Strong Reflection: Book 2 of the Dark Series Trilogy (10 page)

“Kyle!”

He laughed, winking and starting the car, “Don’t worry we’ll have fun making it go down.”

He pulled back onto the roadway whistling a happy tune.

****    

They had been driving for several hours.
 They had made a pit-stop about two hours in, Kyle purchased drinks and snacks after Ashley turned down breakfast at the first rest stop.  He had held her hand while they stood in line, feeling like he never had before.  He was more than happy.  He was complete.  Ashley completed him.  She was the perfect complement to him.  

He whispered in her ear as they waited in line.  Ashley smiled up at him as though he hung the moon. Together they were a demonstrative couple.  After a few minutes in line, Ashley in front of him and with his arms wrapped around her, Kyle began to notice certain stares.  At first he thought people were staring because Ashley is beautiful, but a lot of women were staring also. He couldn’t figure out what they were staring at.  He looked at Ashley, she was gorgeous, not a hair out of place.  She wore one of those designer track suits that were made more for show than actually working out.  The soft material hugged and displayed her sexy curves to perfection. Unusually, her hair was out, in soft layers framing her beautiful face, falling to the tops of her shoulders.  Its blue-black glossiness caught the sun.  In fact, Ashley looked like a model.  If he were a stranger, he would have been staring too, wondering what magazine or movie he had seen her in.

It wasn’t until they were walking out of the rest-stop with their bags that Kyle knew why people were staring.  A black man dressed in black jeans, t-shirt, hoodie and Tims said; “Girl, you know you should be giving that pussy to a brother.”

Kyle stood frozen for a second until the remark sunk in and then he dropped the bag in his hand and grabbed the guy’s shirt, propelling him backwards until the man hit a brick wall.  Kyle slammed the guy against the wall hard, questioning in a furious voice.  “What the fuck did you say?  Are you crazy?”

When the guy tried to punch Kyle, Kyle easily caught the man’s fist before burying his own about 5 inches into the man’s gut!

“Kyle!”  Ashley pulled at Kyle’s arm, trying to get him to let the man go.  “Kyle, let him go!”  

The man recovered enough to throw a punch that caught Kyle in the jaw.  Ashley tried to put her body between the two combatants.  They both were too strong.  With her body plastered along Kyle’s side and her hands trying to pull back his punishing fist, Ashley, yelled.  “Kyle, let him go, Kyle!”  Then emphasizing the title she shouted, “Director Strong, stand down!”

Kyle drew up short, not landing the blow he was in the middle of throwing.  He looked down at Ashley’s hand on his arm.  Her little hand on his flexed muscle gave him pause.  He looked into her concerned eyes.  He instantly released the man, letting him slide to the ground.

They backed up away from the stranger to their dropped bag.  Ashley kept her hand on Kyle’s arm.  She faced him, cupping his jaw, wiping at a little blood in the corner of his lip.  “Oh, my God, are you all right?”

Kyle shook his head.
 “I didn’t even feel the hit.”  Kyle picked up the bag.  Taking Ashley’s hand, they walked out of the rest-stop building.

Kyle wore a frown, as he opened the door for Ashley.  Sitting in his seat and gripping the wheel, he shook his head again.  “Can you believe that asshole thought it was ok to speak to you that way?”

“Yes.”

Kyle looked at her surprised.  “What?”

“Kyle, the closer you get to New York and even closer to Newburgh you’ll see a bolder, ruder society.  You’re not use to interacting in such circles, even with your job.”

“Meaning?”

“Kyle, you head a department that solely deals with crimes against people due to their age, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, race, political affiliations.  You have seen such atrocities people have done to one another and yet you’re surprised about some people having problems with a white man and a black woman being together!”

“Yes, I guess I am surprised!  In this day and age, it’s absurd!”

“It’s absurd for any day or age!”

“Ashley, you know what I mean.”

She leaned close, kissing his cheek.  “Yes, I do.  Stop crediting people with your morals and goodness.”

He smiled, pulling her closer, cupping the back of her neck and tilting her mouth up, he kissed her deeply.  “Mmm, so, you think I am a good man.”

