The Chase

by Adrienne Giordano

  Then again, he’d look like a jackwagon if he left. If that didn’t send a hey-babe-thanks-for- the-stupendous-lay-but-I’m-outta-here message, he didn’t know what did.

  Say goodbye.

  He slipped into the pitch-black bedroom, feeling his way around the bed to where she lay and set his hand on her back. Her soft snoring put a smile on his face. He’d break her chops fierce about that. “Hey,” he whispered.

  Nothing.

  Gently, he ran his hand up her back to her cheek and rubbed.

  “Hmmmm.”

  That moan got the brain in his crotch thinking back on the previous hours of the two of them inventing new sexual positions. His morning erection suddenly did an encore. Oh, hell. Now he’d have to face Ramirez with a boner. Not to mention, time was ticking. He checked the bedside clock. Five-eighteen.

  He tickled Jo’s cheek with one finger. “Honey, I’m leaving. See you later. Ramirez will be outside.”

  Another moan. He rolled his eyes. Total freaking killer of a decision. He could easily climb back into bed, coax her into getting rid of the boner and head off to work with time to spare.

  Except Ramirez would be standing outside.

  Jo reached up, her hand hit his thigh and worked its way—whoa, there babe—to the waistband of his pants.

  “Come back to bed.”

  “Can’t. Ramirez will be here soon.”

  “Gabe, I’m naked and my sense of touch is one hundred percent accurate. You should come back to bed.”

  Her voice held the gravel of sleep. Morning phone sex with her would be wicked fun. Forget the phone, he’d take the sex.

  He slid his hand down her sheet-covered body, over the curve of her hip. It would be so easy to give in. “If I get back in bed, I won’t get out.”

  “What’s your point?” She wrapped her hand around the back of his leg and urged him forward. “Come on, Sergeant, live a little.”

  Another glance at the clock. How fast could they make this happen?

  With the current state of his body, pretty damned fast.

  He looked toward the hallway and the silence in the room expanded. If he walked out of this apartment and found Ramirez standing there, forget it, he’d never hear the end of it. The guys would ride him endlessly.

  She nudged his leg again. “I don’t care about Ramirez.”

  “Yeah, you say that now.” The clock blinked. Five-twenty. He bent low and kissed her cheek. “I’d love a replay, but I don’t want my team talking shit. I’ll be back tonight. How’s that?”

  “And you’ll bring your erection?”

  He cracked a smile. This woman. Total trip. “Usually it comes with the rest of me.”

  “Okay then. You can leave.”

  But she pulled him back and kissed his neck, then his jaw. “I have morning breath. Don’t want to scare you off.”

  “After last night? Nothing is scaring me off. Pretty damned incredible, lady.”

  “I know. Now leave before I make you stay.”

  He glanced at the door, then back to Jo. The neon numbers on the clock blinked again. Completely unfair. He marched to the living room, shoved his feet into his boots and did a piss-poor tie job. He’d fix ‘em later.

  He opened the front door. Crap. Ramirez. Wearing his tactical uniform and a mile-wide grin. Gabe’s stomach lurched. “You’re early.”

  “Five-thirty, dude.”

  Gabe checked his phone. Yep. Apparently Jo’s clock was slow. Maybe she could have mentioned it? Not a break to be had this morning.

  He jerked his thumb to the door. “She’s asleep.”

  The shit-eating grin expanded. “I’ll bet she is.”

  The ragging begins. He’d have to shut this down quick. Ramirez was about to find himself on the receiving end of the U-boss death glare. “I hear that from you again and you get an ass-kicking. I hear it from anyone else, I’ll figure it came from you and you get an ass-kicking. Either way, you get an ass-kicking.” Gabe folded his arms. “You can choose to do the right thing here, Ramirez. Outside of that, I’m still your superior. I got no problem finding you grunt work. Are we clear?”

  The grin disappeared. Not a shock. Ramirez was no genius, but he understood chain of command. With Gabe on the track to lieutenant, this was not a difficult decision to land on the right side of.

  Ramirez cleared his throat. “Understood.”

