Неизвестный - 6. Justice For All

“Tough.”

Watts nodded. “Oh yeah.”

“What can I do to help?”

“Just clear Jason to look at anything he wants to, should anybody ask. If anyone balks at that, let us know, and we’ll look extra hard at them.” Watson set his cup on the scarred coffee table in front of the sofa. “Got any ideas where we ought to look?”

“I’ve got four warehouses and a hundred thirty loading docks at this terminal alone. We have thousands of containers offloading every month. Do we lose one for a few hours or a day because bills of lading were filled out incorrectly by someone who doesn’t even speak English ten thousand miles away? Yes. Does contraband come through inside the cars or barrels of cocoa beans or tons of clothing merchandise?

Undoubtedly.” She shook her head angrily. “But people? Human beings transported across the ocean in pitch-black unvented metal coffins? If I had any idea which of my officers helped, I’d drag their sorry carcasses to you myself.”

“I guess that’s why they call those girls slaves,” Watts said. Then he thought of what he had said, and to whom. “Well fuck. Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“No need to apologize, Bill.” Carla collected their cups and threw them into the trash. Back at her desk, she scribbled something on the back of a business card and held it out to him. “Give this to Jason. It’s my direct number. Anything he needs, tell him to call me.”

“Thanks,” Watts said, pocketing the card. “Well, I have to get back to headquarters.”

Watts was almost to the door when Carla said, “Bill.”

He turned, aware he was holding his breath.

• 142 •

Justice for All

Carla’s eyes sparkled as if she were about to laugh, and the lighthearted expression made her look welcoming and sexy at the same time. “How about dinner some night?”

“How about tomorrow?”

v

“For how long, Dell?” Sandy exclaimed, standing across the small room, her arms folded tightly beneath her breasts.

Dell could almost see her quiver. She hoped with anger, not hurt.

“I don’t know, babe. A few days, a week maybe.”

“Or two weeks? Or three? Maybe a month?” Sandy’s voice shook.

“You want me to stay at Michael’s, in a strange bed, alone, while you’re here with Irina? Going out with her every night. Coming home with her?”

Sandy looked around the room, her eyes wild. For a second, Dell thought she might be looking for something to throw. She took a cautious step forward. Then another. When Sandy wouldn’t even look at her, she kept going until she was right in front of her. Inches away.

Then she very gently rested her hands on Sandy’s shoulders. Sandy still wouldn’t look at her, so she tilted her head down until their eyes could meet. “I’ll come over there whenever I can. You think I want to sleep without you?”

When Sandy didn’t answer, Dell tucked two fingers under her chin and turned her head until she was sure Sandy had focused on her.

“When are you going to believe me? I love you. Like crazy. Like so much all I think about is you.”

She kissed her, letting her lips linger on Sandy’s mouth even though Sandy did not return her kiss. She brushed her lips back and forth until Sandy’s breath fluttered out on a sigh, then danced her tongue over Sandy’s lower lip until Sandy’s arms slipped around her neck. The tightness in Dell’s chest eased and she moved them backward to the sofa. Then she pulled Sandy down beside her, keeping Sandy in the curve of her arm, tight against her body.

“Why don’t you trust me?” Dell asked.

Sandy thumped her arm. “It’s not about that.”

“Then what is it about?”

“It’s about me missing you.”

• 143 •

RADclY fFe

“You think I won’t miss you?”

“You’ll be working,” Sandy said softly, her voice muffled against Dell’s T-shirt.

Dell shifted the short soft strands of Sandy’s hair through her fingers. “I’ll always be working. That doesn’t mean I won’t be thinking about you. Jesus, San, I love you.”

Sandy sat back, her eyes searching Dell’s face. She remembered a conversation she’d had with Frye, one of those up close and personal ones she’d rather not have. Frye had said if she loved Dell she couldn’t make her crazy, because then Dell wouldn’t be thinking about work.

Instead she’d be thinking about her, and she’d get hurt.

“I love you too,” Sandy told her. “I like knowing you’re coming home to me. I like coming home to you. I like it a lot.”

“Fuck.” Dell pushed her fingers through her hair. “I thought I was doing a good thing, moving you out of here. I don’t like Mitch and Irina being so close to you. I don’t know what the guys Irina has been working with will do when she hooks up with them again.”

“You think they’ll hurt her?”

“I don’t know. Probably not. But just the same—”

“You’re gonna be with her, Dell. What about you getting hurt?”

Sandy slapped Dell’s chest. “And don’t give me that crap about you being a cop. You don’t wear a vest when you’re with her. Anything could happen.”

“Maybe,” Dell admitted. She wasn’t going to insult Sandy by blowing smoke at her. “But I’ll have backup. The lieutenant and Watts are following me.”

“Yeah, just like they were following you when you went into that house with her the last time. Frye almost ended up dead.” Sandy grabbed Dell’s face between her hands. “If something happens to you, rookie, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Dell covered Sandy’s hands with hers. “That’s how I feel about you, don’t you get it? I’m totally soft for you, babe.”

Sandy laughed, her eyes flickering down to Dell’s crotch. “Since when?”

“Up here,” Dell said, tapping her forehead.

Sandy straddled Dell’s lap. “What are you doing tonight?”

