Darkness Past

by Sherryl Hancock

  The following day, a Friday, Linda announced that a friend of hers had invited her to go to Tahoe for the weekend and that she’d decided to go. She was hoping Kashena would ask her not to. Kashena didn’t. Linda left two hours later.

  Sierra was sitting in her office when her phone rang.

  “Attorney General’s office,” she answered automatically, her mind on the brief she was reading over.

  “Chief Deputy Youngblood?” asked a male voice.

  “Yes?”

  “This is Agent Bach,” Sebastian said in a businesslike voice. “I thought you’d want to know that Agent Marshal is doing better now.”

  Sierra sighed softly. “Wonderful,” she said, smiling.

  There was a slight pause on the other end of the line.

  “I also thought you might want to know that her girlfriend has left her alone for the weekend,” Sebastian said then, his tone still informational, as if reading off a script.

  Sierra bit her lip, remembering that Agent Bach was Kashena’s best friend. Therefore he’d more than likely know about Kashena and her. He was telling her that Kashena’s girlfriend, the one he didn’t like, was not at the house and Kashena was alone.

  “Thank you, Agent Bach,” she said, her voice as businesslike as his. “I will very definitely utilize this opportunity.”

  “I was hoping you would,” Sebastian said, his grin evident through the phone line.

  Sierra laughed softly.

  A few minutes after their conversation, Sierra received an email from Special Agent Supervisor Sebastian Bach. It read simply, “That security code you needed is 926543.” Sierra committed the numbers to memory, knowing it was his way of giving her the security code to Kashena’s house. She couldn’t believe he was encouraging her this much, but it was obvious that since he hated Linda, he wanted Kashena to have anyone else. She had no idea that Sebastian had seen the glow in his partner’s eyes when she’d told him about the encounter with Chief Deputy Youngblood. He recognized that glow, and he fully intended to fan it as much as humanly possible.

  Kashena was lying on her bed, one arm thrown up over her eyes. She’d gotten up and taken a shower, which had tired her out. She’d managed to throw on a black tank top and her black sweat shorts with the Marine emblem on them. Now she was trying to gather the strength to get back up and dry her hair. Knowing that her hair took forever to dry since it was so thick, a gift from her Indian heritage, wasn’t helping her get into the mood to get back up.

  Sierra walked into Kashena’s bedroom, having first knocked on Kashena’s door for five minutes, then finally using the security code Sebastian had given her to get into the house. She’d checked a number of other rooms first and had no luck in finding Kashena. Kashena sensed a presence immediately, and her hand moved toward the gun on her bedside table, then moved away just as quickly.

  “I’m sorry,” Sierra said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “It’s okay,” Kashena said, smiling. “How’d you get in?”

  “I had an informant,” Sierra said, suppressing a grin.

  “Baz?” Kashena asked.

  “Uh-huh,” Sierra said, smiling as she walked over to the bed.

  Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure how to act. She’d been desperately worried about Kashena being so sick, but she’d known that Linda would be at the house and wouldn’t have dared call there to check on Kashena. Calling Sebastian had been a safe alternative, but she’d really wanted to see Kashena. However, standing in her bedroom, staring down at the woman that had haunted her every waking moment and a number of her sleeping ones as well, it was impossible to think of something to say.

  Kashena sensed Sierra’s hesitation. Dropping her arm, she patted the bed next to her. Sierra sat down, her eyes searching Kashena’s face.

  “How are you feeling?”

  “Still tired as hell,” Kashena said, “but at least the fever’s gone.”

  Sierra grimaced. “Agent Bach said you had it for four days.”

  “Yeah,” Kashena said. “Apparently he spent the last day of it trying to sweat it out of me.”

  Sierra nodded. “He said he paid for that.” Canting her head, she asked, “What did he mean?”

  Kashena looked embarrassed. “It means I cracked one of his ribs trying to break his hold on me.”

  “Are you serious?” Sierra asked, her eyes wide.

  “Yeah,” Kashena replied, grimacing. “I tend to fall back on Marine reflexes when I’m in a stressful situation. My elbow caught him in the ribs.”

  “Ouch,” Sierra said, wincing.