  “Good. Get Ms. Pomeroy to work and report in.” Gabe turned to leave, but shifted back. “And thank you. For volunteering your downtime. She appreciates it. You keeping your trap shut about what you saw here, I appreciate.”

  “No problem. I like Jo. She got a bum deal.”

  “Yeah, she did. We’re gonna fix it for her.”

  —:—

  At precisely 3:00 p.m., Jo followed Bev into the small conference room next to the mayor’s office. This conference room held a gleaming mahogany table with deep-cushioned leather swivel chairs. The room even had mahogany chair rails as accents. All in all, it screamed power and money and good taste.

  Already in the room was Lieutenant Tom Ross, otherwise known as Gabe’s boss. Tom was the fourth member of the Clean Sweep Task Force and Jo, although having worked mostly with Gabe over the months, found him to be just as diligent in the success of the project.

  Tom stood when they entered. “Bev, Jo, good to see you.”

  The normal greetings and small talk were exchanged as they took their seats. All meetings had a set system by which they ran. The process included them all sitting in the same positions meeting after meeting.

  It never bothered Jo. It was a rank and file thing. The mayor would take the leadership chair at the head of the table. Bev and Tom, being the next highest in rank would sit next to the mayor and then Jo and Gabe. Jo appreciated the almost ceremonious feel. She always knew what to expect.

  And staring at Mr. August never hurt.

  “Good afternoon, sir,” someone said from the outer hallway. A second later, Mayor Allan Graff entered the room, his stride efficient and determined. He was not only the most powerful mayor in the country, he was the shortest. At five foot seven, Jo stood three inches taller than him and always kept a pair of low-heeled shoes in her office for impromptu meetings such as this.

  Call her paranoid, but towering over the mayor didn’t seem like a smart move for a woman who’d worked so hard to be welcomed into his world.

  They all stood and a variety of “Hello, sirs” followed.

  In typical fashion, Jo’s pulse kicked up. For two years she’d badgered the mayor’s aids to get face time with him, and her efforts had paid off in a spectacular way. Today it was a task force, but by the time she was done, she wanted that nationwide initiative. The man in front of her had the influence and contacts to make it happen.

  Height challenge aside, he carried his authority in a way that instilled a sense of don’t-mess-with-me in those around him. Maybe it was the prematurely gray hair or his uncanny ability to slice through reporters like a guillotine, but he demanded and received respect.

  He glanced at Gabe’s empty chair. “We’re missing Sergeant Townsend.”

  In other words, how dare he.

  “Yes, sir,” Tom said. “He got called out earlier and needed a quick shower. He should be here in a few.”

  “A shower?”

  Tom flicked a glance at Bev and Jo. “Yes, sir. Pedestrian meets subway train. They had to peel the body off the bottom of the train.”

  The mayor pulled an “ick” face.

  Maybe Jo did too. How did Gabe do his job day after day? The cha-chunk of the door handle sounded and Gabe strode into the room in a fresh uniform, his short hair still damp.

  “My apologies, sir. Got…uh…caught up.”

  He glanced at Jo and gave her a succinct nod as he came around the table. Business as usual. Not that she expected him to give her a “Hi, honey,” but—jeepers—something containing a wee bit of warmth wouldn’t kill Mr. August.

  Then again, he’d just ung
lued a corpse from the bottom of a subway train.

  The mayor shook his head. “Not a problem, Sergeant. Rough one?”

  After taking his seat, Gabe flipped his notepad to a clean page and gave his pen a click. “Helluva mess, sir. All cleaned up, but the trains are behind.”

  “It’ll screw up rush hour.”

  No one bothered to comment. It wasn’t the first time a dead body had slowed the city’s commuters.

  The mayor swung to Jo. “How are you today?”

  She wasn’t quite sure how to take that. The emphasis on “you” went beyond casual inquiry. She sat a little taller. “I’m fine, sir. Thank you.”

  Gabe rolled his eyes. “You got a severed hand in the mail yesterday. I wouldn’t be fine after that.”

  What the hell is he doing? She eyeballed him. “I’m fine. And it didn’t come in the mail. It was sent by courier. Just to be clear, because as you know, mailing it would be a federal offense.”

