by BJ Bentley
“Yeah,” I said, taking a tentative step just to see if the goon squad would close ranks.
They didn’t move.
“You know, the big villain speech where you explain everything I need to know about your evil plan? That speech.”
Granger laughed again. “I like you, Poppy. I really do.”
My stomach twisted each time he said my name. I never wanted to hear it pass his lips again.
“Alas, you’re a means to an end, and I have no other choice but to…use you.”
I didn’t want to even contemplate what he meant by that, but still, I had to ask. “Use me?”
He hummed his affirmation and went on. “You see, Detective Brody has been a thorn in my side these past months. On several occasions, he’s gotten a little too close to bringing down my operation, though I’d be surprised if he was aware of that fact.” He grinned. “I pride myself on always being at least ten steps ahead. Still, Brody is very good at what he does. And I find that highly annoying.”
Well, good for Vance. If he can manage to bring down Granger and get the majority of Janus off the streets, it would make his career. Not to mention, save lives. “I fail to see what any of that has to do with me.”
Granger’s frown was as fake as his smile. “An inconvenience. I couldn’t get to Brody directly, not without getting too close and giving myself away. But you, well, women are always an easier target.”
I bristled at the blatant sexism in that statement, and then wondered why, in everything that sucked about the situation, it was that which rubbed me the wrong way.
“So, if I could get to you, someone Brody obviously cares for, well, I could put the screws to him, as the saying goes.”
“So…I’m a pawn.”
I wanted to punch the condescending grimace off his face. “Like I said, easy target.”
His words once again made my trigger finger itchy, and I wrapped my arms around my middle, giving myself a hug. I lightly traced the fingertips of my left hand over the outline of my gun grip, praying that my opportunity would come soon.
Since Trent had gone out to move their vehicle, that left the two goons —one of whom really wanted some payback— and Granger. The two goons were definitely packing, and I wasn’t sure about Granger, but I didn’t think the odds were stacked in my favor.
I opened my mouth to demand the use of a bathroom —I didn’t need to go, but I needed time and space to think— when a fifth party entered the equation.
“Clay? Clay, what’s going on?”
“Carmella, darling, you should be resting,” Granger chastised her, his tone and expression gentle.
Carmella Stevens entered the room, her dark eyes quickly taking in the scene before her. Her eyes flicked over me once and then again, and I didn’t see any inkling of recognition in them, but I also didn’t think it mattered at this point. If she recognized me as the woman who stopped her on the street to compliment her shoes, she didn’t show it.
“I’m sorry, Clay,” she said, sidling up to Granger and wrapping an arm around his waist. “I was trying to rest, but I heard voices, and I thought something was wrong.”
“Not at all, darling. In fact, everything is just as it should be. How are you feeling?”
“Oh,” she breathed. “I just can’t seem to kick this headache, and it seems we’re all out of pain meds. Do you think you could send the boys to get me some?”
“Of course,” he cooed, and I nearly gagged. “Rick, why don’t you go? You can pick up something for your nose while you’re at it.” Granger smirked at the lug, perversely amused that I’d managed to get a hit in.
Rick grumbled something to his boss and took off. That left me alone with the big goon, Granger, and Carmella. Was Carmella a threat? If so, could I take all three of them?
I didn’t think she was armed, there wasn’t anywhere to stash a weapon on that slinky dress she was wearing, though her stilettos could certainly take an eye out if she wanted to get creative.
“Now, I have business to conduct, darling, so why don’t you go lie down, and I’ll bring the medicine to you when Rick returns.”
Carmella looked torn. “Well, if you think that’s best.”
“I do,” he said, kissing her cheek with a tenderness I wouldn’t have expected from him before looking at the goon. “Malcolm, go check on Trent and do a perimeter sweep.”
The goon now known as Malcolm peered down at me with a suspicious glint before nodding. “Sure, boss,” he muttered before stalking from the room.
Carmella, too, had vacated the premises, leaving me alone with Granger. Now was my chance. It was just the two of us, and I was willing to bet I was quicker on the draw.
