Indulgence (338 page)

Kozinski was just leaving the office as Sam arrived. The
squad room was nearly deserted.

“Didn’t expect to see you leaving early, sir.”

Kozinski’s face looked vacant. The pressures of the job were
getting to the man, Sam thought. “Wife’s got plans to go shopping for the kids’
new home. Only way for me to keep a lid on the spending is to tag along, much
as I hate it.” He held a briefcase in one hand and his jacket over the other
arm. “You should have called, Sam.”

“Yes. Sorry. I need to talk to you about Gina.”

“Wow, got a lovelorn practice, and here I thought I was a
cop.”

Sam frowned. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“You and Gina. Doing a real dance there. Why don’t you just
sit down and iron out all your differences?”

“We don’t have any differences, sir. Other than the terms of
our involvement. I choose not to let it interfere with the work.”

“Can you tell me why she says she doesn’t trust you?”

“I have no idea.”

“She thinks you erased her recorder.”

Sam plastered on a fake smile. “You really think there was
something on it in the first place? She heard I had some evidence, and all of a
sudden she has this secret recording.”

“Um.” Kozinski was studying him carefully. Something made
the hairs on the back of Sam’s neck stand out. The sergeant continued, “Well,
I’ll let you know Monday. Have a good rest of the weekend.”

“Anything going on I should know about?” Sam asked. He
detected a secret he wasn’t being made privy to.

“Go home. Stop being so paranoid. That’s the same thing I
told her.”

Sam’s stomach fell to his knees.
Damn.
She’d been
smart. Something she’d said had resonated with the sergeant.

“She came in today?” he asked.

“Yes she did. Sam, I’m going to ask you the same question
you asked me. Anything going on I should know about?”

“No, we’re cool. I think she’s the one that’s paranoid. And
she’s competitive as hell. Seems to want to go out of her way to show everyone
she’s better than everyone else, and in particular, me. And you said it so
yourself she’s way over her head.”

“Well, we do have rules and procedures. As long as everyone
sticks to them, we’ll all be okay. But if I get wind you guys can’t work
together anymore, I’m more than likely to have you step down than her. Just
keep that in mind, Sam. In a way, you have more to lose. You are the more
experienced of the two of you. Use it, okay?”

Sam nodded, seething inside.

“Let her cut her teeth on the unglamorous side of police
work. Know what I mean?”

“Yessir, I do.”

“So run it tight to the vest. Don’t inflame the situation,
and I’m sure we’ll all get along.”

Sam gripped a wooden ruler with one hand, folded it over and
shattered it, but Kozinski didn’t hear. He watched the sergeant walk into the
elevator and disappear.

Shit.
He’d been asked to keep his emotions between
the lines, run it “tight.” That’s what you told a rookie female cop. Not a guy
with his seniority. He wondered what Gina had done. Whatever it was, Kozinski
was watching dots on that uncanny radar of his. And Sam’s dot was bigger.
Something had made him visible. He’d been painted and there was only one person
who could have done it.

Sam decided to pay Gina a visit. She’d been a busy girl. He
needed to know what else she was up to.

Another car was in Gina’s parking spot, and so he figured
she wasn’t home yet He thought it might be fun to scare her when she arrived,
just so she understood he was the one calling the shots, and that he wasn’t
afraid of any admonitions from upstairs.

After slipping past the security gate when another guest
left the complex, Sam donned his Padres cap and maneuvered down the exterior
hallway of her complex. He stopped when he came to the first window, hearing
sounds of an unmistakable sexual encounter. He inched forward toward the
window’s edge, but stopped when someone walked past him and turned around
afterwards, giving him a glare. He couldn’t risk detection.

Sam made it back to his truck and sat with the window open.
One hour became two, and it annoyed the piss out of him. The fuckin SEAL was
still in there, and Sam knew exactly what the asshole was doing. Gina was
turning out to be a real slut. He took out his cell phone and shot a couple of
pictures of the Hummer parked beside Gina’s apartment.

