To Protect & Serve (19 page)

It was Keri’s face that flashed constantly before her now, lips slightly parted, full and tempting. Alex wanted to feel those lips against hers, to have them explore and torment her body. She visualized Keri’s firm body under her sliding, stroking, and screaming to orgasm. Alex imagined the lust and subsequent satisfaction in Keri’s eyes as she came with Alex’s fingers buried deep inside her. The image left her wet and weak. She tried to replace her fantasy with memories of past encounters and other lovers, but her attempt failed miserably, only increasing her craving for Keri.

She repeated the well-known admonishment that kept her at arm’s length: Keri was a subordinate. Alex knew that fact alone could get her demoted or even fired. Such a breach of protocol was totally unacceptable. Yet she felt she’d go mad trying to contain her feelings and keep their contact strictly business. The hypnotic flapping of windshield wipers emulated the conflict in her mind:
It can work, no it can’t, yes it can.

Suddenly every encounter with Keri formed part of a larger picture that made sense to her, giving new context to her reactions. Her anger over the brunette’s fondling of Keri in the police parking lot. Her conflict and procrastination about placing Keri on the task force. The electrifying results of Keri’s first touch in the gym and their near kiss in the locker room. And finally that dance and their incredible kiss at Shelly’s bar. Everything crystallized into pinpoint clarity. She was undoubtedly attracted to and sexually aroused by Keri, but there was more. No matter how professionally inappropriate or potentially painful, her feelings were inescapable. The unthinkable had happened; she was in danger of falling in love and she had no clue what to do about it. Her options seemed as clear as this dreadful weather.

Headlights from an approaching vehicle returned Alex to the business of getting home in one piece. They seemed to be the only cars on the road as she slowed to round Brighton’s Curve. Rain pounded the windshield as jagged lightning dissected the night sky. Home was very close and she could hardly wait to relax in her own surroundings.

She squinted for visibility through the downpour. The oncoming car hit a puddle of water and hydroplaned out of control. Headlights suddenly veered into her lane of travel. She blew the horn but the vehicle continued its path toward her. Alex had only two choices: straight ahead into the lights or down the embankment.

*

Keri was on her way home when the accident call was broadcast. Normally, she wouldn’t have responded but there were no patrol cars in service and the accident involved personal injury. Even though she was no longer in uniform, she felt compelled to respond. She flipped the emergency switches and her unmarked car became a flashing, wailing chariot.

Cars jerked to the side of the road and intersections whizzed by as Keri negotiated the evening traffic, expertly shifting from gas pedal to brake, accelerating around the unobservant and slowing for the uncertain, just as her father had taught her when she was only ten. Lights created a spray of color through the heavy rain and coming night. As she approached Brighton’s Curve, the traffic thinned out until there were no cars at all, much less signs of an accident. Maybe someone skidded off the road onto the muddy clay shoulder, righted himself, and continued on his way. Perhaps whoever phoned in was confused. They hadn’t stayed at the scene, so perhaps there was nothing to see.

Keri positioned her car just off the shoulder of the road, grabbed her neon orange raincoat from the seat beside her, and pulled it on. Grumbling to herself and cursing the downpour, she retrieved her Maglite from its charger on the floorboard and sloshed her way to the steep embankment that gave way to Brighton’s Creek fifty feet below.

Spiraling blue lights from her vehicle cast eerie dancing shadows through the saturated night. The sloping shoulder to the right of the roadway, once built up by gravel and rock, was now riddled with gullies. Pine trees and blossoming clematis covered the ridge leading down to the creek. As Keri splashed through standing water toward the apex of the curve, hairs on the back of her neck came to attention. Skid marks started on the pavement approximately twenty feet in front of her car heading toward the embankment. On the clay overhang, tire tracks continued over the edge of the precipice into the foliage below.

