Chapter 81

Nikki stiffened, then relaxed as she felt hands gently rest on her shoulders and begin rubbing.

“You’ve been working very hard,” came Sensei’s voice. “Perhaps you should take a break.”

Sighing, Nikki leaned back, her eyes closing as she felt energy flowing through and relaxing her muscles.

“Are you sure you don’t want to tell me what this is about?”

“You know what it’s about, Scott,” she said. “Ken is suing the department.”

“Yes,” he replied. “But that isn’t the only thing worrying you.”

Well, that was true, but it was also the proverbial straw.

“No, but it has put things over the edge.”

“Do you think it’s wrong for Ken to do this?” he asked.

“You know I don’t,” she replied. “But it didn’t help the situation any.”

“You have not given me much information on this ‘situation’,” he reminded her.

“I want to,” she replied, pulling away from the hands. “I do. But it’s complicated and probably dangerous. If anything comes down on me, I don’t want you pulled into it.”

“I am not without resources,” he said.

“I know,” she replied. “But this whole thing could get very messy. Hell, it’s already very messy but his suit made it worse. Anyway, I still don’t have anything solid on my case, but I do have a few leads, and I know it’s dangerous.”

She looked at him as he sat down and smiled at her, and her insides twisted just a bit. She wished she knew what the hell was going on with her, but she didn’t. She wished things could go back to the way they were before, but they weren’t going to. Every day she went into the precinct, went out on patrol, she felt pressure. She felt like someone was watching her. Scott was spending a lot of time with the Whitestones now, and that was making her nervous too. They were on too many hit lists. The Captain had had it in for them before the suit against the department and now it was even worse. Plus, word on the street was they were mixed up in this big war between the Tankers and the Hawkes. She’d been very careful not to ask about that. And of course, if the Captain was controlling the Tankers, and she thought he was, at least to some degree, then that complicated things even more.

She simply couldn’t afford to be associated with the Whitestones anymore -- not while all of this shit was going down. And it was well known that she and Sensei were lovers, and it was becoming well known that he was tight with the Whitestones. Eventually, someone would begin connect the dots, and once the Captain found out, he might decide to come after her, which would make it impossible to continue her investigation. So she couldn’t be seen in a relationship with someone close to the Whitestones while she was going after the Captain -- it would be too easy to turn it around on her.

“Look, Scott, I think ... I think it would probably be a good idea for me to stay at my place until I can get this thing under control,” she said. It hurt her to say it, but she’d been thinking about it for a while and it was probably the best course of action.

“I see,” he said. It could be very hard to read him, she thought, watching his handsome face for any indication of what he was thinking. There was none. Wouldn’t be, until he decided to show her. “I’m not sure that’s a very good idea. You’re alone in whatever it is you’re into with, no one to watch your back.”

Her temper rose quickly as she stood and started gathering her things.

“I don’t need anyone to watch out for me,” she said, her voice cool. “This is police business, and I shouldn’t be involving civilians.”

He rose with her, his eyes shadowed.

“Nikki, please,” he said, “You don’t want me involved and I understand that. I’ve stayed out of it, haven’t I?”

She gave a curt nod.

“And I will continue to,” he said. “You don’t have to leave.”

Indecision jabbed at her. She didn’t want to leave, not really. She wanted to stay here, with Scott. But she realized this was something she had to do for herself. And if she stayed, she knew she’d bring him into it, and that was wrong. Police were supposed to protect civilians, not put them in harm’s way, and while Scott was hardly a normal civilian, it was her responsibility to keep him safe, not the other way around.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just ... I need some time to figure this out. It’s not that I don’t want to stay with you. I love you, you know that. But I’ve already involved enough people that shouldn’t be in this, and it needs to stop. If I stay here all the time, you’ll be involved. By association, if nothing else.”

“Someday,” he replied, “you’ll be a detective. Will you leave your friends and family every time you’re working on a case?”

“This is different,” she said. “It’s not a normal case. As I said, it’s complicated.”

