Baxter Clare - L.A. Franco 1 - Bleeding Out by Baxter Clare

Author:Baxter Clare [Baxter Clare]
Language: spa
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594931147
Google: gAxvQgAACAAJ
Amazon: 1594931143
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2007-11-19T03:00:00+00:00

"Don't want to be human, No. Been there, done that."

They were silent for a moment as Frank's finger meandered over the desktop. The gentle motion was hypnotic in the quiet room.

Noah said almost dreamily, "Kennedy said something the other day.. .she made a crack about you, I forget what, but I busted up. I mean she was dead-on and I thought, man, she reminds me of Maggie, how she used to bust your chops all the time."

Frank stared oddly at her old partner.

"You ever thought about that? Kinda like a tomboyish Maggie? They both got that same look, you know? Just kinda happy and...glad to be alive."

For the second time that day Frank couldn't look at Noah. She nodded weakly at the floor. He pressed, "Maybe that's where she stalled you out."

Frank sat up, and with obvious effort reassembled her impregnable mask. "Look," she sighed. "I owed you Kennedy, but not..."

Noah let it go, placing a hand easily on Frank's knee. "You know, that could've been any one of us in there."

"But it wasn't."

"Would you feel better if it had been me? Or Jill?"

Frank didn't answer. Instead she asked why he'd been so insistent she leave Kennedy out of the bust.

Noah flapped his big hands in his lap. "I don't know. It just felt wrong. What was I gonna say? 'Gee, Frank, I'm like having a psychic flash or something.'"

"Could have."

"Would it have changed your mind?"

Frank thought about it, and Mag's last words zig-zagged in her head: Goddammit, Frank! When are you going to grow up?

"Probably not," she admitted, disgusted with herself.

Noah heaved a bony shoulder. "You couldn't have known it was gonna slip."

"No, but I could have listened to you. You've got good guts, and maybe if I hadn't been so hell-bent for Kennedy I'd have heard you."

"That's hindsight. Don't start second-guessing."

A cold smile twisted Frank's face.

"That's my specialty. We should go see how she's doing."

Frank started to rise, but Noah reached over and pushed her back down.

"Hold on. They know where we are."

Frank was too tired to protest. Noah rubbed at a bloody smear on his wrist, and she waited patiently for him to continue.

"You know, I gotta tell you, I was fucking scared."

Frank nodded her understanding.

"When I saw him standing there with his arm around her throat and the knife there...I didn't know what to do. I just felt so helpless. And stupid. I just kept wondering how the hell did this happen? And Kennedy, man, she looked so scared. But she was calm, man, and I remember thinking I had to be calm, too. For her. And then outside, knowing you were both in there...but at least outside I was doing something, you know?"

Noah looked up anxiously, and Frank bent toward him.

"You did good, No. You don't know how fucking glad I was that you were there. You handled Johnston beautifully. I know the commission's gonna try and eat us alive, but you did great. I wouldn't have done anything different than you did."

"Lotta good it did us.

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