The Bad Ass Brigade (25 page)

Cherise cackled, a terrifying sound.

“I planned to kill you. I told him we had too. He thought he could convince you to keep quiet. He is,
was
, so stupid.” She shook her head in disgust as if remembering her husband. She added, “A stupid
pig
of a man.”

Nicki took a tiny step forward, inching her hand to her thigh. Hearing footsteps and shouts from the hallway, Cherise flinched then raised the gun and jammed it under her chin. Nicki’s blade flew through the air, landing in Cherise’s chest at the same time the gun blast shattered the lower half of Cherise’s pale face. Nicki’s scream was lost in the sound of the shattering door. She rushed to the woman’s side, helplessly trying to piece together the pieces of blood and flesh. Looking up she saw Rafe, his face white with horror.

~~~

Rafe heard the unmistakable sound of gunshots. Running for the door, he shouted over his shoulder.

“Nicki!”

Caleb, Grayson and Agent Cody were on his heels as they tore down the hallway to where the sound of gunshots had come from. The other agents who’d been protecting Senator Michaels met them in front of the door. Trying the door and finding it locked, Rafe and Caleb threw their weight against it just as the gun blasted again. The horrifying sound was amplified by Nicki’s scream.

Rafe was at her side in seconds. In all the times he had seen the bloody gore of devastated bodies, he had never seen a more frightening sight than Nicki, blood and sinew covering her body. It took him ten seconds and Grayson’s voice to confirm that she was alive. That the blood was from Mrs. Freeman. Or the Congressman’s.

Nicki clung to the dead woman’s hand, tugging on it as though she could pull it back. Go back in time.

“I tried to stop her, Rafe. I tried… my knife… too late. I aimed for her hand… too late.

Rafe crouched in front of her. Nicki’s face was a ghastly shade of gray. Her eyes were wide with horror.

He saw her shock and gently unwound her fingers from Cherise’s limp hand. Easing her into his arms, he held her against his chest. A massive shudder shook her.

Rafe shouted, “Medic here. Now!”

One of the agents who was working over the Congressman dropped to his knees beside Rafe and Nicki.

“I’m a medic, Sir.”

The young agent reached for the pulse in Nicki’s neck and shoved the bloody mess off her chest.

“She’s in shock, Sir. She wasn’t hit. You know that, right?”

Rafe heard him through the roar in his ears.

Grayson and Caleb knelt beside them.

“You know she’s not hit, man. She’s in shock, Rafe. Best not to give her anything. We just need to keep her warm.” Caleb’s firm voice shook Rafe out of his own shock.

Rafe nodded, confirming that he understood.

“Help me get her out of here, Caleb. Tell Stew to get me blankets and water. Meet me in his office.”

Rafe picked her up in his arms and was at the door when Tom Cody stopped him.

“Rafe, I can’t let you go. Nicki is a witness. Christ, man, the
only
witness. Fuck, Rafe. Her knife is in the dead woman’s chest.”

~~~

Rafe pulled in a few hundred favors and convinced the agents and the homicide detectives who swarmed the scene to let him sequester Nicki in Stew’s office.

The fact that the lead detective had been one of Rafe’s Delta Force squad allowed him to keep her away from the police station. Stew rustled up a uniform from one of the waiters and guarded the door to the bathroom while Rafe got her out of her bloody clothes. Caleb held her while Rafe scrubbed at the human remains clinging to her skin. Between the two of them they washed her hair in the sink. Rafe watched the clumps of flesh swirling down the drain in horror. When he got Nicki dry and in clean clothes, he wrapped her in a blanket and sunk down in an oversized chair that Grayson commandeered from the Director’s office. He didn’t know who was clinging hardest to whom, him or Nicki.

After a cup of coffee laced with Irish whisky, Nicki managed to stop shaking. When he was convinced that she was rational, Rafe allowed Lt. Corrigan and his captain to question her.

