Diana wondered what was going on but was afraid to ask. She was in unfamiliar territory now, and she sneaked a peek at the second man’s gold tooth when he curled back his lips to spit on the ground. He gave a slight nod, and Mond nodded back. “Alright. See you around.”
He raised the window and pressed down on the accelerator. “Showtime, baby. You let me do the talking. Stay close and get behind me.”
Diana inhaled to ask what was going on when he pulled up next to two young men. One was dribbling a basketball. Mond got out of the car and lumbered toward them. Diana got out of the car and hurried to his side, then dropped a step back to shadow him.
“Where do you belong?” Mond’s hand rested on his holster, but he didn’t release the safety strap.
“It’s a free country, last I heard.” The kid with the basketball stopped dribbling and sneered.
“I asked you, where do you belong?”
“Pigs, man. You’re always keeping us down. You don’t got nothing on us.”
“Put the ball down and put your hands on the wall. You too. Hands on the wall.”
The second young man slinked backward but seemed to be waiting for permission to comply from the first one. He, in turn, bounced the ball two more times and nodded to his right. He spat on the ground and spun the ball in his hands. “We don’t have to do crap. Show me the rule that says we can’t stand here.”
“We can do that back at the station. Now for the last time, hands on the wall. Move. I ain’t playing.”
“You play ball, pig?”
Mond removed the safety strap from his sidearm. “Turn around.”
The kid hurled the basketball at his head and sprinted away with his friend. Mond shook his head and fumbled for his gun. He started to run after them, but he tired quickly, and he swore as he stopped to catch his breath. “Aw, man! Not today.”
Diana stared at his gun and considered snatching it from his hand. The boys ducked around a corner, depriving her of a clean shot.
Mond shook his head. “We’ll get them some other time. Not worth it, chasing them down.” Sweat dripped from his forehead, and he wiped it away with the palm of his left hand as he holstered his gun.
Diana looked around and caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She patted Mond’s shoulder. “You’re right. Come on, this way.”
CHAPTER 29
Mond got back into the cruiser, and Diana plopped down on the passenger seat. As they strapped on their seat belts, he looked over at her, eyes wide. “Where are we going?”
She pointed to a small group of men bursting out of a convenience mart, clutching misshapen cloth bags. They piled into a car and fired up the engine. Mond pulled into traffic, then Diana reached over and forced the wheel hard to the left as he swore in surprise. The cruiser drove into the left front corner of the car, tenting the hood. “Get your gun ready this time,” she ordered.
The men poured out of the car. The two in the back seat ran wildly in the opposite direction. One was struck by a delivery van and sent tumbling along the asphalt. The other leapt over him, clutching a sack. Diana turned sharply to Mond. “Shoot!”
“I need to order him to freeze first. I need to identify as a police officer.”
She watched helplessly as the man disappeared down the street. The driver put his hands against his head in disbelief that his getaway had been foiled, and the remaining passenger pulled a snub-nosed revolver from his waistband. “I got this, Chino. Don’t worry about them.”
Mond crouched behind his door and aimed his gun. “Put down your weapon, drop to your knees, and put your hands on your head.”
The punk with the gun did none of those things. He fired a shot, striking Mond in his right shoulder. He dropped to his knees, dropped his gun, and clutched the wound. “Diana! Call in backup!”
Diana was halfway around the car when the shot was fired. She dropped behind him and grabbed the gun. “We don’t need backup. We need to do our damn jobs.”
Mond shook his head. “Uh-uh. Don’t be a hero, Miss Diana. We can have backup here in five minutes.”
She duck-walked behind a parked car and came around the side in time to get a bead on the man with the gun, who aimed for Mond’s head. Diana raised her gun, flicked the safety, and pulled the trigger. The punk fell sideways as his blood spattered on the hood of the cruiser.
Chino wheeled around and cried out. “Carlos!” He looked up at Diana, who aimed for his heart. “You’re gonna pay for this. I’ll take you out myself.”
“Reach down, and I drop you. Take a step, and I drop you.”
