LineofDuty (8 page)

The whole office knew?

She glanced at the people already at their desks. A few were
conspicuously not looking at her, the others whirled to busy their hands as if
they hadn’t been staring.

They knew. All of them.

Her heart pounded painfully against her ribs. She couldn’t
deal with this.

Nicole picked up her purse, hugged the flowers to her chest
and hurried back out to her car. The silence of the little space was a
momentary haven in the wreck of her life. She sucked down deep breaths of air.
This was horrible. No one at the office had even known about her pregnancy. But
they all knew about her split from Jake.

She blinked back the tears and stared at the sky bridge
connecting the garage to the building. A man strode toward her level
purposefully. She couldn’t tell who it was, but on the off chance Collin was
following her, she started the engine and backed out of her spot. This was too
much.

The streets were empty, all reasonable people being at work
this time of the day. She sniffled and the first tears fell down her cheeks.

This sucked. Royally sucked.

Her phone pressed into her thigh so she dug it out at a
light and dropped it into the cradle. The Bluetooth connected automatically
with a
beep
.

Don’t do it.

“Call Jake,” she said with a hiccup.

The Bluetooth chimed and a second later the line began to
ring.

Jake stood at the end of the mostly unloaded semi truck and
watched a silver sedan waved down the drive by the undercover officer
masquerading as a gang enforcer.

It was almost alien to be on scene in boots, jeans and his
own plaid button-up shirt. Since taking down Alvarez that morning, they’d
cleaned up the farm and let the bad guys come to them. It was like shooting
fish in a barrel. He’d never made so many easy busts in his life.

His phone began to vibrate on his hip. He glanced down at
the display and swallowed a curse.

Nicole.

Everything in him said to answer it, but with a car full of
small-time dealers rolling toward him looking for the supplier, he didn’t have
a moment to spare. He forced his gaze away from the phone and stared at the
driver of the silver car. Unlike most of the other people arriving to either
run the pot bales to another location or pick up some to sell, this car had two
people.

He started walking toward the car as it eased to a stop. The
driver rolled the window down and Jake leaned against the door.

“Where’s Jose?” the driver asked.

“In the barn.” Jake didn’t know who Jose was. No one else
had asked for him. “Pull in so we keep this quiet. Too much traffic today.”

The man nodded as if what Jake said made the most sense.

Jake watched the car roll away from him and maneuver into
the barn.

Five…four…three…two…one…

A few muted shouts and the farm went quiet once more.

It was too easy.

“What crawled up your ass and died?” Cole sauntered toward
him, wearing clothing four sizes too large and several gold chains. The look
was utterly ridiculous, but it had passed muster so far.

“I don’t like this,” he replied.

“You’ve been a broken record all morning. I get it. I agree.
But I’m also saying it’s about time we caught a break on some of the bigger
movers and shakers.”

“Yeah. I suppose.” The sad truth was that for the last
couple of years they’d been fighting a losing battle with the dealers and drug
runners. They were always a day late and a dollar short. The reality was that
as the economy suffered, narcotics sales skyrocketed, which meant so did crime.
Word of a mole only made the situation bleaker.

“How are—things?” Cole tripped over his words, but Jake got
the gist.

“I don’t know.” He glanced away, falling into the memories
of Nicole’s sweet moans, the hot clench of her body. “Better? The same? I’m not
sure.”

“Give it time. Did you go to that place I told you about?”
Cole must have found something incredibly fascinating in the cornfield because
his gaze never moved from the stalks.

“Yup,” Jake replied.

Cole’s phone rang, breaking the conversation. Jake hid his
laugh by turning in place and surveying the quiet farm. The family from the
farmhouse were gone, the body cleaned up and everything at least appeared back
to normal but it felt off. Maybe it was too quiet. Maybe they should have
gotten a few people in the fields.

“We’re being relieved.” Cole slapped his shoulder. “Let’s
get the others and go grab a drink.”

An hour later, Jake and six of the team sat clustered around
a TV at their favorite bar, none of them speaking. The news told them what they
already knew, complete with video footage of the sting in progress from the
night before.

“Did anyone even see these guys?” Becca glanced at him.
“Jake?”

“The angle of the camera makes me think they were on the
road bordering the western fields. That way had a line of trees on it. If they
were in or behind those,” he shook his head, “I never would have seen them.”
Plus, his attention had focused on the immediate vicinity.

“Well, that kills the operation,” Cole muttered.

