Authors: Radclyffe
Rebecca kissed her. “Then I have everything I need.”
One Week Later
“Hey, kid.” Watts clapped Dell on the shoulder as he reached for a doughnut from the box Sloan dropped into the center of the conference table. “I hear your squeeze is gonna be packing heat before long.”
Dell stared at him. “Gimme a minute while I translate caveman-speak.”
Watts laughed. “Sandy. The academy. Cop. Gun. Jesus, there’ll be no stopping her then.”
“Oh yeah,” Dell said. “Like there ever was.”
“True,” Watts said around a mouthful of jelly. He leaned back, a happy smile on his face. “Man, it feels good to be on top once in a while.”
Across from him, Jason sniggered.
“What?” Watts demanded.
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Sloan cut Jason a look. “Don’t tease the infirm.”
“Aww, I never get to have any fun.” Jason placed a Boston crème on a napkin next to his computer.
“It sounds like you’ve been having plenty of fun,” Sloan said. “Don’t you have a little something to share with us all?”
Jason turned red. “I guess Sarah called you, huh?”
“About time too,” Sloan said.
“What?” Watts looked back and forth between Sloan and Jason.
“Sarah’s pregnant,” Jason said, referring to his partner.
After a second of silence, Dell gave a cheer.
“Nice work,” Watts said, then frowned. “So if you’re gonna be a daddy, what does that make Jasmine?”
Jason grinned. “You better ask her.”
Watts’s laughter broke off suddenly when Rebecca appeared in the doorway of the conference room. The look on her face had him sitting up straight in his chair. “Hey, Loo.”
Rebecca walked to her customary spot at the end of the table but she didn’t sit down. “I just got a call from Clark.”
Everyone stared at her. The air in the room grew heavy and still.
“At five fifteen this morning, Gregor Zamora was shanked in the breakfast line. He’s dead.”
“Holy fuck,” Watts whispered.
“At six thirty when Ali Torveau was making rounds, she found Olik with his throat cut in his bathroom.”
Dell bolted upright. “Irina!”
“Irina and Mika are fine. I just talked to the federal marshals. They’re en route to the safe house right now. Ali said Irina was okay to travel.”
“Talia Ballenger?” Sloan asked.
“Status unknown.” Rebecca shrugged. “The concierge at her building says she’s out of the country. Maybe he’s right. Apparently she has residences on several continents.”
“What about the other Russian prisoners?” Dell asked, settling back into her seat.
“We’ve doubled the guards on them. They probably don’t know enough to be a threat to anyone important.” Rebecca pulled out a chair and sat down.
“Kratos Zamora’s doing?” Sloan asked.
“That would be my guess, yes,” Rebecca said.
“His own brother,” Jason murmured.
“What do we do?” Dell asked.
“Nothing,” Rebecca said. “The crimes will be investigated. Someone may even be found accountable. But as to who really gave the order? We’ll never be able to prove it.”
“What’s the point, then?” Dell demanded angrily. “Everything we did. The people we put in danger. For what? Is this justice?”
“Justice is fleeting,” Rebecca said quietly. “But we did our jobs. That’s what counts. Irina and her sister have new identities, a chance for a new life. The other girls aren’t being abused anymore. We put a big hole in the Russian operation.”
Dell stared at the table. “We’re always one step behind because we have to play by the rules and they don’t.”
“You’re absolutely right. We play by the rules, at least all the ones that matter, because if we don’t, we’re no different than them.” Rebecca looked around the table. “Anybody want out? Because this is just the lull between innings.”
Sloan looked at Jason, who nodded sharply.
“We’re in,” Sloan said.
“Fucking A,” Watts said.
“Yes ma’am,” Dell declared.
“Good. We got close to Zamora once, and we can do it again.” Rebecca’s eyes gleamed fiercely. “And I promise you this. When this game is over, we will be the winners.”
Radcly
f
fe
is a retired surgeon and full-time award-winning author-publisher with over thirty lesbian novels and anthologies in print. Five of her works have been Lambda Literary finalists, including the Lambda Literary winners
Erotic Interludes 2: Stolen Moments
ed. with Stacia Seaman and
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder
. She is the editor of
Best Lesbian Romance 2009
(Cleis Press) and has selections in multiple anthologies including
Best Lesbian Erotica 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009; After Midnight; Caught Looking: Erotic Tales of Voyeurs and Exhibitionists; First-Timers; Ultimate Undies: Erotic Stories About Lingerie and Underwear; Hide and Seek; A is for Amour; H is for Hardcore; L is for Leather;
and
Rubber Sex
. She is the recipient of the 2003 and 2004 Alice B. Readers’ awards for her body of work and is also the president of Bold Strokes Books, one of the world’s largest independent LGBT publishing companies.
