Ash Rising (DEAd Series) (5 page)

“Wow.
Just…wow.”

“Right?” Daniel drained his mug. “So
, what’s on your agenda for the day?”

“Packing.” Ash ran
a hand through his disheveled hair. “You want something to eat?”

“Of course.” Daniel pulled out a barstool and sat at the counter while Ash ru
mmaged through the refrigerator, emerging with orange juice, eggs, and bacon wrapped in white butcher paper. “You know, I’m going to miss you, man.”

Ash tossed a grin over his shoulder. “Quit staring at my ass.”

“Hard not to. You’re just so
dreamy
,” Daniel teased in a high falsetto, and Ash snorted. “But seriously. Lisa will be underfoot all the time, working at the hospital, and with Andy pulling that sweet airport duty—”

“How the hell did he get that and I get Buttfuck, Saskatchewan?” He had better contacts than Andy, what with his dad being a high-profile lawyer and close friends of the Commissioner. Not to mention Ash’s contact with the Commissioner’s daughter…

“He didn’t have this crazy idea of being part of the most elite undercover division the Mounties have,” Daniel reminded him. “Who knows when we’ll see your ugly mug?”

“I’ll be back when I can.”
Ash rubbed his hands together and started on the food. “I’m going to miss you guys, too, but this is what I’ve always wanted. A shot at undercover. Working for Pete Davenport.”

“I know.”
Daniel said. “You’re going to be the best they’ve ever had, but be careful, eh? And come see us worker bees when you get a chance.”

“You got it
on both counts.” Ash reached across the counter and punched his shoulder. “Now, let’s eat. You have time to help me load up my stuff?”

“Everything going to fit in the Mustang?” Daniel asked between stuffing his face with eggs and bacon.

“Nah. Gonna load Mom’s Range Rover. Dad’ll drive up with me and take it back.”

Daniel grunted and started in on the toast. “What are you going to drive?”

“Ah.” Ash settled back in his chair and sighed. “That’s the best part. I had the Triumph dealer deliver the Scrambler to my new place.”

Daniel choked, eyes watering as he tried to swallow. “You—What? You got a motorcycle?”

“Yep. Always wanted one. Sweet ride, let me tell you.”

“I bet.” Daniel stared down at his plate and moved food around instead of eating.

“What? I’ll take you for a spin. Don’t pout,” Ash joked.

“I have news, too. Not a new bike or anything, but…”

“What?”

Daniel’s face flushed red, and was he sweating? “No one knows about this yet. I came here to tell you first. I—I’m going to ask Maggie to marry me.”

What? Holy shit. Daniel was getting
married
. Ash whooped and slapped his best friend’s shoulder. “Really? Congratulations!”

“Okay, okay, already,” Daniel muttered, scrubbing his hands over his face.

“Wait, you haven’t asked her yet? You’re telling me first? You’ve got a ring, right?”

“No, I haven’t asked her, and yes, got the ring right here.” Daniel patted his pocket. “Guess I wanted to show you first. Want you to be my best man.”

“Best man?” Ash could hardly get the words out and not because he was struck blind by the big shiny diamond Daniel showed him. “Me? Yes. Yes, I’m honored.”

“If she says yes.” Daniel touched the gem and then replaced the box in his pocket. “The wedding probably won’t be for a while. I hear there’s lots of planning and shit involved.”

“If she says yes,” Ash mocked. He jumped up and grabbed a bottle of champagne from the fridge. “Congratulations, man. We need to celebrate. I’m going to be a best man. My best friend is getting married!”

“Good to see you, asshole. Really is.” Daniel gave Ash a bone-crushing hug, riding high on the christening of his infant daughter.

“Couldn’t miss this, seeing as how you had the spectacular good sense to make me Abigail’s godfather.” Ash returned the embrace with a thump on his friend’s back. Daniel slung a companionable arm around Ash’s shoulders and winked at his wife.

“I had the good sense to grab hold of that woman and never let her go.”

“True.” Ash grinned and raised his glass to Maggie, who mock-scowled even as her face pinked. “Love her like a sister.”

He winced at the choice of words, thinking of Maggie’s sister and loving. He’d loved her sister, all right, in every physical sense of the word. He’d been Daniel’s best man, with Maggie’s sister the maid of honor, at the wedding five years ago, and he’d spent the night doing things with sister dearest that would make a porn producer blush.

Good times.

Maggie raised a brow at his flinch, but
thankfully Lisa walked up to distract her. Ash’s gaze dropped to the male hand Lisa held before following the arm up to meet Andy’s guilty eyes.

“Still can’t believe those two have been seeing each other for so long,” he muttered to Daniel. “And why you guys never said anything. I might have been assigned all the way the hell up north the last few years, but we still talked often enough to let me know.”

“Lisa made us swear we wouldn’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea, and neither does Andy. But she made us promise, swear up and down we wouldn’t tell. Something about how as long as you weren’t seeing anyone—anyone serious—she didn’t want you to know. Maybe she feels bad, or thought you’d feel bad. Who the hell knows?”

“I don’t get it. I’ve seen Lisa when I’ve been home over the past couple years, and Andy more than that.” The underlying awkwardness between him and Lisa had eventually faded, and they’d fallen back into their usual easy camaraderie—at least, he thought they had.
Hopefully, she’d dealt with whatever had been bothering her and hadn’t transferred her neediness to Andy. The relationship was exactly what Andy had been wanting since they were kids. Good for both of them and especially Lisa. She’d finally found a relationship that was healthy for her. Her misguided attraction to him had to have been in reaction to the hell she’d been through with her ex-fiancé.

