Out of a Texas Night

by Phyliss Miranda

  They shared a good-hearted laugh.

  Once they settled into watching the movie, all of Avery’s concerns and worries of the day seemed to dissipate; although with the number of text messages they received from Rocky and Jessup, no doubt the evening could qualify as a working dinner.

  “Sorry.” Avery reached for her phone. “Hi, Tonya.” She stopped to listen while Tonya told her the warrant had been signed and that the two deputies had picked it up. She also updated her on the interview she’d transcribed, without making any comments about being surprised that Danny Scott was being sought for the attempted murder of their sheriff.

  Once Avery disconnected and laid her phone on the cushion beside her, she found herself gravitating toward Brody’s shoulders, where she rested her head. Although she tried to keep her focus on the movie, she continued to feel the heat coming from Brody. She put her hand on his muscular thigh. Why was she trying to fool herself? She certainly had more than an attraction to him. She was drawn to him by more than his good looks. There was something about the way he lived life, knowing when to live right on the edge and when to stay hidden in the shadows of the woods. He had a reckless charm and passion, plus a protective streak as big as Texas.

  Letting her inhibitions go, she put her hands behind his neck, tenderly pulling his face toward her. He pressed his hot mouth against hers. What began as a sweet, slow kiss of temptation became a kiss of hunger. One of need. For only a fraction of a second, she held herself back before giving in to her desires.

  He traced her lips, moving his wet, pink tongue across the seam of her mouth, and the last of her control snapped. Every ounce of her body short-circuited. He tore his mouth free long enough to take in a deep breath. Heat exploded within her. He ran his fingers through her hair, pulling the pins out of the top. He let it fall and brushed her blond locks with his fingers.

  “No, Brody, we must—”

  Brody’s cell phone rang with a special tone she didn’t recognize. He said very little that made sense to her, except, “Six o’clock at the truck stop.” Then he listened. “White cargo van.”

  Avery sat up straight and pulled her hair back up ran her fingers through it, letting the words white cargo van rush through her mind. “White cargo van,” she whispered.

  Brody stared straight ahead once he hung up, as if searching for the right words.

  Avery began, “Brody, look at me.”

  When he didn’t, she simply said, “Tonight didn’t happen. We had a nice dinner, watched a movie, and you took me home.”

  He turned to her. “That’s not the problem. Frankly, I enjoyed every second and won’t be able to forget no matter what happens.” He took in a deep breath. “But, as you’ve said over and over, if we’re to work together, I agree, it can’t and won’t happen again. But that’s not the problem right now.”

  “What is it?” She felt the pounding of her heart and figured he could also.

  “That was Vic. All the months of work on the drug-running ops seems to have gone down the river. Someone, somewhere got wind that the FBI, Texas Highway Patrol, and both of our counties were too close to the Harbor Crew cartel out of Mexico, and they’ve pulled a switch on us. They’ve found another way to get their drugs up north and down to Dallas.” He put his elbows on his knees and rested his head in his hands. “We’ve been burned, and really badly. Lost tons of money that has been invested, plus our people’s protection, but worst of all we’ve failed and allowed hundreds of pounds of drugs and no telling how many guns out on the street.”

  Avery placed her hand on his back and rubbed. “Hey, that’s the type of work we’re in, and not every investigation ends up in a positive fashion. Let’s look at the good part of the day.” She rubbed a little harder, while his muscles relaxed. “We found out who tried to murder Deuce, and he’ll likely be located and brought to justice. Tommy seems a changed man, and with his testimony, Scott will be in a federal prison probably until he dies. And....” She tried to think of something else positive. “Oh yes, and we will have whiteboards to begin our timeline first thing in the morning. White ones just like your brother-in-law’s van he didn’t want us to see.”

