Hard Days Night (The Firsts Book 8)

  HARD DAYS

  NIGHT

  C.L. Quinn

  Blak Kat Publishing

  July 2014

  All rights reserved

  The road is long, with many a winding turn, that leads us to who knows where,

  Who knows where…

  Song Lyric

  By Bobby Scott and Bob Russell

  Chapter 1

  Those damned alarms! Sleep was precious, and came with a price. Mal rolled over and violently assaulted the clock shrieking in her ear. It dropped to the floor and continued to wail.

  Shit! It was her fault. She’d pulled an all-nighter and should have turned the thing off before she let her body fall onto the mattress and go comatose almost immediately. She hadn’t even removed her clothes or boots.

  Sleep! Precious, precious sleep!

  When her cell phone began to chime along with the still-buzzing alarm clock, Mal knew this was a lost cause.

  With the longest groan ever, Mal hung off the edge of her bed, fished the alarm clock out from under it, and gingerly turned it off as she set it carefully back on the nightstand, then reached for the phone.

  After she accepted the call, she barked, “Better be freaking important.”

  “Yeah, it is. Your perp. He walked.”

  She shot up. “What? How the hell did that happen? I had that asshole dead-to-rights! His sheet is ten pages long!”

  “Looks like somebody sliced through them. He’s out, period. I’m sure he’s on his way to a fine breakfast.”

  “Fuck! Sorry, Geraldo. But you know how long and hard I worked to get that piece of slime behind bars. Why do they work so hard to let them out? All right. Um, thanks for the heads-up. I’m going to try for a few more hours sleep and I’ll come back in.”

  Mal let the phone drop onto the tangled bedding and punched her pillow. The damn thing should be flat as the sheet as often as she punched it!

  Taking a moment to yank off her boots and socks, she fell back against the mattress.

  Everyone always told her what an impatient bitch she could be. Well, if she could get a good eight hours sleep every once in a while, it might make a difference.

  Mal punched the pillow again and buried her face in the softness. Please, just a few minutes of shut-eye so she could close down her mind.

  Only…

  It didn’t come. The restful unconsciousness she sought and needed so desperately didn’t come. After repositioning her exhausted body several times, she lifted up and sat still for moments before she dropped her feet back onto the warm natural wood floors that lined her entire apartment. This would be the fifth day in a row with little to no sleep. She got up, her long, slim legs resisting, as she walked slowly to the kitchen to put on the kettle for instant coffee. Highly caffeinated instant coffee.

  It was the only way she was going to get through this day. That and her usual drive to finish a job. And although she’d worked her ass off for two weeks to get Jinx back in custody, now she had to do it all over again. God, this job pissed her off! Although she loved what she did for a living, it still pissed her off almost as often as it didn’t.

  Three cups of coffee later, a quick shower, long wet hair tied quickly with no concern for style, Mal grabbed her badge and gun, popped the badge on her belt and the gun in its holster, then scooped up her keys.

  Another day at the office and another chance to rid the world of vermin. She grinned as she started her car. Sometimes she wished the vermin she captured were just rats and snakes. Then she grinned wider. Actually, they pretty much were. Jinx was a bigger rat than any gray rodent that roamed in sewers or alleys.

  What the hell had they been thinking, letting him go? Some fucking lawyer hired to muddy-up the truth.

  “I shoulda just shot him,” she muttered as she merged onto the already packed highway.

  With another long day ahead, Mal stopped and grabbed her usual breakfast, an egg and sausage burrito crammed with jalapenos, and a chocolate-covered crème-filled donut. She’d be the first one to shoot a “if looks could kill” glance at anyone who snickered about the connection between cops and donuts. Nothing would make her give up the only true moment of pleasure she got in her 9 to whenever day.

  Luka Huerta was already at his desk when she arrived.

  He groaned when he saw her. “Ah, hell! Did Geraldo call you? I told him to leave you alone.”

  After she pitched a white paper bag onto Luka’s desk, Mal dropped in front of an identical desk that faced his.