Maybe she’d flashed her little booty in front of the
sergeant, too, because it wasn’t right at all she should be in there fucking
her brains out when she was supposed to be helping them go after the Scorpions.
But that was the flaw with women. They didn’t know how to sacrifice like men
did. Life was too easy for women. That’s why it was a really bad idea to have
them work in high-risk drug cases undercover, or on the front lines. They
needed to stay home, getting themselves hot and sexy for their man. And they
better damned well do what the man said, too.

He tried to get the picture out of his head, but he
couldn’t. He knew what she looked like all flustered and pinked up. He didn’t
like that it wasn’t him on the other end of that rapture. Her lust belonged to
him. The SEAL had no right to any part of her.

He almost drove away, thinking they might make it a whole
afternoon and evening combined, like a couple of rabbits. It was just wrong
that he’d have to stay and keep guard on their little love nest. Gina had no
fuckin’ idea what kind of fire she was playing with.

Then he saw the two of them exit her apartment, hand in
hand. He wished he could have wiped that little smirky, bitchy trash-mouth look
right off her face.

You know I’m the only one that can satisfy you.

He clicked a few more pictures, zooming in on the
handholding thing. He caught one shot of her putting her hands down the
backside of his pants. Yeah, that would go over really good with the sergeant.
She’d be in trouble, all right.

Sam doubted the twenty-something-year-old stud knew half the
sexual stuff he did. And Sam certainly did know what Gina liked. This guy was
too Boy Scout for the likes of her, Sam told himself. The lady could be a real
hellcat in bed, when she was turned on. And, fuckin’ A, he knew how to do that
in spades.

Fuck it.

He fired up the lowered truck with the blackened windows and
slowly drove down the street. They were so preoccupied with each other that
neither one of them paid him any attention. Well, she’d pay for that one. She
was walking right into a hornet’s nest and wouldn’t see any of it coming.

He made a hard right and squealed tires down the next
street, then gunned it at the next stop sign and took off. He was going to have
to make the complaint first. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stay away from her.
Best to set it up so Armando looked like the bad guy. While they were getting
nekked
,
he’d be cooking her goose with the brass. And then she’d either come crawling
back to him on her hands and knees, right where he wanted her or she’d be
busted off the force. In either case, she’d be all alone, and in need of him
like never before.

He couldn’t wait to see her beg for it.

Armando opened the door to the Hummer, and Gina slid in. The
routine of strapping her down was always an invitation to sex, and he chuckled
as she sifted fingers through the hair above his ears and then traced his lips
with her thumb.

“So, are we going out to the housewarming, or staying in?”
He was fine with either decision.

“Out. In later.” She kissed him and he worked not to let it
escalate. He needed answers to some of his questions about the big biker dude.

They rode toward Coronado without saying a word. He decided
it was time to ask the questions that had been rattling around in his head. And
he wondered why she didn’t just volunteer something he could latch onto. Things
seemed a little out of kilter.

“Something you said last week before we went on our training
has bothered me a bit, Gina. I’m just wondering, why is this Sam guy so
persistent? I mean, for you to carry a gun, is he following you?”

She nodded her head and looked out the side of her window.

“This is, like, stalking behavior, Gina.”

Gina immediately looked to her lap. “I know it is, Armando.
But I’ve got it under control. While you were away, I found someone with
connections to the police who can help me.”

“Good.” But he didn’t mean it. He felt she was lying to him
again.

The vehicle whined while they sat in silence. Armando was
looking for a parking spot along a narrow street several blocks from the
water’s edge. He pulled in, turned off the engine and sat back, staring in
front.

Do I even want to know all about this?

“I’m not getting the feeling you’re being one hundred
percent honest with me, Gina. It’s beginning to bother me.”

She exhaled. He hoped he would get the truth this time.

“Can we just table this discussion until later?” she asked.

He was stunned. “You tell me. You’re not very careful about
your own safety, and that has me more than a little worried. Or is there
something about this you like?”

He didn’t want to have to ask her, but he knew he would anyway.
“Or are you having a difficult time making up your mind?”