She licked his bottom lip before answering, “The best.”

Kyle groaned before kissing her hungrily.  “Babydoll, we have to stop or I am going to take you to the backseat.”

Ashley laughed.  “And, I’d be all for that, if we were not at one of the biggest, busiest rest stops on the interstate, with 3 restaurants, several gift shops, 2 fast-food chains and a gas station.”  Moving all the way into her seat and fastening her seatbelt she added, “Now, find one of those off the beaten path rest stops you see in horror films then I am your gal for a backseat romp.”

Kyle laughed.  “You’re my gal always.”

****

Ashley had offered to drive for a little while to give Kyle a break but he had refused.  They had been playing an altered version of twenty questions.  Asking each other questions about their upbringing, past relationships, jobs.  They had agreed nothing could be off limits.

Ashley now knew; Kyle’s favorite; color, foods, movies, his boyhood pets’ name, his first crush and kiss, he lost his virginity at age 15 in his parents’ pool house after his sister’s 17th birthday party to a girl who was 19 named Peta.  “Boo, Peta, have you checked the sex offender’s registry for her name?”  Ashley questioned partly in jest.

“Oh, come on, that was not a crime.  She made me a very happy boy or rather she gave me a very happy dick.”  Kyle laughed.

“Oh, yeah?”  Ashley reached over cupping Kyle’s penis through his jeans.  “Is this the dick she made so happy?”

Kyle gasped and gave her a quick hot look.  “Yea, that’s the one.”  He closed his eyes for a second as she stroked him.

Ashley whispered in his ear before tracing the shell with her tongue, “Eyes on the road director.”

Ashley’s ministrations had him hard and ready, he panted.
 “Babydoll, unless you want to lose 
your
virginity on the side of the road, I highly suggest you remove your hand from the wonderful things you’re doing to my cock.”

She gave him one more stroke and a buss on the cheek.  “Ok, but, I have to tell you I am so fascinated by your penis.  I’ve dreamt about it a lot.”  Smiling, “I can’t believe it’s mine now and I can touch it whenever I want.”

Kyle laughed.  “Yes it’s yours.  But, darling, maybe you could hold off your fascination until I am not in control of a couple tons of steel and metal, traveling at 75 miles an hour.”

“Whatever you say Director Strong,” Ashley coquettishly fluttered her lashes.

“Ha, what I wouldn’t have given to hear that more often over the years and have you mean it.”

“I didn’t ignore all your directives.”  Ashley said a bit sadly.

“Oh, no, not all, just those concerning some kind of rescue and was extremely dangerous!”  Kyle was serious now.  “I think I’ve aged twice as fast since becoming your immediate superior.”

Feeling a little ashamed, Ashley defended, “Kyle, I’ve followed 99 percent of your orders. You’re not being fair.”

“But, it was fair of you to blatantly ignore my orders, endangering your co-workers,” Kyle frowned, glancing at her, “And when I did nothing for your disrespect; making me look like a lovesick, pussy-whipped boy.”

Ashley’s jaw dropped then clicked shut.  “That is so not true.  I didn’t endanger co-workers.  Whenever I disobeyed you I did it alone, I didn’t bring anyone into it.”  Angered she crossed her arms beneath her breasts.  “And, you did to reprimand me for not following your orders.”  She began to tick off his retaliations for her wrongs, holding up a finger for each one, “How about when you loaned me to the Marshal’s Service to collect bail-jumpers or when you buried me in Archives for weeks or when you made me fill in for the IT-team or when I had to babysit your girlfriend? That was low!”

Kyle couldn’t believe it.  He was pissed again.  This woman sure knew how to push his buttons, the good and the bad ones.  His grip was so tight on the steering wheel his knuckles showed white.   Easing off thegas, Kyle pulled the car off to the side of the road, stopping the car and slamming it into park he turned to her.  “First, every time you went off on your own you endangered a whole team because we had to respond as though you were an agent in distress or in need of assistance.”

Kyle ignored the rolling of her eyes and the fact that she chose to stare out the windshield rather than look at him.  “Second, those trivial reprimands were nothing!”  He took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look at him.  “Don’t you realize that if any other agent had done those things he or she would have lost their job ages ago?”

