SIUBlues5

Rachel adjusted the small holster at her ankle, then pulled her pants leg down sharply over it to make sure that it would be concealed. She was tucking her t-shirt into her thinly padded pants when she heard Nash in the communal room of the hotel suite talking with Harvey. They had agreed to leave from the hotel for the meeting with Sinclair just in case his people were watching. DEA and vigilante gunmen aside, they had a job to do.

Rachel looked at herself in the vanity mirror. Dressed from head to toe in black with her dark hair pulled back severely, gave her an ordinary appearance. Her high cheek bones made her face look oddly thin. There was nothing particularly striking about her features except for the deep brown of her eyes.

The impartial inventory of her features was routine. It was last minute ritual to focus herself. She was nervous and it helped her to calm down. She couldn’t afford to have her instincts clouded by fear. That was how good cops became dead cops. She watched herself take a deep breath and expend it slowly.

Time for work.

Grabbing her jacket and helmet, she joined Nash and Harvey as well as three other undercover officers waiting to start for the meeting with Sinclair. Harvey was zipping up a jacket identical to hers while he continued to discuss strategy with Nash. “I want to two of you in position before we get there,” Nash said to Harvey, casting a glance in Rachel’s direction to include her in the conversation. “We will try to stall as long as we can, but Sinclair will get suspicious of we take too long.”

“Don’t worry Nash,” Harvey assured him. “We’ll be ready when you get there.”

Rachel set her things down, then took a moment to adjust the holster at the small of her back before slipping on two shoulder holsters. She felt like she was playing the part of Rambo with so much body armor and hardware. Harvey looked like her twin. Contingency after contingency was discussed and prepared for. They were ready.

Unfortunately, they still didn’t have a location. Sinclair had insisted that he would deliver the directions to Nash via cell phone while in route to protect himself. Nash had tried to argue, but that was one point that Sinclair wouldn’t budge on. He wanted to avoid another encounter with the shooter.

Nash looked to each of his people around the room. They were all good people. He hoped that he wouldn’t be losing any of them that night. “No doubt Sinclair is going to be extremely jumpy so I want everyone in there with cool heads. No one jumps the gun on this one. I want everyone monitoring the play-by-play as we go into this. As soon as we get the location, we will stall as long as possible to give everyone a chance to get into place. As soon as we’re there, Hanson in S.W.A.T. is going to be giving us the highlights.”

Nash turned back to Harvey and Rachel. “Sinclair’s men will probably already be there so keep your heads down and your eyes and ears open. I want to stay one step ahead of Sinclair’s men. Maybe we will even get lucky and get Bixby in the mix.”

As everyone started filing out of the suite, Rachel and Harvey remained motionless, their eyes locked. There wouldn’t be time for words between them. The look alone had to express the hodgepodge of emotions that assaulted during such and operation. Love, fear, regret, longing, hope, they were all there in the intense exchange. Even though their gaze only lasted a moment, everything they couldn’t say was expressed.

The addition of a motorcycle into the plan had been a last minute one. They had to make sure that someone arrived to the rendezvous ahead of Nash for backup. Rachel had been surprised to learn that Harvey could ride, then she vaguely recalled him riding dirt bikes with Evan on occasion.

She was glad that she was riding with Harvey on the motorcycle. Even though she couldn’t speak through their helmet intercom without everyone on the bust hearing them, she was able to wrap her arms around him. She said a silent prayer that it wouldn’t be for the last time.

Harvey grasped her hand at his chest and held it for a long moment as Nash’s car and the secondary security car pulled out of the hotel garage. Then, with a small bark of the tires, they followed the cars out onto the street.

Harvey held back, looking for familiar cars along the route, while Nash relayed directions from Sinclair from his cell phone to the wire in his lapel. They were fairly certain that Sinclair would have someone watching the route to assure themselves that there were only the two cars. Without a definite destination, the S.W.A.T. team as well as the SIU was hard pressed to arrange additional cover. But it didn’t take long for Nash to deduce where the warehouse was located after a few turns.