  “Yeah, and he didn’t even smack me for it,” Kashena said, chuckling.

  “He doesn’t strike me as the type of man that would strike a woman for anything.”

  “Only in hand-to-hand combat,” Kashena replied with a wink.

  “Oh yeah…” Sierra said, remembering what Kashena had told her about how she’d fought with Sebastian the first time they’d met.

  They were silent for a few minutes, Kashena closing her eyes again while Sierra looked around at Kashena’s room. It had a very earthy feel to it, the décor was rich dark woods, with rusts, golds, and greens for the bedding and curtains. The room wasn’t overly decorated—it seemed to closely match what Sierra had seen of Kashena’s personality so far. Very straightforward, easygoing, yet connected to her roots.

  Glancing down at Kashena, she saw that her eyes were closed. Instinctively, Sierra reached out and brushed a lock of blond hair off her cheek. Kashena opened her eyes, staring up into Sierra’s.

  “Do you need anything?” Sierra asked softly.

  “A way to will my hair dryer into my hand,” Kashena said, gesturing to her still-damp hair.

  “I can get it,” Sierra offered, standing and walking toward the bathroom.

  By the time Sierra returned with the hair dryer, Kashena had sat up. Sierra looked for and found a plug for the hair dryer, plugged it in, then handed it to Kashena. After about five minutes of watching Kashena try to dry her hair, it was obvious to Sierra that it was too tiring for her. Sierra gently took the dryer out of Kashena’s hand and continued drying her mane of blond hair. It felt good to run her hands through Kashena’s hair again, even if it was only to help dry it. Glancing down at Kashena, she saw that the other woman had her eyes closed and a pleasured look on her face.

  Kashena was thoroughly enjoying having Sierra’s hands in her hair; it was both relaxing and soothing. By the time Sierra switched off the hair dryer, Kashena was feeling so relaxed she just wanted to sleep again. Wrapping her arms around Sierra’s waist, Kashena lay back against the pillows, pulling Sierra down with her.

  “How long can you stay?” Kashena asked, her eyes already closed.

  “As long as you want me to,” Sierra replied, elated that Kashena wanted her to stay.

  Kashena snuggled down farther on the bed, lying on her back and holding Sierra half over her.

  “Mmm,” Kashena purred. “But that would be all weekend.”

  “I said as long as you wanted me to.”

  “Mmmmmm,” Kashena sighed this time, turning onto her side and pulling Sierra against her. “I’ll take it.”

  Kashena was asleep minutes later. Sierra lay in her arms, thinking once again how good this felt. Kicking off her shoes, she got comfortable. She was surprised when she started awake later and found that it was dark outside. Feeling Kashena’s arms still around her, Sierra smiled, feeling like a human-sized teddy bear for the other woman. She glanced at her watch and realized she needed to make a couple of phone calls.

  Carefully extricating herself from Kashena’s embrace, she walked into the other room, taking her purse with her. She got on her cell phone and called her day care, and then talked to Colby. She’d already arranged for him to stay with a friend of his from school for the weekend, in the hopes that Kashena would let her stay around. Sierra had sensed that Kashena needed looking after, and the fact that her girlfriend had obviously abandoned her du
ring this time made Sierra dislike Linda even more.

  After all her arrangements had been made, Sierra decided to check and see if there was anything she could make Kashena for dinner. She’d seen that Kashena had lost some weight and knew that in order to get healthy again, Kashena would need to eat. Checking out the refrigerator and pantry, she saw that apparently Linda didn’t bother shopping either when her girlfriend was sick.

  She went back to the bedroom. Kashena was still asleep. Sierra pulled a pad of Post-it notes and a pen out of her purse, scribbled a quick note saying she’d be “right back,” and stuck it to the lamp next to Kashena’s bed. Grabbing her shoes, she walked out of the room.

  An hour later she was back with three bags of groceries. She was in Kashena’s kitchen making homemade chicken soup when Kashena walked in.

  “What are you doing?” Kashena asked, sounding far from upset.

  Sierra turned to see that, in fact, Kashena had a pleased smile on her face.

  “Making you some dinner,” she replied.