Tears came to her eyes.  Kyle ignored those too.  She had to know what she did was wrong.  “Third, Bunny had been receiving real threats and someone did break into her apartment.  And, even though I know you believe Bunny staged the whole thing to spend more time with me, on the chance they were legitimate threats, I had to assign someone with the skill to protect her.”  

Ashley’s tears began to fall.   “Last, no one has shown me the disrespect you have without me showing them they’d die first for even thinking about doing it again.”  Her tears flowed freely now, leaving wet tracks from her lashes to her chin.  When tears fell on the fingers holding her chin in place, Kyle released her.  Looking deeply into her eyes he told her, “It felt personal and it hurt.”  Not wanting to see her pain any longer he bowed his head.

“Kyle, I respect you more than anyone I know!  I’ve never met a more decent, caring, strong and impressive man in all my life.”   Kyle’s head snapped up.  She cupped his cheek.  “You have to know that my ignoring your orders have absolutely 
nothing
 to do with my feelings for you!”

Kyle put his hand over hers on his face.  “Sweetheart, I need to know why?  Why do you disobey my orders? Why are you and Nancy so close, why someone as beautiful and smart as you down plays her looks and intelligence, why someone with the voice of an angel chooses to fight demons rather than sing; something you were so obviously meant for and why do you react to Director Mackenzie the way you do?”

Ashley dried her tears, “Kyle I—“

Chapter 6

Ashley’s eyes widened and then she was gone.  As Kyle was turning in his seat the screech of tires and a boom that sounded like an explosion reached his ears, instincts and training took over.

He got out of the car and opened the back.  Following Ashley with his eyes, she was sprinting across the grassy divide between the southbound and northbound sides of the Interstate.  She stripped her track suit’s light jacket tossing it and yanking off her sneakers all without barely slowing and going around cars slamming on their breaks to avoid the crashed cars.

Kyle grabbed a reflector vest, Kinetic underwater flashlight and the Life-Hammer.  The northbound side of traffic was already slowing with people rubber-necking.  Kyle ran pass entering the stand still traffic on the southbound side.  He took the path he had watched Ashley take.  As he jumped the guardrail and broke through the brush and vegetation on the roadside, the river came into full view, which had only been a glimpse from the northbound side.

Real fear for Ashley gripped his chest.  He pushed it down.  Not wasting time, Kyle stripped his jacket and put on the reflector vest, with the flashlight in one hand and the Life-Hammer in the other, he ran to the river’s edge following the signs of disturbed earth, grass and branches.  Reaching where he believe Ashley went in, he dove, cleaving the water cleanly.  Ignoring the frigid water, Kyle kept swimming fast, searching for Ashley.  He had two false finds, shadows and weed-like sticks.

Although he knew it had been only seconds; a minute at most, it felt like an eternity when his flashlight picked up movement in the murky water about 15 feet down.  Praying it wasn’t debris of some kind, Kyle stroked for all he was worth.  Closer, he could see Ashley’s hair floating around her head as she treaded to keep herself immersed.  She was banging a rock against the driver’s side window of a car without success.

Kyle pulled her back.  He flashed the light inside.  There was a driver, and two passengers, all out cold. He applied the Life-Hammer.  The glass shattered with a whoosh.  Kyle cut the driver’s seatbelt and passed him to Ashley.  He knew she had to be more than ready to surface.  Working fast, Kyle used a strip of the seatbelt to tie the two remaining victims together tightly.  He then gripped the bigger of the two under his armpit and kicked for the surface.

Breaking surface and gasping for air, Kyle could hear the cacophony of first responders and rescue workers.  Swimming with his burden he quickly encountered helping hands.  He was relieved of his two passengers.  He swam the last few feet to the water’s edge without aid.  Standing, his arms and legs felt like lead weights.

“Sir, are you all right?”  Someone had their hand on his back.  Kyle could only nod as he took in gulps of air.  He was bent over with his hands on his knees.  He looked up at the fireman and gave him a thumbs-up sign.