  Chapter 24

  Brody stepped out of the shower with only an oversized towel around his middle. He ran his fingers through his hair and began drying off. He’d spent a restless night alone in his bed. His dreams had drifted between the feeling of Avery in his arms, her kisses, and her soft, beautiful touch on his neck and deep-seated feelings about the Mexican cartel developments or lack thereof. He looked in the mirror and turned his head from side to side. Although he’d had his ponytail cut off weeks ago, he’d kept his dark hair fairly long, in the event he got called back into the special crimes unit to work on the Harbor Crew case. He took a lengthy look at himself, as if he hadn’t seen Brody VanZant in the mirror before. A short haircut and shave would do him good, plus he needed to check on the house in Amarillo. Since he hadn’t used a local barber, he’d call his old one and see if she could fit him in.

  In the background, he heard his iPhone ring, and the only person who had that particular tone was his CI, Vicky.

  Pulling the towel tightly around him, he went to the bedroom and grabbed up the phone. “Vic?”

  “Yes. Brody, I just wanted to call and let you know how much I’ve enjoyed working with you for these last couple of years.” She hem-hawed a bit, but before he could say anything else, she continued, “I want to make sure everything is okay between us. I hope you don’t think I was the one who threw the monkey wrench into all of our months of work.”

  “There’s no way I think that.” He sat on the bed. “I trust you too much, and you’ve proven yourself over and over. Are you coming out from undercover and going back to the APD?”

  “I haven’t decided what I want to do, but you’ll be the first to know. So what are your plans?” Vic asked.

  “Don’t know. I told Deuce I’d stay here, so I will keep my word. Hope the sheriff will let me partner with Rocky, as she originally planned, and continue as a detective.”

  “I hope so, but I just wanted you to know that whatever you think is right for you, I’ll support you one hundred percent.” She hesitated then said, “Oh by the way, I saw the APB out on Danny Scott. I ran across him in Amarillo a day or so ago, and I let the chief know. He’s likely in custody as we speak. Scott was drunk as a skunk, so I hope to Hades he put up a fight so they could add more charges to his resume. Got to go. Take care of yourself, and I hope to see you and Sheriff Humphrey again soon.”

  The phone went dead and he laid it on his table.

  Brody sat on his bedside thinking about what would happen to Scott. To betray all of the people who believed in him was unthinkable, and he deserved anything he got, which would likely be life in prison. One thing for sure, Texas didn’t mess around with an attempted murder of a police officer. Being such a bastard, likely Scott would spend most of his time in solitary confinement, because the likelihood of him making friends was nil.

  Brody picked up the phone and touched Avery’s private number.

  With a voice as soft as a kitten, she answered, “Brody, are you okay?”

  After they exchanged greetings, he gave her all the information Vicky had given him, only to find out she had already received word that Scott was in custody.

  Relief rushed through his body, and he recognized a desire to let the feeling sink in.

  “Thanks for taking me to get my car last night. Most of all, thanks for following me home to make sure I was safe.”

  “Anytime...anytime. It’s only five-thirty, so what time did you get into the office?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. Got here about an hour ago. Hey, I’ve got two new things to add to the whiteboards that Mr. Mitchell brought over.”

  “Let it rip.” He turned on the speaker, stood up, removed the towel, and put on his underwear then tactical pants.


  “Well, you’ll find this interesting. Thelma and I cleaned out Scott’s desk, so Rocky could have it nice and uncluttered when he got in today.” She hesitated and he could almost see a smile through the phone with her next words. “When we removed the lower left drawer to get the old torn paper and dirt out, we found an envelope addressed to Deuce, and the elusive search map we’ve been looking for.”

  “Did you read the letter?” He held his breath, wondering how she felt about him checking up on Tommy, after he’d been interviewed by Deuce.

  “Yes, along with the pictures. Tommy looked sick to me, not high on drugs. I’ve gone over the missing map and the letter along with it. Sure fills in all of the missing pieces to the puzzle. This should tie up everything for the DA with a great big bow on top.”

  “I also sent a copy of the letter and pictures to myself, and it’s never been opened, so that should add icing on the cake.” Brody breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Rocky is waving like he wants to talk with you. If it’s okay with you, I’ll step out and give him my phone.”