Sensei sighed. There were so many ways this could go, and if he wasn’t very, very careful it would end very, very badly. Worse, it could still end badly even if he was careful.

“If you need anything,” he said, “anything at all, you know you can call me. Or Ken. We will be there for you.”

She finished gathering up her things, then leaned into him, hugging him tightly. This was hard, but it was something she had to do alone. Involving other people was putting them in danger. She wished she’d thought of that before she’d asked Bill to help her out, but well ... it wasn’t like he signed his name on the programs he’d given her. There was no direct way to trace it back to him.

“I’m sorry Scott,” she said. “And I’m not leaving, leaving. I’m just going to stay at my place most nights rather than here.”

They kissed, and she gathered up the rest of her things and headed down the stairs for the door where they kissed one more time.

“Be careful,” he said.

She nodded, and walked out to her car.

Ken leaned back in his chair and wondered what tonight was going to be like. Tonight Fionna and Sensei would join the Circle. While he was certain there would be sex, he rather doubted that it would be the kind of event that the wedding last month had been. The Goddess had certainly given Ellen and Kim exactly the kind of fantasy setting they had wanted. The two of them were deliriously happy both from the actual wedding ceremony and their induction into the Circle, and it had been all Ken could do to get them to actually go on their honeymoon to Europe. They were back now, and eager for the ritual tonight, but told Ken he and his wives should really spend some time over there. Ken smiled, but couldn’t help remembering the one time he had been out of the country. It had been short and, literally, before he was born. For some reason he wasn’t eager to do it again.

This last month hadn’t been without its challenges. There had been two run-ins with the Tankers, and Ken was really starting to lose his patience. The main reason he hadn’t moved on them was because Knife had asked him to keep it together until his club was ready to take them out. If Ken waded in and took them apart, the remnants of the club would still stick around and cause trouble. If he went in with Knife and did it, then they could force the Tankers out of the area permanently. Ken had his doubts, but Knife had assured him that if the Tankers hung around after they lost, the other clubs would be all over them. Of course, the same would be true if the Hawkes lost, but Knife didn’t think that was going to happen. Ken didn’t either, especially since he was sure that Sensei and Eric would be joining the Hawkes during the confrontation.

Goddess, it was like the Wild West all over again.

Still, things were rolling along. It wouldn’t be too long now before the Founding Circle was complete, although there were still some gaping holes in it. Holes he knew would be filled, but wasn’t sure how. Lea had, of course, been exactly no help in that arena.

Ari and Kiera were still doing well. Kiera had managed to get Ari to go to one of the local parties she was expected to attend, and Ari had had a good time. Mostly. She didn’t like the attention and had been targeted by the ‘poppers’ (as Kiera called them) a few times. Kiera handled that end of things, alternately laughing off and deeply hinting the idea that she and Ari were lovers -- depending on who was giving the interview. Ari had been approached several times at the college, but was turning out to be incredibly deft at giving non-answers. Bill had blocked multiple hacking attempts as people tried to get into Ari’s email and other accounts. Since she and Kiera were spending more time here at the mansion, Ken was a bit concerned that people were going to start trying to get onto the grounds. So far that hadn’t happened, but if things kept up the way they had been, it was only a matter of time. Kiera was going to be shooting the next installment of her Legacy series sometime in November, and he knew that once that movie came out, people would track her here. Well, they’d deal with that when the time came. Kiera would almost certainly be Circle by then.

Tina seemed to be doing well at school. She was acing all her classes, had a boyfriend and girlfriend (although they were more of a trio) and three slaves. That was a lot for one girl to juggle, but she didn’t seem to be having any problems with it. The building he’d bought was a fine place for her to play with her slaves.

He’d met her lovers. They were both experiencing some of the benefits of being involved with someone in the Circle and seemed quite happy. He knew, and he thought Tina knew as well, that the boy and girl were going to want to go exclusive with each other. Or, at the very least, would decide they wanted to be boyfriend/girlfriend with Tina as a “friend with benefits”. What she was going to do with the slaves, he had no idea. Well, she and Cindy would remain together for a good long time, but the other two were not Circle, at least not yet, and definitely not this Circle. Perhaps they’d be part of the next one.