Only, I didn’t count on Granger surprising me.
The first blow snapped my head to the side. My cheek stung from the force of his backhand and tears formed in the corners of my eyes.
The second blow I saw coming, but it didn’t make it hurt any less. Granger’s fist landed in my gut, knocking the air from my lungs.
I’d had enough, and my position, bent at the waist and clutching my middle, gave me the perfect opportunity to slide a hand under my shirt.
Granger’s leather deck shoes entered my field of vision, and as one foot left the floor, aiming for my head, I pulled my weapon and aimed.
The crack of gunfire pierced the air as Granger stumbled back. A pool of red blossomed over his right shoulder as he snarled, “You bitch!”
That was the second time that day someone had said those words to me, and it was no more creative than it was the first time.
The door behind me flew open as Malcolm the goon charged in, his own weapon drawn. Sandwiched between the two men, I couldn’t decide where to aim my gun. Granger was closer, but Malcolm’s .38 seemed like the bigger threat.
“You didn’t check her for weapons, you idiot?!” Granger shouted.
“Sorry, boss,” Malcolm mumbled in return, leveling his gun on me.
Another shot went off, only this one didn’t come from Malcolm or me.
Malcolm slumped to the ground with a brand new hole in his chest.
Courtesy of Carmella.
“What the fuck?!” Granger shouted, swinging around to confront his lover with a small revolver gripped in her hands. He charged her, taking her by surprise.
She fired another shot, but this one went wide, missing Granger by a mile. Assuming she was trying to hit him at all. Why would she shoot her lover? Why turn on him suddenly?
He backhanded her like he had me, and sent her to the ground. Grabbing her gun he turned on me and fired.
A searing pain tore through my right arm causing me to lose purchase on my gun, which hit the hardwood floor and slid under the couch.
The pain in my scalp rivaled the pain in my arm when Granger’s fingers twisted in my hair and he yanked me to my feet. I brought my elbow up to meet his stomach with as much force as I could muster, which may have slowed him down, but he didn’t loosen his grip. We struggled all the way to the front door where the distant sound of sirens was music to my ears. Renewed, I began struggling again, this time employing every move I could remember from years of training. I side-stepped, maneuvering around Granger’s right side, forcing him to bend his arm back if he wanted to maintain his hold. He couldn’t. I finally managed to get my hair free from his grasp and landed a jab to his jaw.
I didn’t even feel the bones in my fingers breaking from the force.
Fury and adrenaline fueled me, but they were no match for the gun in Granger’s hand.
But the third shot fired in the cabin that day didn’t come from Granger.
27
Vance
I was off running the second I heard the shot.
Ignoring the shouts of my brothers in blue, I made my bid for the Olympic track team.
Heath wasn’t far behind.
Weapons drawn, we paused at the door to the cabin belonging to Granger’s grandparents just long enough to signal a plan of attack. That
plan being that I was going in there with or without backup, and I wasn’t waiting for anyone’s permission.
Heath could choose to get on board or not.
I kicked the door in, weapon raised, and shouted my arrival. “Aspen Falls PD!”
“Oh, good, the cavalry's here.”
I blinked, my mind not quite comprehending what my eyes were seeing. My ears heard Carmella Stevens’s dry commentary, but they too short-circuited at their meaning.
“Mind handing me those cuffs, Detective?”
I ignored her question, my gaze drawn to Poppy. I belatedly lowered my firearm and stalked to her, noting with no small amount of rage, the bruising and cuts that marred her beautiful face. Her right forearm was wrapped around her middle with her left hand cradling the elbow.
“Somebody get me an ambulance!” I bellowed.
“Five minutes out, sir!”
“Rookie,” I rasped.
“I’m okay.”
“You understand if I want to see that for myself,” I said, giving her a look that said ‘non-negotiable.’
In my periphery, I saw Carmella, who’d been subduing Clay Granger with her knee to his back, take a pair of offered cuffs from Heath’s hand and proceeded to expertly restrain Granger.