Harvey turned off as Nash’s car and the security car drove straight ahead, gunning the motor bike into high gear to reach the isolated warehouse well ahead of them. He knew that Hanson’s team would be doing the same, hoping to be set up securely before the others arrived.

As they entered the industrial park, Harvey hugged the shadows, coasting as much as possible to keep the noise of the bike below that of a near-by expressway. They were lucky. Several passing motorists blared their horns at some unknown trespass so the sound of the bike wasn’t overheard bouncing off of the metal buildings.

He made his way around the perimeter of the site and came to a stop in a narrow alley. He could see one of Sinclair’s men waiting by the doorway and he gestured to Rachel who nodded in return. They chuckled when they heard Nash over the com link, giving Agent Lombardy a call just as they were pulling into the site. They were in place as promised just as Nash’s car pulled up to the warehouse, the two men waiting outside rolled the large delivery entrance up to expose the limousine waiting inside.

The classic BMW with Nash inside moved in nose to nose with Sinclair’s limousine. The second car only drove part way in so that the door to the warehouse could not be closed again, giving the backup teams a clear view of the proceedings. Nash waited for the two men in the security car to get out and walked to either side of his. Again, they waited for Sinclair to exit his limo, then one of the men opened the car door for Nash.

The entire scene was nothing more than a show, a silent power struggle, with both parties letting the other know that they were protected. It all depended on who put on the better show as to who would be walking out of that kind of bust. Tension was high on both sides from Bixby’s grand entrance and Evan’s untimely death. Every step was carefully weighed. If someone moved too soon, the entire group inside could be lost in the crossfire. Timing was everything

Rachel slid back slightly on the motorcycle seat to be able to remove her guns from her shoulder holsters, then she moved back up, hugging Harvey’s hips between her thighs. She had to secure herself the best she could in case Harvey made a sudden leap on the motorcycle, but it was hard not to be distracted by the close contact.

She forced herself to focus on Hanson’s voice coming over the intercom regularly, updating everyone on the seen and unseen. Two men had been apprehended circling around the warehouse carrying automatic weapons. That let them all know just how serious things were going to get. Even one automatic weapon in the conflict would multiply the chances of casualties.

Everyone could hear the conversation over the bugging equipment relayed through their headsets. Edward Sinclair sounded so smug as he revealed a few of the secrets of how he had managed to sell drugs across the country with the help of the internet auction site. Nash drew out as many details as he could get, playing the part of the fascinated buyer, and Sinclair was more than willing to boast about his accomplishments.

“I have a proposition for you, Mr. Malone,” Sinclair said with a knowing smile. He was about to offer the world. “I will be in need of a transportation company. For now, only nationally, but possibly internationally in the very near future.”

“Bubba, there’s already a company like that,” Nash shot back. “It’s called Federal Express.” He wasn’t going to assume anything. He wanted Sinclair to expose as much of his operation as possible.

“I was thinking of something a little more discrete and more heavily armed,” Sinclair returned in all seriousness. “I am just about to make a deal that will give me unlimited access to stock. I’ll be needing as many transports as possible.”

Nash glanced around at the people in the warehouse, noting that all of his men were exactly where they were suppose to be. Everyone was covered with the exception of Griggs. Nash gave him a long look as he leaned nonchalantly against Sinclair’s limousine. “Okay, you’ve piqued my curiosity. What’s the....”

Nash couldn’t believe his eyes. His mouth dropped open and he took an involuntary step closer when he saw Griggs take a bullet right in the center of his forehead. There had been no noise with the exception of the death grunt from Griggs before he hit the floor. Then all hell broke loose.

“Going down,” were the last words spoken over the intercom before everything erupted.

Shots rang out from inside the warehouse. Harvey and Rachel saw everyone scatter and Griggs body was laying on the smooth concrete. Their eyes immediately began scanning the rooftops. Only Bixby would have taken out Griggs with a single shot, throwing everyone else into a blind fire fight while diving for cover.