But still. “What difference does it make if I’m dating anybody or not? Never bothered her before.”

“She’s always worried about who you’re seeing and what you’re doing—you know that. She cares about you. Maybe she felt bad that we’re all coupled up and you aren’t.”

Ash made a rude noise. “I’m happy for her and Andy. Happy for you and Maggie, too. Just because I haven’t found someone I want to be with long-term doesn’t mean I won’t eventually. Why the hell wouldn’t Lisa want me to know?”

“Don’t ask me,” Daniel said. “You know more about women than I ever will.”

“Bah. Anyway. I’ll give them both shit about it later.” He tipped his head back to swallow the rest of his drink before burping in Daniel’s ear and dodging the retaliatory blow. “I’ve got to meet Pete at his office. See you guys tonight?”

“Count on it. And thanks again, Ash. I mean it.”

“Of course.” After a last one-armed hug and back thump, he turned to toast Lisa and Andy with his empty glass. “Catch you crazy kids later.”

A very pretty blonde escorted him into Pete’s office when he arrived, and he flashed a promising smile as she held the door open so he had to slip between her and the frame.

“Down girl.” Pete said with a mocking, raised brow when she lingered. “Official business here, Portia. You can ogle the corporal on your own time.”

“Love to.” She grinned, giving Ash an amused, inquiring look. “What are you doing later?”

“Having a drink with you, sweetheart.” He lowered himself onto the sofa opposite Pete’s desk.

“Perfect.” She closed the door behind her with a grin and a wink.

“Try to keep my normally professional and efficient office staff from turning into swooning idiots whenever you come in, will you?” Pete shook his head. “At least you didn’t say ‘you’ when she asked what you were doing later.”

“That would be sophomoric and immature.” Ash fought to keep the grin off his face. “I also did refrain from asking her when she got off, you’ll notice. Nothing but sophistication and class right here. Cute girl, by the way.”

Pete held up his hand. “Stop. Please. She’s my PA. I don’t want anything but PA thoughts and comments, okay?”

“Okay.” The grin broke free. “I’ll try to keep her from falling in love with me.”

“Please do. Anyway, I asked you here to discuss business, not pick up my assistant.”

“Well, to be fair, she picked me up,” Ash pointed out and then waved his hand when Pete glared. “What’s up?”

“You’ve completed your general duty policing and undercover training.” Pete sat at his desk with Ash’s file in front of him. “You’ve logged some great arrests and filed information that has led to major seizures from your plainclothes work. You’ve also handled yourself well in the undercover ops you’ve been working. I want to know if you’re ready to involve yourself in a deep op, a major undertaking. It’s the Russo one I’ve personally been overseeing and setting up the past few years.”

“I’m ready, Commander.”

Ah, the opportunity he’d been waiting for as long as he could remember. He’d sacrificed friends and family, a personal life. Worked his ass off, put in full shifts, gone back to his apartment, changed, and headed back out on plainclothes or an op if Pete had something. He’d fall into bed around two or three in the morning, crash for a couple hours, and then start all over again. For the past five years. Hell, yes, he was ready.

“I hope so, Corporal, because we’re going after Rico Salvatore.” Pete held up a thick file, and Ash sucked in a breath as he reached for the packet.

“I want you to crack his circle.” Davenport leaned back in his chair while Ash leafed through the pages. “A long-term insertion. We’ll wrap up your other assignments so you can concentrate on this. If you can get the information we need from Salvatore, we can take down some people we’ve been after a long time—people not only dealing in drugs, but false identifications, too, passports and the like. The Yanks are pretty interested in that, as you can imagine. We’ll be dealing with some of their agents, but none undercover yet. Not until we get more information and see if you can get in with Salvatore. It’s our operation, but there will be some crossover, both with the States and the QPP.”

“I’ll get in.” He’d deal with the Yanks and the Quebec Provincial Police. “I see why you wanted me to learn about operations at the airport.”

“Yeah. I’ll set you up with a contact there. She’s also a UC we’ve had in place for a few months. We’ll let info get around you can get shipments off planes without being checked or going through Customs. We’ve had UC officers working with the baggage and cargo handlers for a while, so they can pull certain shipments and make sure the packages don’t get sent through regular channels. Other officers will follow the packages—usually drugs—from there, so they don’t get out on the street, but we’ll make sure any busts are far enough removed from you so no one gets suspicious. Or we’ll send the packages along to another UC we’ve got in place so it looks like they got distributed.”

“Quite a set-up,” Ash commented.

“I’ve been working on this operation for years.” Pete sat behind his desk and scrolled through his notepad. “It’s elaborate, wide-spread, and expensive as shit. We’ve already brought down enough brass in the drug world to make the politicians happy and kept enough drugs off the street to make us happy. The set up is great, because
runners come to us to get drugs in and out of the country, and they have no idea. The operation has been successful, but it’s time to extract and change personnel. That’s where you come in. Plus, we’re going to start incorporating the ID stuff into this operation, fake passports, Immigration forms, and birth certificates. Supplying these guys with the real things helps validate our UC and enables us to track those known aliases, because we created them. Also gives us the control to see where they go, who they talk to, meet, make deals with. We can track them in and out of the country.”