  “He knows I’d be pissed if he hadn’t. You know he’s more afraid of me than you.”

  Luka grinned. “Yeah. So am I.” He reached for the bag and pulled out the long donut with a sigh.

  “You’re makin’ me fat, Mal,” he said as he bit off nearly half in one bite.

  “Nah. It’s your lazy-ass ‘it’s your turn to chase him partner’ attitude that’s makin’ you fat.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Like you get up out of that chair any more often than I do.”

  The ribbing was common for them. The truth was, neither of them stayed in the chairs much. Most of the time, they worked nights on the bad side of town, and lived on coffee, cocoa, and caffeine any way they could get it.

  Luka had been Mal’s partner since shortly after she’d joined L.A.P.D. and they were as tight as siblings ever were. She’d die for him, and she knew he would for her. Everyone in the precinct knew this too. But their caustic arguments were legendary.

  “So, where’s the report?” she asked as she watched him wipe a huge glob of icing from his lips with his tongue.

  He pitched a manila folder over to her and leaned back to kill half a cup of coffee. “Berenstein.”

  “Fuckin’ knew that. Jinx’s attorney. God, Huerta, we’re going to get that slug someday.”

  Luka nodded as he mopped his lips with a coarse napkin, then looked at it afterward to wonder where it came from. Shrugging, he smiled. “Yeah. Hey, let’s make that our Christmas gift to each other.”

  “I like it. All right, deal. By Christmas, we clean up this city.”

  “Deal. But for now, we gotta get Jinx back off the streets. I ain’t watchin’ that asswipe kill one more kid.”

  “You know I’m there with you. I think, first, we have to do something about Berenstein.”

  “What the hell can we do about him? He’s untouchable.”

  Mal grinned. “No one is untouchable.”

  “You know somethin’ I don’t know?”

  “I don’t. But I’m going to. Guess where we’re spending the day?”

  “Shit! Downtown?”

  Nodding, Mal yawned. “This old girl still has a few cards up her sleeve. I was planning this for tomorrow, but Jinx’s release just pushed it to today. I made a call after I left my apartment. Just, first, get me another cup of joe.”

  Luka nodded. Nobody understood caffeinated coffee better than a cop. Long hours, dangerous arrests, frustrating turnouts, fucked up personal relationships, all normal for most of them. Coffee and sugar were the healthier go-to ways to deal with it. Alcohol and drugs were the less-than-healthy way that some cops did.

  Mal never crossed the line. She was pretty sure Luka did, just sometimes, never egregiously so. And never when he was on the job. Yeah, she trusted this man with her life, literally, most nights.

  “Tamp it down, Bert!”

  The loud admonition came from the front of the room, as a pretty blonde came storming into the station, and stopped in front of Luka’s desk. Her hazel eyes shot to Mal, where she tried to offer a smile, but failed, and then back to Luka, flashing with anger.

  “You missed our date last night. Again.”

  Luka had the decency t
o look ashamed. “Steph, aw, man, I’m sorry. We had a late arrest, paperwork, and I just headed back home to get some Z’s. I forgot. Fuck, Steph, I apologize, okay?”

  Again, she looked at Mal. “He always been like this?”

  Mal shrugged. “How would I know? I don’t date him.”

  Stephanie, Lukas’s latest girlfriend, always put the entire station on alert when she came in. With long blonde curls, huge eyes, and always dressed to kill in short skirts and high heels, most of the guys couldn’t keep their eyes off of her when she passed by. None of them could understand why Luka kept screwing up with her.

  She turned back to Luka. “You get one more chance, Luk. One. Next time is the last time.”

  Luka winced as she swung around and stomped back out of the room.

  Mal threw a pen at him. “Cut her loose, buddy. She’s too high maintenance for a cop. Especially for you.”

  “I know. I keep intending to. But the things she can do with her tongue…”

  Mal put her hands over her ears. “Stop that! No one wants details!”

  The barking in the room proved Mal was wrong.