“I don’t see him” Rachel told Harvey and the motorcycle immediately jumped into action. Harvey took them down the center of the warehouse with Rachel alternating fire from left to right, clearing a path for their people to get to safety. She managed to take down two suspects and saw several others dive for cover.

Harvey spun the bike around once they reached the other side and Rachel let the momentum toss her off to the side. She gave Harvey a nod to let him know she was all right, then crouched and ran back to the warehouse while Harvey created a distraction by taking the motorcycle through a second time.

A loud crash resounded through the metal building as S.W.A.T. and SIU teams alike flooded the bay. False walls dropped and window covers were ripped from their hinges as the officers entered with expertise. Men clothed in black dropped from the ceiling on mountain climber’s rigging secured to the metal beams above. Within seconds, the gunfire halted. The officers yelled for weapons to be dropped and then began taking people into custody.

Rachel remained in her position next to the building and was impressed with the efficiency she witnessed. Once she was certain that she wouldn’t be needed, she turned her attention to the surrounding area. Bixby was still out there.

“What are you doing Rachel?” Harvey asked softly when she remained hidden at the opposite end of the warehouse, but he knew that she couldn’t hear him over the din of officers yelling into their intercoms. He knew exactly where her thoughts had turned, to Bixby, but he wasn’t sure if she was just being cautious of if she had actually seen someone. He eased the motorcycle into a position where he could get a better view of the rooftops, then he watched as well.

He saw Rachel move before he saw the figure that she was after. He was making his way across the rooftops and Rachel was dashing between the buildings in the same direction. The motorcycle jumped back into action as Harvey hurried to the other side. As he slid to a stop, Rachel had just made the corner. The commotion at the other end of their intercoms suddenly went silent and reports began once more. The spotters were tracking Bixby.

Rachel ran full tilt toward Harvey, leaping onto the back of the motorcycle and holding on for dear life as they rapidly built up speed. Somehow Bixby had managed to get across two warehouses and down to the back parking lot without a single sniper getting a shot off at him. The thought had barely entered Harvey’s mind when he discovered the reason why the man in position hadn’t fired.

“Hanson is dead,” came the report and they had their answer. Bixby had taken out their primary spotter and used his roost to take out Griggs. In all of the commotion, no one had noticed that Hanson’s reports had ended abruptly just before Griggs died.

“Position!” Harvey said sternly into the microphone to get the attention back to the job at hand when several officers started speaking at the news. They had lost another friend, but they had to stay focused. The spotters were the only hope they had of getting to Bixby before he got away and he could barely hear them over the unnecessary chatter.

“He’s headed toward the back fence through the parking lot,” the authoritative voice came back and Harvey gunned the engine in pursuit. The com chatter stilled as alternating S.W.A.T. team snipers reported in. “He still has the rifle with him.”

“We’ve got two squads heading for the back now,” a second voice cut in.

“Can you take him Cutter?” the first voice asked the man he knew to be the closest.

“Can’t make him out,” was the immediate response. “He ducked behind a tractor trailer.”

“Should be coming up on your left any second Leek,” the first voice warned Harvey.

“He has backtracked!” Cutter yelled out. “He’s gone sniper. He’s ready to fire!”

Harvey reacted instantly, but it was too late. He felt Rachel fly off the back of the motorcycle just as he was laying it down. He rolled behind the bike which was sending up showers of sparks as metal ground into the pavement. The protective padding of his suit had saved him from all but minor cuts and scrapes.

Once he was able to stop himself, his eyes immediately locked on Rachel’s writhing body several yards away. She was nearly invisible in the darkness, but he could make out her silhouette each time she moved. Over the intercom, he could hear her gasping for breath. She had taken one in the chest.

“I need cover fire!” Harvey ordered and was on his feet running toward Rachel a second later as several men opened fire at once. She held her arm up to him and their hands locked onto each other’s wrists. Without hesitation, he drug her roughly across the ground until he was sure they were out of target range. He heard her small cry of pain and knew that was all that she could manage as she fought for air. Once safe, he jerked his helmet off. “Talk to me Rachel,” he ordered, as he stripped her helmet off as well, but she couldn’t.

