Jacked (64 page)

“Name’s Akim.”

“Akim?”

“I don’t know what went down. Benny didn’t share.”

“Where do I find this Akim?”

Felix sneered. “Man, what do I look like? The muther-fucking phone book?”

Marcus reached back, palmed Felix’s head, and shoved hard, bouncing his face off the fencing. That got the punk to change his answer.

He spit blood onto the ground. “Try Savage Lexus, you fuckin’ fucks.”

“I DON’T KNOW,
brother,” Marcus drawled.

I caught the sight of Felix walking in my side mirror as the tires kicked up stones and dust behind me.

“If they wanted her dead, she’d be dead.” That realization had hit me soon after I had dragged Felix by the hair from the back of the truck. Criminals didn’t send “messages” —they made statements and drove them home painfully.

Marcus nodded. “Harsh but true. And we sure as hell have been getting played at our own game.”

I glanced at him quickly.

“Yeah,” he said, reading me, “I thought about that too. Don’t want to think about one of our own but nothing surprises me anymore.”

“Don’t know how else they could know our moves.”

Marcus scoffed. “Shit. We’ve been broadcasting our deal every fucking Sunday. Even my eight-year-old nephew can call it.”

I peeled out of the lot, heading north back into the city, retribution the only thing on my mind.

“Adam, want you to know that I get ya. Someone tore up my house putting my family in danger, I’d be losing my fucking mind. Just got to play this smart, you follow? Can’t fire off half-cocked; that shit will get you hurt.”

Hurt? I already felt dead inside; the rest was still blistering out, leaving a path of char and agony in its wake. “I lost her, Marcus. Wasn’t bad enough that Ramirez’s wife filled Erin’s head with shit. There were bullet holes in the pillow where she’d been resting on the couch. As much as I don’t want to admit it, someone tried to take me out, I’d probably leave, too.”

Marcus nodded. “She back to work?”

“Yeah. Last two nights. One of the security guards there has been giving me updates. He knows the deal and is keeping watch.”

“Good. You ever think…?” He looked out the window. “Nah.”

I hated open-ended comments. “Think what?”

Marcus glanced over. “Shit like this makes for exciting TV.”

I ground my teeth together. “Thought of that, too. But there’s no connection between someone firing up Erin’s place and the show, beyond Melissa, and as much as she’s another one to be leery of, she ain’t crazy enough to attempt murder.”

“Dumb and Dumber were with us when we got that call, though. I don’t remember if they filmed the scene, do you?”

My mind was a swirling vortex of rage. I’d been focused on one thing and one thing only that night—making sure Erin was alive. “Can’t say if they did or not.”

“I hate to say it, bro, but this ain’t over.”

Something inside my chest twisted.

I knew it wasn’t my heart.

Erin had taken that with her when she’d left.

HOURS HAD TURNED
into days, and days into another week.

I trudged through each one, knowing that Erin would never come back to me while the threat to her life still existed.

Ballistics came back empty on the slugs removed from Erin’s house, so matching bullets to a gun was another dead end.

Yesterday I received a certified letter from a law firm representing Werner Communications, threatening to pursue damages since I’d been pulled off normal patrol duty while leading this investigation in Philly. Just one more thing I had to fucking worry about although Cap said lawyers for the department would handle it on my end.

Melissa Werner could go fuck herself.

Ritchie and Scott could go fuck themselves, too.

I ended yet another call from Scott asking me when we’d be getting back on regular patrol. His constant calls were getting annoying. It was a relief not to have cameras in my face.

“Surveillance is boring,” Marcus grumbled, making a racket while emptying a small bag of potato chips into his mouth.

I scanned back and forth again with my binoculars, waiting for movement outside Savage Lexus. We’d codenamed the case “Operation Trident” as we were working with units out of New York and New Jersey as part of a massive tri-state investigation.

Another Lexus and two new Ford trucks had been stolen out of a suburb of Newark and two Lincolns disappeared out of the upper east side of Manhattan.

Between the three teams working this case, we had amassed a list of twenty-nine suspects, including the possible “key master” working under the guise of an auto mechanic at this dealership.

Either the end buyers were getting anxious or the ring was getting sloppy. It was just a matter of time before we pulled up nets and snagged them all.

It was also time to get “Operation Recoup” underway as well.