Nicki went over the tragedy starting with the facts she uncovered about Representative Freeman. Rafe and Caleb and Grayson managed to keep from interrupting. None of them could hide their shock at the magnitude of the scandal. Rafe understood now why Nicki was so fierce about chasing down her leads. And why she was so excited about finding proof. He closed his eyes at the irony of the situation. Nicki was right. The Freemans could never have survived the scandal. He was astonished at her persistence and her stunning instincts. But overshadowing his pride and respect for what she’d accomplished was the realization that she could have been killed. All things considered, it was a miracle she wasn’t.

At that moment, Nicki lifted her head and met Rafe’s gaze.

“It’s my fault. It is, isn’t it? If I hadn’t kept looking, hadn’t run down the evidence… this… wouldn’t have happened. They wouldn’t be dead.”

Rafe put his finger against her lips.

“Stop, Nicki, now. Your work, your insights and your persistence were all extraordinary, breathtaking. You saved this country from a despicable man, a hideous scandal. The only people who are responsible for the deaths of Stephen and Cherise Freeman are the two of them. Period. End of discussion.”

He hesitated for a long moment. Exchanging a glance with Caleb and Grayson, Rafe cleared his throat and he sat Nicki up so that he could hold her gaze.

“However, my darling, you
are
responsible for nearly getting yourself killed. Caleb, Grayson and I were forty feet away. If you had reached out to any one of us before you went in that room, we would have been there with you.”

Nicki flushed and burrowed against his shoulder.

Rafe pulled her closer. “At the risk of repeating myself, you and I are much overdue for a lengthy discussion.”

~~~

Three days later, Rafe folded the Washington Post with a satisfied smile. For the first time since Cherise Freeman killed her husband and shot herself there was a new headline story above the fold. This story described in graphic detail how Senator Donald Michaels had taken a multimillion dollar bribe from a known terrorist. The picture accompanying the shocking story captured Michaels with his head down, his hands cuffed behind his back being led into the Washington city jail.

Rafe took out a Sharpie and scribbled a note across the top of the folded newspaper. He handed it to Caleb.

“Take this down to the station and make sure that they hand-deliver it to Michaels.”

Caleb read Rafe’s note and nodded.

“Damn straight, Boss.”

Rafe heard his friend laughing as he strode to the door.

Scribbled on top of the damning photograph of the Senator was this message:

“Payback’s a bitch. NOW we are settled. R.B.”

~~~

For the first couple of days following the disaster, Rafe kept Nicki a virtual prisoner at their retreat center. He cared for her like she was the most precious creature in the world. Masseuses, reflexologists, estheticians pampered and treated her to a three day healing spa adventure. Every food she loved and craved was there without her asking. In an extreme departure from their usual hardcore lovemaking, Rafe insisted she was too fragile for sex. He refused to do more than cuddle her and lay beside her ensuring that the only thing she do was rest and sleep. Surprisingly, Nicki agreed.

On the afternoon of the third day, Rafe joined her in the bedroom and tossed down a pile of maps and brochures all describing the delights of Thailand, specifically, Bangkok.

When she looked puzzled, Rafe pulled out a dossier for her to read. She shuddered when she saw the name of the client on the tab. This was a bad man, a very bad man.

“Ever been to Thailand, Darling?”

She frowned remembering. “Yes, but I was ten. It was one of my father’s business trips. All I wanted to see were elephants.”

Rafe chuckled. “We’re going after a hell of a lot more than elephants, Darling.”

Nicki sat up hoping he meant that he was allowing her to participate in another mission. “We?”

Rafe sighed. “Against my better judgment, I’m going to send you to Bangkok under cover.”

Nicki gave him an impish grin. “Oh, goodie! Does that mean I get to let out my ‘inner slut’?”

Rafe drawled, “You may dress like a slut, Darling, but that inner slut of yours is mine—mine alone.”

He swept the pile of papers to the floor and motioned her to stand. She looked surprised then stood before him her hugging her robe closed.

A rakish smiled tugged at his lips.

“And now, Darling, we are going to begin our discussion of your lone ranger behavior.”

At her questioning frown, he smiled and ordered.

“Nicki? Take off your clothes. You won’t be needing them for the rest of the day—and night.”