Rachel fought with her jacket, trying to loosen it. Harvey had it open in an instant and closed his eyes in grateful thanks when he saw that her body armor had stopped the bullet. He grabbed the side of the vest and pulled it away from her chest and heard her take in the first of several small gasps. “Thanks God,” he whispered and pulled her in tight for a brief second before leaning her back against his leg so that she could breath easier.

Harvey turned to see a wave of officers streaming out from the warehouse and the squad cars circling outside the fence. He watched Nash dole out several instructions, then their captain was at his side. “Are you two okay?” His eyes were focused on Rachel.

“She took a hit in the chest. Body armor got it,” Harvey informed him.

The relief on his face was visible for a fraction of a second as he put his hand on Harvey’s shoulder. Nash turned to see his men efficiently combing the area and shook his head. “It looks like Bixby gave us the slip.”

“Sinclair?” Rachel whispered.

“We got him,” Nash assured her. “But Griggs is dead.”

“That means Bixby is history.” Harvey returned.

“Not necessarily. Don’t forget Bixby is suppose to be after Sinclair as well.”

“It wouldn’t bother me too much if Bixby was able to finish his job before we catch him.”

Rachel’s eyes flew up to Harvey’s face. That was an unusual remark coming from him. She knew that he was still hurting over Evan’s death and seeing her shot had only served to remind him. Although they were both relatively unharmed, his anger was simmering on the surface. Rachel hardly recognized him. There was more than anger or concern for her in the lines of his face. In that moment, she’s glad that she wasn’t expected to speak because she wouldn’t know what to say.

* * *

Rachel gave Harvey a smile as he sat down on the edge of her bed. “You don’t have to stay here, you know,” she reminded him needlessly.

“The doctor said you have a mild concussion. You need to have someone with you so stop arguing with me.” He forced a smile on his face as he watched her shift her pillows around to be more comfortable. “If you need anything, I’m right here.”

“The only thing I need,” she teased, patting the other side of the bed. “Is you, right here.” Her breath caught in her throat when she saw him flinch, then her hand darted out to catch his when he stood. “Talk to me, Harvey,” she ordered, similar to the way he had ordered her earlier that night.

Harvey shook his head, his eyes glittering against the light of the lamp. He kept the smile firmly on his face as he stared down at her. How could he tell her that he wasn’t any good for her? How could she not see that it was his fault that she was shot? How could she even stomach having him around? He had to swallow passed the lump that had formed in his throat before he was finally able to speak. “I thought I lost you tonight,” he said softly.

He didn’t need to say anymore. She knew exactly where his head was. Memories jumping from Evan to her. She knew that he was probably blaming himself too. Facing mortality through your closest friends twice in one week was too much for anyone to bear. “I was pretty scared myself,” she admitted, then smiled. “But I knew that you would be there to catch me when I fell.” When he started to disagree, she interrupted quickly. “Just like you are now.”

He could not hold her gaze. He didn’t know what was right any longer or if he really could be depended upon. The swirl of images and emotions were driving him insane. The only thing he knew for certain was that he would do anything for Rachel. He would die for her. Part of him had died when he realized that she had been shot and that he had done nothing to protect her even though she was sitting directly behind him. He heard her shift on the bed and looked over to see that she had moved away, but continued to hold his hand.

“Please stay here with me,” she said softly. “I just want to hold you tonight.”

He couldn’t think any longer. Somehow that seemed like the right thing to do. He didn’t need to think about anything at that moment. He simply laid down on the bed and pulled her into his arms. Rachel dropped her head down to his chest, the length of her body curling up along his. That was what they both needed. The simple comfort of another living being next to them while they slept.

* * *

As his grandfather wandered leisurely through the oriental garden at the center of the estate, Samuel approached him with humility. “Please forgive me, Grandfather. I’m afraid that your trip to the United States has been for nothing.”

“Something has happened?” Chon asked, continuing to walk so that his grandson would not remain bowed before him.

“Mr. Sinclair was arrested,” he answered succinctly.

