We stopped in a not-so-good neighborhood. The second Luke cut his lights, my door was thrown open. I jumped and twisted in my seat.

“Calm, Law,” the man said and since Luke didn’t shoot him or anything I figured he was one of the good guys.

He was Vance’s height, bald, lean and wiry and from what I could tell in the dark, black with light skin. He had a killer tattoo slithering up his neck from the collar of his black tee.

“I like your tattoo,” I told him.

“You haven’t seen it all yet,” he told me.

He’d said “yet”.

Hmm.

“Do all of you guys flirt rather than just talking like normal people?” I asked who I assumed was Ike.

“Mace doesn’t flirt,” Ike told me, stepping out of my way so I could get down.

“I don’t flirt either,” Luke added coming around the back of the Explorer, attaching a fully loaded gunbelt to his hips.

I whirled on Luke. “You’re the King of Flirt! You flirt all the time.”

Luke’s eyes sliced to me. I could feel them hot on me in the dark.

“Maybe you wanna call Warren. Tell him we’re waitin’ out here to take him down. Give him a good chance to load up his gun so he can blow our brains out?” Luke asked after my outburst.

Okay, so maybe I was a bit loud.

“Sorry,” I whispered.

I looked at Ike. Ike was smiling.

Damn.

I was screwing up my first takedown.

“He’s got a couple women in there and Barry White’s playin’. He can’t hear a thing,” Ike informed us.

Ike and Luke looked at each other. All of a sudden they seemed pleased about something.

Then Luke’s eyes cut back to me. “Keep quiet and stay behind me,” he ordered. I nodded and he handed me a taser. “We try for alive when we’re bringin’ ‘em in. Dead is a last resort,” Luke went on.

Yikes.

I nodded again. Then we moved in.

As we approached a house a couple doors down from where Luke parked, Ike disappeared, vanishing into the night. Luke walked right up to the door, bold as brass and something about the way he did it was way, f**king, cool.

I could hear Barry White crooning inside the house.

Luke shoved me to one side of the door. I had my gun stuck into my waistband at my left hip and the taser in my hand.

Luke pounded on the door and shouted, “Bond enforcement.”

Then after waiting about three seconds, Luke put the sole of a boot to the door by the handle and it popped open. Then he disappeared inside. I followed him.

It was dark and I could barely see but Luke moved through the house liked he’d been there hundreds of times before. I kept my eyes on his back and moved behind him.

There was dim light coming from a hallway, the source of Barry White. We went down the hallway and then into a room lit with candles and lamps with scarves over them. Luke stopped just inside the door silent, still, watching.

I moved to his left to look.

“Euw!”

Yes, that was me and I said it loudly. I couldn’t help it. On the bed were two skanky, skinny women, so skinny, their ribs showed. Both needed to shampoo their hair in a major way. They were na**d and working on a big, fat, hairy, na**d white guy. Hairy as in hairy. He was covered in hair to the point that you could call it fur.

The inhabitants of the bed ceased their writhing and groaning, sucking and kissing and looked up at us.

“Bond enforcement,” Luke announced but I could tell even though my eyes were riveted to the bed in frozen horror that Luke was laughing.

Before I knew what was happening, the big, hairy, na**d white guy moved. He was fast for a big man and he came off the bed like a shot.

At me.

I didn’t have time to blink. I just lifted up my taser and shot him.

He immediately went down with a thud and I was pretty certain most of the furniture in the room jumped when he landed.

Wow.

I added a taser to my mental Zip’s Gun Emporium shopping list.

Breaking into my mental list-making, one of the na**d skanks shouted at me, “What the f**k you doin’? You can’t come in here and taser Warren. Who the f**k you think you are?”

Then she came at me, body parts jiggling, lanky hair flying.

My taser prongs were in Warren so I dropped it. She gave me the same opening as Jermaine had done, ready to scratch my eyes out. I grabbed her wrist, flipped her and she landed on her back. I heard her breath escape in a whoosh when she hit the floor.

“Aiiiiyeeeee!” the other skank screamed, coming at me too.

I hadn’t recovered from the first skank. So I planted my feet, dropped my shoulder when she got close and rolled her over my back. She flew over me, arms and legs pumping and landed on the floor.

I pulled my gun out of my waistband and trained it on them two-handed.

“Don’t move,” I ordered.

They stared, eyes wide, at my gun.

I glared back. “Stupid skanks,” I muttered under my breath.

I felt a presence beside me and I looked over at Luke.

His eyes were on the skanks. Then he looked at me and a slow smile spread on his face.

“Babe,” was all he said.

Ike moved in on my other side. He was looking at the skanks and the prone body of Warren. Then his eyes moved to Luke.

“Lee’s recruitin’. Should we get her an application?”

* * * * *

Luke told the skanks to dress Warren and without a word they did as they were told. Then Ike cuffed and shackled him. They loaded him up in Ike’s Explorer and Ike took him to the station.

Luke and I went to my house. I let us in.

My blood was still pumping at my triple takedown. I wanted to be cool about it but I was pretty f**king pleased with myself.

I switched on a lamp, dumped my blazer on the chaise and smiled at Luke.

“Want a beer?” I asked brightly.

He watched me. “Jazzed?” he asked, one side of his mouth going up in his sexy grin.

I nodded.

His eyes cut to the ratty workout bag that was still where Tex dropped it, incongruous in my fancy-ass living room.

“Tear gas,” I answered his unspoken question.

Luke looked at me again then he shook his head. “The smell?” Luke asked when he was done shaking his head.

“Burned brownies. I’m trying to teach myself to be domesticated.”

“Smells like you’re failing.”

I shrugged, still smiling at him.

He kept looking at me.

“Beer?” I asked again.

Slowly, eyes still on me, Luke’s grin faded.