Chapter 22: Ep 6 - Part One: Kick First, Ask Questions Later

“I’ll tell the captain what’s happening while you take the needle to the pathology lab. Make sure you get Doctor Sterlington; I don’t trust the technician they recently hired,” Smitty said as they entered the station.

“Right.” Nash nodded, took hold of Airianna’s wrist, and pulled her in the opposite direction.

What’s going on?” Airianna asked as she was dragged away from the front desk in a direction she’d never been.

Where were they going?

Nash didn’t answer as they walked down the hall. When they got to a door, he opened it, looked around, then pulled her inside. He closed the door, turned to her, and explained what they were doing.

“I need to find Doctor Sterlington; I won’t be long. Stay here, and don’t touch anything.”

Airianna read his lips and nodded. He leaned forward and kissed her, then turned and left the lab.

Airianna looked around the lab in awe. She’s never been in a pathology lab before. She has seen plenty of them on TV. One of her favorite shows to watch was NCIS. Don’t ask her to choose one, but watching Robin kick ass without Batman was pretty cool.

Airianna chuckled to herself and leaned forward to look at something on the counter. She didn’t touch it; she knew better, but she could tell it was something the doctor or tech were researching. She stood up and turned to the counter on the other side of the room. Wow, there were enough beakers here to build a tower, not that she would. She smiled, remembering the boys in her science class building a tower out of beakers before the teacher entered the room, and they all came tumbling down.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Thoughts of what was going to happen to the woman if they didn’t get to her in time raced through her mind. She wished she’d gotten the dream sooner, then maybe they wouldn’t be searching for her, and perhaps they’d have stopped the kidnapping altogether.

‘No, don’t do this to yourself,’ she scolded. ‘You have no control over your dreams, and they don’t give you enough detail to have known she would be taken on her way home from work.’

Now that she knows about the clues, maybe they’ll be faster next time.

Unknown to Airianna, the lab technician walked into the room. While she was having a conversation with herself about the next dream she had, the tech watched her—knowing nothing about who she was or why she was there.

“Hey, you’re not supposed to be here,” the tech said, watching the woman from behind. “Don’t touch anything.”

The tech glared at the woman’s back. What the fuck is up with the rich snobs thinking they can go wherever they want around here just because they have money and pay their taxes?

“You shouldn’t be here, miss. You need to leave.”

The bitch ignored him, and the tech got even more annoyed.

“Look, you really shouldn’t be here touching things in the lab. Just because you think you have the right doesn’t give you the right.”

Still, the woman acted as if he wasn’t there. What is her problem? If Doctor Sterlington sees her here in the lab, it’s his job. He picked up the phone and called security.

~🔮~

Nash found Doctor Tabitha Sterlington in the cafeteria, having her supper. She looked up at him and smiled when he joined her at the table.

“Nash.”

“Doc.” Nash nodded.

They’ve known each other for a long time and have gone on a couple of dates but never connected as more than friends.

“What brings you to this side of hell?” she asked, returning to eating her dinner.

“A case.”

She looked up at him from her burger, took a big bite, and then set it down. She chewed and swallowed, then took a large drink of her coke.

She looked at him again. “What case?”

He smiled and told her of the case they were working on. She listened as she finished her supper. When he told her about Airianna, she paused, chewing her bite to listen. She smiled when he told her how close they’d gotten since he apologized.

“You know, you could have come to me. I would have told you how stupid you are and to trust in the unknown. Just because you can’t see something doesn’t make it untrue.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he grunted.

“Look at me. Science is about fact and belief. I believe things aren’t what they appear to be.”

“You were on vacation,” he mumbled. “And you’re an exception to all other scientists.”

She chuckled. “Okay, what is this item you need me to look at?”

“Not look at. I need DNA pulled out of it to see if it matches the missing girl’s.”

“I see.” She wiped her mouth with her napkin and held her hand out.

Nash pulled the evidence bag from his pocket and handed it to her.

