Chapter 9 Nursing student/ Naval officer

Colorado...

It had been over a year since Katrina started dating Houston, and he was still grumpy that she hadn't invited him to live in her grandmother's house off Northwestern Avenue

'Let me move in with you, Kat.' He begged through his text messages. 'Let me come over when you get off work. I miss you. I need you. I love you, baby face.'

Wondering if his mom had thrown him out again, Katrina cringed at the endearment she hated, texting back. 'You can't come over. You know I have to sleep. I have my post-surgical care final exam tomorrow.'

She didn't hear from Houston again, as she finished her last round, and wrote up her nursing student notes. She hated clinicals. It was basically free labor for the hospital while nursing students got hands on training and paid tuition to the college. It sucked, but it was the way things were done. Nursing students like student teachers got cheated out of a paycheck during the last year of school.

"One more semester. Two more clinicals. One more semester. Two more clinicals." Her mantra echoed in the parking garage as she walked to her car but when she pushed the button for the unlock, a scream echoed in the concrete structure.

Looking around, frantically, Katrina began slamming her hand on the car horn as she jumped in, hoping to draw the security guard outside. She reversed out of the space and sped to the level below as a car sped out of the parking lot. A woman was laying in an empty space. She hit the panic button on her fob as she jumped out and ran to the woman, wondering where the heck the security guard was.

Turning her over, Katrina saw the blood soaking the woman's shirt. She yanked on the extra pair of gloves, she always kept in her scrubs pocket. "Hang on, ma'am! I'm here." And then she pressed her sweater over the bloody mess.

"Hey! Turn that off!" A security guard shouted as he stalked around the car then he saw them.

"Get a gurney!" Katrina snarled at him as he ran toward her, shouting into a radio.

"He... he..." The woman rasped.

"He who? Who did this to you?" Katrina begged but the woman's eyes became blank as blood dribbled from her lips. "She's coding! Hurry!" Katrina shouted at those who were coming to help them.

She started chest compressions, only pausing when they lifted the woman onto the gurney, then Katrina knelt over her and continued all the way into the emergency O.R.

"Kat, jump down!" A doctor ordered.

But as they cut the woman's clothing off, everyone stopped. There were several stab wounds in the woman's front but no defensive wounds. Bruises, old and new, were smeared with blood.

"I'm calling it. 12:19 AM."

Katrina staggered out of the operating room and sagged down to the floor, with an exhausted sob. She pulled off her gloves and pressed her hands to her face.

"You're one of our student nurses?" The ER surgeon knelt in front of her holding out one of the giant wetwipes the staff used. "You have a little something..." he touched his cheek.

She scrubbed the blood off her face and arms as a police officer came in. "Are you the nurse who found her?"

"I didn't see anything. I heard her scream and drove down a level. I just saw a glimpse of car speeding out of the parking garage and saw her laying in a space, bleeding out. She said, he. And that was it." Katrina stayed sitting on the floor, she didn't trust her legs as the adrenaline wore off.

"Officer?" Another nurse interrupted, holding out a chart, "She was in for a dislocated wrist. She has a history of drug seeking. A guy picked her up and wanted to know which pharmacy had her medicine. He got mad that we only gave her ibuprofen." They walked away.

Another officer helped her to stand, and she swayed. A strong arm attached to a runner's body by the feel of it, pulled her against his side. "Easy..."

"I'm fine... just tired," Katrina admitted but she wasn't. "I need to go home and get a shower. I have an 8 AM exam." He walked her out, and after another twenty minutes, the police sergeant on scene let her leave.

Parking in front of Nina's house, Katrina groaned when she saw Houston sitting on the porch. Shaking her head, she got out and walked into the porchlight.

"What tha fuk happened to you?!" Houston demanded.

"I saw a woman murdered tonight... Found her in the parking garage after she screamed and did CPR on her until the doctor on duty called her time of death."

"Damn that's nasty!" He backed away from her, instead of offering any comfort or even saying anything more than, "Yo, I'm gonna go stay with one of my boys."

Suddenly, Katrina's temper went off like a bomb. "You do that and don't bother coming back!"

"Woah, baby face, chill..."

"Do not tell me to chill! A woman was killed one level below where I have to park. I couldn't help her. I couldn't do anything because she had been stabbed too many times. This is what I do, Houston, and if you can't handle it when I come home with a little blood on my scrubs, then you can fuk off, mama's boy!" Katrina stormed up the steps, unlocked the security door then went inside and locked herself in.

Sobbing, she went down the hall to the bathroom and took a long shower, scrubbing herself until her skin was raw. She cleaned the blood off her student nurse ID badge and threw the scrubs into the sink with cold water, three bottles of peroxide, and a cup of hospital detergent to soak. Collapsing on her bed, she dreamed about the evening she found her mother dead.

At 2AM, she woke to a pot text from Houston. He begged her to see her job was the problem and not him. When he got no response, he sent another and then another. She was still angry. 'I have to sleep. I have exams tomorrow. I will text you after.'

