She had the skill to do that, a little. Her mind knew what to do, or at least, she hoped it did.
He stepped up one more step and his head was even with hers. “You've got more guts than sense, you know that?” He asked. “I could rape you blind before those fat fucks at the doughnut shop could get here.”
“You can try.” Kerry replied, in a quiet voice, barely hearing her words over the thundering of her own heartbeat. She could feel the fear winding up in her and it was really hard to keep her breathing even.
Then the door slammed open and a moment later Mark's voice was yelling out a wordless warning, as he came barreling into the office on his way towards them.
The stranger stepped back and held his hands up. “All right, take it easy buddy.”
“Take it easy?” Kerry suddenly felt her fear turn to outrage. “You come in here and say you're going to rape me, and you want us to take it easy?”
“Get the fuck out of here!” Mark yelled, at the same time. “Who the fuck do you think you are coming in here, jackass!” He had just taken his motorcycle helmet off and was swinging it from one hand, coming up the steps like a homicidal care bear.
The door opened again, and a breathless Mayte and Maria half walked, half ran in. “Merde!” Maria yelled. “What is this? I will get the police! Mayte! Get the base ball hat and go there!”
The intruder kept his hands up, and slowly slid down to sit on the stairs. “Okay people.” He said. “Don't get all civ crazy on me. I”m not going to do anything.”
Kerry felt herself relaxing, as Mark scrambled up to stand in front of her, looking as dangerous as a thirty something nerd could. “Thanks, Mark.” She patted his shoulder. “Glad you came in early.”
“Early hell!” Mark said, catching his breath. “Dar called me. I broke like twenty red lights getting here. The damn cops are probably going to chase my ass right through that door.”
Mayte had climbed up the steps and was now standing next to Mark, and they all turned to stare at the intruder. He was sitting quietly, his hands on his knees, looking from one of them to the other.
Kerry put her hands on her hips. “You're messing with the wrong people, buddy.” She said. “We don't intimidate easily.”
“Yeah I get that.” The man said. “I thought you were just a bunch of nerds.”
“We are.” Mark said. “So you shouldn't mess with us. We can do shit like send your food stamps to Tibet.”
The man's eyebrows hiked up. “Shut up.”
“We can. And you should be glad we showed up before her SO did.” Mark continued, pointing at Kerry.
The door opened yet again, and Maria re-appeared, with two policemen behind her. “There!” She pointed. “That is him.”
The intruder sighed. “Fuck.”
“You?” The first policeman headed up the stairs, hauling a pair of handcuffs from his belt. “You stupid son of a bitch .We told you to keep your nose clean.”
“I'm just trying to protect my guys.” The intruder said, in an angry tone. “Why can't you all just leave us the fuck alone? Why do you all have to be such assholes?”
The policeman grabbed him by the arm and pulled him upright. “Because we have to enforce the law, inconvenient as it is for you. So your 'guys' can't just do what they want and you can't just go into offices and threaten people.” He yanked the man down the steps. “Sorry about this bubba, folks.” He said. “We'll take him down and get him out of your hair.” He glanced at Kerry. “ You want to press charges?”
“Absolutely.” Kerry said. “Especially since he threatened to rape me.”
The cop glared at the intruder in disgust.
“I was just trying to scare her!” The man yelled. “I wasn't gonna touch her! I could have already done it if I wanted to long as it took you to get here! Might as well have since..” He stopped as the cops and his progress was halted by Dar entering and coming to a halt right in front of them.
“Excuse us ma'am.” The second cop said, reaching around Dar to grab hold of the intruder. “We're just getting this guy out of here.”
For a moment, Dar didn't budge. She stared hard at the intruder, who met her eyes for a second, then looked away. “Thanks.” She said, in a clipped tone. “I'd like to make sure he doesn't come back so whatever you need from us, we'll do it.”
The cop nodded. “Yes ma'am, we'll put him in the car, then we'll be back to take some statements.” He maneuvered the now silent intruder out the door, his partner following him.
Dar exhaled. Then she trudged up the steps, clapping Mark on the shoulder as she came even with him. “Thanks.” She half turned. “Thanks Mayte and Maria, too.”
“Anytime, boss.” Mark wiped the sweat from his forehead. “What a way to start the morning.”
Dar reached Kerry and opened her arms, enfolding her in a hug as she bumped her backwards off the stair verge. “I'll book a later flight.” She said, as Kerry leaned against her. “Son of a bitch.”
“Dar, I will take care of that for you.” Maria patted her arm, and slipped past into her office.
“Ugh.” Kerry finally took a deep breath and released it. “My stupid fault. I left the door unlocked when I came in.” She murmured. “I feel like such a jerk.”
“Don't.” Dar bumped her further back away from the stairs as the door opened and voices started echoing through the hall again. “But bet your ass we're going to have physical security here before the end of the god damned day.” She finished that as they cleared the doorway into Kerry's office and she closed the door behind them.
Then Dar simply held onto her. “I think I'm going to throw up.” She admitted. “You scared the shit out of me.”
“Sorry.” Kerry rubbed her side gently. “Dar, I'm so sorry.” She could feel the shivering in her partner's tall body and it brought on a flood of intense shame. “So sorry.”
Dar took a breath and released it. “It's okay.” She rocked them both back and forth a little. “I'm pretty sure I left some kind of security panic behind me at the airport.” She sniffled a little. “I'd just gone through x ray when I got your text.”
“Oh boy.” Kerry winced.
“Knocked over a bunch of TSA agents, and the x ray machine, and a bunch of stanchions.” Dar agreed mournfully. “I bet I'm on some list now.”
“Dar.” Kerry rested her head against her partner's collarbone.
“But you're okay.” The taller woman said. “And believe me, that's all that matters to me right now.”
A knock came at the door, and they reluctantly parted. “Let's get the cops out of the way, then we can go tell HR to get us some big, boofy security guards.” Dar said. “You were right about that.”
“I'd much rather have been wrong.” Kerry muttered as she went to the door and opened it. “Stupid jerk.” She exhaled. “Hi, officers. C'mon in.”
The cops came in, and one of them took out a pad. “Sorry about that, ma'am. We've been having a lot of problems with these guys lately.”
“Yeah, we've seen them around a lot.” Kerry said. “Is that guy one of their old captains or something? He seemed to be responsible for them.”
“That guy?” The cop snorted softly. “Lady, he's a priest.”
Both Dar and Kerry swung around and stared at him in unabashed disbelief. “Uh... what?” Kerry managed to get out. “That guy?”
“Well, he's a chaplain, from the service or something.” The cop acknowledged. “That's what he says anyway, he was over in the Middle East with them, and I guess he's working at the halfway house down the road trying to get them some help or something.”
“I think he's the one who needs help.” Dar said. “Is he nuts?”
The cop shrugged. “Hard to say. You know, those guys had to deal with a bunch of stuff over there, not real nice stuff. My brother went through that. It's tough. They come back and no one gives a damn, you know?”