Building Empires (MidKnight Blue Book 1)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Hey man,” Rick said, grinning at Joe.

  “Hey,” Joe replied, his eyes flicking to Sherri.

  Sherri smiled brilliantly at him and he responded with a curt nod.

  “So … what’s goin’ on for tonight?” Rick asked.

  “Not, a lot, my parents are back in town,” Joe replied

  “Shit, that rules that out …” Rick said, rolling his eyes and grinning.

  “Looks to me like you’ve got your own party goin’,” Joe said, his eyes on Sherri again.

  Sherri was standing next to Rick with her hand on his shoulder. Her eyes were watching the other girls in the bar. As far as she was concerned Rick was hers tonight, and she’d fight any girl that tried to say different.

  Rick smiled an intense smile that had often resulted in guys calling to see what their girlfriends or wives were up to.

  “You could do the same, ya know,” he said, glancing around the room at all the girls. The Knights seemed to attract a crowd wherever they went.

  Joe considered the idea, his eyes taking in the room.

  “Come on, man!” Rick said, clapping Joe on the shoulder. “You need to loosen up.”

  Joe grinned at his friend. Rick was the only member of the Black Knights that wasn’t afraid of him. They’d grown up together. Continuing his scan of the pub, his gaze fell on a raven-haired girl sitting at the bar. She’d been eyeing him all night. He’d never seen this one before. When he made eye contact with her, he could tell she was interested immediately. His look changed to smug confidence, as his eyes locked with hers. After a few long moments, she stood and walked over to the table. Joe’s eyes never left hers.

  “You’re Joe Sinclair,” she said, her eyes staring down into his.

  “Very good,” Joe responded mildly, his tone caustic.

  “I saw you fight,” she said then. “You’re very good.”

  “Fightin’ ain’t all I’m good at,” he said, taking a drink from the beer in front of him, his eyes watching her.

  She was temporarily taken back by what he’d said, but then she started to smile.

  “So …” she said her voice low and seductive. “You wanna show me what else you’re good at?”

  “Not here,” Joe said, moving to stand.

  She didn’t step back, so she stood just inches from him. She looked up at him lustfully. Joe’s lips twisted in a sardonic smile, his eyes boring into hers. She reached up, grabbing a handful of his leather jacket, and pulling him down to her. She kissed him, and Joe responded, putting his hands on her waist and pulling her flush against his body. She moaned softly as they continued to kiss. When Joe pulled away, she was staring up at him breathlessly.

  “If that’s a sample of what you’re good at … I don’t care where we go,” she said, her eyes wide, her cheeks flushed.

  Joe grinned, inclining his head.

  He looked over at Rick. “We all goin’ to your place?”

  “Fine with me,” Rick said, standing and taking Sherri’s hand.

  They went to Rick’s flat. After three hours in bed with the raven-haired beauty from the bar, Joe left. He didn’t ask her name, but she remembered his for a long time afterward.

  As he drove away in his Porsche, he thought about the girl he’d just slept with. She had been a hellcat in bed, and he knew he bore some new marks on his back from the encounter. Rick was right though, he had needed to let off some steam. He’d been holding on rather tight lately, and he knew that was the easy way to lose one’s edge.

  ****

  As it turned out, Randy and Darrell fought half the night about whether or not she was even allowed to continue working at the department. “I don’t want you around people like that guy!” Darrell was saying to her.

  “Oh, you’d rather have me around guys like your friends?” Randy replied angrily. “Those pigs that talk about me like I’m some sort of trophy.”

  “Hey,” Darrell said looking down at his little sister, “I told you I talked to them about that.”

  “Yeah, well these people don’t treat me like that, and I’m going back there tomorrow.” Her voice was steady, but she was shaking.

  “No, you’re not,” Darrell said, slamming his fist down on the table, making Randy jump. “Who the fuck is this Sinclair anyway? I know cops don’t make enough money to drive a brand-new Porsche. What is he on the take or something?”

  Randy narrowed her eyes and shook her head in disgust. “What, are you jealous?” she said, her voice full of venom.

