November
T he movie she chose was, This is 40 , which he’d never heard of before.
He didn’t watch many movies, though.
Tessman began to sit in one of the chairs by the table after he’d poured them both a glass of white wine, per her request.
Becca went to the bed and propped up two pillows against the headboard beside each other.
“I’m going to sit here where it’s more comfortable. You can join me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, quickly getting up from the chair.
She placed her hand on his chest as he came up beside her.
“This is just watching a movie. I’m not inviting you for anything else. I just wanted to be clear about that.”
“I’m not thinking anything else,” he said.
She looked deeply into his eyes, looking for any hint of deceit on his part.
She didn’t see any. “Okay, sorry if I’m blunt, I just find it leads to less confusion.”
“I respect it,” he said.
“It’s always good to get expectations and boundaries out there.”
She handed him her glass and then she crawled over to the middle of the bed and sat with her back against one of the pillows.
She took the two glasses from him as he settled in beside her.
After she handed his glass to him, she turned the television on and signed into her Netflix account.
“You look tired. If you fall asleep, I won’t wake you until Briana gets in touch with us.”
She took a big sip of her wine.
“This tastes so good. Thank you again for getting it.” She paused and then turned her head to view him.
“I’m exhausted. To be honest, if we weren’t waiting for Briana to get back to us with the information, I’d probably go to sleep after this one glass. That’s why I picked the movie we’re going to watch. I’ve seen it a dozen times. It’s so funny it keeps me awake. It’s my go-to when I need my spirits lifted or I have to stay awake.”
The movie was just starting.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Tessman said.
“Carter, it really was thoughtful of you to pick up the wine for me. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he said.
She’d already turned her head back to view the television.
She didn’t see the grin on his face.
***
The movie didn’t disappoint.
Becca found it as funny as always and it kept her awake when otherwise she surely would have fallen asleep.
Tessman found it humorous as well.
He didn’t kick back and do nothing often, but he did find the evening relaxing.
Becca held her empty glass up as the credits rolled.
“Can you refill please?” The bottle was placed in the refrigerator after he’d poured their first glasses.
“Sure,” he said, getting up from the very comfortable position he’d been sitting in.
He retrieved the bottle, filled her glass, and then put it back in the fridge.
“You’re not having another glass?”
“No, it’s all for you.”
“Suit yourself,” she said.
She began scrolling through movie choices on the menu.
“Let’s find something else to watch until Briana calls.”
Tessman had just sat back down on the bed beside her when an alert came from his phone that he knew well.
He jumped up and pulled the phone from his pocket and silenced the alert and hit the ‘Will Respond’ button.
“I’ll be back later. Just stay here and call Ops if you need anything,” he said as he viewed the screen for the location of the panic alert.
He stepped to the door.
“What is it?” she asked.
“I’ll explain when I get back. One of our team members is in trouble.” Without further explanation, he left the room and hurried down the flights of stairs to the second sub-basement level where his car was parked.
Madison exited the elevator around the same time he burst through the stairwell door.
“Ops hasn’t gotten Dahlia on the phone yet,” she said.
“Bubbles is deployed with the PGP Team. Looks like Jackson, Flores, and Robinson are responding as well. That’s it for assets in town.”
“Roger that,” Tessman said as he opened his car door.
“See you there,” Madison said as she climbed into her own SUV.
On the drive to the condo where Michael ‘Bubbles’ Cooper and his fiancé, Dahlia, lived, Tessman mentally prepared himself for what he may encounter.
As he pulled up in front of the unit just behind Madison’s vehicle, he saw a large man on the front porch pounding on the door and screaming obscenities.
Tessman and Madison hurried up the sidewalk towards the door.
“Hey, stop!” he yelled as he ran.
The man turned and viewed the two of them.
They both had their handguns out, pointed at him.
“FBI! Hands up!” Madison said.
“Mind your own fucking business!” he screamed, his words slurred into one long word.
He went back to beating on the door.
“Open the door, bitch! I’ll knock the fucking thing down!”
They both realized right away he was either drunk or high.
“Shit, this isn’t going to be good,” Tessman murmured to Madison.
Through comms, Yvette’s voice came.
“I’ve got Dahlia on the phone. She said she sees you through the window.”
Tessman’s eyes shifted to the window.
He saw the curtain was slightly parted.
“Yeah, Xena and I are onsite. Any ETA on Jax?” He really didn’t want to try to take this guy down without Jackson on site as well.
“Less than five minutes,” Yvette replied.
“Tell Dahlia to stay in the house with the doors locked for now. It looks like just a drunk, but we’ll verify there is no real threat,” Madison replied.
“Roger,” Yvette acknowledged.
“I wish I had a taser on me,” Madison said to Tessman.
“Yeah, that’s probably about the only thing that will bring him down,” Tessman agreed.
“What do you think? Meth? Crack?”
The man continued to batter the door.
He wasn’t tiring out.
Something had him super-charged.
“Dahlia’s safe. I say we wait him out until Jackson and the others get here.”
“I say we let him tire himself out completely. He’s gotta crash sometime. I don’t want to tangle with gargantuan if I don’t have to,” Tessman replied.
“He’s gotta be near seven feet.”
Madison chuckled as Elijah ‘Kegger’ Robinson pulled up in his black BMW.
He hurried over to the two of them, his weapon also drawn.
