Spencer West PI Read online

  “Okay, partner, get ready for the ride of your life.” She mounted him full straddle, matching his rhythmic thrusts, more violent than the mechanical bull at Billy Bob’s Texas nightclub. He pulled her down until their lips locked in a fit of passion that was repeated often well into the evening.

  Chapter 10

  The next morning

  The peal of nearby church bells stirred the two bodies, still lying on the couch. Harper aroused first and nibbled on Spencer’s ear. “Hey, you did good last night, for a man shot full of holes with a messed-up hip,” she teased an unresponsive Spencer. She reached down and began stroking him. That got his attention.

  “You trying to wear it out the first day?”

  “Nope, just making up for lost time. You have no idea how many times I came home and got shit-faced after seeing you with Elaine. What did she have that I don’t? Okay, bigger tits, but I’ll bet she wasn’t as good in bed as I am.”

  “Don’t talk about her like that.”

  “Sorry, didn’t mean anything by it.”

  “She was a wonderful woman. I wanted her to have our children. There never was competition between you, me, and Elaine. You were my partner and closest friend. We watched each other’s backs. I had complete trust in you. That’s what made us a great team. Getting involved in our personal lives would have compromised that, and if we had been caught, we would have been transferred. I was happy with things the way they were.”

  “Things are different now,” she said softly. “I can make you happy. I love your folks and they like me too. I can feel it.”

  “I was afraid this might happen. I’m not ready to think about a relationship until I get the son of a bitch who killed Elaine and damn near killed me.”

  “I get that, I do, but what’s wrong with getting laid anytime you want while you’re hunting him? We can live together, split the bills, I go to my job and you go to yours. When we come home we can do this any time we want to. I’m not asking you to marry me, just be my roommate and have sex with me. It’s the perfect situation.” She was still massaging his swollen cock. Without warning, he rolled his rapidly recovering body on top of her and rammed it inside her.

  “There are things you don’t know about me,” he said, slowly moving in and out.

  “Are you going to fuck me or talk me to death?”

  No sooner had she said that, he erupted into a spasm of thrusts, and was finished.

  “What the hell was that?”

  “I told you, you almost wore it out last night, come on, get up. Let’s get a shower. We have to talk.”

  Harper didn’t like the sound of that but agreed. “Next time I won’t prime your pump so long,” she said as they headed for the shower.

  ~ ~ ~

  Dressed in cargo shorts, a T-shirt, and no shoes, Spencer watched Harper crack some eggs. Wearing one of his Hawaiian print shirts that barely covered her firm butt, she beat the eggs with a fork and popped the bowl into the microwave. He made coffee and set out plates and silverware. As she served the eggs and crisp bacon from the microwave, he caught himself thinking, this isn’t so bad. Seated across the small Formica-top table from each other, they ate in silence.

  Harper looked worried as she cleared the dishes. “Okay, what is it we need to talk about? Did I come on too strong? You had to know I’ve always had feelings for you.”

  “No, nothing like that. In fact . . . you are better in bed than she was. Thank God I have a hard head,” he said. “Something really strange happened after one of the bullets bounced off my thick skull. While I was in the drug-induced coma, I had an OBE.”

  “What’s an OBE?”

  “Out-of-body experience . . . astral projection. I was back at the shooting scene watching it, like a TV show. Saw clearly the head shot that hit Elaine and watched her die. Looked straight at the shooter as he raked me and the Malibu with his AK-47. I got a good look and could have identified him and the driver if it hadn’t been too dark to see their faces. Like a video camera, I was able to zoom in and see his initials, MGD, clearly tattooed below a five-point crown on the top of his hand—the Kings of Mexico cartel logo with the shooter’s initials. They are the oldest and largest gang operating inside the U.S. I’ll use that to help track him down.”

  “You’re freaking me out.”

  “How do you think I was able to give you a description of the car and license number? It all happened so fast, everything was a big blur in real time. I didn’t remember anything. It happened again when I was thinking back about the drug bust. I told my shrink, Dr. Galotti, about it and he just blew it off as hallucinations from the drugs. Said it wasn’t scientific, but referred me to a doctor who is an expert on the phenomenon. Dr. Jameel Nahadi taught me everything he has been experimenting with for over thirty years. I’m his protégé. I’m helping him with recorded demonstrations done to strict scientific experimental protocol. While I’m doing remote viewing, his name for it, his computer is recording my brain images through a custom-made headset and displaying them on a computer screen. The technique is foolproof and will have to be accepted by the scientific community.”

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. You are some kind of mind reader now? If this gets out you will be the laughing stock of the department.”

  “I can’t read minds, but I have the ability to communicate through mental telepathy. Can you imagine how that would have helped in investigating crime if the captain had just given me a chance to prove my capability on a real case? Don’t worry, my name won’t get out. He agreed to keep my name out of his research. I trust him.”

  “So that’s what you do every Thursday? Go do your voodoo stuff?”