  Darrell half stood, pulling his hand back like he was going to slap her, but he turned away from her, obviously trying to reign in his temper.

  He walked over to the kitchen sink, then turning to her, his eyes blazing he said. “You’ve worked with these people one day and already you’re turning into a nasty bitch.”

  She stood, looking at him defiantly. “No, I’m just not going to let you tell me what to do anymore, Darrell. I’m twenty years old and I have a right to have a job if I want to and you can’t say anything about it.”

  Darrell’s mouth dropped open at her. He closed his mouth and his lips twisted in an evil, triumphant smile. “Oh yeah, miss high and mighty? And how are you going to get to work? Fly?”

  Randy hesitated for a minute, she hadn’t thought about that, but then she remembered the card in her pocket that Joe had given to her. Her smile at Darrell was frosty as she pulled out the card and walked over to the phone. She dialed Joe’s number and hoped he was there.

  Joe answered on the third ring. “’Lo?”

  “Joe,” Randy said, seeing Darrell’s eyes almost bug out of his head, “it’s Randy.”

  “Randy, hey, how’d everything go with your brother? He did not look happy when I left.”

  “Well he’s not, and it seems that I have had my ride to work suspended.” She was feeling braver right now, because she was mad, and because she knew Darrell was watching her. “So if that offer for a ride is still open …” Her voice trailed off, hoping that she wasn’t being too forward; this was her boss after all.

  “Sure, no problem,” Joe said, shaking his head at the other end, knowing he was asking for trouble from her big brother.

  “Great!” Randy said, smiling triumphantly at Darrell again.

  She could see he was getting really mad, so she figured she better hang up quickly before he had a chance to get on the phone and cuss Joe out. She didn’t think that would go over too well.

  “Okay, well I’ll see you in the morning then, bye.”

  “Okay then,” Joe said, knowing she was rushing off the phone, “bye.”

  Joe hung up the phone. Sitting back, he reached for the beer sitting on the end table next to him. He thought about the situation with Randy’s brother, amused that her brother obviously was smart enough to sense trouble. He got up and grabbed another beer out of the fridge, and walked out onto his deck overlooking the beach. He walked down onto the beach, lit a cigarette, and started to walk, mulling things over in his head.

  He stayed out on the beach until well past one o’clock in the morning. When he did go back to the house, he locked up for the night and went to bed. Once in bed, he lay awake reflecting on the events of the day once again. As always, he wondered where his life was headed. There were always thoughts of what would have been if his parents had lived and he felt guilty knowing that he had ultimately failed them. His mind veered sharply away from thoughts of the accident. Only when he was drunk did his mind take advantage of his incapacitation and wallow in the pain of their death.

  He pondered on Midnight and Rick then. He still wasn’t sure about her and Rick being together, but he had done what he could by telling Rick how Midnight could be. Maybe she’d be different with Rick, but Joe doubted it. He didn’t want either one of them hurt.

  Then Joe’s mind touched on Randy. He thought about how she had looked at him in the car when she had touched his cheek. It surprised him to realize that he was very attracted to her. He had been since the moment
he’d laid eyes on her in Midnight’s office. He had made a point of getting so close to her so that he could make her look at him. When she had looked at him, he had seen fear and timidity, but he was almost sure he had also seen interest, almost desire, but it was very diluted by the other two emotions. He had wanted to get rid of the fear and the timidity in her eyes.

  He remembered the look in her eyes when they were in the car, and that had been more akin to desire. He had wanted to kiss her, but he knew it would be the wrong thing to do. It would have been too soon, and he probably would have scared her to death. Midnight’s phone call had actually saved him, but he had been irritated with himself for being so impulsive. He wanted Randy, though, and there was no denying that. Joe’s last thought before he drifted off to sleep was that maybe Darrell Curtis was right to worry about his sister.