Keri peered over the side. A dark-colored full-sized vehicle was nestled precariously between two skinny pine trees about ten feet down on the side of the ledge. Keri couldn’t tell if there were any occupants. If there were, they could be seriously injured and it would take a while to get them up the slick embankment. She began her hazardous descent toward the vehicle. The terrain seemed to shift beneath her tennis shoes. She’d have been happy for cleats and a tether but she settled for small shrubs that dotted the bank and prayed their rain-soaked roots would hold her weight.

“Is anybody down there?” She inched closer to the car and flipped on her Maglite to survey the stability of the vehicle’s position.

She reeled at the sight before her. The car, a green Ford Crown Victoria, was wedged between the two small trees with its left front and right rear bumpers the only apparent means of support. Worse still, from the two antennas mounted on the trunk and the permanent tags, Keri realized with a sickening jolt that this was an unmarked police car. In the same instant she knew it was Alex’s vehicle, and fear almost made her double over. Where was she?

Heat began to rise inside Keri’s raincoat despite the chill that enveloped her. As she inched along the car, she clung desperately to a patch of kudzu that wrapped around the base of a small poplar tree. The flashlight in her right hand urgently intruded into the body of the vehicle, providing proof of its owner. A tan briefcase lay on the passenger side floorboard with the gold initials “KAT” gleaming in the stream of light. Keri had seen Alex carrying that case many times.

Terror gripped her throat as she tried to call out. Only a whisper escaped her lips. Steeling herself, she cried, “Alex! Can you hear me? Where are you?”

Rain beating against the side of the car was the only response.

Fastening her left arm around the pine tree at the car’s front bumper, Keri leaned toward the driver’s door and stuck her flashlight inside for one last look. At least Alex wasn’t trapped in the car, injured and in need of medical assistance. A weakening dread passed through her as she took in a dark stain trailing across the upholstery from the driver’s seat to the passenger door.

Without warning the rear end of the vehicle began to slide. Keri swung her weight toward the pine tree and wrapped her right arm around it for support. Her flashlight fell to the ground. The unmistakable sound of glass breaking and metal being crushed left Keri alone in the dark with no backup and no idea of Alex’s location.

Keri clung to the lone pine with aching arms. She was soaked and couldn’t see much, but she had to find Alex. She wasn’t about to slide quietly down the slope. Using her left hand and foot, she made gouges in the hillside as she clung to the tree with her right arm. If she could make them deep enough to support her weight she could climb back out of this rain-drenched hell. Her fingers ached as nails cracked and broke away, but she still clawed at the muddy incline. As soon as tiny ruts appeared they filled with water and sloughed off down the bank. “I’m no quitter,” she kept repeating to herself, digging harder.

“Officer, you down there?” A gruff male voice called from the top of the ridge.

It seemed to Keri she’d been hugging that pine tree for hours, calling for Alex. “Yeah, I’m here, but the car’s a goner. There was somebody in that vehicle and I have to find her.” Keri called back up the bank.

“Just hang on, lady. I’m the wrecker driver and you ain’t findin’ nobody till I get you outta there. I’ll light up the place with my spots and drop you a line.”

After what seemed an eternity the towrope appeared and Keri grabbed hold.

“Can you climb or do I gotta haul you up?” he hollered.

“You’ll probably have to winch me out of here. The hillside is completely washed away down to the clay.” Her muscles ached with tension from the ordeal. Her feet slipped, sending her belly first into the red mud and sharp undergrowth as she tried to leverage herself upward.
Please let me get out of here soon so I can find Alex. She has to be all right
. When she finally saw lights at the top of the rise, she reached out her hand and was drawn swiftly over the edge onto solid ground by the wrecker driver’s massive bulk.

Beth Price and several uniformed officers and paramedics rushed to her side.

“Are you okay, Keri?” Beth’s face registered concern as she gave her a visual once-over. “Let the EMTs check you out. You’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine, Sarge, really. It’s just a few scratches. Look, this is important. That’s Lieutenant Troy’s car down there.”

“Yeah, we know.”

“I’m not sure where she is, but I think she may be bleeding.” Beth’s comment finally registered. “What do you mean, you know? We have to find her.”

