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“He’s okay,” Sandy muttered, pressing harder as the flow of blood picked up. “Don’t talk, okay? Just lie still. You’ll be okay.”

“Mika,” Irina whispered. “My sister. Someone take care…”

“Listen,” Sandy snapped, leaning over so Irina could see her face.

“Shut up. You’re making the bleeding worse. You’ll be fine. You can take care of your sister yourself. You got it?”

Irina smiled weakly. “Mitch’s girl.”

• 299 •

RADclY fFe

“You bet your ass. Now hush.” Sandy’s heart dropped when Irina’s eyes rolled back and she went very still. When she heard pounding footsteps behind her, she prayed it wasn’t one of the Russians.

“Fuck,” Watts yelled. “Fuck. Fuck.”

“Do something, will you?” Sandy screamed at him.

He already had his radio out and was shouting for EMTs. Then he disappeared into the hallway, too, leaving Sandy alone in the sudden stillness.

• 300 •

Justice for All

ChAPTER ThIRTy-TwO

Rebecca stepped over the pool of blood where Irina’s body had lain. The bitter tang of blood and cordite hung in the air and coated her throat with frustration and fury. Uniformed officers strung yellow crime scene tape over the doorways, and a police photographer and the crime scene crew, talking in hushed whispers, processed the now empty rooms.

“I’ll meet you at the car,” Rebecca said to Sloan, stopping outside the bedroom door where she had posted one of the state police.

“You need help with this?” Sloan asked.

“No, but do me a favor? Call Catherine for me. Tell her…” Rebecca grimaced. “Tell her I’ll be home as soon as I can.”

“No problem.”

The other johns had already been loaded into police vans and shipped off for booking. Her duty was to deliver the priest to a waiting squad car so he could be whisked away in anonymity. She nodded to the officer on the door. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”

The Most Reverend Joseph Thomas sat on the side of the bed, glaring at her, his hands cuffed behind his back. His unbuckled belt hung over his open fly, but he’d apparently had time to get his dick back in his pants. Too bad.

“Take these things off my wrists,” he demanded. “They’re very uncomfortable.”

“Sorry, I can’t do that until you’ve been transferred. Then you can complain to whoever will listen about anything that’s bothering you.”

She grabbed him by the elbow. “Let’s go.”

• 301 •

RADclY fFe

She escorted her special prisoner down the hallway to the service elevator and then through a long, deserted basement tunnel to the delivery entrance.

“I certainly hope this isn’t going to take the rest of the night,” he complained.

“Not much longer now.” Rebecca pushed the door open and, tightening her grip, pulled him out onto the loading dock.

Immediately, the harsh glare of television spotlights lasered in on them. A dozen voices shouted and as many arms thrust microphones toward the priest. When he tried to duck away, Rebecca forced him around toward the camera lenses.

“Is it true those girls were sex slaves?”

“How much did you pay them?”

“Were they all teenagers?”

“Does the church know of your involvement?”

“How long have you been using prostitutes?”

“Father…”

“Father…”

“Father…”

Satisfied, Rebecca dragged him through the crowd and pushed him into the rear seat of a waiting patrol car.

“You! You miserable bitch! You did this!” he screamed, his handsome face distorted with outrage and disbelief.

Rebecca braced her arm on top of the car and leaned in until they were eye to eye. “No, you did this. But you’re finished now.”

v

Ninety miles away, Kratos Zamora reached over his wife in bed and picked up the phone. He listened for half a minute and said, “Call me back on the other line.” Then he rose, careful not to wake her, and slipped out of the bedroom.

Once in his office, he took a Cuban cigar from the humidor on his desk, clipped the end, and lit it with a gold-plated lighter. Savoring the fragrant smoke, he waited for the call to come through on the disposable, and untraceable, cell.

“Where are they taking Gregor?” he asked. “Federal? Who do we have there?”

• 302 •

Justice for All

After he got the details he needed, he said, “I’ll be in touch.”

He disconnected and smoked in silence for a few moments. Then he called Talia Ballenger. When she didn’t answer, he hung up, removed the cable connection from his personal computer, and pressed several keys to initiate the program that would wipe the hard drive clean. After he finished his cigar, he pushed the intercom to the guard’s quarters.

“Vincent. Come around to the office, would you please.”

He got up and poured himself a drink, mapping out his strategy for damage control. He had learned long ago that the most powerful weapon was often the unexpected.

v

“Dell,” Sandy said in a low soothing voice, rubbing the back of Dell’s neck. “Baby, you gotta try to relax.”