He nodded once, his stomach beginning to churn. He already knew how that evening was going to end. “And the auction company?”

“Some material we were able to destroy, but the rest was seized. Everything was lost.”

He remained silent for a long moment. He knew his nightmare was only just beginning. He knew that she would be there. “You were wise to remain a silent partner,” he complimented him.

Samuel’s eyes shot up to his grandfather’s face then. He had been expecting reprisal. From what his father had told him, Yong Cha Chon was an unforgiving man. Samuel was shocked to receive the compliment. “I am sorry that you had to leave home, Grandfather. I know how much you miss it when you are not there.”

Yong gave him a sideways look. “I am not sorry to be with you, Samuel.” When his grandson started to apologize once again, he cut him off with a wave of his hand. “All is not lost.” He looked at Samuel encouragingly. “There are other people we can work with to insure the same ends.” The light in his grandson’s eyes was a joy and a heart ache simultaneously. If only his son could have looked at him so adoringly.

To hide his smile, Yong turned his head to admire a colorful flower in a mass of greenery. “Do you know who the people were that arrested Sinclair?” He didn’t need to hide a smile now. He knew who was behind this. She had always been behind the major problems in his life.

“The officer in charge was Captain Nash Bridges. There is little else I can tell you at the moment, but I will have the name of the primary players for you by morning.”

Yong didn’t need to see the list of names to know one that would be on it.

* * *

Harvey stuffed a stack of newspaper wrapped dishes down into a box and glanced around to make sure that he had gotten everything out of the kitchen. Packing up Evan’s apartment before the movers arrived wasn’t Harvey’s first choice of things to do on a rare day off, but he thought that it might be the closure that he needed to get his head on straight again. Everything was so intense that he felt like he needed a mundane task just to keep from thinking, but it didn’t help. He continually came across mementoes of Evan’s that would bring back a flood of memories.

Thoughts of Evan simply reinforced how he was feeling. The job that he had been so proud of, the detective slot that he had worked so hard for, suddenly seemed pointless. There was one upside though. Working in law enforcement had given him some of the best friends in the world. It was easy to learn a lot about a person when in a dangerous situation. Honor and bravery were demonstrated every day. And the people he was closest to were the ones he respected the most.

Harvey stared down into an old photograph of Evan and him after they had received a distinguished service award. He picked it up and rubbed his hand across the dusty glass, then smiled at the gray-brown dust on his hand. “You never were much of a housekeeper,” he said to the image of Evan, then he rubbed off the rest of the dust with a corner of his shirt.

He stared back into the photograph and let his mind drift to the day they had received the commendation two years earlier. It had been a proud day for them. Nash had even arranged a party after the ceremony at the same restaurant, ironically, that they had used to say their farewells to Evan. Harvey had said good-bye to too many friend over the years. How could he watch another one die?

Setting the picture aside, he tried to shake the very thoughts he was there to avoid. “I must be a glutton for punishment,” he mumbled to himself as he hefted up a box of video cassettes that he had to edited for content and dropped it on the floor next to the last remaining shelves of tapes.

“I’d have to agree with that,” Rachel said as she stood in the open doorway.

“Hey Rach,” he greeted her as he made his way around the boxes to her side. He was surprised for a second that she had taken the time to track him down, then a little peeved when he remembered that she shouldn’t be out at all. “What are you doing here? Better yet, why aren’t you home in bed?”

“You know, Nash said those same words to me less than an hour ago. The two of you are spending way to much time together.”

“You went into the office?” That had surprised him. She should be so sore that she wouldn’t want to get out of bed, let alone go into work.

“I had a program running that I needed to shut down and I forgot about it last night.”

“Someone in the office couldn’t do that for you?” he asked suspiciously.

“No it was one of mine. I had to see the screen to shut it down.” As she glanced around, she saw boxes stacked up one on top of the other. As far as she could tell, Evan’s entire apartment was ready to move. “Looks like you’ve been busy,” she said with a questioning tone.