  He snorted and Jo drove her low-heeled pump into the ground. If only she had the spikes on, she’d blast him with them under the table.

  “Okay,” Bev said holding her hands out. “Don’t start.”

  The mayor laughed—actually laughed—and Jo wanted to crawl away. How humiliating.

  “Sorry, sir,” she said. “Sergeant Townsend and I tend to bicker. In a friendly sort of way.”

  Except for tonight when I stab him in his sleep.

  “So I see. Let’s discuss the situation with the severed hand.”

  Uh-oh. “Of course, sir.”

  “I’ve conferred with both Tom and Bev, and we feel for the time being you should not accompany the men when they execute the warrants.”

  No. Nuh-uh. No way. She slid a sideways look at Gabe. This was his doing. Every instinct told her he’d gone to Tom and convinced him to shut her down. Inside, a piece of her heart ripped away. He’d sabotaged her.

  She cleared her throat. “Sir, I don’t think that’s necessary. My identity is out there. What does it matter now? The vendors know who I am.”

  “Exactly why you should stay away. The last thing we want is you getting hurt.” The mayor pointed at her cast. “Again.”

  Horrid. That’s what this was. She’d go insane sitting in her office, missing all the action.

  Bev turned to her. “I’m sorry, but I have to agree. The risk is too high.”

  Jo looked at the still silent Tom. Somehow, she couldn’t look at Gabe right now. “Were you able to identify whose hand it was?”

  Tom glanced at Gabe. That silent communication men did drove Jo nuts. “No,” Gabe said. “I called the lab on my way here. The prints aren’t in the system. They’re working on who sent the package. There were a ton of prints to check. Maybe something will pop. Got a lead on this Kiki, though. The address on his license is old. I talked to one of the undercover guys. They heard he’s squatting in Flatbush. We’re canvassing.”

  In the meantime, Jo got benched. Silently she fumed, her insides literally frying. One more shot at the mayor. “Sir—”

  Before she’d even launched into her argument, he shook his head. “No, Jo. I’m sorry.”

  —:—

  When the meeting adjourned, Gabe and Tom followed Jo to the elevator and they all waited together in an ugly, nerve-shattering silence. The power in the building could have run on the steam coming off Jo.

  The elevator arrived and they all piled on. Tom hit the lobby button and leaned against the far side wall. Gabe stood behind a clearly pissed-off Jo. Well, life sucked. If her being furious with him kept her out of harm’s way, he’d welcome the tension.

  The only noise was the Muzak version of “Copacabana.” He grunted. What a colossal goatfuck of a day.

  Tom glanced at Jo, then to Gabe, who slowly moved his head back and forth. Don’t go there. If the guy had any survival instincts at all—and he didn’t get to his rank without them—he’d keep his mouth shut.

  “Jo—” Tom said

  Survival instincts must be on a union mandated lunch break.

  “Forget it,” Jo shot. The elevator doors opened and she bolted into a small group of people waiting for their lift.

  “Talk to her,” Tom said to Gabe. “We can’t have her this way. She’ll wind up slipping with the press and we’re all screwed.”

  With that, Gabe watched his superior officer abandon him and head toward the lobby doors. Jo had stopped at the desk to drop off her visitor’s pass and Gabe hustled to catch her before she ran. She spotted him coming and turned tail. “Don’t talk to me,” she yelled over her shoulder.

  She might have long legs, but his were longer. He easily caught up and grabbed her arm. “Counselor, let me drive you to your office.”

  She jerked her arm free. “No. Thanks. A cab sounds delightful.”

  A few of the visitors wandering in and out tossed curious glances their way. Time to get her out of here. He latched onto her arm again. “You want to yell at me, fine. I’ll drive you back to your office and you can scream the whole way. The thing we won’t do is make a scene in the lobby so you can lose your spot on your precious task force.”

  Her flaming blue eyes clouded over. Ah, yes, comprehension. What a concept. Slowly, she eased her arm free.

  “Where are you parked?”

  “In the lot.” He held his arm toward the back door. “Right this way.”

