Good, Serena, she thought Shoot a moth.
She left the curtains open and went back to bed, where the beam of light from outside played across her body.
As her heart slowed down, sleep began to catch up with her. She tried to stay awake, in case Jonny called again, but the harder she tried to keep her eyes open by staring at the ceiling fan, the more it hypnotized her until her eyes blinked shut.
Dreams floated in. Bad dreams. The kind where she was chased, where footsteps pounded behind her and she ran from someone invisible. She was out in the desert at night, and she could hear rattlesnakes and hawk wings and the snuffling of javelinas-and someone’s breathing in the darkness near her, measured and loud.
Something awakened her. She didn’t know what. When she glanced at the clock, she saw that an hour had passed while she was sleeping. Had she heard something? A click. Footsteps. Was it real? She glanced around the bedroom and saw a ghost, a shadow by the closed door. As she squinted and looked harder, the shadow moved. Someone was in her room.
Serena felt paralyzed and exposed, naked in the glow from outside. She started to reach for her gun again. “Who’s there?”
From the darkness, she heard Claire’s voice. “It’s only me, Serena.” Claire stepped farther into the room, where the light found her, and she was naked, too.
She came and lay next to Serena on the bed without being asked. They were both on their backs, staring at the ceiling. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t sleep,” Claire said. “Did you hear something before?”
“I assumed it was you in the hallway.”
“No, something else.”
They waited and listened. Serena knew every groan and creak in the beams of her home, but there was nothing out of place.
“It’s my imagination,” Claire said.
“Try to sleep.”
Serena turned on her side, away from Claire. She could see the time glowing on the clock. Almost two in the morning. She wondered where Jonny was and when he would be coming home to her. She wanted to close her eyes, but she was awake now, keenly aware of Claire behind her. She could hear her breathing softly; she was awake, too. A fragile silence hung between them. Waiting for the next move.
Claire shifted onto her side, too. Without an invitation, she slid her body across the bed and spooned against Serena’s back, molding her skin against her. She didn’t say anything. Serena felt Claire’s breaths in short puffs on her neck, and her blond hair tickled Serena’s ear. Claire’s nipples were erect. Serena could feel them on her back. Her skin was smooth everywhere it touched her.
“Is this allright?” Claire murmured.
“Yes.”
Claire’s arm came around Serena’s body and rested lightly on her stomach. “You feel good.”
“So do you.”
Claire’s lips brushed her neck, kissing her. It was tender and erotic. They lay there like that for several minutes, connected, not moving or talking. Serena could feel warmth, love, and desire emanating from the woman behind her.
“I’ve never felt anything like this,” Claire told her.
“It’s nice,” Serena said, closing her eyes at her lame reply. Claire was telling her she loved her. She didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“You have a beautiful body. So strong. I can feel how strong you are.”
Serena didn’t feel strong at all.
Claire’s fingers came alive and began gently brushing Serena’s stomach. She was testing, waiting to see if Serena would stop her.
“Do you want me to leave?” Claire asked.
“I don’t know what I want” Not saying yes. Not saying no.
“I think you do,” Claire said.
Her hand seemed to fly, and when it came down again, it cupped Serena’s breast. Serena tensed, and Claire stopped.
“Too fast?”
‘Too everything.”
“I can go.”
Serena felt the heat of Claire’s hand over her breast “No, don’t go”
Claire’s hand began to move downward. Serena realized she was holding her breath.
“Relax,” Claire said. “Let it happen to you.”
Claire found her way between Serena’s legs. “Do you like this?”
Serena heard herself sigh with pleasure.
There was only one thing to do next, to let Claire inside, where she would find her wet and wanting. To open her legs and let Claire bring her to climax with a few quick circular caresses. That was all it would take. That was how close she was.
She felt Claire’s middle finger explore and could hear the rumble of satisfaction in Claire’s throat as she discovered her arousal, her folds supple and damp.
Serena bit her lip and cried out.
Then she was blinded as the bedroom light went on.
FORTY-TWO
The black van rumbled down the street, slowly, as if the driver were looking for something in the adjacent buildings, but its headlights were off. Flaking paint on the side of the van read MEADOWS CLOTHING AND CASINO SUPPLY, although several of the letters were missing. It drifted to a stop across the street from Blake’s twostory apartment complex and waited there with its engine running.
Stride was squeezed into the back with eleven other cops in body armor. All men. Tension and pent-up adrenaline buzzed among them. Sawhill had made the decision to go in, and they were waiting for the green light.
He heard chatter on his headset.
“The street is clear. No civilians. We’re good to go.” That was the driver of the van.
Sawhill radioed back. “Tammy, you concur?”
Tammy was an undercover cop who had been staking out Blake’s building from a complex across the street for more than an hour. “Right, no civvies. Nice to do this in the middle of the night, guys.”
“Alonzo, any movement in back?”
“Negative.” Alonzo had slipped into position in a yard behind the building and was watching Blake’s apartment.
“Lights from inside?”
“Negative.”
“Okay, insertion team, stand by.”
In the van, they continued to wait, anxious to get started. The vests were warm, and their bodies were in close quarters.
They had caught a break shortly after the cordon was set up on the surrounding streets. A Vietnamese man returning from his job in a downtown casino had approached them about access to his apartment. It turned out that he lived in Blake’s building. He was able to identify Blake from their sketch, pinpoint the location of Blake’s apartment on the second floor at the rear of the hallway, and give them a thorough map of the thirty-unit building itself.
The warrant had arrived fifteen minutes ago. They were ready to go.
Sawhill’s voice crackled on the radio. “One more time, people. We go with four in back, Rodriguez and Holtz on the north, Han and Baker on the south. The perp’s balcony is in the dead center of the building, count three from the north or south, one two three. Got it? Be ready if he tries to go over the side.”
Several voices in the van grunted affirmatively.
“Lee, Salazar, Alexander, Odom, Stride, Angel, you’re the assault team. Down the hall quick and quiet, then Lee and Salazar, you take the door, Alexander and Odom, you go in first, Stride and Angel, you’re behind them. Remember you’ve got a potential innocent party in the room with the perp. You’ve got a living area straight in, with a bedroom and kitchen on the south-side wall.”
“Copy that,” Stride replied.
“Kwan and Davis, you’re in the rear. Kwan, you take the upstairs hallway and keep any residents inside their apartments. Davis, you’re backup in front of the building.”
“Roger.”
“We go on my signal in one minute.”
The seconds passed slowly. It gave Stride time to think about Amanda again-and Serena. He had been on a limited number of major raids in his career, mostly drug related. They were always risky.