“And you look like you need to sit down,” he countered. Her face was pale and he could see a light sheen across her forehead. He knew that she was hurting. “Here, have a seat,” he stated rather than asked as he moved a box off of one of the chairs in the living room, then grasped her arm to guide her over. “You didn’t take any of that medication, did you?” He knew that Rachel had an aversion to pills and could imagine her pain medication still sitting in the bag on her kitchen table. Unopened.

“How long have you been here?”

He shook his head. It was going to be one of those days. “You’re avoiding my question.”

“And you’re ignoring mine,” she returned. She couldn’t remember a time when Harvey was so evasive. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Didn’t Nash tell you?” he asked, but didn’t wait for a response before kneeling once more to sort the video tapes. “Mr. Cortez is sending movers over here today to get the last of Evan’s stuff.” He didn’t know how he was going to stop thinking about the recent past when he knew that Rachel was there to talk about it. He was fighting a losing battle and he knew it.

She waited for him to continue, but he seemed intent on reading the labels on the tapes. “Yeah, but that doesn’t explain what you are doing here,” she said slowly. “The movers can handle packing, Harvey. It’s their job.”

He sighed heavily as he scratched his head, then looked back up at her. “It’s just something that I needed to do,” he stated succinctly. It was a simple explanation, but couldn’t keep the rising irritation from his voice. It wasn’t a topic he cared to broach at that moment and he hoped that she would understand that. He still had too much to sort out in his mind. “Besides,” he added, trying to tone down his attitude a bit. “Evan had some tapes that I thought would be best his folks didn’t see. His mother in particular, if you know what I mean.”

She watched him tuck several more tapes away, then glanced around the apartment. Everything had been packed, not just videos. There was no doubt that he had been there all morning, but she still didn’t understand why. She couldn’t understand why he wasn’t talking either. “Looks like he had a lot of tapes,” she said sarcastically, hoping to get a similar response from him.

“Let’s not do this, Rachel,” he said, his anger rising again. “This was something that I needed to do. Let’s just leave it at that.”

“What are you getting angry at me for?” she asked defensively and knew that the words were a mistake before they even left her mouth. She was inviting a fight and Harvey jumped on it.

“Why do you have to analyze everything?” he shot back. “I just said that it was something I needed to do. Why can’t it be just that? What difference does it make if I just pack up the videos or the entire apartment? I had nothing to do anyway.”

“So being with me is nothing,” she snapped back, then turned her face away and grimaced. She had intended to be a supportive friend when she arrived there, but she couldn’t stop herself from sounding like a jealous girlfriend.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” he amended quickly. Harvey closed his eyes and took a deep breath to try to calm down. It wasn’t Rachel’s problem. The last thing that he wanted was to be dumping it on her and yet, there he was unloading the anger at every opportunity.

“Look, I didn’t come over here to pick a fight with you.” Rachel thought it best to defuse the situation as quickly as possible. “I came over because I was concerned about you. A lot of heavy stuff has been coming down on your head lately and I wanted to make sure you were okay. When Nash told me that you were over here, it didn’t take a detective to put two and two together.” She saw him smile, then, and knew that he would be okay. Now what she had to accept was that he may want to work through what was bothering him on his own. “Do you need some help?” she asked, gesturing to the room at large, but hoping that he would get the underlying meaning. She may have to accept that he didn’t want to talk, but there was no reason why she couldn’t nudge him a bit.

“Oh no,” he shook his head with purpose as he stood back up and gestured for her to do the same. “There’s no way I’m letting you move stuff around here when you’re suppose to be in bed.”

“I won’t lift anything heavy,” she suggested half-heartedly as he ushered her back to the open door. The last thing that she wanted to do on her day off was pack. “I’ll just tape the boxes.”

“No, no,” he said repeatedly, continuing to shake his head.

“Maybe I could write down what’s in them.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “And spoil the surprise, not to mention the hide and seek for weeks afterwards? I don’t think so.”

They were watching each other, not where they were going. They nearly ran into the man standing in the doorway before seeing him and backing up quickly. Harvey closed his eyes and shook his head as he tried to stop the mumbled curse that escaped. The last person he was in the mood for was Evan’s brother.