What the fuck was I missing?
I escorted Poppy around the fallen body of one of the guys who’d grabbed her off the street, deftly giving his prone form an ‘accidental’ kick as we passed, and outside to wait for the ambulance.
Two hours later, we sat in an interview room reviewing Poppy’s statement.
“So, Granger never mentioned why he targeted you, specifically?”
Poppy fidgeted with the rim of her styrofoam coffee cup, plucking small pieces of it away and tossing them into the dregs of her coffee. She sat back in her seat, repositioning herself on what I knew first hand was an uncomfortable as hell chair. Her reluctance to answer the question and her refusal to look me in the eye set me on edge. And since I’d just come back from that edge when I found Poppy alive and relatively well, my anger came to a rapid boil.
“Poppy.”
“It was because of you.”
“Come again?”
She licked her lips, rolling them between her teeth and finally —fucking , finally— looking me in the eye. “He said you were getting too close to his operation. He said it was right under your nose, and you didn’t even realize it, so he had to do something to make you back off. So, he used me.”
“Right under my nose?” I thought about what that might mean. Before Poppy joined the force, Colin and I had been investigating the alarmingly increasing use of Janus amongst young people. Most of the deaths connected to the use of the drug were teenagers, but not all of them. And amongst those teens, the only connection that we could make was that they were young. Too damn young to die. Other than that, we’d spent a lot of time frustratingly hitting dead ends. So what had we overlooked? Was there some clue that would have broken the case wide open? And would we have found it if my attention hadn’t been diverted to Poppy and Colin hadn’t been reassigned?
“That’s what he said,” Poppy confirmed gently. “What do you think he meant?”
“Not a clue,” I grumbled, irritated with my lack of comprehension.
My musings were interrupted when the door swung open and Carmella Stevens waltzed in.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded, moving so I was between the door and Poppy.
“Stand down, Brody,” Captain Griffin, who’d been sitting quietly in the corner of the room while Poppy recounted her version of events, admonished.
“What?” I shot him an incredulous look. “Captain—“
“I said, stand down, son.” His tone was one he used only when he was on the brink of suspending me. I may have heard it once or twice before.
Carmella, who had changed out of the slinky nightclub dress she’d been in earlier and was now wearing dark wash jeans and a faded United States Naval Academy t-shirt, walked straight to Poppy. Or, she would have, if I hadn’t sidestepped and blocked her path.
She smirked up at me, shaking her head. Her long, dark ponytail swished from side to side before settling partially over one shoulder. “I’m not going to hurt her, cowboy.”
Our stare off came to an end when Poppy spoke up. “Who are you?
Carmella granted me a small lip twitch before stepping around me to stand before Poppy, who was also now standing. “Special Agent Brooklyn Chase. DEA,” she said, extending her hand.
Poppy frowned, slowly taking Agent Chase’s hand for a slight shake. “You saved my life today.”
“You put up a hell of a fight, Officer Leighton. It was impressive.”
“Poppy,” my girl immediately corrected. “Call me Poppy.”
Agent Chase smiled warmly. “Nice to officially meet you, Poppy.”
As touching as the scene was —I fought rolling my eyes— it was over. “Cap, you wanna tell me how long you knew the feds were involved in this case?”
“Nope,” Griffin said. “‘Cause it’s only been about fifteen minutes, and I’m still pissed about it.”
Well, at least my captain hadn’t been hiding things from me. “And you?” I directed my question to Agent Chase.
Chase turned toward me. “I’ve been deep cover for the past eight months. The first time you met me on the sidewalk, I didn’t know who you were, but my team was able to make a positive ID not long after.” She turned back to Poppy. “I’d clocked you watching me at Baubles Boutique, so I went back there a couple times waiting for you to make your approach, but you never came in.”
I scrubbed my hands over my eyes at this information. “We were more interested in Granger, and we didn’t want to take the chance of scaring you off. Of course, if we’d known who you were…” I trailed off, making my point.