  Kashena walked over to stand behind Sierra, looking down into the pot that Sierra was stirring.

  “Smells good,” Kashena said, putting her hands on Sierra’s waist and kissing her temple.

  “Why don’t you go relax, and I’ll bring you some in a few minutes?” Sierra said.

  When Kashena didn’t reply, Sierra turned to look up at the taller woman. She caught the soft smile on Kashena’s lips.

  “What?”

  “Thank you,” Kashena said simply, putting her fingertip under Sierra’s chin, leaning down, and kissing her lips softly.

  “You’re welcome,” Sierra replied, smiling up at her.

  Kashena gave her a squeeze, then walked out of the kitchen. Sierra found her twenty minutes later, sitting in the living room with the TV on. Handing Kashena a bowl of soup, Sierra moved past her to sit down on the couch. They ate in companionable silence, watching a documentary on Spanish galleons. When they were finished, Sierra got up and took Kashena’s bowl from her, taking it back into the kitchen. She washed the dishes quickly then went back into the living room.

  “You don’t have to do all of this, you know,” Kashena said as Sierra moved past her again.

  “I want to,” Sierra answered simply.

  Kashena took Sierra’s hand and pulled her down next to her. She moved then, putting one leg up on the couch, the other planted on the floor. Pulling Sierra closer, she held the smaller woman against her. Sierra snuggled back into Kashena’s embrace, thrilled by Kashena’s action. Resting her head against Kashena’s shoulder, Sierra felt like this was where she belonged. She didn’t know how she knew that, but it just seemed so right. She could feel Kashena’s heartbeat against her temple and was so comforted by it she felt a sense of unreality. It was like she was somehow destined for this, and finally it was here.

  They spent hours lying there together. At one point, Sierra glanced up at Kashena and saw that she was getting tired again. Sierra moved to the other end of the couch, and, taking Kashena’s hand, she tugged her over to her. Kashena lay down, resting her head against Sierra’s stomach, her arms around Sierra’s waist. Sierra stroked Kashena’s hair, soothing her to sleep.

  They spent the entire weekend in much the same manner. Sierra found that she thoroughly enjoyed taking care of Kashena. And Kashena, who usually couldn’t stand to be taken care of, realized she enjoyed Sierra’s attention thoroughly. It was a warm, comfortable weekend for them both. They hated for it to end.

  Chapter 5

  Cat wasn’t sure what was happening. What did she know was that something wasn’t right with this meeting. She’d been contacted by one of her confidential informants and told that a new player to the drug scene was in town and wanted to meet her. What she’d been told and what had generally checked out was that the man was well connected and was running fairly high-end narcotics, pharmaceutical grade. Usually that would indicate a connection with a medical doctor, and that could turn out to be a big drug ring, so it was definitely worth the meeting.

  However, this meeting wasn’t going as planned. They’d originally said to meet at an upscale restaurant, but when she arrived, they wanted her to drive somewhere else. Now they were at a random La Jolla park, and the guy kept directing her farther and farther from anything populated. Losing patience, she yanked the wheel, turning her Blazer into a dirt area, irritation clear on her face.

  “Okay, what the fuck, dude?” she snapped, playing the irritated dealer to the hilt. “I got shit to do. What’s this about?”

  The man’s thin lips twitched. He was dressed in a suit, but Cat had already detected that he wasn’t comfortable in it. She knew it was common to check a prospective dealer out using a decoy, so she assumed that was what was happening in this case. Playing the annoyed party for having her time wasted was her role. She watched as the man reached into his inner pocket. She tensed, wondering if he was going for a weapon, dipping her hand toward her ankle where her weapon was concealed, but when the man brought out a simple cell phone and handed it to her, she relaxed. Taking the phone, she put it to her ear.

  A man’s voice on the phone said, “I appreciate you taking time out of your day to assist me with this little project…” The voice trailed off as he chuckled in a creepy way.

  Fear crawled up her spine like an electric worm, and Cat felt the driver’s door being yanked open—she nearly fell out of the truck, it happened so fast. As she turned to look at who had opened the door, she was struck by a fist. It dazed her.

  “What, I…” she began, trying to get clear and reach down to grab her weapon.