Blocking his number, she tried to get some sleep, she couldn't deal with him until after her finals. He was cute and mostly sweet, but she had begun to feel like his Plan B.

~~~~

Shaking her head at the rapid stream of text messages and calls from Houston over the last two days, she silenced her phone again. She had to uber to her morning exams because she woke up to find her car had four flat tires. The police took a report and the surveillance video of the perpetrator. She was so angry she was ready to commit murder. She was about to call a tow company when she got a text, so she caught the bus across town and walked to her friend Erica's but seeing Houston's car in front of her little house had Katrina walking away to the park. Houston was buddies with Erica's brother, Baron. Rage Rap was their thing, but Katrina didn't understand what two guys who had been supported by their mothers into their late-twenties had to rage about. Baron and Houston wanted her to go to some gig in New York as one of their dancers, but she had no desire to join Baron's little harem as he called it. She needed to work as much as she could between semesters, but she hadn't gotten a single response to any of her applications.

Katrina waited until she saw Baron's car pull up then she stood, confused why Houston would be there without him until Baron dragged a nearly naked Houston out into the yard, yelling at him.

"My sister! I told you never to touch my sister!"

"Baron, stop. I love him!" Erica ran down the steps to hug Houston who had a bloody nose. "I'm going to New York with him."

Katrina stared at Erica as she clutched a robe around her. "Is this why you texted me to come over for a study session? To tell me you were screwing my boyfriend after he stalker-slashed all four of my tires last night?"

Erica looked confused, "I didn't text you."

It was in that moment Trina realized the text message was sent by Houston to make her jealous. "You piece of shyte! You sent it! Were you trying to make me feel scared and needy after what you fuking did last night to my car and today to her?!"

"I didn't do nuthin'," Houston objected. His words muffled as Erica tried to hold her sleeve to his face.

"The security camera on the garage saw you and so did two of the neighbors' Ring Cameras. You wore a mask, but you can't hide that fake-ass gangsta walk. I don't need a scrub like you!" Katrina shouted at him, then she turned on her study partner and fellow nursing student. "And fuk you, Erika. Pass advanced pharmacology on your own!" Katrina turned on her heel and started back toward the bus stop.

Sitting at the bus stop, she leaned her head back feeling the sun on her face. With Grandma Nina off on one of her adventures, Katrina felt so alone. Tomorrow was her last exam. She didn't have to be back to school until mid-January. She wondered if she could get a job at the restaurant Meri was working at in Vegas. If she got new tires and left after her exams, she could be there in a day. She called her cousin.

"Hey Trina!" Meri sounded happy.

"Hey... Uhm, when I get done with exams tomorrow, can I come out? I need a job and there's nothing here," Katrina revealed.

"Sure, do you and Houston need a place to stay?"

"He's going to New York to see his dad and be in some rap battle thing," Katrina lied because she didn't want to admit that her third relationship in three years was over. "It will just be me."

"Okay, cool, well, when you get here, you can meet my husband. I gotta go, see ya!" Giggling, Meri hung up on Katrina's shock as a deep voice said something in the background.

She texted Meri's twin, Charlene. 'When did Meri get married?'

'My sister did WHAT?!'

Katrina sighed, evidently she wasn't the only one out of the loop of Meri's world. Shaking her head, Katrina responded, 'I am heading to Vegas tomorrow. I'll find out what is going on.'

~~~~~

Hawaii...

Seeing a cream-colored envelope and single white rose trapped under the wiper of her car, Charlene was not shocked. It was an invitation to the Navy Winter Gala tomorrow night. Charlene debated on wearing her uniform, but for what she was planning, she would need to get a cocktail dress. A very sexy dress.

"I can't believe you are actually going out with him," Regis growled, as she stared at the note inside the envelope.

Charlene rolled her eyes. "Don't growl."

"What? You're always saying he's a dog. Aren't you supposed to growl at dogs?" Regis declared and they laughed but Lina didn't. She just looked worried.

"I lost the bet fairly. I have to pay up. Besides it's just a date," Char reminded, waving the envelope, "A really nice date." A date she got by throwing a sparring match.

"Yeah, with the devil," Lina added, "Be careful, Meredith. There is something wrong with Lt. Lucas, you can't trust him. He's too smooth, like he's hiding something, and the rumors about the reason he got shipped out of Okinawa."

"He wouldn't dare try the shyte the rumors claim with me. He knows I can kick his arse and will," Char smirked then her phone buzzed. She stared at it with wide eyes and sent back, 'My sister did WHAT?!'

"Are you okay?" Lina asked.

"Yeah, it's my cousin." She glanced at the response before unlocking her car. "I... uhm, I need to go shopping. See you tomorrow night."

As she drove away, she wondered what the heck was up with her sister. She would just have to wait on Trina to find out. Thinking about the gala, Char malevolently hoped to all that was holy that the dog tried something because she would get him masted and separated minimum, imprisoned if she could. The things the ensign she was training told her made her blood boil.