“I fucked up,” Dell muttered for the tenth time, staring between her boots at the scuffed waiting room floor. “I should’ve known what he was going to do. I should’ve gone for Olik the second they came through the door. Man, I let him take her.”

“You didn’t let him do anything.” Sandy resisted the urge to shake her because she knew her head must be hurting. The two-inch gouge on her cheek wasn’t serious, but a bullet wound was a bullet wound, and it had to hurt. At least Sandy had been able to force her into letting one of the nurses in the emergency room clean it out and put some butterfly bandages on it. “You went after them. You stopped him from escaping with her. You know he would’ve killed her if he suspected she was involved. And you couldn’t know she was going to go for his gun.”

“After all this, what if she dies?” Dell searched Sandy’s eyes, desperately seeking reassurance. “It’s so fucking unfair.”

Sandy smiled softly, loving that Dell still believed that life ought to be fair. “Baby. That girl is tough. She’s not going to die. Besides, you and Watts got her flown here, didn’t you? That was the best thing you could have done. ’Cause you know Ali kicks ass in the OR.”

“That I do,” Ali said, walking up to join them. “Your friend lost a lot of blood and I had to remove a little bit of her left upper lobe, but she’s got plenty of lung tissue left. In fact, she’s doing so well, we’ll probably pull the breathing tube tonight.”

Dell grabbed Sandy’s hand. “She’ll be okay?”

• 303 •

RADclY fFe

“You know the drill. Anything could happen, but yes. I think she’ll be fine.”

“Can I see her?” Dell asked.

“She’s pretty out of it. And she won’t be able to talk to you.”

“That’s okay. Just for a minute?” Dell looked at Sandy. “Okay, babe?”

“Sure, rookie. You go see her.”

Sandy waited until Dell left with Ali, then she called Michael.

“Hey. Sloan get home?…No, we’re okay. We’ll be here for a little while longer.” She laughed, leaned back, and closed her eyes. “Nope. Haven’t changed my mind. I’ll need my GED to get into the academy, though.

Now that’s scary. You will? You’ll help?”

She waited a few seconds until her voice was steady. “Yeah, I get it. That’s what friends do.”

v

“Hey,” Dell said softly, taking Irina’s cool hand in hers. “I know you’re probably sleeping…”

Irina’s eyes opened and slowly focused on hers.

Dell swallowed hard. “I’ll be back tomorrow, but I wanted to tell you that Mika is okay. She’s in a safe house.”

Irina squeezed her fingers with surprising force.

“She’ll be there until you get out. I’ll check on her. So don’t worry, okay?”

Irina’s lids fluttered and she seemed to make a huge effort to keep them open. Dell saw the question in them.

“Olik is still in the operating room. He’s shot up pretty good. He might make it, but even if he does, he’ll be in prison for a long long time. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.” Dell leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Go to sleep now. You’re free.”

v

Catherine watched the report of the arrests on television and then fell asleep in the living room while reading through resident admission applications. She woke at the sound of the key in the front door and set

• 304 •

Justice for All

the folders aside to make room on the sofa. When Rebecca settled next to her, Catherine took her hand and leaned over to kiss her.

“You looked good on camera.”

Rebecca laughed. “Just as long as he did.”

“Are you going to get in trouble for that? You were the one who tipped them off, weren’t you?”

“The department is happy about the positive coverage, so for the moment, nobody’s asking any questions.”

“Good. Because you did the right thing.” Catherine curled up in Rebecca’s arms and rested her head on her shoulder. “I love you.”

Rebecca rubbed her cheek against Catherine’s hair. “I love you too.”

“What about the rest of it?”

“Well, the politics still have to play out, but the Russian girls are with Immigration—they’ll be okay after all the red tape is sorted. Clark has Gregor Zamora, and you never know what the feds might get out of him. We’re still processing the Russians, but if we’re lucky, we’ll get more names. And I dragged Flanagan out of bed to run a ballistics test for me.”

Hearing the tension in Rebecca’s voice, Catherine tilted her head back to study her face. Her usual sharp profile was even more rigid than usual. “What? What did you find?”

“Olik’s gun is a match for the one that killed Jimmy and Jeff.”

Catherine caught her breath. “God, Rebecca. You got Jeff’s killer.”

Rebecca held Catherine tightly. “When I drive over to Shelley Cruz’s tomorrow and tell her I caught her husband’s killer, do you think it’s going to make her pain any less?”

