Amanda's Return

by June Kramin

  “Impressive,” Hunt said. “This is a little different from where you kicked his ass before.”

  “There are a few training rooms. They kind of cover everything.”

  “All this equipment makes basic training look like a snap.”

  Mandy spun and faced him. “Basic training? You were never in the service.”

  “I went through basic then was out before I could be sent off.”

  “What happened?”

  “Hardship. My grandfather took ill, and I had to help with the farm. I got out before I was ever stationed. I never went back. When the farm was moving good again, a spot had opened up on the force. I was a shoe-in for it with the military training.”

  “Why have I never heard this?”

  Hunt shrugged. “Haven’t thought about it in a long time. It was just a few weeks of hell in my life I don’t particularly care to reminisce about.”

  “Let me guess. Marine?”

  He grinned. “You’re good.”

  “You’re built like a brick shit-house, Hunt. What else would you be?”

  “Your amazing lover is enough for me.” He growled and pulled her close by her hips.

  “Do federal buildings make you horny or something?”

  “You make me horny.” He leaned down for a kiss, but this time she pushed him away. She pointed down to the gym floor. “There’s James.”

  “Let him get his own girl.”

  “I’m serious, Hunt. Let me go talk with him. Will you please stay up here?”

  “Why?”

  “Please?” She walked over and flipped a switch. The room was suddenly filled with sounds from below through speakers in each of the corners. “You can hear everything; I want to deal with him alone, though.”

  Hunt took a seat. “Help yourself.”

  “Thank you.” She leaned down and gave him a kiss. “I promise we’ll look for a closet later.”

  “Maybe I don’t want to now.”

  She placed her hand on his head and gave it a gentle push. “I love you, you oaf.”

  He motioned to the glass. “Is it two-way?”

  “Nope. It’s a normal window.”

  “Damn.”

  “Why?”

  “He’ll know I’m here.”

  “The point isn’t so he doesn’t know you’re here, Hunt. I just want to handle this myself.”

  He looked through the glass again. “You going to take out six rookies to get to him?”

  “Stop it.”

  She walked out the door, wishing it could slam behind her. No such luck, the door closure gently eased the heavy metal door shut. No one paid any attention as she walked down the stairs. New faces must be commonplace around here. James had his back to her. He was wearing chest padding while a young man practiced torso kicks on him. James turned, and Mandy greeted him with her forearm and clotheslined him. He went down hard. She leaned down and said, “You son of a bitch.”

  The young man that had been kicking him hurried behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist.

  James shouted for him to let her go, but Mandy wasted no time in flipping him to the floor. She held his arm straight and kept him pinned until James said. “Enough! Jason, break for lunch.” Everyone’s attention had fallen on them. “All of you take your breaks now.”

  Without so much as a peep, they filed out of the gym. Mandy was torn between helping James to his feet and jumping on his chest to pound him senseless. While she stood there fuming, he sat up.

  “You mind telling me what that was for?”

  “In a minute. I’m still debating bashing your fucking face in.”

  “What the hell now, Amanda? Jesus. You always were a fireball. I’m not so sure I like it addressed at me, though.”

  “We went to see Face today.”

  “Yeah, so. I approved it.”

  “That’s funny. You think you’d worry about him ratting you out.”

  “Ratting me out? You’re insane.” He reached his hand up. “Help me up.” When she took his hand, he raised his foot to her chest and pushed her onto her back. He stood up and held her arm straight. “You’re slipping, Smith.”

  She wrapped her legs around his, and he went down. Hurrying to his chest, she dropped down hard then held her forearm over his neck. “Are we done with the foreplay, or do I need to really kick your ass?”

  He coughed. “What the hell is up with you?”

  She removed her arm then slid off his chest. “You fucking rat.”

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  As James coughed some more and sat up, Mandy glanced up to the booth. To her amazement, Hunt was still sitting there. He blew her a kiss. She waved back with just one finger.

  “You mind explaining to me what you’re talking about, Mandy?”

  “You know damn well what I’m talking about. Face said the only person he talked to other than Dan was you.”

  “So?”

  “So? He was a rat, James. Where do you think I’m going with this?”

  “That’s what this is about?”

  “What did you think it was about? I wanted your wife’s mac-n-cheese recipe?”

  “Come on, dammit. You killed everyone the guy had a connection with. Someone had to be his liaison. For a short time he was technically working for us. Whether it was legit or not is beside the point. I have my reports to do like everyone else. I was just the lucky one to be assigned to him, no thanks to my association with you. Every now and then we cut him a little slack, and he feeds us a little something. Every now and then we feed him some shit just to see how fast word gets back on the street.”

  “Why does this stink like there’s more? You could have told me.”

  “I thought it would be pretty obvious. You were here long enough to know procedures, Smith. You think if I had something to hide I would have let you in there?”

  “I didn’t know he was yours when I went there, asshole.”

  “Well, you should have asked me about it instead of trying to kick my ass. What exactly do you think I’m a rat about?”

  “Lying to me about being in touch with him was a good enough start to set my temper going.”