Breathing a little more easily he looked for Ashley.  She was standing at the top of the incline screaming his name.  A state trooper and an EMT were restraining her.  He walked as fast as he could towards her.  When she saw him she broke free of the arms stopping her and stumbled towards him.

He pulled her close, holding her tightly.  Her voice was raspy as she cried his name over and over, hugging him.  Her grip so tight it was almost uncomfortable.  Kyle didn’t care.

“Miss, I think you should rest for a bit and maybe take a little O-2.”  An EMT hovered.

Kyle took a good look at her.  Like him, she was completely drenched.  Her clothes and hair were plastered to her.  She was bare foot.  Her thin white t-shirt was like a second skin, showing in detail the lace design on her bra, outlining her breasts clearly.  She shivered a little and hicupped and sighed every several seconds, probably a combination of her crying jag and holding her breath.  She had been crying before she took off out of the car.

He gripped the sides of her face, titling it up so he could look into her eyes.  “Ashley, are you ok?”

She shook her head, removing her face from his hands and laid her head against his chest gripping him more tightly.
 Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, putting the other beneath her knees, he picked her up and started to carry her.

“Sir, I think she should take a moment.  She fainted for a few seconds, spat up a lot of water and then she wouldn’t be still.  She kept trying to get back down there, screaming; I am assuming, your name.  She has no voice left.  It would be a good idea for her to be checked out.”

“Ok.”  Kyle followed the man to the back of an ambulance.  There were several on the scene.  Even though it sounded and looked like chaos, from experience Kyle knew the men and woman working in an official capacity knew exactly what they were doing and what needed to be done.  From the state trooper directing traffic to the fire chief things moved smoothly along.  

When Kyle set Ashley on the stretcher in the ambulance, she started to protest, “I don’t wan—“

“You don’t get a say!”  Kyle’s tone and look brooked no argument.  Seeing his look, she lay back and allowed the EMT to do his job.  Kyle held her hand.

The EMT checked her vitals, especially listening to her breathing and checking her O-2 saturation.  He put cannulas up her nose to feed her oxygen, covered her with a blanket, cleaned and bandaged a cut on the bottom of her right foot before putting soft sock-slippers on her feet.  After resting for 15 minutes she was checked again.

“Her vitals are normal now.  She can leave if she wants.”  The EMT left the ambulance again.

Kyle squeezed her hand.  “How do you feel, honestly?”

Her voice was a hoarse whisper.  “I just feel weak and hungry believe it or not.”

“I believe it.  You didn’t eat anything today.”  Kyle’s tone was curt.  “I am carrying you to the car.  I don’t want to hear any more protests from you.  Is that clear?”  Wisely, Ashley nodded.  

They gave their statements and Kyle did exactly what he said.  An officer had checked for identification of Kyle’s car since he had left it wide open.  The officer had verified Kyle was one of the Good Samaritans helping at the accident and closed the car.  He saw Kyle coming carrying Ashley and he opened the passenger door for him.

“Sir, is there anything I can do?”

“Can you tell me how far I am from the nearest exit and the nearest store for, clothing, something to eat?”

The officer gave Kyle the information and they left.

****    

Ashley was in a warm cocoon.  She felt safe and secure.  That was something she wasn’t use to at all. She stretched and turned.  She was in Kyle’s car with the seat fully reclined.  She had a blanket over her. After the accident scene Kyle drove them to the nearest exit and found a store.

When she had tried to get out of the car to go in the store with him, he had pulled her back.  “You stay here.  Give me your sizes; bra, panties, clothes and shoes.”

“Kyle, this is ridiculous.  I can—“

“Sizes!”  The muscle along his jawline twitched.  She gave him the sizes and shut her mouth.  He had turned on the heat and left the car.

He came back with everything she needed plus some.
 There were at least 4 bra and panty sets.  All on the high-end, expensive, all pretty.  He picked a similar track suit for her.  However, this one wasn’t pink but white.  It too was of high quality as were the socks and tennis sneakers.  There was also a comb and brush and plain black hair-ties.