Jake wasn’t so sure the story hadn’t been held from the
morning and afternoon news on request. They’d worked the scene all night and
day, with only a few snatches of sleep early in the morning before they were
back at it. Chances were their fish had dried up and their barrel was just
plumb empty. An operation like the sneak sting they’d been running could last
only so long. But he wasn’t about to argue the point. There wasn’t enough
energy.

“I’ll be back,” Becca announced. She slid off her stool and
sauntered toward the back of the bar, presumably to the restrooms.

He continued to watch the video, which showed a progression
of clips through the day. The damn news crew were better than an honest-to-God
spy. He found it hard to believe that their commanding officer didn’t have some
notion of what was going on. Hell, with the way O’Neil had been acting since
his recognition in the foiled bombings, it wouldn’t surprise Jake if he were
promotion hunting, either in the city or elsewhere.

The TV jumped to an interview of O’Neil by a female news
anchor. It didn’t surprise Jake in the least.

“Is it just me, or was this too easy?” Matt Lawrence asked
as he spun his beer bottle in a circle.

“Don’t start that.” Cole thumbed toward Jake. “He’s been
saying that all day.”

“It’s not just me then?” Matt glanced at Jake and he nodded.
“Two guys narc has been after for years just fall into our laps in a week? I
don’t like it.”

Jake didn’t either, but he’d said it enough today.

Aaron gathered the empty beers and carried them to a trash
bin. The resounding crash and crunch of glass was getting to be too much. Jake
was tired. Exhausted was more like it, but he didn’t want to go home. Least not
to the brick house, and Nicole wouldn’t be home from work yet. He’d have to
make do sleeping by himself.

“Vant, did I hear those narc guys right? You used to work
those cases?” Matt asked.

“Yup. It was one back then, but there were seven guys at the
heart of the operation. We took one into custody, and last I heard he’s still
behind bars. The—”

“Who was that?” Matt asked.

Cole groaned and tipped his beer up, emptying the bottle.

“Diego Cruz.” The memory of slapping cuffs on that bastard
still felt good. “He was in the inner circle, but really he managed the
enforcers, made sure they had security and ran a lot of the dummy ops so we’d
follow him and not the real drugs.”

“What happened to the other six?” Matt leaned forward.

“They held together for a little while, but then the best we
can guess is that some infighting started. Alvarez, who died last night, teamed
up with two of the other guys to take the bulk of the business. The other three
went solo.”

“Where’s Aaron with my beer?” Cole twisted in his seat.
“Where the hell did he go?”

“I thought he was at the bar.” Matt glanced around but
didn’t appear as concerned as Cole. “So who’s left then?”

Jake ticked the last four names off on his fingers, a face
filling his mind’s eye with each one. “Felipe Rios, Bruno Ortega, Pablo
Castillo and Santiago Medina.”

“Medina? Is he part of the Medina Cartel?” Eric asked. He
always picked the oddest moments to pull out a random tidbit of information. As
the youngest member of the group, he’d transferred straight from patrol to
SWAT. Jake wasn’t even sure he was old enough to really know anything about the
Medina Cartel.

“A distant relation,” Jake replied. “I always got the idea
the cartel wasn’t too fond of Santiago. They got some of their supply from the
cartel years back, but there was a falling-out and one of the cartel employees
wound up dead in Texas. Rumor was Santiago pulled the trigger. Haven’t seen
Medina Cartel product here in a long time.” The details of the case were so
easy to recall. At one point Jake had been able to nearly recite the whole box
of files from memory. At least until a sassy redhead became the most important
thing in his life.

“Where did Aaron go?” Cole pushed off the stool, peering
around the mostly empty bar. It was early enough the only patrons were people
like them, just off work and looking to unwind with one or two cold ones.

“Maybe he fell into the pot and needs you to help him out,”
Matt replied.

“Fuck you, Lawrence.” Cole balled up a napkin and launched
it at the other man before heading off to the restroom.

“Did Becca leave or something?” Eric glanced at the empty
seat.

“I don’t know.” Jake slid off the stool and stretched, his
half-finished beer on the table. “I’m heading out.”

“Later.” Matt slapped his shoulder as he walked past.

Jake stepped out into the sunshine and squinted. It was too
early to go to the old house. Besides, he needed a shower and to clean up
before he went to see Nicole again. Last time had been raw, primal in his need
for her. That wouldn’t work this time.

He needed a new plan. Good thing he had one.

* * * * *

Nicole accepted the hot tea from Tanya and eased back into
the couch. Over the last few hours she was pretty sure it had rearranged to
cradle her.