“Whoa, that’s one angry mountain. What’s the plan?”
“We wait for Jackson to arrive,” Madison said.
“Control, any word on Louisa?”
“Yes, Louisa is en route, still fifteen minutes out.”
Tessman checked his watch.
“Another fifteen minutes to see if he winds down isn’t bad.”
The big man at the door suddenly turned around and focused his attention on the three of them.
Without warning, he bolted right towards them.
Tessman sprinted to intercept him.
Tessman went low and plowed into him, bringing his feet out from underneath him.
He crashed to the sidewalk.
Tessman jumped on his back, his knee into the guy’s shoulder.
The man shook him off as though he was a tiny kitten and he stood back up, his gaze fixed on Madison and Kegger.
“Try not to kill him,” Madison said.
“Freeze! Hands in the air!” she yelled to him, not expecting a reaction.
He didn’t slow down, didn’t comply with Madison’s orders.
Robinson pulled a taser from his jacket pocket and discharged it a split second before he plowed into them.
Both Madison and Robinson stepped aside and let his convulsing body faceplant where they’d been standing.
Pain-filled screams, that sounded like they were coming from an animal and not a human being, came from his downed body.
“So glad you answered the alert,” Tessman said to Robinson as he pulled himself to his feet.
Thankfully, he’d landed on the lawn and not the concrete when gargantuan had shaken him off.
Robinson stepped in and disconnected the taser barbs as Tessman straddled the man and pulled his hands behind his back to secure them in zip ties.
In the distance, approaching quickly, sirens could be heard.
The local LEOs would join them within a few minutes.
They all holstered their weapons.
“Okay boys, let’s have our badges ready for the LEOs,” Madison said, pulling hers from her back pocket.
“Control, let Dahlia know we have the situation handled and the local LEOs will arrive shortly. Dahlia can join us outside of the front door. And you can have both Jax and Louisa stand down.”
“Roger that, Xena,” Yvette replied.
“We’ll check the back out too before we leave,” Tessman said.
“Just to be thorough.” He stepped towards the front door, ready to greet Dahlia.
Madison nodded as the police cruiser pulled up, its red and blue lights casting a neon glow on her face.
Tessman reached the front door as Dahlia cracked it open.
She was dressed in a tank top and boy shorts, which he assumed were her pajamas.
Her appearance reminded him that he always thought Michael was a lucky man to have her in his bed.
She was a beautiful woman with a toned body and all the right curves in the right places, which were clearly displayed by what little she wore, making her incredibly sexy.
And she had been a bona fide Indian princess, which added to the allure.
As he thought this, his thoughts suddenly went to Becca.
She wasn’t sexy in the same way, but there was something about Becca that held his interest and made him want her.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“I am. Thank you for coming,” Dahlia said, her voice sounding tense.
Her fiancé, Michael, was a friend of Tessman’s.
He’d spent time inside the condo, mostly watching sports on television and having a few brews with the couple, so he knew Dahlia well enough.
He wrapped his arms around her.
“It’s okay. Looks like a random dude, higher than a kite. But we’ll check it all out before we go. You did the right thing hitting the panic code. Where’s your gun?”
“I stashed it in the bedroom since the local cops are here. I had it on me while he was banging on the door. I would have pulled the trigger,” she vowed.
“Good girl,” Tessman said.
“Michael will be proud of you.” He released his embrace.
“Why don’t you go throw a hoodie on or something? The police will need to interview you.”
“Yes,” she agreed.
She went back inside, leaving him standing at the open door into the home.
She returned moments later, pulling an LSU hooded sweatshirt over her head.
The local LEOs took statements and transported the still rambling, screaming, and cursing man away.
He was so high he couldn’t even give his name or answer any questions coherently.
There were very few cars parked in the area, as most residents of the building parked in their garages.
The police would run the tags on the few cars on the street to see if one belonged to him, but that wasn’t the concern of the Shepherd Security personnel.
Tessman and Robinson checked out the immediate area, including the alleyway that ran behind the rear-facing windows to be sure all was secure and no one else lingered.
It was clear as expected.
“You two can go. I’m going to go back in with Dahlia until we reach Michael,” Madison said.
“You can come to my place for a sleepover with Hahna and me if you’d like,” she said to Dahlia.
“She’d love it if her Aunt Dahlia spent the night at our house.”
“Aw, thanks. I love that little girl, but I’m fine,” Dahlia said.
“And the police have him now. You guys can all go. I’ll get a hold of Michael soon, I’m sure. They’re probably just wrapping up for the day at the install. It is two hours earlier there.”
“Have a good night,” Tessman said, giving her a brief squeeze.
“Hit the panic code again or call Ops if anything else happens. I’ll be at HQ doing nothing all night.”
“Thank you, Carter,” she said.
As he drove back to the Shepherd Security building, Tessman thought about this attraction he felt to Becca Elliot.
She was unlike any other woman he’d ever been attracted to.
Maybe because he had a different relationship with her, a professional relationship.
He wondered if he’d find her as appealing if he’d met her in a bar.
Given that she’d probably smack down any advances he’d make, probably not.
He chuckled at this thought.
No, Miss Rebecca Elliot was not a pick up in a bar, one-night stand kind of woman.
She was probably a no sex on the first date type, too.
Yes, she was a relationship type of woman, something his life wouldn’t support, not that he wanted one.