He brought them to a gas station and while he guarded the bathroom door she changed into the new things he purchased for her.  She was confused as to why he had purchased so much.  She could have gotten something from her packed bag.  But she was grateful and kept silent.  She combed and brushed her hair into a tight bun, securing it with two of the hair-ties at her nape.  Kyle went in the bathroom and changed too after she came out.

He then took her to a diner.  He insisted; on hot tea with honey for her voice, that she order and finish a full course meal.  Ashley didn’t argue.  She was famished.  Other than asking her what she’d like to eat and if she were done Kyle remained silent.

When they got back in the car he got the blanket out, told her to recline the seat and lay down.  He covered her and then told her to get some rest.

Now Kyle was just pulling into Chief of Detectives Jack Gard’s long driveway.  “What time is it?”  Her voice was still raspy.

“It’s after 9 p.m.”  His voice was still stoic.  “We’re obviously late.”

“Are you angry?”  Ashley sat up as Kyle reached the circular part of the driveway, parking next to two other vehicles, another black SUV and a tan Mercedes.

Before he could answer, the front door opened spilling light.  Jack and Catlyn stood in the doorway. fKyle got out of the car, going around to the passenger side to open Ashley’s door.  Jack came forward smiling, holding out his hand to Kyle.

“Director Strong, we started to get worried.  You were expected hours ago.”  Kyle shook his offered hand and returned Jack’s smile.

“Sorry about that, Chief Gard.”  Kyle put his arm around Ashley, “But, Hollywood couldn’t have written our trip here.”

Jack’s eyebrows rose.  “Now, if you were traveling with anyone other than the lovely Miss Mackenzie I’d be surprised.”  He reached over and kissed Ashley’s cheek.

“Let me help with the bags.  You guys go on and get inside.”  Jack followed Kyle’s pointing finger to the backseat for the bags.  “Catlyn’s been like a cat on hot bricks worrying.”

Ashley went to Catlyn in the doorway while the men gathered the bags.

Catlyn hugged Ashley.  “I was so worried.”  She took Ashley’s hand leading her into the enormous living room.  Ashley still couldn’t get over this house.

“Sorry to worry you by not calling.  We got sort of distracted.”  Ashley smirked.

Catlyn sat next to Ashley on the huge overstuffed sofa.  “What happened?”

Kyle answered from behind them.  “Ashley decided to go for a swim in a river running parallel to the Interstate.”

Catlyn and Jack both looked confused.  “Huh?”

“Please, Director Strong come sit.”
 Catlyn stood, indicating the spot next to Ashley.

“Catlyn how many times must I tell you to please call me Kyle?”

Catlyn gave him a sheepish smile.  “Sorry, it’s hard to get used to you not being my boss.”  She walked and stood next to Jack.  “Kyle, please sit, I will bring some refreshments and then you can tell us about your trip.”

Jack stopped Catlyn with a gentle hand, placing one on her cheek and caressing her flat tummy with the other.  “No, we can all go into the kitchen and I will make these guys something to eat while you sit and listen.  Ok?”

Ashley watched the way Jack protectively caressed Catlyn’s belly and then she blurted.  “Oh, my God, are you prego, Catlyn?”

The couple’s widening smiles were answer enough but, Jack cuddled Catlyn closer.  “Yes, we just got confirmation a few days ago.”

Ashley screamed and jumped up, going to Catlyn, the two women jumped up and down screaming and hugging.   Jack rolled his eyes as he titled his head towards the doorway, indicating Kyle should follow him.

They were seated around a well laden table of finger foods, cold cuts, fruits, chips and dips and potato salad.
 The four were animated with good cheer, laughing and talking.

“So, then Kyle slams this guy into a wall and decks him.”

Jack had a scowl on his face.  “I would’ve done the same.  Imagine the guy having the nerve to say something like that to a complete stranger.”

Catlyn took Jack’s hand.  “That’s because you both got that alpha male warp factor 5 going on.”

Kyle choked on his drink while laughing.  “What did she just call you?”

Jack threw a chip at Kyle.  “What she just called 
us
 dude,” Jack winked at Catlyn, “You like it, Kitten.”

Blushing, Catlyn smiled and kissed Jack softly on the lips, “Mmm hmm, I love it.”