She studied it for a minute, then smiled up at him. “Can you get me the missing girl’s DNA?”

He nodded. “We have access to her apartment. Do you want a toothbrush or a hairbrush?”

“Both, just to be safe.”

He nodded and got to his feet.

“In that big of a hurry?” she asked with a grin.

He smiled. “I left Airianna in your lab, told her to wait for me there, that we’d be back.”

The doctor got to her feet and lifted her tray off the table.

“Then, by all means, let’s not keep your seer waiting.”

~🔮~

The tech turned when two security guards came into the room. “She’s ignoring me and won’t leave,” he told them.

“Ma’am?” one of the security guards said as he watched the woman at the counter.

“See, she just stands there. And if she touches anything, it’s my ass,” the tech grumbled.

“Ma’am, you need to leave,” the other security guard ordered Airianna. “Ma’am, I’m not kidding. You need to leave—now.” The man took hold of both Airianna’s arms and turned her to face him when she still wouldn’t answer him.

Airianna was debating the significance of the compass in her paintings when two large hands grabbed her by the arms and spun her around. She screamed and automatically kicked out at him.

“Fucking bitch!” the man bellowed, letting Airianna go and taking hold of his crotch.

Airianna looked at the other two men staring at her—their mouths open in shock.

“What’s going on?” Airianna asked, staring at the three men.

Two of them were in uniforms, like security guards, and the other looked like a technician. But why were they attacking her?

“You were asked to leave several times, and you ignored us,” the security guard standing beside the technician said.

“I didn’t hear you.” Airianna looked between the three men.

“Sure, lady. I told you more than ten times you couldn’t be here,” the tech said.

Airianna shook her head. “I didn’t hear you; I’m….”

“Okay, that’s it,” the man holding his crotch said once he got his breath back.

Airianna screamed as the large man tackled her to the floor.

“Enough of your lies,” the security guard growled, but Airianna didn’t hear a word.

~🔮~

“That’s Airianna!” Nash bellowed when he heard her scream.

“It came from the Pathology lab.” Doctor Sterlington took off down the hall.

“You should have answered when I told you to leave the first time!” someone hollered from the room.

Nash didn’t even pause to ask the doc who that voice belonged to. Airianna was in trouble; he shouldn’t have left her alone.

Nash crashed into the lab and stopped at the scene before him.

Two security guards had Airianna pinned to the floor, her hands behind her back, while one cuffed her. He could hear her words as she repeated them over and over…

“I’m waiting for Detective Jackman, I’m waiting for Detective Jackman. I didn’t touch anything; I didn’t touch anything!”

Nash growled and headed for the two guards when he heard Airianna’s next words.

“I can’t hear, I can’t hear, I swear I can’t hear!”

“Get the fuck off her!” Nash snarled as he shoved the guard who’d cuffed her.

“What the fuck?!” the guard demanded, glaring up at Nash.

Nash noticed Doctor Sterlington move quickly into the room and pull the other guard off Airianna.

“You have no right…” the guard started to say.

Nash flashed his badge. “You’re done here,” he snarled.

“You have no authority, the captain….”

“You’re through here!” Nash shouted with enough venom to out poison a King Cobra.

Doctor Tabitha Sterlington stared up at Nash from her position on the floor with the young seer. She has never heard him speak to anyone like that. He must really have it bad for this girl. She looked down at Airianna Williams and held back a laugh so the girl didn’t think she was laughing at her.

She could see why the detective had a thing for the girl; she was beautiful and had the spirit of a tigress. She didn’t look scared at all. She looked more pissed than anything.

“Are you okay?” Tabitha asked the girl, making sure she could read her lips.

Airianna nodded and tried to pull her hands free from the handcuffs.

“Un-cuff her!” Tabitha ordered the guard behind her.

“I can’t….”

“Do it now!” Tabitha turned to the man and shouted.

The guard glared at her and unlocked the cuffs around Airianna’s wrists.