Lt. Todd Lucas was stationed in another part of the island because he was second-in-charge of the supply warehouses for the base. Char was glad her job stationed her in a separate place when she wasn't out to sea, because it kept those she trained and qualified out of his line of sight. Char played up the innocent, young Latina in her appearance because that was Todd Lucas's type. He easily believed the truth that she knew nothing about Hispanic culture because she was raised in a white family and the lie that she was adopted and naïve about everything to do with men because she had been so focused on school. The stuff she planned to plant on his computer was unneeded. She found he had enough pornography, most of it underaged, that he would get separated and become a registered sex offender all on his own. His dark web site security was amateur at best and had led to dozens of others in the Pacific Fleet. Her investigation resulted in her bringing in NCIS. She parked in front of a certain shop and went inside.

Special Agent Bethany Swan was waiting for her. Browsing the dresses, she carried one into the dressing room. Charlene grabbed three deep red dresses and a rich emerald one then went back too.

"Are you ready for tomorrow night?" Bethany asked quietly, moving past her from the three-way mirror.

"More than you know," Char growled as she held the dresses up to her neck. They couldn't meet in public. The former JAG prosecutor was known to be a Perv Hunter, mercilessly prosecuting sex crimes on the East Coast Bases before being sent to Hawaii and joining NCIS.

"My boss wants you for our cybercrimes unit, but you impressed base command too." Bethany stepped out in a metallic gray dress that looked like the Sig she carried. "You get the snatch on Lucas and his group, and you will get your choice of next assignment."

"I want to get back stateside." Char said from the changing room, patting the deep V of the neck made her wish for her sister's cleavage. She slid off the green dress and put on one of the red dresses.

"There are intelligence and cybersecurity positions in NCIS in San Diego and Seattle. I'll write your recommendation, but I hate to lose you," Bethany sat and tied her shoes.

Char stepped out of the changing cubbie in a scarlet sheath dress that was slit to her thigh. It hugged her butt and abdominal muscles and showed off her legs.

Bethany stood up and looked over her shoulder. "Are you certain, Char? We can just get him on the pornography."

"I want justice for Suzie. That her last commander blew off her report because she couldn't clearly remember and disciplined her for sleeping and drinking on duty. It was bullshit. She had a few sips of alcohol before switching back to coffee. He poured it down her throat after she passed out. She woke up while he was..." Char swallowed. "She developed pneumonia from inhaling it and has asthma now. I want him, Beth... I want him and all his friends locked in a cage. He put her pictures and the video on the site."

"See you tomorrow night. I have some jewelry for you to wear." Bethany nodded to her, "Remember be careful what you drink when you are with him."

"I know... Don't worry, I won't drink anything he doesn't." Charlene looked at herself in the mirror for a long time then changed back to her civies. She wasn't surprised to learn Bethany had paid for the dress.

~~~~

:::TRIGGER WARNING – Attempted assault.:::

Regis and Lina politely greeted Char and Todd before joining their table. The couples danced. Char mocked the badly catered food served, telling them about her sister the chef. Somewhere around midnight, Char ended up at Todd's on-base apartment, cooking steak and eggs for him. He apologized sheepishly for his mismatched tumblers as he opened a bottle of juice and pealed the seal from the top. Eating and laughing, they chatted. The room seemed to grow colder, and she misspoke. She began to feel the effects of something as her tongue seemed to thicken. Char realized the date drug had to be dried on the glass because he was drinking the juice too.

"You okay, sweetheart?" He grinned in a wolfish way. He lifted her hair away from her neck and kissed her shoulder.

"No." Lethargically, she pushed the panic button on the inside of her chunky bracelet under the table then she put her leaden hands on the table and tried to stand. "What did... you give me?" She stumbled as he steered her away from the door and her chance of escape.

"Nothing, you had too much to drink at the gala, and came onto me," he lied with his arm crushing her waist.

He flopped her on his bed. She couldn't even resist when he positioned her. She was a puppet. As he pulled on a mask then turned on a camera, he sneered, "You're going to be a star tonight, Charlene. So many want to see you... We already have an audience."

He began cutting her dress off for video, each snip brought cool air against her skin. Char closed her eyes, remembering that she had told them to wait until the last possible moment. When Special Agent Bethany Swan and two other NCIS agents broke in, he was just about to cut off her panties.

"NCIS, step away from her!"

"Hey, no... she came here on her own. She consented!" They wrestled him to his knees and pulled his mask off, so his face was on the recording.

"Lt. DuBois, did you consent to being on video and having sex with Lt. Todd Lucas?"

"No." Charlene breathed out. "I... I was... drugged."

Bethany covered her with a sheet that felt as heavy as a weighted blanket. "Char, how did he drug you?" Bethany was checking her pulse and dabbing her face with a damp cloth. "Was it in the juice?"

"I was drinking the pineapple juice too. This is crap! She got drunk at the Gala. She wanted this; look how she is dressed." Todd struggled against his handcuffs.

Charlene inhaled then whispered, "Beth, colored glasses... drugged... not juice." Then Charlene fell unresponsive as Todd shouted profanities and denials.

"Agent Swan, we have the others."

"Char... Charlene? Get me an ambulance, her pulse is too low," Bethany ordered then asked, "What did you give her, Lt. Lucas?"

"I want a lawyer," Todd shouted.

"If she dies, I'll see you executed," Bethany threatened. It was the last thing Charlene heard.