  James walked over to the wall and removed two swords from a holder. He threw one to Mandy.

  “You’re kidding.”

  “I’m getting even with you for that clothesline. What’s the matter? You getting rusty in your old age?”

  She took a firm stance, holding the sword straight up at her body, accepting the challenge.

  He stepped at her first, and the fencing had begun. Several blows were made before Mandy spoke. “What else don’t I know, James?” she said with a solid crack of her sword to his.

  He took a step back and came at her, grinning. “Damn, girl. You are rusty.”

  She rewarded him with a few more blows, causing him to lose his balance just long enough to give a swipe at his shirt. He put his sword down. “You still pull the same shit.”

  “Learned from you. Pussy.”

  He lunged at her again and swung hard. She was able to block his swings, but he was right. She was out of shape. She landed a few more solid strikes, sending him back a few paces. Mandy was ready for another blow but stopped. Hunt was suddenly standing between them.

  “He’s had enough, babe. This is fencing, not pirate training. You look like you’re about to take his head off.”

  She threw her sword down and turned to walk away. She stopped long enough to remove the badge from her pocket. “I don’t want your fucking badge.” Her aim was perfect, hitting James square in the chest.

  He picked it off the ground and went after her. “Mandy, wait.”

  “Screw you.” She turned around when a hand was placed on her arm. She expected to be face to face with James, but it was Hunt. “Let me go.”

  “Hear him out.”

  “Why? How can I trust anything out of his mouth? Anything out of anyone’s mouth in this hellhole for that matter?”

  “Hear him out anyway.�
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  James caught up to them. “Let’s go talk over some coffee.”

  Mandy crossed her arms and glared at Hunt. “I don’t see that I have a choice in the matter.”

  “Go to my office. I need to grab another shirt. I’ll be right there.”

  After he walked away, Hunt brought Mandy to his chest. “I’ll give you three guesses what I am after watching that, and the first two don’t count.”

  “Gee. I’ll take horny for five hundred, Bob.” He picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. “You could have stopped me sooner.”

  “I thought you’d make a shish kebob out of me as it was. You’re really good with a sword, babe.”

  “Comes in handy on the streets of New York.”

  “See how good this is for us? We still learn something new about each other every day.” Mandy’s hands went around his neck, and she leaned into him for a kiss. “Even if you do get pissed at me and flip me off.”

  “Sorry.” She got down and took his hand. “Come on. We have an ass to fry.”

  “I’ll just have the coffee, thanks.”

  As they walked in the office, James was buttoning up his shirt. “You get lost?”

  “Just not in a particular hurry to listen to your bullshit.”

  He groaned. “Sit down.” He hit the speakerphone. “Sherry? Bring in three coffees please.”

  “Right away, sir.”

  He sat down hard on his chair and rocked side to side for a moment. “First of all, I’m not full of shit. I’m not saying it again.” He tossed Mandy her badge back. “You need to keep that; trust me on this.”

  “Nothing good ever comes out of me holding that. You guys continually pile one lie on after another.”

  “Stop it, Mandy. You can trust me. Yes, I am the one Face talks to now. That doesn’t mean I was in cahoots with him when he was playing both sides. You want transcriptions of everything that has been said since he’s been in jail?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes.”

  “Fine.”

  His secretary walked in with a tray of coffee. “Thanks, Sherry,” James said as he accepted it. “Will you please get Ms. Smith—”

  “Mrs. Blaine.” Mandy corrected.

  “Blair,” Sherry said.

  “Thank you,” Mandy said with a smile as she accepted her coffee.

  “You’re welcome. Now what is it you want?”

  “Any transcripts we have on visits with William Roberts. Here and from his jail visits. Anything you can dig up that will help her.”

  “It will take a few moments. Flash Drive okay?” she asked Mandy.

  “That will be great. Thanks.” Sherry gave Hunt his coffee then left the office. “Now I need a laptop,” Mandy said.

  James could only chuckle. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”

  “I’m sorry. We were kind of taken from our home in a hurry. I’m not about to use the desktop at Lonny’s with Eddie’s goons looking over my shoulders.”

  “Fair enough. I’ll get you one. Would you please start to trust me now?”

  “Hate to butt in here,” Hunt said, “but I have to side with my wife. Not just because I’m afraid of her either. She’s been nothing but screwed from both sides since day one of joining up with you. I can’t really say that I blame her.”

  “I’m aware of that. I was here with her from day one, and personally I haven’t done anything to not have earned her trust.”

  “Aside from leaving this little tidbit out.”

  “I honestly didn’t think it mattered. I’m pretty much the only one around here that even gives a crap about this old case.”

  Mandy spoke again. “Do you have any idea who feeds him his info?”

  “It’s a prison, Amanda. Word spreads faster than STDs. It doesn’t have to be true either.”

  “Any chance he’s getting word out the same way?”

  “I understand where you’re going, but this is Willy we’re talking about. He’s not masterminding anything. I’ll bet my life he’s not calling any shots. I’m sorry. I know you want to get out of here, and I’d do exactly what you are by trying to eliminate the obvious ones first, but Face is out of the picture. I can all but promise you that. Even Gunner was only there a half a dozen times. No one gives a crap about him anymore. The only other visitor besides his girlfriend—”

  “Is that still Heidi?”