  Still bent on ignoring him, she strode to the door, nodded at the guard and pushed through. Once in the lot, Gabe directed Jo to the unmarked cruiser at the end of the row. She didn’t bother waiting for him to open the door and hopped in on her own. Yeah. This would be brutal. Fucking bad day all around.

  He climbed into the car and no sooner did he have the door shut than she started in.

  “You completely undermined me.”

  Gabe closed his eyes. “I did not.”

  “You went to your boss and told him to bench me. He listens to you. You could have talked to me first.”

  Talked to her? Hadn’t he done that? Several times? She never goddamned listened. Never. And it was starting to royally irritate him. He breathed through his nose—don’t yell—and faced her.

  “I did talk to you. How many times have I told you to wait, to not go inside until I say? I practically begged you to be smart. And you ignored me and did what you wanted.” He poked his finger at her. “Guess what, babe? Now you can’t ignore me.”

  Her face stretched into that open-mouthed horrified look often found in bad B movies. “Babe?” she hollered. “Have you lost your mind? Listen, babe, I’ve worked too hard on this task force to let you decide you’re calling the shots. Guess what, babe? A few orgasms won’t give you the authority to decide what I will and will not do.”

  Apparently she’d missed the fact the Mayor of New York had told her to cool her jets. He pursed his lips for a second and stared out the windshield. They should leave. The longer they sat there, the more notice they’d bring to themselves. He flipped the key and backed out of the spot, barely sparing Jo a glance.

  “Be pissed at me if you want. Bring it on. I had a guy’s body parts fall on me today. As tough as you are, you got nothin’ on that. I’m done asking you to help me keep you safe.” He bullied himself into the afternoon traffic and was the recipient of a few horn blasts. Screw them. “If a severed hand won’t convince you, then nothing will. Yeah, I told my boss to bench you.” He stopped for the red light at the corner and finally looked at her. “And I’d do it again.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Great,” Jo said. “I can see ten months of working together—never mind the smoking hot sex—has truly solidified your faith in my professional abilities.”

  The light turned green and Gabe shot in front of traffic and slid into the right lane to make the turn toward her office. The man’s driving could qualify for the Indy 500. She gripped the door handle.

  “Cut the crap, Jo. That’s the biggest line of horseshit I’ve heard. You’re pissed that I won’t let you have your way.” />
  Searing blood shot to her cheeks. Let her have her way? That’s what he thought this was? “No. I’m mad because you undermined me. You could have called me and said, ‘Hey, either you bench yourself or I’m going to my boss.’ You didn’t do that. You gave me no respect. And frankly, I expected more from you, Sergeant. You owed me that.”

  He came to another red light. This one only a block from her office. She tugged on the door handle, but it was locked. “I’m getting out.”

  Before she could hit the unlock button, the light turned green. “Relax, Counselor, it’s only another block.”

  “A very long block. And right now, I could bludgeon you.”

  He slid his gaze to her, but immediately went back to the road.

  “I could take a tire iron and just beat you senseless, Gabe Townsend. You totally manipulated this situation.”

  “I tried everything else and you wouldn’t listen. My going to Tom was your own goddamned fault. Think about it. How many times did I tell you I was concerned?”

  That tripped her up. The man had practically begged her to consider staying in her office rather than going on the raids. “Not that many.”

  “I call bullshit.”

  He brought the car to a halt at the bus stop in front of her building and hit the unlock button. She gave the handle a yank and jumped out into the slew of pedestrians on the sidewalk. Before closing the door, she spun back. “You could have had a conversation with me. Considering the multiple orgasms and all.”

  A young guy walking by stopped to check her out. “Whoa, lady. I’ll take a few orgasms from you.”

  “Nice, Jo,” Gabe said. He poked his finger at the guy. “You. Keep moving.”

  She slammed the car door, hurried into her building and waited for the elevator while her brain slowly disintegrated. She’d had enough of bullheaded alpha males for one day. Wasn’t this typical? She slept with him and all of a sudden he thought he could control her?

  Why were men so stupid when it came to strong-willed women? They just didn’t get it. In their ten months of working together, he should have known having her benched would infuriate her. Not only did he have her benched, he did it in an unscrupulous way. He’d essentially flipped her the professional middle finger.