“Calm down, Keri. We already have. Or rather, she found us. She managed to crawl out of the car when it wedged against the trees before the rain got too heavy. She got to a house and the folks there called in just as she passed out. I think her ankle’s badly bruised and she probably has a light concussion. She can’t walk too well, but she’s in my car.”

Not waiting to hear the rest, not caring about anything except confirming Alex was all right, Keri sprinted to the sergeant’s car, her legs suddenly adrenaline-powered. As she neared the vehicle the pale dome light shone on rain-soaked auburn hair and Alex turned to greet her through the open passenger window. She had a cut lip, and blood from a raised knot on her forehead covered the left side of her face.

“Oh, my God,” Keri gasped.

“Do I look that bad?” Alex winced from an attempt to smile.

“God, I’m glad to see you.” Keri reached hesitantly through the window, hand outstretched, afraid of Alex’s response. Sensing no indication of withdrawal, Keri delicately outlined Alex’s jaw with her finger. As she stroked Alex’s face, their eyes met and held in an admission of mutual caring that left Keri drained of strength but charged with emotion. Her eyes clouded with tears, and she said hoarsely, “I’ve never seen anyone more beautiful in my life.”

The words filled Alex’s heart as her pulse pounded faster in her aching head. “Do you always say exactly what’s on your mind, Morgan?” Her smile assured Keri that she was teasing. Noticing Beth’s approach, she said more formally, “I’m really all right, Keri. But you look a little ragged. Do those scratches hurt?”

“Not really. I’ll be fine.”

“Keri, about the last few days—”

“The only thing that matters now is that you’re here and you’re okay. I know you need space when you’re confused.”

Alex frowned in puzzlement. How could Keri possibly know what she needed? And yet… Catching Beth’s attention, Alex called, “Have the paramedics checked Morgan for injuries?”

“What about you, Lieutenant?” Keri tried to argue.

“Don’t worry about the lieutenant,” Beth said. “I’m taking her home right now. That’s where she was headed when some idiot ran her off the road. She refuses to go to the hospital.”

“Was this a hit-and-run?” Keri asked. “Did he make contact? Did you get a description of the car and driver?”

“It was a big, older model car,” Alex replied. “I couldn’t tell anything about the driver in the heavy rain. But I don’t think it was intentional. The car just hydroplaned.”

Beth patted Keri on the shoulder and directed her toward the ambulance. “Don’t worry about it. The uniform guys have already broadcast an alert. They’ll run it down. Now, go let the medics take a look at you.”

Rain dripped off Keri’s hair and ran down her back as she turned reluctantly from Alex and walked toward the waiting ambulance. “Sergeant, are you sure the lieutenant will be all right?”

“Absolutely, and so will you.” As Keri climbed into the back of the ambulance, Beth muttered, “But I don’t think it’s the physical injuries either of you need to worry about.”

Her comment was almost drowned out by another torrent of blowing rain, and Keri thought she’d probably misheard the faint humor in her tone.

When Alex entered the lineup area late Saturday afternoon the assignments had already been made and the officers were preparing to leave. Her walk showed little sign of her ankle sprain. Even the cuts and bruises to her face and lip had almost vanished. She’d disguised the final traces with careful makeup. As the troops filed from the room, she handed Keri a razor-thin cell phone.

“Wear this.”

Keri frowned. She’d expected to be wired. “It’s a cell phone.”

“And a transmitter. When the time is right, we’ll be able to hear everything that’s going on. It won’t help us much in a noisy bar but we can send you text messages if we need to.”

“You two get going and be careful.” Beth patted Keri on the shoulder and handed her the Corvette keys.

Before Alex could speak, Keri said, “I know. Don’t wreck the ’Vette. By the way, Chad called. He says Tiffany is running scared, but he can find her. It may take a few days.”

“Good work,” Beth replied. “Keep this up and you’ll be my prize pupil.”

Alex leaned toward Beth and whispered, “I’m going to need that weekend at the lake you keep talking about. And copious amounts of alcohol will be involved.” She followed Keri toward the parking lot to get the ’Vette.