“She was in the lab and wouldn’t tell me what she was doing. I kept telling her she shouldn’t be here, and she ignored me. She even ignored the guards, then kicked that one in the balls when he turned her around to talk to her.” The tech pointed to the guard arguing with the detective.

Tabitha grumbled. She hasn’t been impressed with this tech since he was hired last month.

“If you had gently tapped her shoulder, she would have turned to you and let you know that she’s deaf and couldn’t hear what you were saying,” Tabitha growled.

“Deaf?” the tech asked, his face turning a horrible shade of green.

“She kicked my partner in the nuts when he tried to get her attention.” The guard glared at Airianna.

Airianna was following the conversation between the doctor helping her and the two men. She read the security guard’s lips and snarled at him.

“Your partner grabbed my arms and spun me around. What did you expect me to do? I’m deaf. I have learned to kick first, ask questions later.”

The doctor chuckled beside her, and Airianna smiled at the nice woman. Then glared at the guard again.

“Just get out of the lab,” the doctor said as she helped Airianna to her feet. “We will deal with you two later.”

Nash glared at the guard before him. He shouldn’t have grabbed Airianna like that. No wonder she’d attacked him. The thought of her kicking the man in the balls made him grin. That’s his little seer. Tough to the end. Her screams, while they had her pinned, were her trying to explain why she was there and why she hadn’t heard them. She was a brave girl, and it made him like her even more.

The two security guards left the lab, and Doctor Stirlington moved to the tech to talk to him.

Nash pulled Airianna into his arms and held her. He pulled back and asked her if she was okay. She nodded, and he pulled her into his arms again. He never wanted to let her go.

“You’re on a one-week suspension without pay, and your job is on the line….”

“For protecting the lab?” the tech’s voice hitched at the end.

“Just go, or I’ll fire you now,” Doctor Sterling growled, pointing to the door.

The tech turned to Airianna and gave her a glare that would scare some people.

Nash was about to say something when he saw Airianna stick her tongue out at the tech. He chuckled and held her closer as he watched the tech stomp out the door.

He pulled her back from him, moved her hair out of her face, and held her face in his hands.

“I am so sorry this happened. I shouldn’t have left you here alone. I should have taken you with me. I promise to never leave you alone again,” Nash swore to her, his heart on his sleeves.

She smiled up at him. “It doesn’t matter if you’re with me or not. Things like this will always happen. People don’t understand people like me. Whether it’s my gift or my being deaf. I’m not normal….”

Nash silenced her with a kiss. He pulled back and leaned his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes and breathed in her floral scent.

“Never say you’re not normal,” he said, his voice gruff.

Airianna smiled and leaned up to gently kiss his lips. She had heard his every word—how—was beyond her.

“I have never been normal, Nash. But I am okay with that. If you’re not, that’s okay too.”

He leaned back from her and shook his head, chuckling. “I am more than okay with it, sweet little seer.”

She read his lips and grinned. “Besides.” she placed her hands over his hands—which were still holding her face. “My life is made up of—attack first, ask questions later. And there’s nothing you or I could ever do about it.”

He closed his eyes and breathed heavily. When his eyes opened again, Airianna noticed a hint of gold in his brown eyes.

“I will always be there for you. You can count on that,” he promised.

Airianna smiled. “I know. And I will always be there for you.”

He pulled her into his arms again and kissed her.

Tabitha watched the two before her and smiled. This young seer is going to be good for Nash. Things were just starting to get interesting; she couldn’t wait to see where it was destined to go.

She pulled the needle from her pocket and headed to her favorite workstation. It shouldn’t take her long to get the DNA from the needle. She looked up at the couple who’d stopped kissing and were now talking. She heard a few of Nash’s words and knew he was explaining everything to her about what they were going to do in the Pathology lab.

This was going to be a fun adventure, and she was glad Nash had brought her into the folds of their trust. It’s hard to trust people with the kind of work they’re going to be doing.

Now to help the young seer save the girl from her dream and get ready for the next one.