Bill had kept him apprised of some of the Tanker’s activities. They were in communication with someone near Vegas. Apparently the person or persons there were a bit smarter than the Tanker’s contact, because Bill hadn’t been able to track them down yet. He was closing in on an address where their computer was located, but not the people themselves. There was some email traffic between them that was very disturbing and Ken was starting to get a bad feeling about it. He didn’t know why or how, but he had the feeling he’d be involved at some point.

The new bar for the Hawkes had opened. Jane, Ari and of course, Annette, had gone and been part of the grand opening ceremonies. Everyone had had a lot of fun, and for once things had gone off without a hitch. Everyone had been quite well satisfied by the following morning, and Roger was as happy as a clam with the new place. It was bigger, better appointed than the other one had been, and with Ken’s help, the liquor license had come through with a minimum of fuss. That, of course had been thanks to a quick request he’d run by Costa.

Antonia had returned to full health. She’d eventually been able to go back to church, but Jane had told him that Antonia didn’t feel the same way about it anymore. She was still involved in various charities, but was apparently no longer quite as devout as she’d been. They all had dinner together several times in the last month, and Ken was surprised that they were becoming fast friends. He and Jane had even attended the fight club again, and this time Jane had fought. She hadn’t won the day -- Costa had -- but she’d put in a respectable showing. She’d held back, of course, with everyone but Sledge -- otherwise she would have beaten even Costa. Jane was showing quite the talent for the arts and being a High Priestess gave her a serious edge. Well, that and her scream and leap style.

Ken smiled as he remembered the first bout between Jane and Sledge. She’d even let him get in the first shot, and although he’d just slapped her, he’d hit her damned hard. Jane had just smiled, her lip split with blood dripping down her chin, then hit him with a front snap kick that almost dropped him right there. The fight hadn’t last very long after that. Interestingly, it wasn’t that she had more technical skills than he did, and she certainly didn’t have more experience. It was more that she was much better with what tools she did have than he was with his. That and the fact that she was stronger, faster and far more willing to take a shot to give one. Add to that her ability to quickly recover from injuries, and she was a devastating opponent. Interestingly, Sledge had stopped being so much of an ass after that. He started treating her more as one of the guys, albeit a guy he wanted to fuck. Ken rather doubted he’d ever get the chance.

Costa had been helpful in other areas as well. Ken had followed through on his threat to sue the department for harassment. He’d spoken to David and Lenny about it, and David hadn’t thought he’d be able to handle that kind of thing. To Ken’s immense surprise, he’d suggested talking to Costa about it. So he had, and discovered that Costa had a deep dislike for the Captain that went beyond the fact that Costa was involved in things he probably shouldn’t be.

“That’s not the reason,” smiled Costa, after Ken had hinted that maybe Costa might, might have stepped over the line a time or two. “I don’t mind the law trying to do its job. A society has to have rules, and people to maintain them. I have a personal dislike for him because I think he’s involved in things no cop should be involved in.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah,” said Costa. “I don’t have any concrete proof -- he’s slick and protected, and I don’t need to stir that pot. But there’s something off about him. Of course, he’s been trying to nail me for years, but we both know he can’t touch me. I don’t think he knows I know about his extracurricular activities, which is good because if I ever do find out what he’s into, I’ll take him down. Nuthin’ worse than a bad cop.”

“Really,” said Ken, smiling.

“Hey, I have a few ... contacts ... on the force,” Costa admitted. “But they’re paid to look the other way at strategic times, maybe misplace something occasionally. I have my own people for any delicate work.”

“Anyway,” he continued, “if you want to go after the department, I have some contacts that might be of use. Nothing directly connected with me of course; someone who is ‘clean’. It might not be the best idea for you to go after them using a ‘mob’ lawyer.”

Ken had laughed at that, but the next day someone had, indeed, gotten in touch with David, offering his services to help out with the lawsuit. The price had been surprisingly reasonable, something Ken suspected Costa had probably ‘suggested’.