“Cole just called. They had a really messy mission and
wrapped it up not long ago. He’s finishing up a drink with the guys and will be
home in a bit. I think there’s pizza in our future.” Tanya sat on the couch
next to her, curling her legs under her. They’d made small talk for the last
few hours and amazingly, the more time Nicole spent around Tanya the more she
liked her.

“Is everyone okay?” Nicole couldn’t help the kick of nerves
and nausea every time she wondered if Jake and the others were safe.

“Yeah, sounds like there were a few scrapes, but none of
them were hurt.” Tanya studied her over the top of her cup. “How are you
doing?”

Nicole bit her lip. Oh, she’d told Tanya about the cake and
the stupid joke at the office but not about the crazy sex in the kitchen. She
didn’t quite know if they were friends on that kind of level or not.

“If you don’t want to tell me it’s okay,” Tanya added.

“It’s not if I want to tell you, it’s more of a TMI issue.”
Nicole stared into her cup, letting her eyes unfocus as she watched the liquid
swirl.

Tanya chuckled. “Honey, I play roller derby with a bunch of
women who have no concept of too much information.”

“How did you get into playing roller derby, by the way? You
don’t really seem the rough-and-tumble sort.”

“Well, Cole and I grew up in the country. I did a lot of
sports and outdoorsy stuff. Roller derby is more physical than what I did
before, but it’s just another sport. I just try to knock other women on their
ass.” Tanya grinned and pulled the loose leg of her yoga pants up to display a
large purple bruise. “This is from practice last week.”

“Shit.” Nicole winced just looking at it.

“Oh come on. You know you want to go skating with me.”
Tanya’s grin grew.

“No thank you.” Nicole shook her head. She liked her teeth
in place and besides, she bruised way too easily. The marks on the backs of her
thighs were proof enough.

“Okay. Fine. So your TMI issue?” Tanya sipped her tea,
pulling off the sweet-and-innocent act way too well.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Yes, I do, but if you don’t want to tell me I won’t ask
again.”

Nicole bit her lip. She didn’t have anyone else to talk to
about this, and she was dying to tell someone.

“Jake came over last night and we had sex in the kitchen,”
she said in a rush as heat rose up her neck, clear to her hairline.

Tanya gasped and froze with her cup halfway to her mouth.
“No way!”

Nicole nodded. “Yes way. He just showed up, didn’t say
anything at all and we—well—you know.”

“Was it good?”

“Yeah.” Nicole placed her cup on the coffee table and buried
her face in a decorative pillow. “I can’t believe I just told you that.”

Tanya merely laughed. “I get it. I used to be the same way,
but between the derby girls and making Cole talk about sex, I’m learning how to
use my adult words.”

“I know, but we barely know each other.” Nicole peeked over the
pillow and, unless her eyes were mistaken, a tinge of pink stained Tanya’s
cheeks.

“So? Okay, so you and Jake did it in the kitchen.”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

Nicole blew out a breath and cradled the pillow to her
chest. “And then it was like old times. We didn’t speak. Not a single word the
whole time. He drew me a bath just like he used to and then he got the call.”
She waved her hand and Tanya nodded.

“I hate when his phone rings in the middle of sex, because
Cole will get up and leave.” Tanya groaned.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Jake at least finishes.”

“I wish Cole did.” She paused for a moment to sip her tea.
“What does this mean for you guys?”

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it changes
anything except we’re still attracted to each other and maybe we miss what we
had. But I don’t know if it really makes a difference. I don’t want to be
married to someone who will leave me when I need him, you know?”

“Maybe he’s trying?”

“Maybe he is.” She shrugged.

“Would you take him back if he did change?”

“I don’t know. Maybe? Yeah, I think if things changed I
would. I would have said no a week ago, but—maybe I was wrong.” She blew out a
breath. “We’ll see I guess. One bout of good sex doesn’t change things.”

“It can,” Tanya said, her tone serious.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. It changed things for us.”

Nicole didn’t discredit Tanya’s story but it was hers. Not
Nicole’s.

“I think I’m going to head home. Thanks for letting me come
over.” She tipped her cup back and finished off the tea.

“No problem. Any time, seriously.”

Nicole stood and gave Tanya a hug. She showed Nicole out of
the house.

She made the drive home on autopilot, mentally kicking
herself. Tanya was a sweet woman. Maybe a little too perfect on the outside,
but the more Nicole got to know her, the more she liked her.

The little white house looked exactly the same as it had
when she’d left for work that morning. She gathered her things and the flowers
before making her way to the front door. The mail drop box was open and the
edge of a package stuck out of the top. She juggled her things and plucked out
not a package but a box of her favorite mint and dark chocolate candies.