  “It’s not voodoo,” Spencer said patiently. “This is serious and important research. I just don’t want any publicity about it to ruin my personal life and business pursuits. While I was recovering, my dad set me up with the latest cutting-edge computer equipment on the market, right there in my bedroom. I’m talking about top-of-the-line technology his company sells to military contractors to do intelligence snooping on our enemies. With the training and knowledge I gained working with Dr. Nahadi in his lab, I was able to duplicate most of his experiments with nearly a hundred percent accuracy. He trained me to be able to induce remote viewing beyond the typical floating around a room in simple near-death OBE stories. I can travel anywhere and be that proverbial fly on the wall.

  “How do you plan to use it?”

  “I can check FBI databases and see if they have any one of interest on their drug cartel watch list or most wanted list with the initials MGD. If I get a hit, then I can start the footwork to hunt him down. The alpha stage is still a work in progress. Unfortunately, it’s too advanced for the legal system. I have to figure out how to use it as a tool to produce hard evidence that can be used in court.”

  Harper’s eyes widened as Spencer talked. “I’m living with a fucking space alien.”

  Chapter 11

  New digs

  A week later, Spencer had settled into his compact one-bedroom apartment in South Dallas that Nicole had furnished for him: an unused dinette set from her company’s break room and a couch and some comfortable chairs she had replaced in the company waiting room, all still in excellent condition.

  “I like the new sign on the door,” Harper said. “The management’s okay with you running a PI business out of here?”

  “Yeah, said it made him feel safer.”

  “Looks like you’re already settled in.”

  “Not too bad, thanks to Nicole. She just doesn’t know when to stop pampering me.”

  “There are worse things she could have done. I still think you could have operated out of my apartment, and we wouldn’t have to spend so much time traveling between the two.”

  “I enjoy our time together and your sleepovers, but I need some time and space to work. Being together twenty-four-seven, I’m afraid would have been too distracting—and hard on my body parts,” he said. “I have to admit, though, if it hadn’t been for you checking on me and being a buffer between me and Rudy, I wouldn’t have lasted a week back at the department. How can you stand working with that idiot? He’s such a jerk.”

  “That’s the good news I came over to tell you about. I’m not working with him anymore.”

  “That is good news, how did you manage that?”

  “Rudy got a little too frisky. He was always hitting on me with all his suggestive comments. He finally went too far. We were at a stakeout and took turns on the watch. He thought I had dozed off and tried to slip his hand inside my shirt. I punched him in the face, bloodied his nose really good. He threatened to report me for assaulting a fellow officer. I threatened him back, said I would turn him in to Internal Affairs for sexual harassment and assault. I think he was happy when I transferred to SCU, the Sex Crime Unit. I get a lot of satisfaction busting psychopaths, and Dallas is full of them.”

  “Congratulations! You’ll be great over there. I’ll miss your updates on Elaine’s case, though.”

  “Yeah, I’m the token female and they assigned me to Jamal, the token African-American. That’s okay, he’s a nice guy, I think we’ll make a great team. I can still check back with Batovsky and Marco. They took it over, but don’t expect too much. They’re overloaded like everybody else. We might just need to have some private eyes helping us out. Kind of like the old days when we were partners. They work a little more independently than the drug task force. I even get to go undercover as bait sometimes.” Then Harper surprised Spencer. “How would you like to keep me company on a stakeout tonight?”


  Spencer hesitated. “Can I do that . . . legally?”

  “Since when did an FBI file hacker get a conscience? It’s a case with no good leads. Rumors and a not-too-reliable snitch haven’t produced anything solid. I’m working on my gut feeling and my captain said go for it. If it pans out, it could be really big. You can try out your new toys. Are you in?”

  “I’ll have to check my calendar . . . Of course I’m in. This will be the first real field test for my portable system. I’ll start getting my gear together.”

  “Great, I have to run now. Be back to pick you up around midnight. I’ll give you the details then. By the way, are you ever going to buy another car?”

  “Without clients, I can’t afford the payments and insurance.”

  As soon as she left, Spencer went to work in his bedroom assembling the portable computer system he’d put together in Dr. Nahadi’s lab. It was his first hardware model, and he was anxious to test it in a real situation. If it proved successful, he would refine it into a more compact and miniaturized set. Waiting for Harper’s return made him jumpy. He bolted out of his chair when he heard her key in the door. By the time she got it open, Spencer was standing inside with his laptop and headphones in his backpack.

  “You ready? Where’s your equipment?”

  “It’s in my backpack.”

  “Great, let’s go.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Harper’s unmarked car pulled up quietly in the dark shadows behind what looked like an empty storage building for rent in the Dallas warehouse district. Her headlights were off and the radio volume was turned down in an effort to be unheard and invisible.

  “This feels really good to be back out in the field again, that desk job just about drove me out of my skull,” he said. Spencer felt back in his element. “Brief me on what you have so far and what we’re looking for.”