“Uh…it’s hard for me to think right now.”

• 144 •

Justice for All

“Try.” Sandy leaned forward and kissed Dell fleetingly before leaning back.

“Working.” Dell could tell from Sandy’s stare that she wasn’t going to get away with anything short of details. “At the Troc. Then Ziggie’s. Then I don’t know.”

“Jesus, Dell,” Sandy whispered. “You gotta be careful.”

“I will. I promise.”

Sandy kissed her again, but it wasn’t a fuck me kiss. It was an I love you more than anything kiss. Then she climbed off Dell’s lap, walked to the small closet, and pulled out a worn floral fabric suitcase.

“What are you doing?” Dell asked, her voice hoarse.

“Packing some stuff to go to Michael’s.”

“You sure?”

Sandy looked over her shoulder and made herself smile. “Yeah, Michael is cool. No problem.”

“I’ll be there later tonight.”

“Okay. That’s good.”

Sandy carried the bag to the dresser just inside the door and started pulling items from the drawers. Dell went up behind her and put her arms around her, tugging Sandy back against her chest. She nuzzled Sandy’s neck. “I know you don’t want to.”

“I said it’s okay.”

“I know. But it sucks. And I’m sorry.”

Sandy turned in Dell’s arms and pressed into the curve of Dell’s body until not even a whisper stood between them. “I want to do this for you.”

“Thank you,” Dell murmured, amazed when her eyes filled with tears. She probably should have been embarrassed, but she wasn’t. She just held on more tightly. “Thank you.”

• 145 •

• 146 •

Justice for All

ChAPTER FOURTEEN

Michael had just finished changing from her work clothes into loose cotton slacks and a pullover when Sandy buzzed from downstairs. Tugging the clasp from her hair, she shook out the shoulder-length waves on the way to the elevator.

“I hope you didn’t eat,” she said when Sandy emerged. “I just ordered Chinese.”

“That sounds great. Thanks for letting me crash here again.” Sandy followed Michael to the spare bedroom and dropped her suitcase by the closet. She plopped down on the bed and stared at her hands.

“You’re always welcome.” Michael sat next to Sandy. “We can go into the office together on Monday.”

“Geez. That seems like such a normal thing to do.”

“It does, doesn’t it?” Michael took Sandy’s hand. “So what’s the deal?”

“Dell wants to stash me somewhere so she can shack up with Irina.”

“That’s handy. And you went along with it? Big of you.” Michael’s tone was teasing.

Sandy cut her a look. “Yeah right. As if.”

“Uh-huh. That’s what I thought.”

“But she does want me out of the way for a while. In case things get hinky.”

“Will you hate me if I say I think that makes sense?”

Sandy picked at the seam on the inside of her pale pink pants.

“No. I get why she wants to do it this way. But I don’t like it.”

“I don’t blame you. Needing to leave your house is really upsetting.”

• 147 •

RADclY fFe

“Yeah well,” Sandy muttered, “when Dell got the apartment down the hall from me, we didn’t know she was going to end up with a girlfriend. Another girlfriend.”

“You’re not worried about Irina, are you?”

“Oh, no. She’s only practically gotten Mitch to fuck her two or three times already.” Sandy shifted further onto the bed and folded her legs beneath her. She glared at Michael. “And trust me. When a girl grabs a guy’s dick, he stops thinking about anything. Including his girlfriend.”

“Ah, I won’t argue.” Michael smiled. “Although I don’t think it’s completely a guy thing.”

Sandy snorted. “Okay. I suppose when Dell starts in on me I’m not thinking about much of anything either.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

“Sloan too?”

“She can be persuasive.” Michael gave Sandy’s hand a shake.

“I’ve got a really good idea.”

“What?”

“Let’s open a bottle of wine, eat Chinese, and watch a movie.”

“Can I still bitch about Irina?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

Sandy glanced around. “Sloan still at work?”

“She’s in a meeting with Rebecca. I think she’ll be there for a while.”

Sandy smiled. “In that case…what about sharing the inside scoop on her when she’s being persuasive.”

“I don’t like to brag.”

Laughing, Sandy bumped Michael’s hip with hers. “Yeah yeah.

I’ll just stick to my fantasies.”

v

“So what’ve we got?” Rebecca asked when she found Sloan working at a computer in HPCU headquarters.

“Pull up a chair,” Sloan said, hitting a few more keystrokes before swiveling to face her. “Someone’s trying to get into our network.”

• 148 •

Justice for All

“And that’s unusual?”

Sloan shook her head. “Not really. Random intrusions are very common. Usually they’re probes launched en masse looking for susceptible computers to access.”

“I take it this isn’t random?”

“No. This is a very subtle and very smart assault. They hit the computers at Police Plaza too. Had more success there because the network’s not fully shielded yet.”

“All right,” Rebecca said. “Run this down for me. What are we looking at here?”

“Since I don’t believe in coincidences,” Sloan said, “I have to believe this is the same person who infiltrated Police Plaza before.”

“I thought we tracked that back to Beecher, and he’s dead.”

Sloan shook her head. “No. Beecher was the entry point. But he didn’t set it up himself. He was a middleman. A cyberbagman.”