HOSPITAL EMERGENCY WAITING
rooms had to be one of the worst places on Earth, especially going on ten-thirty at night. Marcus and I had been working odd hours depending on what we had going on, but there were a few people still holding strong on the night shift.

And here I sat amid crying children and people who didn’t look all that sick, waiting patiently for a person I’d never met to come save me. I’d give her props though; she made me suffer just a bit, leaving me waiting out here for almost an hour.

Finally a slender woman with wild hair came into the waiting area and stopped in front of me, none too happy, I might add.

I looked up, taking in her no-bullshit stance. “You must be Sherry.”

Yeah, obviously
.

She rested her hands on her hips. “She’d kill me if she knew I was out here talking to you.”

Part of me didn’t feel guilty about that. “I know. I appreciate it.”

One of Sherry’s eyebrows rose, waiting.

“She doing okay?”

“No. She’s completely miserable, actually. We’re blaming you, just so you know.”

I guess I deserved that. “She’s not the only one who’s miserable.”

Sherry didn’t need to say the word “good.” It was written all over her face. “I have to get back to work.”

“Look, I know you don’t know me, and all her friends probably hate me, but I love her and I miss her and this, this messed-up bullshit—”

Her arms crossed, taking a new stance. “Did you tell her this? That you love her?”

I nodded. “Yes. But she won’t take any of my calls; she won’t talk to me. I honestly don’t know what to do.”

“One question.” She held up her index finger. “This love that you speak of, does it come with a future? I mean, none of this ‘I love you’ crap now until something else comes along, wasting everyone’s time, because that would be a total dick move on your part and would hurt her even more than she’s hurting now.”

I squinted at her. “Something else?”

Sherry huffed. “You know what I mean. She deserves someone who is in it for the long haul, not some guy whose ego has been bruised and needs to prove something to himself.”

“I’ve got nothing to prove.” Actually, I felt quite defeated. “She’s already made up her mind. Told me she didn’t want kids with me.” I started to question why I was even trying. I needed to quit this pity-party and accept the facts. I stood. “Sorry I wasted your time. Thanks for seeing me.”

“Wait.”

My legs stopped on a glimmer of hope.

“You love her that much?”

I nodded. “Long haul.”

Sherry exhaled and then pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Give me your number. I’m not making any promises but we can try.”

I didn’t know what came over me, but right there in the crowded waiting room, I gave this woman a hug.

I’VE BEEN IN
hand-to-hand combat with drugged-out criminals wielding weapons, been through countless court appearances and testimonies, and even endured thirty-two years of my mother’s disapproving gaze, but none of that really prepared me for the interrogation that was happening at this table.

Erin’s two best friends, Sherry and Jen, sat across from me. I had convinced Cherise to be in my corner, but still… she had ovaries and an opinion, which made her loyalties questionable. And then just when I thought the team had been formed, in waddled a third for Erin’s side—the pregnant nurse, Sarah, who was looking ready to drop at any second.

Maybe I’d have to add “delivery of a baby in a restaurant” to my resume before this day was fucking over.

Sherry was all business. Jen had been somewhat starry-eyed until she eased into the real purpose for this meeting.

Jen glanced at her watch. “We have to speed this up as she’s meeting us here soon.”

Just hearing that Erin was on her way made a strange ache develop in my chest.

“We’re going to look at a few apartments with her after lunch,” Jen continued.

“She’s moving?” I don’t know why this detail surprised me, and hurt.

Jen became somewhat indignant. “Someone shot up her house. She won’t even go back to pack up her stuff.”

Cherise raised a hand. “Now hold up. Before everybody goes blaming Adam again, I’ve been a cop’s wife for years and this situation is very unique.”

Sarah leaned in. “Erin hired a moving company to do it.”

My guilt was crushing. I rested my head in my hands; it was hard to face all of their reproachful stares. “I’m glad she has all of you looking out for her,” I muttered. “I can’t fix it so why bother trying.”

“Unh ah.” Cherise cracked me in the back of my head—hard. “You love her, you fight for her. None of this ‘I’m giving up’ crap. You hear me?”

I rolled my gaze over. “Entire city heard you.”

She scowled and then smacked my shoulder for good measure. “You want her back?”

“Isn’t that why we’re all here?”

Cherise turned meaner. “I said, do
you
want her back?”

My head was close to exploding. “Yes, of course I do.”

“Well then.” Her face softened. “Here’s what I suggest we do.”