  The next morning Randy was waiting outside for Joe when he drove up. She almost ran to the car, looking behind her to see if Darrell would come out. He didn’t, but he did watch from the house. Darrell and Randy had argued again after she had made the phone call to Joe. The argument had finally ended when she had run to her room, slammed the door, and locked it. Darrell had followed and pounded on it a couple of times, but finally gave up. Things in the house that morning were very strained. Donovan had heard them arguing the night before, and he was obviously nervous about it. Randy felt bad for putting Donovan through this, it was almost like when their parents had been there fighting all the time. But she really wanted this job, and she didn’t think that it was fair of Darrell to expect her to give it up, just because he had a bad attitude about police officers.

  “Hi!” Randy said getting into the car.

  Joe waited until she was settled before pulling out. She’d breezed in like a breath of fresh air with her pink sweater, white skirt, and braided hair. She was clearly a morning person, something Joe wasn’t used to. It reminded Joe that he was over nine years her senior. “Hi,” he replied, his voice gravelly from lack of sleep.

  Randy looked at him as he drove noticing he looked tired.

  Once they were on the freeway, Joe reached for a cigarette and lit it. Then he looked over at Randy.

  “So, I’m thinkin’ I’m on your brother’s shit list, huh?”

  Randy looked over at him, pressing her lips together, embarrassed. “If it makes you feel any better, I think I’m higher on the list than you. I’m sorry, he’s just …” She shook her head.

  “Worried,” Joe put in, looking ahead of him at the road again. “He probably should be.”

  Randy glanced sharply at him. “Why?”

  Joe smiled, keeping his eyes on the road. “Because I think I’m probably about to make number one on his list.”

  “How?” Randy asked, her eyes widening slightly.

  Joe looked over at her, his light blue eyes glinting mischievously. “By asking you out,” he replied simply.

  Randy stared back at him openmouthed for a few minutes. “You what?” she asked in total disbelief.

  “I’m asking you out,” Joe clarified, looking over at her, and blowing out a stream of smoke. “Will you go out with me, Randy?” he asked sincerely.

  Randy swallowed convulsively a couple of times, so shocked that she couldn’t come up with a suitable reply.

  After a few very long minutes, Joe’s grin turned wry. “Should I take that as a no?”

  “No!” Randy exclaimed, then bit her lip at her outburst. “I mean, yes, yes, I want to go out with you.”

  Joe nodded, smirking at her obvious fluster.

  “Friday?” he queried then.

  Randy nodded, not trusting her voice again. Friday was the following day.

  The rest of the drive to the office was done in silence. Joe listened to the stereo, occasionally glancing at Randy but didn’t want to fluster her any further. He was, however, looking forward to the following night.

  At the office, Joe went in to talk to Midnight, while Randy got started setting up her desk outside Midnight and Joe’s offices.

  Midnight noticed something right away.

  “What did I miss?” she asked suspiciously.

  Joe grinned. Midnight knew him too well.

  “Well?” she prompted.

  “Nothin’,” Joe said, his grin still in place. “Just asked our secretary out.”

  “Already?” Midnight asked incredulously.

  “No time like the present,” Joe replied, his smile widening.

  Midnight shook her head, sighing. Then she gave him a serious look. “You better be careful with that one, Joe.”

  Joe narrowed his eyes slightly, then nodded. “I know, babe,” he said, glancing out at Randy as she worked.

  “She’s pretty young,” Midnight said.

  “How young?”

  “Barely twenty,” Midnight replied, “and a much younger twenty than you or I were.”

  Joe nodded. He and Midnight had grown up way before their time. By the time each of them had been twenty years old, they’d each lost a big piece of their lives. Then again, Joe reflected, so had Randy.

  “Night, her parents walked out on her and her brothers when she was only fourteen.”

  “Are you serious?” Midnight queried.

  Joe nodded, glancing out at Randy again, his look contemplative.

  Midnight saw the look, and realized that Joe was being drawn in by Randy’s plight. It was Joe’s way to avoid his own. Midnight knew all about that; she’d been dodging her guilt for years. She looked considering out Randy.

  “So, she may be older than her years too,” Midnight said.