“Leek.” Brett Cortez said his name with distaste as he stood in the open doorway. His eyes took in the packed boxes and the hurried exit of the couple, then drew his own conclusions. “I might have guessed you would be here rifling through my brother’s things, but have you moved up to manhandling women now?”

“Great,” Harvey whispered under his breath, then forced a smile on his face. “So good to see you again, Brett,” he said sarcastically. “Have you met Rachel McCabe?” He was suddenly glad that she had decided to stop by after all. She could act as a buffer. He wasn’t sure how much of Brett he could handle before completely losing it.

“Miss McCabe,” Brett said with a smile as he reached out to shake her hand. “My brother told me a lot about you. Was even hoping to set us up one day, I believe. I’m sorry I missed the opportunity, but we can always correct that.”

“What are you doing here, Brett?” Harvey asked abruptly, shifting slightly so that Rachel was just behind him, then he folded his arms over his chest. He was already ticked off at Brett, he certainly wasn’t going to stand there and watch him hit on his girlfriend.

His expression returned to pure distain as his eyes transferred from Rachel to Harvey. “Unlike you, detective, I have a legal right to be here as executor of my brother’s estate.”

Harvey’s eyes narrowed as he studied his face. He had just spoken to Mr. Cortez the day before. “Your dad didn’t say anything about you coming out here.”

“He probably wanted me to catch you in the act, detective, and it looks like he was right. From what I can see, you have moved up from coward to thief.”

Rachel could see Harvey going for the throat before he even moved so she jumped in between the two men quickly. Personally, she would love to see Harvey get the chance to pound some sense into Evan’s older brother. From the stories that Evan had told her, his law practice was in danger of being investigated because of his shady practices. But that was not the time or the place. Harvey had Brett’s lapels clenched between his fists while Brett mocked him repeatedly for finally being a man. All the while, Rachel is being jostled between them.

“Stop it both of you!” she ordered like a mother to misbehaving children. She was grateful when they finally stopped jerking her back and forth between them even though they still didn’t release each other. She was starting to feel a little off balance.

Rachel turned her attention to Harvey first, hoping to appeal to his rational side. “You don’t want to do this, Harvey. Brett is Evan’s brother and you don’t want that on your conscious.”

“What conscious?” Brett mocked, starting the jostling again like two boys on a playground.

“And you,” she said harshly to still them once more, then switched her attention to Colin’s brother. “You’ve got some nerve coming in here and talking to him like that when the most dangerous thing you’ve got in your life is wondering whether or not your wife will find out about your numerous affairs.” She leaned a little closer to him when he gave her a shocked expression. “Evan told me a lot about you too.”

Harvey let his hands drop from Brett’s coat. Rachel had scored a nice one for the team. Brett pictured himself the original Casanova, able to charm any woman he pleased, and Rachel had shot him down before he even got out of the gate. If that wasn’t enough to curb the quarrel, Harvey’s anger evaporated completely when he saw Rachel put a hand to her forehead.

“I don’t think I should have done that,” she said as her knees started to buckle. Rachel was caught between the two men once more as they lowered her to the floor.

“Rachel!” Harvey said her name loudly. She wasn’t totally out, but she was definitely woozy. “Stay with me, hon.”

“Should I call an ambulance?” Brett asked nervously, looking to Harvey for guidance in a situation totally out of his control.

“No, not yet. Give her a minute. A glass of water would be great, though.” Harvey had dropped back into cop mode without a second thought. “Rachel, hon. Come on now.” He knew that her faint was due to the spill she had the day before and he wanted to give her a moment to recover before rushing her to the hospital. “Rach?”

Rachel’s head bobbed and she knew that she was down. Her eyes didn’t want to focus for a long moment, but Harvey calling her name repeatedly gave her something to concentrate on. “That was not fun,” she joked as her head finally began to clear. She tried to sit up on her own, but Harvey held her still with little effort.