“I do,” Catherine said firmly. “Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But at some point she’ll be ready to face the rest of her life, and she’ll be able to do that because she will know that justice has been done.”

“It doesn’t seem like enough sometimes.”

“It’s all that we have.” Catherine placed her hand over Rebecca’s heart. “That and what we hold in here for each other.”

Rebecca kissed her. “Then I have everything I need.”

• 305 •

• 306 •

Justice for All

EPILOgUE

One Week Later

Hey, kid.” Watts clapped Dell on the shoulder as he reached for a doughnut from the box Sloan dropped into the center of the conference table. “I hear your squeeze is gonna be packing heat before long.”

Dell stared at him. “Gimme a minute while I translate caveman-speak.”

Watts laughed. “Sandy. The academy. Cop. Gun. Jesus, there’ll be no stopping her then.”

“Oh yeah,” Dell said. “Like there ever was.”

“True,” Watts said around a mouthful of jelly. He leaned back, a happy smile on his face. “Man, it feels good to be on top once in a while.”

Across from him, Jason sniggered.

“What?” Watts demanded.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.”

Sloan cut Jason a look. “Don’t tease the infirm.”

“Aww, I never get to have any fun.” Jason placed a Boston crème on a napkin next to his computer.

“It sounds like you’ve been having plenty of fun,” Sloan said.

“Don’t you have a little something to share with us all?”

Jason turned red. “I guess Sarah called you, huh?”

“About time too,” Sloan said.

“What?” Watts looked back and forth between Sloan and Jason.

“Sarah’s pregnant,” Jason said, referring to his partner.

• 307 •

RADclY fFe

After a second of silence, Dell gave a cheer.

“Nice work,” Watts said, then frowned. “So if you’re gonna be a daddy, what does that make Jasmine?”

Jason grinned. “You better ask her.”

Watts’s laughter broke off suddenly when Rebecca appeared in the doorway of the conference room. The look on her face had him sitting up straight in his chair. “Hey, Loo.”

Rebecca walked to her customary spot at the end of the table but she didn’t sit down. “I just got a call from Clark.”

Everyone stared at her. The air in the room grew heavy and still.

“At five fifteen this morning, Gregor Zamora was shanked in the breakfast line. He’s dead.”

“Holy fuck,” Watts whispered.

“At six thirty when Ali Torveau was making rounds, she found Olik with his throat cut in his bathroom.”

Dell bolted upright. “Irina!”

“Irina and Mika are fine. I just talked to the federal marshals.

They’re en route to the safe house right now. Ali said Irina was okay to travel.”

“Talia Ballenger?” Sloan asked.

“Status unknown.” Rebecca shrugged. “The concierge at her building says she’s out of the country. Maybe he’s right. Apparently she has residences on several continents.”

“What about the other Russian prisoners?” Dell asked, settling back into her seat.

“We’ve doubled the guards on them. They probably don’t know enough to be a threat to anyone important.” Rebecca pulled out a chair and sat down.

“Kratos Zamora’s doing?” Sloan asked.

“That would be my guess, yes,” Rebecca said.

“His own brother,” Jason murmured.

“What do we do?” Dell asked.

“Nothing,” Rebecca said. “The crimes will be investigated.

Someone may even be found accountable. But as to who really gave the order? We’ll never be able to prove it.”

“What’s the point, then?” Dell demanded angrily. “Everything we did. The people we put in danger. For what? Is this justice?”

“Justice is fleeting,” Rebecca said quietly. “But we did our jobs.

• 308 •

Justice for All

That’s what counts. Irina and her sister have new identities, a chance for a new life. The other girls aren’t being abused anymore. We put a big hole in the Russian operation.”

Dell stared at the table. “We’re always one step behind because we have to play by the rules and they don’t.”

“You’re absolutely right. We play by the rules, at least all the ones that matter, because if we don’t, we’re no different than them.” Rebecca looked around the table. “Anybody want out? Because this is just the lull between innings.”

Sloan looked at Jason, who nodded sharply.

“We’re in,” Sloan said.

“Fucking A,” Watts said.

“Yes ma’am,” Dell declared.

“Good. We got close to Zamora once, and we can do it again.”

Rebecca’s eyes gleamed fiercely. “And I promise you this. When this game is over, we will be the winners.”

• 309 •

About the Author

Radclyffe is a retired surgeon and full-time award-winning author-publisher with over thirty lesbian novels and anthologies in print.