Roll the Dice (3 page)

His suck-holing earned him a black look, one she’d perfected. Her
subsequent silent treatment had him fidgeting with the steering wheel. After a
good throat clearing, he continued. “With Debbie standing down, you were
partner free, and Kai needed the best.”

“You said that before.
 
Don’t you
sweet-talk me you sneak. Unlike your new wife, I know when I’m being conned.”

Totally unprepared, she felt chills race across her back. Gave her the
willies. “Can’t you move this pile of junk any faster? If I gotta put up with
your buddy, maybe we should try and keep him alive?”

Uncomfortable, on the edge of her seat, she consciously forced her hands
to stop fisting and noticed that the flared pain in her shoulder decreased.
Hurry for God’s sake.
The mantra caught
hold and wouldn’t let up.

In minutes they’d screeched up to an older apartment building that had
seen better days. Big blotches of stucco were missing and the wooden areas
lacked color—the white now a dull gray. Before the car had completely stopped,
she leapt out and raced to the entrance, gun drawn.

Faulty outside lights impeded her progress, and because Aurora had no
idea which apartment they needed to access, she’d hoped to figure it out by the
list of names printed on the pad outside the front door.

A flashlight, offered to her by one of the arriving uniforms, helped her
see that three places had no registration. Making note of those addresses, she
pushed the other buttons.

It never failed to amaze her that folks would open up without asking
questions.
Crazy people, don’t they know
the world today?
 

At a dead run, she hit the stairs. Since all three unnamed places were
on the second floor, she took the chance that would be where they’d find
Rhondo, and no doubt, her new, stubborn jack-ass of a partner.

Expecting Cory to organize the others who'd answered the call for
backup, she slowed down somewhat until she heard him follow her with a few of
the others.

Hoping to hear clues of a ruckus, she passed each door and listened
carefully. A loud banging noise ensued at the fifth apartment, and without
hesitation, she stepped back and kicked the door in, a trick taught her by no
other than the man who was now covering her back.

Screams met her from the frightened old couple that had the television
turned to an ear-splitting level.

“Oh my God! Oh my God!” The woman kept repeating.

“I pissed myself.” The elderly fellow said only once.
 

For a second Aurora felt remorse, until the tingling in her spine
started up again. “Sorry for breaking in but there’s a really bad man in this
building with a good reason to kill. And my partner’s alone with him. We need
to find which apartment they could be in. Do you know anyone who sometimes
tries to looks like an Elvis wannabe but hasn’t a hope?

“T-two-o doors down. The poor old man with a pillow now over his lap,
pointed to the left. “This side.”

“Thank you, sir. You might want to go with these gentlemen until we
judge everything is safe. They’ll look after you until this is over. And I’m
a—sorry for scaring the hell out of you.”

 
“It’s fine," he said.
"First time I've felt alive for months! Good luck.” The two scurried
behind the patrolman that Lieutenant Ashton indicated. The white-faced man now
wrapped in the snugly his wife had used to cover her lap.

Cory stepped up. “No more of this female Rambo shit, Aurora. Let’s take
this calmly.
 
I’m lead, got it?”

Nerves screaming, she nodded and then took off. “Christ’s sake. Aurora.”
She heard his words, but they made no difference. Some sense drove her on. Made
her react like she’d never done before. Rules were necessary. She’d always
believed that and lived by them. Tonight, nothing else mattered more then to
get to that apartment and stop what she feared the most.

A gunshot rang out and her heart stopped. As plain as the nose on her
face, she knew the news would be bad. Slamming the apartment door open with her
shoulder, she watched her partner slither to the floor, and the bastard with a
broken backpack, partly slung over his shoulder, leap from the balcony.

Dammit, he hated getting shot. It hurt like the devil. Kai lifted his
bloody hand from his side where the soaked blue plaid shirt hung in tatters.

If only he’d stopped Rhondo. Even wounded, he’d grabbed for the backpack
on the floor near him. They’d had a tug of war, but he couldn’t hold on. If the
door hadn’t flown open when it did, he’d have been shot again for his
foolishness.

Slouched against the wall, his knee bent to help balance him, he checked
to see who’d come to his rescue. Shocked, he saw his new partner turn away from
him but not soon enough. White-faced, her expressive eyes fought an inner
battle. As he watched, stunned, she toppled over in a heap by the door.

She’d fainted from seeing him bleed. A smile started deep in his gut,
and by the time his old friend and Lieutenant dropped beside him, he knew it
was plastered over his face.

“Hey fool, what the hell do you have to grin about? You’ve taken a
bullet.” Cory pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and stanched the flow of
blood.

“Yeah, and there’s a lot of blood.”

“Ahh…yeah!” Sarcasm done to perfection.

“And my partner’s out cold.”

The two men looked at each other. The silence was telling.

“I am not.” Aurora struggled to her knees and crawled to where Cory
crouched by the injured man. “I’m fine. Just hurt myself when I shoved in the
door.”

She struggled with tight pants to pull out her cell phone and giving a
final disagreeable yank, she got it free. In a shaky voice she gave the
apartment number to their guys below for when the ambulance arrived.

Kai searched her expression and saw determination that rivalled his own.
The lady had guts; he’d give her that. And she’d kicked in the door to save his
life, so he owed her. Too bad she happened to be the biggest pain in the ass
he’d come across in a long time. When Cory had ordered him to partner with her,
he'd almost walked.

Totally engrossed in his quest to get Rhondo, he’d shut out everyone in
his life who’d mattered. His family had taken back seat along with his old
partner, and the guys he’d worked with in L.A. Even his latest girlfriend had
been dumped. Only the man, who’d raped and killed his sister, held a sacred
place in his thoughts. And he filled in all the empty spaces. Every minute, of
every hour, of every day since March, his focus lay in one place.