  “Sure.”

  In only a few seconds, Deputy Robertson’s voice boomed across Brody’s bedroom. After a brief discussion about what had transpired with Scott, Rocky had another piece of information that set Brody’s heart on fire. “Just an FYI, after talking with the sheriff, I went over to your sister’s café to introduce myself and have a cup of coffee.”

  “That’s good. She’s a very good sister and a likeable person. It’s just too bad she’s married to such an A-hole,” Brody said.

  “He wasn’t even there. Your sister is very nice. He had to make a run to Amarillo to get some coffee, I think she said. Here is what’s interesting. You know I always take Bruiser with me and leave him in the air-conditioned K-9 back of the Tahoe. I knew he needed to take a leak, so I got him out and took him around to the back. You know he’s very shy.” Rocky laughed.

  “Oh, sure. Aren’t all guys?” It was Brody’s turn to laugh.

  “Anyway, he took care of business, but I’ve never seen him pee so fast. He was almost more than I could handle when he rushed toward their storage building. I let him lead me, and he gave me sign after sign that there’s either drugs or a human holed up in there. Bruiser is both a drug dog and tracker. He definitely gave me all the signs.”

  “That’s interesting, because Stanley is the only person who has a key and knows what’s inside,” Brody said. “Let me think this through, because both Avery and I were there last night to get the whiteboards and Stanley showed up madder that a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He was pissed out of his mind because we were out there.”

  “That’s what the sheriff said, so I thought you’d want to know since it’s your family—”

  Brody interrupted him, “Let’s get this straight. Winnie is family, and at this point, so is Tommy, but Stanley has a place in Hell with his name on it.”

  “Understood. Better let you go, so you can get in the office and help the sheriff with the timeline she’s so feverishly working on.” He hesitated. “As a matter of fact, she just go back, so I’ll let you go. See you shortly, bro.”

  The phone went dead and he stuck it in his pants pocket.

  Brody finished dressing and grabbed a fresh cup of coffee. Before he took more than a couple of sips, his phone sounded with Vic’s distinctive chime.

  “What’s up, gal?” He knew better than to answer in any official way.

  “How’s my sweet thing doing?” his CI asked in a sexy, low tone. He could hear the sounds of big rigs and highway traffic, which pretty much told him where she was calling from.

  “Oh honeydew I’ve been missing you, and since I can’t get any action from this darlin’ trucker, I thought about you and your big rig. How about you meetin’ me and bringing along that toy I like so much…. The one we call Bruiser. I’d like to play around with him for a while.”

  “Meet you at the truck stop.” He’d read all the signals. “And bring big ol’ Bruiser along?”

  “Oh yeah, and I know you have to wear clothes, but I wish you didn’t. I’d like you with nothing on, but I’ll take a plain shirt and pants I can get you out of as quickly as possible. You know you can satisfy my needs like nobody else.” Not waiting for a response, she hung up.

  Brody had changed into his Wrangler’s almost before he got Rocky on the phone. He grabbed a western-cut shirt from the closet.

  “Hey, bro. I just got an cryptic telephone call from my CI that something is coming down at the truck stop. Gotta bring Bruiser for certain, and come in plainclothes.” Brody buckled his belt.

  “Got some in my locker. Should the sheriff come, too?”

  Brody could hear Rocky walking into the locker room.

  “Since I don’t know exactly what is coming down, I’m not sure. I know she’ll want to, but since this really is a major crimes case, if it’s what I think it could be, and I don’t have time to notify anybody else—”

  “Like the FBI, DPS or either city and counties?”

  “Exactly. We could create more problems. We don’t have the luxury of time being on our side and getting them here, especially since we really don’t know what’s happening except that she needs us in plainclothes and wants Bruiser. Meet me east of the café but not too far away. Your Tahoe will be fine because it’s unmarked and I’m driving my pickup. Undercover man, undercover. See you in twenty.” Brody disconnected and headed for his gun safe. He put on a bullet-resistant vest, added his service weapon, handcuff to the back of the belt, and put his shirt on top of it.