Her head shot up. “No.” She leaned back and the rear of her
head slammed against the headrest. “Fuck it.”

Armando waved to a couple who walked past the parked Hummer.
He was going to wait as long as she needed. He thought perhaps he would finally
get the truth from her.

“He’s being investigated by my company for insurance fraud.
I’m ordered to stay close to him. Just that he gets the wrong idea sometimes…”

“Sometimes? He gets the wrong idea all the time, Gina. The
man is a dangerous person, and I know how to recognize the really bad ones. ”

“No, he’s not. He’s just a little high strung.”

“You can’t be serious. I know what high strung looks like.
He’s more like a bit off his rocker, if you ask me.”

She thought about it for a minute before answering. “Which
is why I don’t want you anywhere near him, or getting involved, Armando. You’ve
got to stay away. I’ve got this under control. It’s my job. Please, just let me
do my job, okay?”

He didn’t like it. This wasn’t the truth, but it made some
sense.

“I trust you, Gina. I just don’t trust him.”

“If you trust me, then everything will be fine. You’ll see.
Won’t be long now. The investigation is almost complete. I don’t want to do
anything different to alert him, warn him off.”

“What kind of fraud?”

“I’m not allowed to say. I’m sure you understand. In your
field, you have secrets, too.”

“Yes, we do. But something about all this just doesn’t add
up properly.”

“Can we just put it to bed for a few hours? Let’s go to the
housewarming and forget about this. We’re together. Mia will be there. I’m
looking forward to seeing her, and perhaps seeing the two of you more cordial.
Promise you’ll try?” She smiled at him, and dang, it was hard to say no to her.

“I’m always cordial to Mia. She’s the one who has the
mouth.”

“I even agree. But let’s just not stir up anything that
doesn’t need to be stirred, okay?”

They heard music as they approached Cooper and Libby’s new
little cottage on Sunset Drive. Happy laughter drifted through the air as young
couples arrived behind Armando and Gina. Most the men were members of Armando’s
SEAL Team 3 since the party was hosted by Kyle’s wife, realtor Christy
Lansdowne.

Armando was greeted by one of the new guys, redheaded Rory
Kennedy, and introduced him to Gina. Rory was scheduled to go on their next
deployment. Armando liked him immediately. Single, very shy and uneasy around
women, he was the most unlikely SEAL a person could find, Armando thought. That
is, until you tried to outswim, outrun or do more reps during PT. The guy was
as focused a warrior as Armando had ever seen.

Armando had learned from Rory that the guy had been orphaned
as a baby, had lived in a string of foster care homes, and had burned down half
of them while living there. He was quick to point out that no one had ever been
injured. He and Armando had the fire thing in common between them. So, while
Armando was a sharpshooter/sniper, Rory was always the man he liked to consult
regarding the equipment, especially the ammo. The guy had invented some metal
jackets that sent their projectiles distances the military swore could not be
achieved.

After making small talk to a senior guy and being introduced
to Gina, Rory quickly escaped.

Gina was watching Cooper and Libby in a very passionate
embrace, seemingly oblivious to all the other partygoers.

“How does he afford a million-dollar home on military pay?”
Gina asked.

“Libby’s dad is loaded,” Armando started. “Her parents sort
of bought it for them as a wedding present.”

“A million dollar house?”

“More like one point six or seven, I hear. But you know how
daddies like to keep their girls happy.”

Armando saw a frown cross Gina’s face. He guessed her own
father hadn’t cultivated the same sort of relationship.

“Then there’s Rory over here.” Armando pointed in his
direction.

“And?”

“Turns out his dad was a rich, hedge fund trader who had a
night of indiscretion with Rory’s mom, and was married with kids at the time.
She refused everything from the man, and eventually disappeared. The rest of
her estranged family put Rory up for adoption.”

“So, they found each other after all this time? Recently?”

“In a hospital. Were roommates. What are the odds?”

It was good to hear Gina laugh. Armando introduced her to
several Team guys and their wives or girlfriends, but was careful to introduce
her as his friend, not girlfriend or significant other. He liked how well she
fit in.