that this was no coincidence. So Rick and I went back to the office and started looking through everything we had seen recently on the Scorpions. We put an APB out on your car, and we checked to see if you had gotten any call outs over the radio, which you hadn’t …”
“Yeah someone called me on my phone, at around five thirty. They said Dibbins needed an okay on a search,” Joe put in. Midnight nodded, ad
ding that piece to the puzzle.
“Okay, so that’s how they got a hold of you … we never did figure that out. Well anyway, we were getting mighty desperate by this time. Nothing had turned up on any of our leads, and no one had seen you or Randy since you left the office. But then we got a break, one of the guys was looking through some of the surveillance photos that we got from BNE and he thought he recognized something about one of the cars that was parked in front of one of the houses. It was Tasha’s, that white Beemer she drove wasn’t exactly low profile. It clicked then, I remembered what you’d said about Tasha’s strange behavior when you two broke up and that you thought she might be on drugs. I took a chance. We started running everything we could on Tasha then. We put an APB out on her car. We decided that since Dibbins had been hit in Chula Vista, and the Scorpions were working with the Riveras, Mexican Nationals, that they’d be between Chula and the border. Then I got the idea to give a call to David Bollings, on the off chance that he could remember something about any properties being used by the Scorpions within the perimeter we were checking. At first he was drawing a blank, but then he remembered going to a house in San Ysidro to pick up some dope … He couldn’t remember where exactly it was though, so that took a lot more time. But eventually we thought we had the house. We did some quick surveillance, again with the assistance of BNE, and decided to go in. Rick, Tiny, Spider, and me went in behind a BNE entry team … those guys are good, you know. Well we didn’t expect you to be in the basement, so we sent BNE to secure the rest of the house, Rick, Tiny, Spider and me made our way through the kitchen, and we ran into more of them. Tiny and Spider were taking care of them, when Rick spotted door to the basement ajar. We went over to it and started down the stairs. I heard and recognized Robbins’ voice right away. I knew we had found you then.” She smiled once again grateful for luck to have been on their side.
Empires Fall (MidKnight Blue Book 2) Page 10