  “Ah, shit! There’s too much testosterone here. Meet me in my car in ten.”

  Mal grabbed her bag and made her way past the dog pound and back into the morning air, which was heating up quickly.

  Sighing, she walked over to the side of the building where a sliver of green space held a single concrete bench. She let her body drop onto it, and closed her eyes.

  This was her life. A fight every moment to find balance and peace. She was a cop because her father had been a cop. But lately, it just felt like she was spinning wheels that were bald with no brakes. Lately, it felt like things weren’t right anymore.

  Fuck, she thought. I’m gonna be like my old man was at the end, bitter and used up, an empty life behind me and nothing left in front.

  Laying her head back, she opened her eyes and looked at the deep blue, cloudless sky. It was the exhaustion talking, she was sure of it. Mal knew she was making a difference here and she was really good at her job. So was Luka, as well as half of the other assholes on the force.

  “Yeah,” she said, out loud. “Just tired. I’ll be all right.”

  “You need a vacation.”

  The soft voice interrupted her quiet moment.

  Mal raised her head and looked up into the face of the one other woman on the force that she was close with.

  Beverly was silhouetted against the morning sunlight.

  “Seriously,” she continued. “You need to get out of here for a while and think about your future.”

  “Bev, I’m fine. All I really need is two days. Two days in bed. Think I’m going to do that right after I get Jinx. For good this time. Then, I’ll be good to go for another three years.”

  “How long has it been since you took a really nice relaxing vacation?”

  “I don’t know…”

  “I do. Six years. You take a day here, a day there, occasionally, but it’s been six years since you took a week or more. Mal, I’m going to force you to, if you don’t.”

  She could do it. Beverly was the precinct’s consultant, the psychologist on staff. She was a cop with a degree in psychology, which made Mal laugh every time she thought about how nuts that was.

  “Bev, no. I’ve got this.”

  “You’ve got nothing. You don’t date, you don’t go anywhere, do anything, other than work. You have no hobbies. I can’t even talk you into dinner lately.”

  Mal dropped her head back again, and searched the sky for answers. Bev was right. She knew her life was narrow and lately, yeah, it felt kind of empty.

  A longer sigh escaped now. “I don’t know what I want, Bev. I don’t know what will make me happy. Pop never was. I’m not sure I ever will be, either.”

  “Bullshit. You’re trapped, that’s all. So are half a billion other people on this rock. You just need to try to find where you need to be.”

  “This is all I know, all I’ve ever known.”

  “You used to date. I remember two guys once, you used to like going out. Remember sex?”

  Mal snorted. “You mean that you can get without a battery-operated device?”

  “Yeah. You know, where there’s more than one person involved.”

  A slight smiled curved Mal’s lips. “I do. I remember.”

  “Good. Because you are on vacation starting next week.”

  “Bev, no. Listen, I promise, right after I get Jinx back in custody, I’ll take the time. You’re right, I could use it. Maybe go back home. I haven’t been back since I came to the mainland.”

  Bev just stared at her friend for a moment. She wondered if going home to Hawaii would fix anything for Mal. She didn’t think so, but at least it would get her off the clock. Nodding, she agreed. “Okay. Then you’re gone. You become a civilian, okay?”

  “I look forward to it. I’m tired of always being on. It sounds good, the idea of dropping and vegging for a week.”

  “It does. It is,” Bev agreed.

  Another voice broke into their conversation.

  “God, you guys look so serious? Who died?”

  Luka dropped onto the bench beside Mal abruptly as he arrived.

  “What are you two ladies jawing on about?”

  “Nothing. Let’s hit it. Bev, I’ll catch up with you,” Mal said, rising, her keys already in her hand, jingling.

  Luka looked at Bev. “What’d I say?”

  “Just get that perp. You both are taking time off when you do.”

  “That’d be sweet. I haven’t been able to work on that bike I bought last summer hardly at all.”

  Luka hurried after Mal, who was already in the car, the engine started. He barely got the door closed as it rolled out of the parking space.