# # #

THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE

Chapter 1

San Francisco Chinatown

February, 1885

“
Guipo biao
! Come here!” Ting Lyn’s nasal screech echoed through the hallway. Struggling to quash her anger at the ugly curse, Daiyu hurried up the stairs, balancing the heavy loads of laundry in her strong arms. She was accustomed to Ting Lyn slurring her mixed heritage, but this was the first time Ting Lyn called her a whore – at least, she thought with a dismissive shrug – to her face.

Lowering her eyes to avoid looking at the group of tittering girls lounging on the silk covered pillows, she stole a quick glance at Ting Lyn.

Long ago, her father taught her the power of the anger cleansing breath. Daiyu hid her grin. She was sure her father would be amused if he knew that when it came to Ting Lyn, instead of a river of peace, Daiyu envisioned her anger breaths as a flurry of flying ants. She reveled at the image of Ting Lyn’s twisted face and squinty eyes furiously fighting off the biting insects.

“You lazy girl. How long must I wait for my breakfast? I could starve while you lumber up the stairs,” Ting Lyn snarled. “What were you doing,
guipo
? Casting those ugly green eyes at the stable boys? Enticing them with your pale skin, your sweaty stench?”

“I will bring your breakfast immediately, Mistress.” Daiyu kept her voice soft, her expression impassive, as she shelved the stacks of clean clothes. She’d learned not to respond to the racially charged epithets of the vicious young woman.

Daiyu moved gracefully. Each day to amuse herself, she assumed the attributes of one of the kung fu animals. Some mornings she was a dragon, sometimes a lion. Her favorite was the sensuous snake. Shoving down the bile of hate rising in her throat at Ting Lyn’s ugly words, she assumed the deceptively calm presence of a panther, sleek and muscular—its dark green eyes glittering ominously.

Moments later, she trudged up the stairs, shouldering heavy trays of hot tea and fragrant noodles, enough food for an army of men. More than enough for four overfed, spoiled young women. Concerned for her safety, Daiyu’s father, the famed kung fu sensei, appealed to Feng Sun, the leader of the Ong León Tong, to take his daughter under his protection. Daiyu chafed at the oversight. She knew, as her father did, that of all the young women in Chinatown, she could protect herself. But forced to hide her forbidden warrior skills, Daiyu accepted the protective cover serving Feng Sun’s obnoxious offspring.

Daiyu entered the room as Ting Lyn whirled on Ang, her youngest cousin, focusing her wrath on the cowering girl. “You baboon! You scurrilous monkey! You knew this?
Now
you tell me? That Wei Sun, my beloved, is coming home? Will arrive any day?”

Daiyu stumbled as a rush of excitement skittered over her. Before she could catch them, the precariously balanced trays crashed to the floor. The shrieking girls scattered to avoid the splattering debris. When Ting Lyn wrenched forward to strike her, Daiyu ducked and Ting Lyn sailed by, landing in a pile of slithering noodles. Daiyu looked up to see Ang press her hand to her mouth to stifle her giggle. The other girls jumped back, unable to smother their gasps of horrified delight at the sight of Ting Lyn upended in the viscous mess.

That evening, Daiyu scampered along the narrow dark streets heading home, her heart racing with excitement. She laughed out loud at the memory of Ting Lyn’s fury, but quickly forgot the hateful, abusive tirade focusing instead on the joyous news. Wei Sun was coming home.

Ten long years hadn’t dulled the memory of Wei’s laughing eyes and teasing grin. God, she had adored him. As a young girl, Wei and her brother Bo were her closest companions. She was nine, and Wei and Bo were twelve, when Wei left for China. Girls weren’t allowed to practice kung fu, but because she was talented, and her father insisted, the boys let her practice with them. Surprising sensations rioted through Daiyu at the thought of the handsome boy—who Daiyu realized with a start, was now a man.

~~~

Three days later, Wei bounded up the steps to Wong Li’s home. He had spent much of his youth in Wong Li’s center practicing the warrior arts under the expert tutelage of his beloved sensei. Ducking his head to clear the door frame, he grinned at the confirmation of his height and breadth. It was invigorating returning to his childhood home as a man: strong, purposeful, and ready to assume the leadership role his destiny decreed. After an hour of animated conversation with the man who was his second father, and Bo, his boyhood friend, Wei couldn’t hide his furtive glances.