  “Damn it! It’s Thursday, so I’m more positive than ever what’s fixin’ to happen. Someone fed bad info to my CI. Damn, damn it!” He spoke aloud, almost shouting as he tucked in his shirt and added a Levi’s jacket. He grabbed his favorite Stetson from the coat rack by the door and hit his pickup on the run.

  He couldn’t afford the luxury of sirens and lights to speed his way to the truck stop, but he sure drove as fast with thoughts of other drivers and pedestrians in mind.

  In short order, he parked next to Rocky, who was similarly dressed, much like most ranchers in Texas. Brody motioned for Rocky to join him.

  “I’m waiting to hear from Vic,” Brody offered as Rocky closed the passenger door. “She’ll call when she sees we’re here, but she has to be careful who’s around. You know the drill.”

  “What changed?”

  Brody spent the next few minutes bringing Rocky up to date on his CI’s call and the code words she’d added to the conversation.

  “That’s interesting. It’s Thursday, isn’t that the day you said the tractor-trailer and van generally show up?”

  “It is, so something changed between her first call and the second.” Brody kept a vigilant eye on everything around him watching for any signals of trouble. “Did you have any trouble with the sheriff?”

  “Not really. I filled her in the best I could, and she said since it was really a special crimes case, she’d step aside, but not to be surprised if she shows up.”

  “That scares me. If there’s trouble, I really don’t like the idea that we’re going into it by the seat of our pants. She’s seasoned, to say the least, but again without a plan for a takedown, if it comes to that, concerns me greatly.” Brody ran his hand across his forehead, about the time his iPhone signaled Vicky was calling.

  “Hello, sweet thing, I’m almost there.” Brody pushed the speakerphone, so Rocky could hear the conversation.

  “Honeybuns, I got a room and it’ll be ready as soon as possible. Watch out for red lights, police like to stop cowboys who run a red light or have their taillights broke, so be careful. Can’t wait to push you against the wall and show you how a woman likes it. See you in a short, short.”

  Both men kept their eyes on anything that moved around them. Brody pointed out that the semi parked directly next to the w
est side of the café was the one under suspicion of carrying drugs from the Mexico cartel. As expected, when Rocky drove around the west where the semi was parked, the license and identification number was muddied up.

  “Okay, I got part of your CI’s message, but parts I didn’t understand.” Rocky lowered his window and rested his elbow.

  “Okay. When she said she had the room ready, she meant she’d made contact with the right people to get all assets on hand. As soon as possible means exactly that. They’ll get here ASAP, but the most interesting part is the red light. I’ve been digesting that, and I’m pretty sure she meant that the tractor-trailer isn’t going to get far because it’ll be stopped by the DPS for a broken taillight.”

  Rocky glanced at him. “How does she know it has a broken taillight?”

  “I didn’t ask, and I don’t wanna know.”

  Before he got the words out, Vicky rounded the corner of the café swinging her purse and a white takeout bag. In a double-sexy walk, she came up to Rocky’s open window and held up the bag.

  “Hi guys. Are you hungry for anything I have?” She winked at them and lowered her voice, while leaning farther into the window. “I’ve got a double-cheeseburger and fries. Played a trick on the creep in the semi and grabbed his takeout before he could get back.” She raised her voice where anyone around could hear. “Okay, I got your drift. I’m too high for you. You probably only have twenty minutes in you anyway, but it’d still cost you the going rate.”

  She walked away, flipping them off in the process.

  “Woo,” Rocky said, then shook his head. “Is she ever hot when she’s playing her part. What in the hell did all of that mean?”

  “The driver of that semi typically orders a takeout and is out of here within fifteen to twenty minutes, so she bought us some time.” Brody couldn’t help but smile to himself. “And I’ll warn you now if you think Avery is one hundred and fifty percent business, she doesn’t hold a light to Vic. She’s top-notch and takes her work very serious.”