“And that’s why you’re suppose to be home in bed,” Harvey said to conclude his argument for her leaving. When she continued to struggle her way up, he relented and helped her to the chair she had abandoned. “I’m calling your doctor and telling him what a pain in the butt you’re being.”

“Oh good. Gang up on me.” She leaned back in the chair and breathed a sigh of relief. Fainting hadn’t been her first choice for a way to end the fight between Harvey and Brett, but it seemed to have worked. She was even surprised when Brett handed her a glass of water.

“Are you okay, Miss McCabe?” he asked with concern.

“I’m fine,” she assured him.

“If you’re so fine, then why is he calling the hospital?” he asked, his head nodding in Harvey’s direction so that he wouldn’t have to say his name.

“It’s nothing.” She shifted uncomfortably. The last thing that she wanted to do was to give Brett any more ammunition against Harvey so telling him what had happened the night before was out of the question.

When she looked about to topple out of the chair, Brett grabbed her side to steady her. He was startled when she actually winced. “That doesn’t look like nothing,” he stated matter-of-factly.

“I just had a little accident yesterday. It’s nothing. I’ll be fine.”

“An accident, huh.” Brett was an intelligent man and it didn’t take him long to figure out that Rachel was protecting Harvey. “Was it anything like the accident my brother had while he was with him?”

“You’re wrong about that,” Rachel asserted. “Harvey would have traded his life for Evan’s if he could have.”

Brett smiled sadly. “It’s a shame he never had the opportunity, then, isn’t it?” When she looked as if she was going to leap to Harvey’s defense again, he cut her off. “So what happened? Did he flip a car? Knock you down a flight of steps? Or did he get you shot too?”

“Back off, Brett,” she warned him softly. “I stopped him from killing you once, but I doubt that a faint would stop him a second time.”

He couldn’t miss the sudden defense as an admission. “You were shot,” he said loudly enough to be sure that Harvey heard him in the next room. “So why aren’t you in the hospital? Or did you know what a loser this guy is and wear a bullet proof vest?”

“Brett, I know you’re still grieving for your brother, but maybe you had better get your facts straight before you go shooting your mouth off. Harvey is one of the best cops I’ve ever worked with and your brother thought so too.”

“Oh yeah? And look where it got him,” he returned viciously.

“Okay Rachel, we’re out of here,” Harvey said without preamble as he came back into the room. He had heard enough of the conversation to know where it was going and Rachel was right. He didn’t want to get into a knock-down-drag-out with Evan’s brother so the best solution was to leave.

Rachel stood and took a couple of steps toward the door. She knew the sooner they got out of there the better. Harvey was on enough of a guilt trip without Brett rubbing salt in the wound. She stopped when she realized that Harvey was heading in the opposite direction. He grabbed up the photograph of Evan with him showing off their commendation medals and held it up in Brett’s face for a long moment. “This is mine,” he said succinctly, then gestured down to the box of tapes he had been sorting. “I suggest you do something with those so that your mother doesn’t get them.” Duty done, he fixed Brett with a hard look. “Let’s hope this is the last time we cross paths.” Then, without another word, he turned and wrapped his arm around Rachel’s waist, gently guiding her out.

“Keep that bullet proof vest handy, Miss McCabe.” Brett could not resist one last jab. “It seems to be a necessity around Leek.”

* * *

Chon looked at the file, then tossed it down onto his desk, scattering several black and white photographs of the people working at the SIU. “These are the people responsible for Sinclair’s arrest?” he asked his second.

“Yes sir,” Ling returned succinctly. Everything that he had discovered was in that report and he knew that his boss had absorbed most of the information in the passing glance that he had given the pages. “They are not the only ones, of course, but they are the higher ranking officers.”

He shook his head. Why wasn’t he surprised to see that McCabe as involved? She had been a splinter under his skin for far too long. “And the background on McCabe?”

“Will be finished soon, sir,” he offered weakly.

Chon showed his disapproval by giving his man a hard look. Nothing more. He knew that his people would get the information he needed, and do a thorough job, even if it took a little longer than he had hoped.

* * *