  “Same one. Know her?”

  “She was who he was with when I was in. I didn’t expect it to stick. She came off as a junkie just sticking around for the goods. I expected him to move on.”

  “Her visits were as often as they allowed, but there was never any pillow talk that we caught. Anyway, the only other besides Gunner was Ray, and we stopped hearing from him.”

  Mandy bit at her lip. “You won’t be hearing from Ray again, that’s for sure.”

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “What aren’t you telling me?”

  “I sort of forgot to mention I killed him.”

  “You what? Jesus, Mandy.” James picked up the phone but then placed it back down. “I’ll want details.”

  “There’s not many to tell.”

  “Tell me anyway.”

  Mandy shared the story as James took notes. He promised to look into what he could. He wanted to get the body for evidence when this was over.

  “I don’t want Eddie to be able to try to pin that on you for any reason. I understand it was self-defense. You’ll get full support from our end.”

  “That’s fine. We’ll deal with that when we have to. I don’t know exactly where they left the body, but when you have to know, I’ll tell you who knows where it is. For now I’d like to look all of your files over.”

  James sighed. “Understandable.”

  “I want Willy’s sign-in sheets of visitors.”

  “Of course. Those will be on the flash drive as well. You can match the tapes to the lists. I have nothing to hide.”

  “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?”

  James stood. “You’re a pain in my ass, but a thorough pain in my ass. I still wish you were back with us. Maybe my word isn’t worth what it used to be to you but dammit, I’ll earn your trust again if I have to die doing it.”

  “I almost wish you were the rat. This would make things that much simpler if I could just kill you and get this over with.”

  James grinned. “I guess I can’t blame you after what you’ve been through with being lied to by Abbey. I’m not going to hold anything back again, Mandy. If he gets a bad case of diarrhea, I’ll be sure to let you know.”

  “I’ll settle for what’s on the laptop, thanks.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Rush-hour traffic was the worst that Mandy ever remembered. She called Milo and said they were stopping somewhere for dinner.

  “Your loss.”

  “I know, Milo. We skipped lunch, and I’m starved. I’d rather wait out this crap over a pizza and a beer.”

  “I made—”

  “Don’t even tell me what you made. I’ll only get more pissed.”

  “Bad day?”

  “I don’t even know where to begin.”

  “The freezer is stocked with ice cream. Fat husband, screaming monkey, sweaty nuts…whatever those silly names are.”

  Mandy laughed. “Thanks, Milo. I owe you one.”

  Hunt grinned at Mandy when she hung up. “You sure like the old coot. It sounded like you were checking in with your dad. Letting him know you’ll be late for supper.”

  “Just common courtesy.”

  “I know.” Hunt smiled and brought her hand to his lips. “Where to?”

  “There’s a great place in a few more blocks. Hopefully it won’t take an hour to get to.”

  After fifteen more minutes, they had only gone half a block. There was a parking garage on the left. Hunt put on his turn signal.

  “What are you doing?”

  “If it’s only a few blocks, we should walk. We’ll get there faster.”
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br />   “Good idea.”

  After parking, they walked together hand in hand. They took their time, stopping at several windows and checking out the various gift shops and specialty stores. Hunt was especially intrigued with an expensive lingerie shop that held nothing back when it came to the goods displayed on their very lifelike mannequins.

  “Keep walking, lover.”

  Hunt growled. “Can I bring back a souvenir from the trip?”

  “Yes, you can. Yourself in one piece.” She dragged him along for another two blocks. “Sorry. Maybe it’s further than I thought.”

  “There’s a place right there.”

  “Marvin’s? Hardly an Italian sounding name.”

  “It’s New York. It’s pizza. It’s bound to be good.”

  “Like sex?”

  “I wasn’t even going to use that old line. Come on. The best places are always the out of the way dives.”

  “I’m so tired, I don’t care. Let’s go.”

  The atmosphere left a lot to be desired, but it was clean. Glass cases held every type of pizza and pasta you could imagine. The slices were a quarter of a pizza, and the calzones were almost as big as an entire large rolled up. “You okay with this?” Mandy asked. “It looks like a clogged artery waiting to happen.”

  “I like pizza now and then.”

  “And I suffer for it later.”

  “I’ll go easy on the peppers.”

  She chuckled. “Get what you want. I’ll sleep through anything tonight. Even your cheese-coma induced snoring.”

  They sat with their selections and a tall draft beer in a quiet corner.

  “Don’t kill me for saying so, but you sure can fight, babe.”

  “It was training, Hunt. You did it all, too.”

  “Yeah, but I mean—”

  “For a girl?”

  “No. For someone your size. You really kick some ass.”

  “Should I be flattered?”

  “Just an observation. I guess I became so used to you around the house, I forgot what a tough nut you were.”

  “Nuts aren’t tough, hon. If I wanted James out, that’s where I would have hit him.”