Chino grimaced at her and spat. “Yeah? You take a lucky shot, and I’m supposed to be scared of you? Here’s what’s gonna go down. You’re going to die slowly, while everybody watches. This town belongs to Los Toros.”
“Hands up, now. I’m not telling you again.”
Chino laughed and took a step forward. “Yeah? Pig bitch, you ain’t gonna do nothing. You’ve got rules, just like all the—”
Diana pulled the trigger and sent a bullet through his chest. He dropped to his knees, and then onto his side. She lowered the gun slightly and walked carefully toward him. She crouched down beside him and pulled the sack away. She set it beside her and rolled Chino onto his back. He looked up at her with a faraway expression and fought for his final breaths. “Good, you’re still alive to hear this.” She reached into her shirt and produced her pendant. Chino’s eyes flashed with recognition of the horse’s head and its significance.
“This town used to belong to the Stallions, too. They’ll tell you all about it in hell.” She put the pendant away, and she leaned in close to his face. “Tell them Diana Pembrook says hello.” She reached out and pinched his gold earring between her thumb and forefinger. He coughed up blood but could not speak. She gave the earring a stiff yank and dangled it before his nose.
“The Toros don’t impress me much, I’ll be honest. I’ll take just a small reminder that your worthless gang ever existed.” She stood over him, slipped the bloody earring into her front pocket, and smirked. She raised the gun and calmly shot him between the eyes.
Mond had crawled into the cruiser and was shouting into the radio. Diana applied the safety, stuck the gun into her waistband, and spat on Chino. She walked coolly back to the cruiser and popped the trunk. She fished a blue windbreaker out from under a box of paperwork and draped it over Chino’s head and chest.
“Tell them to send an ambulance for you. They can clean this up when they have time.”
Mond looked at her, eyes wide. “That’s Murder One. That’s straight-up, cold-blooded Murder One.”
A crowd had formed on the sidewalk. The convenience mart clerk stepped forward. “I just saw a hero save us from a street gang that’s been harassing us for weeks.” He smiled at Diana and patted his heart. “Anytime, anywhere, you need a witness, I’ll be there.”
A woman joined him. “I’m on your side. This is the first time I’ve felt safe since… since…” She teared up and turned away. An older man comforted her, and mouthed, “Thank you.”
An ambulance sounded its siren from several blocks away. Mond set the radio handset down and clutched his shoulder. “Here comes my ride.”
A few minutes later, paramedics hoisted him into the back of the ambulance with the help of a pneumatic lift. Three police cruisers pulled up and established a perimeter around the crime scene. Lyssa hopped out of the passenger side of her vehicle and ran to Diana. She gave her a hug and lost herself in the moment. Diana turned away before Lyssa could kiss her on the lips. “Hey, Lyss. We saw a little action.”
Lyssa looked down at Chino’s body and the pool of blood that oozed from under the windbreaker. “Oh my god, Diana! I thought we had a big day, writing ten parking tickets. You’ve been, um, busy.”
The officers waved a man in a suit over to the other side of Mond’s cruiser. They unfurled a blanket and draped it over a second corpse as some of the officers ushered curious onlookers back to a safe dist
ance. Lyssa’s jaw dropped. “Was that yours, too?”
“He shot Mond. He had it coming.”
“Holy crap, Diana. Are we supposed to be using guns so soon? I thought we were just supposed to be observers.”
“How many of those tickets did you write?”
“One… uh, five. Okay, nine.” She gawked at Diana. “That’s so not the same thing!”
“It’s not observing.”
Lyssa frowned. “No, I guess not. Still… I mean, whoa. Wow. This is really something.”
Another cruiser sped to the scene and screeched to a halt. Griggs threw the door open and glared at Diana, beet red and furious. “You! Get in the car, now.”
Diana patted Lyssa’s shoulder. “See you back at the academy.” She walked around to the passenger side and opened the front door. Griggs shook his head.
“Oh, no, Miss Pembrook. That’s for police officers. Get in the back, where the criminals go.”
Diana slammed the door. “Aren’t you going to cuff me?”