“Yeah, sorry about that, but I wasn’t about to blow a year’s worth of hard work and eight months of deep cover to fill you in.” She shrugged, her words apologetic but her tone and expression were anything but. “Besides, my superiors would have had my badge if I’d jeopardized this case.”
“It wasn’t Granger you were after,” I surmised. “You could have taken him down at any time in the past eight months.”
Chase dipped her chin in assent. “Granger’s a big player in the game, but he’s not the biggest.”
“Someone else is calling the shots.”
“You got it, cowboy.”
I thinned my lips at the nickname and wondered how quickly I could get rid of Chase and get Poppy home.
“Well, Agent Chase,” Griffin spoke up. “Thanks for having my officer’s back today.”
“Of course.” She gave Griffin a deferential nod and turned back to Poppy. “I’m in town for at least another couple of days before I have to head back to San Francisco and explain to my superiors why Granger has a bullet in his shoulder and is occupying a jail cell rather than leading me to his boss.”
Poppy winced. “Sorry.”
“Nah.” Chase waved her off. “It was only a matter of time before I shot the bastard anyway. Pretending to be attracted to him was, hands down, the worst job, ever. If you’ve got time, before I head back, I’d love it if you could teach me that move you did when Granger had you buy the hair. You managed to break his hold and deliver a killer uppercut all in one fluid motion. Looked like a cross between Krav Maga and Jiu Jitsu.”
“It was.”
Chase grinned. “Inspired. Here’s my number.” She handed Poppy a business card with the DEA logo on it and Chase’s name and office phone.
I snatched it out of her hand.
“Vance,” Poppy hissed.
I shot her a look, shoving the card with Chase’s cell number on the back, into my pocket. I hadn’t decided if Chase and Poppy getting friendly was a good idea, and I was still feeling a little bitter about the feds’ involvement. My girl could have been killed today because they had someone on the inside who could have brought Granger dow
n long before now. I ignored the fact that Granger wasn’t their target.
“Right,” Chase said, still smiling. “Well, it’s been fun, but I’m due for a day at the spa and about twenty-seven hours of sleep.”
“Thanks again, Agent Chase.”
“Poppy. Call me Brook.” She turned and shot me a wink before letting herself out of the too small room.
“Wait!” Poppy called. “What about Trent? Did they catch him?”
She hadn’t asked me, but I answered anyway. “Trent Stone and Rick Brewer was intercepted, without incident, on a backroad leaving Granger’s property by Rogers and Mulcahy. They’re in holding.”
“Oh,” she breathed, visibly deflating. “Then, it’s over?”
“Not exactly.” I shot a glance at Griffin, whose face was granite. “We need to find out exactly what Granger thought was right under my nose.”
Griffin nodded.
“If there’s a chance we can help take down his puppet master, I want in on it.”
“Agreed.”
“If you boys need help, you’ve got my number!” Chase called, the door swinging shut behind her.
“Then, Cap, permission to pursue any and all leads pertaining to the manufacturing and distribution of Janus within the Aspen Falls city limits.”
“Brody,” Griffin scoffed. “When have you ever asked my permission to do anything?”
Poppy snorted trying to stifle her laughter, which made me grin. My girl was safe, and I was about to hunt down some bad guys. My day could have started out better, but in that moment, I was feeling pretty fucking lucky.
28
Poppy
One month later
“And you’re absolutely sure you want to do this? Now?”
“Never been more sure of anything in my life, other than puttin’ my ring on my Clara’s finger.”
I looked at Linc with a mixture of surprise, fear, and a healthy dose of uncertainty. His weathered face blurred before my eyes, and I blinked to keep the tears at bay. I looked down at the deed to Linc’s Gym, the one he handed me when he announced he was retiring and leaving the gym to me when the time came that he left this earth. In the meantime, he was going to enjoy traveling with his wife, Clara, and leave the day-to-day operations of the gym to me.