  “A snitch said there were trucks pulling into this building a couple times a week in the wee hours. He reported hearing voices, lots of voices that sounded like women. By the time we came back with a search warrant to check it out the next day, the building was empty, clean as a whistle. They keep moving them to stay ahead of the law.”

  “Are they transporting drugs as well as people in the trucks?”

  “Some drugs maybe, but most likely people. Primarily young girls in their teens brought here for prostitution and to sell as sex slaves. They bring them up from all over South America, Central America, and Mexico. Even some Chinese and other Asian girls, because of the leaky U.S. border with Mexico. Interstate 35 through Dallas is the main corridor used by traffickers going north. What we’re looking for tonight is the source of traffickers who bring them in by the truckload, then use websites, massage parlors, and escort services to distribute them. Some pimps even hide them in plain sight. Kids who fall asleep in class because they have worked all night are prime suspects. Fear of deportation, or of being killed, keeps them quiet. It’s gotten pretty sophisticated and takes in millions of dollars every day. The DA got us a warrant this time and wants to look good in campaign photo ops next election by grabbing some low-hanging fruit. If it turns out to be something bigger, he’ll call in Homeland Security after he’s had his fifteen minutes of fame on TV.”

  “Got it. I need to assemble my equipment.” Spencer opened his backpack, pulled out a laptop, and plugged in a set of headphones. “It’ll only take a few minutes to get set up. Then we’re in business.”

  “Is that it? A laptop and headphones? You gotta be kidding.”

  “This is no ordinary laptop and these aren’t headphones for listening to the top forty hits. Like I told you, Dr. Nahadi helped me miniaturize the equipment needed in a portable operation like this. A transceiver is built into what looks like a radio pod in the right earpiece. A scanner, sort of like a miniature MRI, is in the left earpiece. The left brain is where most of the activity takes place. And that innocent-looking adjustable piece that crosses over the top of the head is imbedded with sensors that feed into the scanner that creates a digital signal. That signal’s fed to the laptop to be coded and passed on via satellite to my more powerful home computer. It processes that signal into a digital image, which is sent back to my laptop and displayed on the screen. This takes only a matter of seconds. That lets you watch what is going on in the warehouse in almost real time so you can call in backup.”

  “Okay,” she said thoughtfully. “While I’m watching the activity inside the warehouse on your laptop, what’ll you be doing?”

  “I’ll be in a deep somnambulist state remotely viewing everything going on in the warehouse, like I’m an invisible video camera. You see, even with all this sophisticated computer equipment, the human element is still needed to do the job. I’m the keystone.”

  “You better gear up, there’s a truck pulling up to the side entrance of the building. Two guys with guns are walking around to make sure there isn’t anyone in the vicinity. They can’t see us from there. The door opened and the truck’s already going inside. Okay, man, do your thing.”

  “After I close my eyes, you can’t talk to me. Mute your car radio. It could interrupt my deep state and make me lose the remote view. It’s really important you don’t talk. When you call for backup, step out of the car. The radio static and voice could cause problems, understood?”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got it. Get busy on that thing. The truck’s already inside with the door closed.”

  Spencer’s laptop was up and running. He donned his special headphones and reclined the seat as far as it would go. With his eyes closed, he descended into a deep state in a matter of seconds. The self-hypnosis technique he had learned from Dr. Jameel Nahadi was working perfectly. Spencer was now in control and could project himself into the warehouse. Mental images fed to the laptop showed women and young girls being unloaded from the truck like cattle.

  “Got you, you bastards,” Harper said under her breath as she viewed the computer screen. She eased out of the car, making sure the dome light was turned off. Crouching beside the patrol car, she whispered into her shoulder radio mic, “Dispatch, this is Detective Harper Stone requesting backup for a human trafficking operation in progress at a For Rent warehouse on Simpson Road. And hurry.”

  Backup, including a SWAT team, arrived minutes later. They approached with lights and sirens off. Harper directed them to the entrance door. They slipped in unheard over the shouts of the men coaxing the women and younger girls out of the truck. The coyotes were surrounded and outgunned, caught completely by surprise. They were arrested without incident.

  Harper returned to the patrol car after making the collar on the smugglers to find Spencer sound asleep. “Hey, wake up, you missed the bust. There were over forty women and young girls in that truck. That’s the biggest single bust in human trafficking ever.”

  “I didn’t miss a thing. Remember, my vision was feeding the computer images you were watching. I was really stressed over my first test. It tired me out. I’m glad no one was hurt during the arrest. You didn’t tell them about me and my part in the stakeout, did you?”

  “No, but I think you should get some credit for what you did.”

  “I don’t want to be identified, at least not until the system’s fine tweaked and been tested more than once for consistency. If word got out about my being involved it would get us both in trouble. I’m really tired. Can we go home, so I can get a couple hours sleep before daylight?”