“Good idea. Gupta, cuff her.” The brown-skinned officer who was paired with Lyssa stepped forward and pulled her arms behind her back. Upon seeing this, the crowd began booing and shouting insults. Officer Gupta pushed Diana’s head down and shoved her into the back of the cruiser. He closed the door as a bottle pelted him on the back of his head. Rocks were thrown, insults were shouted, and fists were shaken as the crowd reacted to the perceived injustice. Diana sat in the back of the cruiser and smiled.
“Pembrook. You’ve got a visitor. Five minutes.” Sapphire propped open the door to the brig, where Diana sat on a cot in a recently constructed jail cell. She stepped away and gave the visitor permission to approach. “No touching the prisoner, with anything. Understood?”
Diana stood up and patted her hair. She wasn’t sure if she should appear cool and composed, or if she should muss her hair and look pathetic. She asked herself what Alexa Charlevoix would do, and she moistened her fingertips with her tongue and smoothed down any flyaway hairs. It was all she could do under the circumstances to emulate her idol. The real Alexa would have had a high-powered lawyer get her out of there in no time, she assumed.
She anticipated Lyssa’s arrival, and she took a deep breath to say in a sultry voice, “Hey, lover.”
Gabe was taken aback. “Hi. I wasn’t expecting that.”
Diana winced. “Gabe?”
“So, uh, I heard you shot somebody.”
“Just somebody?”
“Okay, well, more like half the city. I don’t know what to believe. All I know is, I was an idiot.”
Diana scowled and put her hand on her hip. “Yes, you told me that already. You called me a killing machine, dumped me, and stormed out of the academy. I hope you found a good paying job to cover your school fees.”
Gabe raised his hands defensively. “That’s more what I was expecting. And you’re right, I deserve everything you throw at me and more. I wasn’t there for you. I didn’t stick up for you. And, as you said, I’ve had some time to think about things, and I know what I want now.”
“Glad to help,” she said derisively. Inwardly, Diana was surprised at how much like Alexa she sounded.
Gabe stepped forward and gripped the bars to her cell. “Diana, I was an idiot for pushing you away. I want you back. I want to do better. I want to be better.”
Sapphire pulled him away from the cell. “Did I stutter?”
Gabe raised his hands and stood as far back as he could. “Sorry. Anyway, Diana, about the academy, I found a way to fix things.”
Diana rolled her eyes. “This ought to be good.”
“I’m serious. I just had a long talk with Lieutenant Griggs. He blew me off at first, but the more I begged him to let me come back, and how I’d owe him big time if he did, he had a change of heart, and he said I could start over in the next class in a few weeks. He even said he’d waive the fees from last time. I’m going to make things right.”
Sapphire snorted. Diana shook her head slowly. “Oh, Gabe, you really are an idiot.”
He cocked his head. “Huh? I don’t get it.”
Sapphire yanked him by the arm and led him from the brig. “No, you don’t. Time’s up, Romeo.” She hustled him out of the brig, and Diana heard his confused utterances fade away amid a rush of urgent footsteps.
“I simply must object, on the grounds that—”
“Zip it, Griggs. This miscarriage of justice ends immediately. This is straight from the top.”
Diana stiffened, and fear gripped her. The slimy voice of Griggs was unmistakable, but the second, more authoritative male voice was new to her.
Griggs backed into the brig and was pushed aside by a handsome man in dress blues. The single bar that identified him as a lieutenant gleamed on his crisp shirt collar. Unlike Griggs, his bars were silver, not gold. She wondered how he could be so forceful with someone that outranked him. Then again, this was Griggs. She thought she could probably get some good digs in if she dared to risk the fallout.
“Kenner, I demand that we speak to Chief Van Allen before any rash decisions are made. She’s my prisoner, and I intend to see justice served in this matter.”
The second man wheeled around and pushed Griggs up against the wall. Their noses nearly touched as he lit into the oily lieutenant. “Are you going over my head, Oliver? I want you to think long and hard about this before you answer. The chief is much closer to retirement than I am, and when he rides off into the sunset, I get the promotion, the office, and the authority. What sort of chief would you like me to be, hmm? One that forgives and forgets, or one that busts you back down to front-line patrol officer? Well?”