  Joe said nothing, only nodding slowly.

  After a few minutes, they talked about other things, Robert Bondy being one of them. Joe and Midnight wanted to get Bondy to roll over on the ghost leader of the Scorpions. No one knew who the guy was, outside of the gang. There was a major drug trade going on in that gang, and FORS knew that the Scorpions were the middlemen for a very big operation that was causing a lot of bloodshed on the street. But they couldn’t get to the leader; no one on the outside even knew what his name was. Bondy wasn’t talking, he would tell them other things, but it was obvious that the leader of the Scorpions had made sure that his minions knew the penalty for identifying him. The last guy that had been questioned by FORS had turned up dead, even though he hadn’t told them anything.

  “Damn it, who the fuck is this guy?” Joe said, he had really thought that Bondy would talk.

  “I don’t know, but we need to get him. He’s causing a blood bath out there, and soon the chief’s going to start calling me and I don’t have anything to tell him,” Midnight said, shaking her head.

  The case was frustrating. Normally gang members, especially leaders wanted to be known, so they could gain notoriety, but this guy wasn’t like that at all. It was a problem.

  “Well, I better go and get Randy situated, poor kid has her work cut out for her,” Joe said, standing and stretching.

  “Good luck,” Midnight said with a grin.

  “Bite me,” Joe said, grinning too as he walked out of her office.

  As he walked into his office, he saw that Randy was sitting in front of his desk. She was looking over some of the files that he had in his “out” box.

  “Diving right in, I see,” Joe said, smiling down at her.

  She looked up at him with a shy smile. “Is it okay for me to read this stuff, or …” Her voice trailed off as his smile got wider.

  “Well I certainly hope so, one of us has to!” He laughed then at the look on her face. “Seriously, though, yeah I need you to read them over. Most of those are the case reports that we file, and I need to make sure that everything gets in there, especially all the appropriate evidence documentation.”

  “Okay, should I take these to my desk?” she asked, starting to stand.

  Joe put his hand out to stop her. “No, why don’t you just stay in here for the first couple of days or so, that way if you have questions, you can just ask me, okay?” He lo
oked down at her, and she nodded. When she wouldn’t look at him again, he shook his head. Boy, this was going to be tough.

  ****

  Midnight walked into Joe’s office two hours later. She was putting her gun in its usual place at the small of her back and then she pulled on her FORS jacket.

  “What’s going on?” Joe asked, looking up from his desk.

  “Well, it seems the Homegirls are getting a little feisty, so I’m going in with Kana.”

  “Now?” Joe asked, standing up.

  “Relax, Sinclair,” Midnight said, holding up a hand. “I’m going on this one with Kana, okay?” When Joe started to shake his head, she gestured to the stacks of files that Joe and Randy were still working on. “You’re backed up to hell, Joe, you need some office time. I’ll be fine.”

  Joe looked mutinous, wanting to go with her no matter what she said. He never liked it when she went on a job without him. Midnight looked back at him, a half grin on her face as she shook her head at him.

  “I’m a big girl, Sinclair, I can take care of myself, you know. That’s why they gave me this,” she said, holding up her badge.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know top of your class and everythin’,” Joe said, smiling at her.

  “Randy, watch him while I’m gone. He tends to be a little edgy when I go out without him. Make sure he doesn’t bite the head off of someone like the Chief. See ya!” she said as she turned and left.

  Randy laughed at what she had said and looked around at Joe.

  “Are you really like that?” she asked.

  Joe shrugged. “I can be a little uptight when my partner is out on the street without me, yes.” He kept his face so straight, that Randy thought she had made him mad, but then he smiled at her. “So I guess you better do like the boss says and watch me, eh?”

  Randy laughed then and they went back to work. She did notice that he seemed more on edge now though. He got up and paced the office a couple of times. He also flipped on his police radio to listen for Midnight’s voice.

  Midnight and Kana walked out of the building and toward the parking lot. Midnight was carrying a folder of information on the gang Kana had handed to her on their way out.