…to find Rhondo.

…then kill him.

When he’d gotten word that the prick was intending on showing up in
Vegas again, Kai got in touch with Cory and called in his marker. They’d been
rookies together back in the good ole days in Los Angeles, and he’d saved
Cory’s bacon more times then the other way around. But like Cory had reminded
him—who’s counting?

Truly, knowing his old friend, he supposed it was the pleading tone in
his voice that had speeded up his transfer. It really hadn’t mattered to him
why the switch had happened. He was here and so was Rhondo.

Having access to all the police files would keep him focused. Job or no
job, he knew he’d have come anyway, but being in the loop would make a hell of
a difference. His smugness lasted only until he’d had the meeting in Cory’s
office after his arrival. There he’d been told about his new situation. A
partner! A freaking female partner!

Working with someone else hadn’t been in his plans at all.
 
Except that’s where his old buddy had gotten
payback. Kai had argued and met with the steely resistance he remembered.

 
“Hey, Kai, look at me.” Cory’s
insistence finally got his attention. “Open up those heart-breakers. You’re not
going to pass out on me now that the ambulance is on its way.” The dig about
his eyes made him grin. It had been a joke from way back.

“Can’t help it if the girls like my eyes. I only use them to see outta.”

“Don’t bullshit me, man. You use them like 'come-on' weapons and every
female—who gets one of your special make-em-weak-in-the-knees smiles—grovels.
It’s sickening.”

“Good thing I’m immune then,” Aurora joined in the good-natured joshing
going on between her boss and her new partner. “Hey Hotshot, you want to stay
awake so I can interrogate you? Are you up to answering some questions?”

Yeah! I’m peachy. If you want to know where he’s headed, I have no idea.
I arrived just as he'd opened the door to leave and he got the drop on me.” Kai
grimaced. Pain mixed with humiliation tended to make him a might touchy.

An image of the kid who'd stepped out from across the hall when the
altercation had taken place came to him. If that nosey punk hadn't needed
protection, Kai wouldn’t have lost the chance to use his own weapon while
pushing the youngster back into his apartment.

“Did he say anything?” Aurora prodded.

“Who?” For a minute he wondered how they’d found out about the kid.
 
Kai saw Cory and Aurora glance at each other
and he realized they were waiting for him to get it together. Tell them what he
knew about Rhondo. Deciding it would be foolish not to share, he swore, grabbed
his side so he could angle himself against the wall higher, and pointed his
finger toward a rickety old desk.

“When I grabbed his backpack a section tore open. I saw things fall from
the pocket. Looked like papers and maybe a business card.”

Lifting his arm even the short distance made flames shoot from the left
side of his body to the top of his head, and then make a round trip. His gut
seized and twisted so hard he thought his brains might detonate any moment.
Goddamn it hurt!
A swirling dark void teased, and like a woman hot to get laid, it
tempted.

Aurora’s voice registered and so did the fear she didn’t hide. “Cory,
where is the damned ambulance?”

“I’m on it!”

The roar he let loose had the other two men, who were cordoning off the
apartment, jump to find out. A siren closing in made them stop and relax for an
instant and they answered.

“It’s here boss.”

“Go! Bring them to this apartment, pronto.”

“Yes sir!” The two rookies jumped and pivoted in the same direction,
slamming into each other until one finally backed up and let other precede him.
Both ran out with red faces.

For a second, Kai saw him and Cory as new recruits. Then he remembered.
“The backpack…” He needed to make them understand.

Aurora leaned in. “What Kai? What about the backpack?”

"Br…broke strap. Opened. More stuff…” He licked his lips and the
black abyss lost patience and swallowed him.

***

Aurora felt the sickness grab hold once again. She couldn’t believe her
response to seeing Kai covered in blood. It had been touch and go for a minute
as to whether she could stop herself from passing out.
 
Only by biting her tongue hard enough to
make it swell did she remain conscious.

Right now there was no time to speculate why she’d reacted that way to a
man she hardly knew. But sooner or later, she’d have to work it out. Did it
mean that from now on anyone’s blood would affect her?

 
God, I hope not.
Let it
go and think of what he’d whispered.

Before she could clear her mind and concentrate, the medics pushed her
away from the unconscious man whose hand she was gripping.
What the hell?

Cory came over and helped her to her feet, steadied her when she swayed,
and the surprise on his face matched the feelings she fought with inside.

Thankfully, he didn't comment. Probably knew better once he saw her
expression.

"I'm fine, boss. It's Kai who needs the attention."

"He'll get it! It's your face that matches the colour of your
blouse. Maybe you should sit for a minute."

Ignoring him, Aurora pushed his hands away and stumbled to the desk
where Kai had motioned to earlier. Gripping the side, she rifled through the
garbage can, which was full of a torn up, stinky old pizza box and beer cans.
Some newspaper strips stuck out here and there, which she carefully retrieved
after pulling on her plastic gloves. Then she glanced behind and sure enough, a
small card lay face down.

While retrieving it, the top of her head wanted to relocate and she
noticed her hand shook like an old person's. A nearby rickety chair beckoned,
and she plopped down.
 
Her rubbery legs
thanked her.

The stretcher carrying Kai passed close by and she noted the oxygen
apparatus they'd attached. An ache grabbed hold of her stomach and for a few
seconds rapid swallowing eased the discomfort. Once they'd cleared the room,
relief surfaced.
   

She turned over the business card and noted the address. A clinic
downtown advertised its central location. Unfortunately, there wasn't any
specific doctor's name and she happened to know there were a lot who worked at
the centre—doctors and dentists and other medical specialists.