Griggs gulped and forced a smile. “I apologize for this… simple misunderstanding.”
Kenner backed away and wiggled his fingers at him. “Unlock this cell.”
Griggs fumbled with his key ring and found the key that released Diana. She took a step forward and looked at Kenner with cautious optimism. He waved her along and pointed to the center of the floor. “Pembrook, Diane. You have been charged with two counts of Murder One, one count of reckless homicide, one count of criminal damage to municipal property, and one count of unlawful possession of a firearm.”
Diana nodded. “Yes, sir.”
Kenner patted her shoulders. “Those charges are officially dismissed.” He gestured to a woman dressed in a tight dress, who wore her long hair in carefully arranged plaits. She ambled forward, and handed him a rolled-up document, bound by a red ribbon. He took it from her with a leer and handed it to Diana.
“What’s this, sir?”
“Open it,” he commanded. She untied the ribbon and unfurled the document.
Her eyes darted back and forth. The heading was written in an ornate script, and she couldn’t make out one of the words. It wasn’t because of the calligraphy; it was a word she hadn’t seen or heard before. She didn’t want to demonstrate her ignorance and decided to play it cool. “Official. Wow.”
“That’s right. An official commendation. You’re off to a hell of a start, Pembrook. I’m expecting big things from you.”
She nodded and rolled up the document. “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
He saluted her. “No, thank you, Pembrook. You’re a shining example of how police work ought to be done. Trust me, big changes are coming, and you’re my proof positive as to why.”
Griggs scrunched up his nose behind Kenner’s back. Kenner’s assistant smiled vacantly. Sapphire’s eyes widened for an instant, then returned to their normal heavy-lidded appearance.
“Just doing my job, sir,” Diana said.
Kenner put his arm around her and walked her out of the brig. “Come along with me, Pembrook. Let’s have a drink to celebrate. You can tell me all about how you took down the Stallions.”
Griggs stuffed his keys into his pocket and fumed.
CHAPTER 30
When Diana returned to her room, Lyssa tossed her tablet aside and leapt off the bed. “Oh my god, Diana, wh
at happened? Griggs said you were going to be put in jail for the rest of your life, and we’d never see you again.” She threw her arms around Diana’s neck and kissed her before she could respond. Lyssa pulled away, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “He said you were in solitary confinement and not to bother visiting.”
Diana cocked her head. “I was in a cell by myself, but I didn’t think of it as ‘solitary confinement’. Sorrellis was there too, standing guard, I guess. And I had a visitor. I was surprised it wasn’t you.”
Lyssa pulled her close again and cried. “He told us you were gone. Why would he lie?”
“It’s Griggs, Lyss. What else did you expect?”
After a moment, Lyssa pulled back again. “A visitor? Who?”
“Gabe.” She made a repulsed face as she said his name. “He came to me with a load of bull about how he was sorry he dumped me, and he wants me back.”
Lyssa was taken aback. “What did you tell him?”
“I called him an idiot, and Sorrellis threw him out.”
“She saw the whole thing?”
“Yeah. I told you she was stuck pulling guard duty. I couldn’t get out of the cell, so we both kind of thought it was stupid, but Griggs made her do it, so there you go.”
Lyssa frowned. “Okay. But, how did you get out?”
“Turns out, Griggs has a… what’s that word you used when Jackson was trying to get Daphne to marry him, but Stephen showed up and spoiled everything on Fortune and Destiny?”
Lyssa tipped her head. “Rival?”
“Yeah, a rival. His name is Kenner. He’s a lieutenant too, but he somehow outranks Griggs. Maybe he just acts like he does. He told me all of the charges were dropped, and he gave me this.” She pulled the rolled-up document from her back pocket and handed it to Lyssa. She signaled her appreciation for the fancy red ribbon and untied the knot. The ribbon fell to the floor as she unfurled the document. Her eyes flitted back and forth for an instant, and she beamed at Diana. “An official commendation? That’s amazing!”
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