Her latest release is an all-Radclyffe erotica anthology,
Radical Encounters
(Feb 2009), and her forthcoming 2009 romances include
Secrets in the Stone
and
Returning Tides.
Power Play
by Julie Cannon. Businesswomen Tate Monroe and Victoria Sosa are at odds in the boardroom, but not in the bedroom. (978-1-60282-125-5)
The Remarkable Journey of Miss Tranby Quirke
by Elizabeth Ridley. When love enters Tranby’s life in the form of a beautiful nineteen-year-old student, Lysette McDonald, she embarks on the most remarkable journey of all. (978-1-60282-126-2)
Returning Tides
by Radclyffe. Insurance investigator Ashley Walker faces more than a dangerous opponent when she returns to the town, and the woman, she left behind. (978-1-60282-123-1)
Veritas
by Anne Laughlin. When the hallowed halls of academia become the stage for murder, newly appointed Dean Beth Ellis’s search for the truth leads her to unexpected discoveries about her own heart. (978-1-60282-124-8)
The Pleasure Planner
by Larkin Rose. Pleasure purveyor Bree Hendricks treats love like a commodity until Logan Delaney makes Bree the client in her own game. (978-1-60282-121-7)
everafter
by Nell Stark and Trinity Tam. Valentine Darrow is bitten by a vampire on her way to propose to her lover Alexa Newland, and their lives and love are placed in mortal jeopardy. (978-1-60282-119-4)
Summer Winds
by Andrews & Austin. When Maggie Turner hires a ranch hand to help work her thousand acres, she never expects to be attracted to the very young, very female Cash Tate. (978-1-60282- 120-0)
Beggar of Love
by Lee Lynch. Jefferson is the lover every woman wants to be—or to have. A revealing saga of lesbian sexuality. (978-1- 60282-122-4)
The Seduction of Moxie
by Colette Moody. When 1930s Broadway actress Violet London meets speakeasy singer Moxie Valette, she is instantly attracted and her Hollywood trip takes an unexpected turn.(978-1-60282-114-9)
Goldenseal
by Gill McKnight. When Amy Fortune returns to her childhood home, she discovers something sinister in the air—but is former lover Leone Garoul stalking her or protecting her? (978-1-60282-115-6)
Romantic Interludes 2: Secrets
edited by Radclyffe and Stacia Seaman. An anthology of sensual lesbian love stories: passion, surprises, and secret desires. (978-1-60282-116-3)
Femme Noir
by Clara Nipper. Nora Delaney meets her match in Max Abbott, a sex-crazed dame who may or may not have the information Nora needs to solve a murder—but can she contain her lust for Max long enough to find out? (978-1-60282-117-0)
The Reluctant Daughter
by Lesléa Newman. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant—the story every daughter recognizes of the lifelong struggle for our mothers to really see us. (978-1-60282-118-7)
Erosistible
by Gill McKnight. When Win Martin arrives at a luxurious Greek hotel for a much-anticipated week of sun and sex with her new girlfriend, she is stunned to find her ex-girlfriend, Benny, is the proprietor. Aeros Ebook. (978-1-60282-134-7)
Looking Glass Lives
by Felice Picano. Cousins Roger and Alistair become lifelong friends and discover their sexuality amidst the backdrop of twentieth-century gay culture. (978-1-60282-089-0)
Breaking the Ice
by Kim Baldwin. Nothing is easy about life above the Arctic Circle—except, perhaps, falling in love. At least that’s what pilot Bryson Faulkner hopes when she meets Karla Edwards. (978-1-60282-087-6)
It Should Be a Crime
by Carsen Taite. Two women fulfill their mutual desire with a night of passion, neither expecting more until law professor Morgan Bradley and student Parker Casey meet again…in the classroom. (978-1-60282-086-9)
Rough Trade
edited by Todd Gregory. Top male erotica writers pen their own hot, sexy versions of the term “rough trade,” producing some of the hottest, nastiest, and most dangerous fiction ever published. (978-1-60282-092-0)
The High Priest and the Idol
by Jane Fletcher. Jemeryl and Tevi’s relationship is put to the test when the Guardian sends Jemeryl on a mission that puts her not only in harm’s way, but back into the sights of a previous lover. (978-1-60282-085-2)
Point of Ignition
by Erin Dutton. Amid a blaze that threatens to consume them both, firefighter Kate Chambers and property owner Alexi Clark redefine love and trust. (978-1-60282-084-5)
Secrets in the Stone
by Radclyffe. Reclusive sculptor Rooke Tyler suddenly finds herself the object of two very different women’s affections, and choosing between them will change her life forever. (978-1-60282-083-8)