  “Don’t try it, bitch,” the man who’d obviously struck her said, holding a knife dangerously close to her face.

  He grabbed her arm roughly and walked her to the passenger side of the Blazer. The man in the suit was standing next to the vehicle now, pointing a gun at her. Every internal alarm Cat had was going off. With a sudden move, she turned on the man behind her, yanking her arm out of his grip and bringing her other arm up to attempt to dislodge the knife. He was not as close as she’d thought—she hadn’t realized he’d kept her at arm’s length, apparently expecting something like what she was trying. The knife sliced through her shirt and cut her arm. Then she felt the blow to the back of her head from the butt of a gun, sending her to the ground. She scrambled to get up, but she was kicked viciously and repeatedly in the stomach. She curled into a ball to protect herself but was hauled to her feet and turned to the face the man in the suit.

  “You shouldn’t have tried anything, bitch,” the man gritted out as he smoothed back one side of his hair with his free hand, the gun shaking with his obviously adrenaline-fueled anger.

  “Okay, I think I’m done now,” Cat said, reaching into her jeans pocket and pulling out her badge. She held it up, noticing as she did that her arm was bleeding profusely, blood dripping down onto the dirt.

  The man behind her laughed and reached forward with his knife, slicing at the wrist of the hand that held the badge. The gold of the badge glinted as it fell into the dirt. It was the last thing Cat saw before she was knocked to the ground with a slam of the man’s arm.

  Cat woke in a daze. Her vision swam darkly as she did her best to focus on where she was. She attempted to rub her eyes but realized with a shudder that her arms were tied behind her back. Fighting back the panic that tried to creep up on her, she squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them again to attempt to get them to focus. She rubbed her face against the mattress that was under her. She felt the wetness of blood as her cheek stung.

  Rolling to her side, she tried to move her hands; there was a little give in the rough rope that held them. Thanking the dance classes that had kept her agile over the years, she bent her knees and brought her legs up behind her, trying to hook a boot heel in the ropes. It took a few tries and a lot of ignoring the burning pain of the cuts to her arm and wrist, but she finally managed to get her heel to the ropes. Between wriggling her hands and pushing with
the boot heel, she managed to almost get one hand free.

  Stopping to rest, she looked around her. The room was sparsely furnished, but she couldn’t miss the wide baseboards and crown molding. Not your usual dive. This guy is connected… but to what? As she thought it, the door to the room opened, and the man who had been in the suit walked in. She recognized the slicked-back hair and the thin lips, but he was dressed in jeans now.

  “Knew that suit didn’t fit you,” she said conversationally, even as she kept trying to wriggle her hand free behind her. Fortunately she was facing the door, so he couldn’t see her hands.

  “So fuckin’ smart, huh?” the man sneered.

  “Smarter than you think,” Cat replied mildly. “So what’s the deal?”

  “Shut your mouth, that’s the deal,” the man snapped, obviously annoyed.

  “Come on, man, this ain’t no shakedown. What are you guys about?” Cat asked, endeavoring to give herself time, but also wanting to try to gain some clue as to why she was taken.

  Laughing in the least humorous way Cat had ever heard, the man stepped closer, his eyes moving over her in a way that made Cat want to cringe. She just about had her hand loose—she wished she could use her boot heel again, knowing the leverage would help, but she didn’t want to tip him off. Just as she started to feel a sense of hope, because her hand was nearly free, a second man walked into the room. Cat felt a sense of dread as the men looked at each other, then over at her again.

  “He just said hold her,” the second man said to his companion. “He didn’t say we couldn’t have any fun while we did it.”

  The look of lust was clear on the first man’s face as he looked back over at Cat again. He moved toward her, reaching for her, and Cat backed up, yanking hard on the ropes, desperate to free her hand. She fell off the bed with a thump and a yelp, but her hand was suddenly free. As hands reached for her, she yanked at the ropes to free her other hand, and it came free right as the thin-lipped man grasped her shirt, ripping it open. She kicked out, catching him in the knee; he went down with a yell. The second man was there then, grabbing her and dragging her up off the floor. She swung her fist at him, missing his face but dislodging his hands.