Lenora Worth - Deep Undercover

“This is an unusual situation,” she said. “I know a lot of detectives who are deep undercover. They give up everything to do their jobs.”

“Yes, but my job is bomb detection and...I can’t let this one go. Tommy found something at that site, and I think he recognized that man yesterday after Stella alerted. I took this on because my gut tells me this man is so close. And based on Beanpole’s vague description of him, I think that could have been him. I haven’t figured out why he’d bomb the park, but it could have been a distraction. I can’t talk to anyone much about it per Noah’s orders, but the NYPD is well aware of the situation and they’ve got people on it, too. I thought I could trust you, though, since you were there.”

“And then you got this wild idea that we could both work this case, possibly undercover as husband and wife?”

“Something like that. It’s stupid, I know. But...I need evidence, and most of the detectives I know are swamped and all in on their own cases.” He took a sip of coffee. “As you know, I rent out a room in the house in Valley Stream I inherited from my Granny Irene. My roommate’s so deep undercover, I get rent money from a PO box and I haven’t seen him since he vouched for me three months ago—right before he started this new case.”

A streak of lightning made a jagged dance over the skyscrapers and then a roar of thunder shook the sky. The flowers in the dish gardens bent in the brisk wind.

“We’d better get inside,” he said, his tone gruff now.

Brianne stood. “I want to hear more,” she said. “All of it. Then I’ll decide.”

“Forget I mentioned it.”

She slanted her eyebrow up. “Oh, no. This conversation is not over.”

The lightning flashed again. Brianne turned away from the street to give Stella a command so they could move inside.

Before she could get to the door, the rain started coming down. Gavin glanced at an approaching SUV and then back at her, his eyes filling with apprehension.

In the next instance, he jumped across the table and covered her, pushing her down, rain pouring around them.

But something else also poured out along with the rain.

Bullets.

Gavin didn’t have time to think.

He dove over Brianne, his body covering hers as the dark SUV sped by, one tinted side-window in the back open enough to show the tip of a long-barreled revolver. With a silencer.

But even with that silencer, he could still hear the hiss of a projectile coming straight toward them.

While he held her, bullets ricocheted off bricks and iron, one hitting the umbrella where they’d just been sitting, the force ripping the sturdy canvas apart. After what seemed like a lifetime of seconds, the SUV peeled away, wet tires spinning.

For one moment, everything went silent and then everyone moved at once.

The two officers who’d gone inside just minutes earlier came rushing out, weapons drawn.

“Hey, are you guys okay?”

“Shots fired.” Gavin looked down at Brianne. He’d knocked her down so quickly, her hair had tumbled out around her face. “You hit?”

“No, no,” she said, her breath rising. “How about you?”

“I’m fine.”

“The dogs?”

Gavin checked Stella who sat loyally beside where Brianne had landed, her ears up and her eyes on alert. Tommy did the same. These two weren’t trained to attack but they wouldn’t back off either if push came to shove. “They’re good. A tough combo.”

Brianne reached out a hand and touched Stella’s furry head. “Good girl.”

He sat back and then leaped up, offering her a hand. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said, grabbing hold, her hand sending little currents of warmth straight to his heart. “My knee is still bruised and cut from falling yesterday in the park and I’ll probably have a bruise on my elbow where I hit the concrete when...when you dived over me.”

“Sorry,” he said, unable to stop staring at her. “I saw the barrel of a gun and went into action.”

“We’d better stay in action,” she said, her expression hard to read. “We should contain the scene.”

Gavin looked around, his mind refocusing. Lou came hurrying out, oblivious to the rain or any shooters, his salt-and-pepper hair standing straight up. “Get inside,” he said, worry in his tone.

One of the patrol officers nodded. “Go on. We’ve called it in. but we didn’t see the vehicle or the shooter.”

“The vehicle—a black Denali,” Gavin replied. “I didn’t get the tag numbers. I’ll see if I can remember any details when we file a report. Could have been random.”

“Right,” the younger of the two said. “Two cops sitting on a patio. An easy target.”

Lou studied the street, his expression grim. “Who knows these days? We had that shooting when Sophie Walters was targeted, but that man’s dead now. Then Eva Kendall’s nephew Mikey got taken from here, remember? Glad they found the boy safe and sound.”

He shrugged and then held his hands up in defeat. “Maybe I should just sell the place.” He turned to go back inside but whirled around. “This time might have been a warning for me. Someone really wants to buy this property, but I keep refusing to sell. Different real estate agents come by all the time, smart-mouthing.”

Gavin shot a glance to Brianne. “Lou, are you being strong-armed?”

Lou shook his head. “I have been but I handled it. Just braggish folks with business cards and big offers. You know, gentrification. As if anyone around here wants to become more refined, know what I mean? I refused all offers, of course. But today, they might have fired their first warning shot directly at me. If this keeps up, we’ll lose business and I’ll be forced to shut things down.”

“Like I said,” Gavin replied to the officers. “Random? Or maybe not.”

“We’ve got this,” the other one said. “Get inside and dry off.”

“Bree, let’s go in and talk about what happened.”

She fixed her hair, her skin and uniform soaked. “What’s to talk about? They shot at us , right? Whether they were targeting Lou or us, we’re in this. I’m not going inside.”

He nodded, worrying, calculating.

Brianne studied the porch and the street. “I don’t think this was random, Gavin. So I’d like to help process the scene.”

“We can agree on that,” he said, his tone grim. “Did you see anything?”

“No. I should have been more alert.”

“Except I had you distracted with my lamebrain plan.”

“We’re not done with that,” she reminded him.

The rain softened into a drizzle but since they were both drenched they didn’t care. “Let’s check for bullet fragments,” she said. “The rain might not let up and it’s washing away evidence.”

“I saw a black SUV, a late model Denali. I didn’t get a license plate number. But then we see those all over town all the time. Hired drivers.”

“And Lou doesn’t have video footage to the street.”

“Nope. But the transportation department does. I’ll get Danielle’s team on that.”

They walked the patio, lifting bullet fragments for balistics and taking statements. The rain ended and a hot scalding sun came out to make their wet uniforms even stickier. The patrol officers cordoned off the patio until they’d cleared the scene.

Lou brought out water and offered them coffee. “Find anything?”

“Nope,” Gavin said. “But we’ll try to figure it out.” Then he touched Lou’s beefy arm. “I’ll need to sit down with you later and hear more about the people trying to buy you out.”

Lou shrugged. “People have been trying to buy me out since I opened the diner over thirty years ago. I don’t plan on going anywhere. Not without a fight, at least.”