  “So, what do you know that I don’t know?” he asked. Suddenly he rolled down the window, gagging dramatically. “What the hell is that?”

  “What?” Mal asked, making a tough turn on a city street faster than she should have. “Oh. I think something I had for dinner last week is still in here. Or maybe it’s finally dead, I don’t know. Anyway, we are going to Lady Glorious Spa.”

  “What?”

  “Yeah, for some yoga. I got you some yoga pants, in the backseat.”

  “What the fuck? You think I can get these quads in yoga pants? And I can’t emphasize this enough, why?”

  “Because we’re going to meet my new C.I. there, and we need to, and I can’t emphasize this enough, blend in.”

  “You’re serious?”

  “So serious.”

  “Fuck.”

  Twenty minutes later, Luka walked out of a gas station restroom in bright blue tights, a pale blue muscle shirt, and a look that could kill. Mal spent the next three laughing so hard, she was afraid the crème-filled donut would make a reappearance.

  “What I won’t do for this job,” Luka said as he threw his wadded up jeans and tee shirt into the trunk.

  “Hey, you’re complaining, but I’m in pink! I might as well be wearing a tutu. What’s a girl to do?”

  Luka looked over his partner, who rarely wore anything other than jeans and a loose fitting dark shirt, her long light brown hair just yanked back. Now, in hot pink tights and a body-hugging t-strap workout shirt that didn’t cover her abs, she looked spectacular. Since the spandex outlined her full breasts and a sleekly toned body top to bottom, he had trouble looking away. No one ever got to see how sexy she was.

  Mal tugged at the too-short top. “This young woman works for Berenstein and this is the only place she felt comfortable meeting where he might not find out.”

  “Yeah, so, let’s just get in there. We’re not gonna have to do any of the, uh, yoga stuff, are we?”

  Mal reached into the car, threw a long roll of something at him and walked away.

  Luka rolled his eyes as he tucked a yoga mat under his arm. He got his answer.

  Mal’s C.I. was a tiny woman with short hair cut in an old-
fashioned page-boy bob. She was cute and perky and made Luka wonder how someone could actually ever be that perky. She giggled. A lot.

  But when they finished the embarrassing yoga session that made Luka pray Mal had kept her cell phone in her pocket, no blackmail photos, and they went into the snack area of the spa, the girl’s smile faded and she became deadly serious.

  “They’d kill me if they knew I was talking to you, you know that?” She said, her brown eyes moving quickly between Mal and Luka’s eyes.

  “Yeah, Cynthia, I know. They won’t find out.” Mal was extremely careful with her informants.

  “Okay. I hate this, but I couldn’t let them keep doing it. Here.” Cynthia pushed a folder towards Mal. “This will give you all you need to keep that asshole in order. Maybe prosecute him. At least it will make him back off. He’s evil.”

  “We appreciate you helping us. We’re very careful with civilians,” Luka assured her.

  Cynthia studied Mal and Luka’s faces wordlessly. Then she nodded and stood up.

  “I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t. You guys be careful. He’s got friends.”

  “We know. Cynthia, you need anything, you have any problems, you call me right away, okay? Day or night,” Mal told her with emphasis.

  “No offense, but I kind of hope I never have to see either of you again. Enjoyed the workout,” Cynthia said as she walked away, quickly, her perky manner returned as she smiled and waved to the instructor who had just entered the snack room.

  Luka looked at Mal, who had opened the folder already, and was looking carefully through several pages.

  She looked up at him. “Luka. Shit. We got him. This stuff is gold.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Fucking A.

  Mal grinned. “Now, all I gotta do is make this work.” She held up her cell phone. “And post these pics on Facebook.”

  Luka glanced at the photo she displayed of him in the hideous yoga pants, doing God-knew-what kind of pose. He winced. “Aw, Mal, you beyatch. Don’t do it, I’ll never live it down.”

  “Sorry, lady, but this one is gold, too.”