Force of Attraction

by D. D. Ayres

  “How did he find you?”

  “Remember how I called you on our anniversary? Later that same night X and I ran into each other in the parking lot of the place I’d called from. I didn’t think he’d made me. I look so different now. But after you found the hog’s head in my parents’ fridge I knew he was behind the destruction, and was using it to send me a message. Pig. Cop. Draw a straight line.”

  “So this is payback?” Cole looked worried. “He’ll come at you again. And he won’t do it directly.”

  Scott nodded. “More likely he’s planning to come after someone close to me.” He eyed her from beneath his lowered brows. “That’s why you don’t go anywhere without me.”

  She paused to plant a fist on each hip. “Fat chance, Lucca. I’m a cop. I’m armed. I go where I want.”

  He grinned at her. “Ooh, I like it when you act tough. Want to play cops and robbers? I’ll let you catch and frisk me. You can even search all my secret places.”

  “Dream on.” She resumed pacing.

  They had spent four tense days in each other’s company. The fact she even could joke about it helped make him feel better.

  “I’ve got someone in law enforcement tracking down every scrap of information he can gather on X, past and present. We’re going to find him before he acts again.”

  Cole paused before his chair. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

  Scott noticed her foot was wiggling. She was getting worked up. Time to change the subject. “You’re just bummed because Shajuanna took the girls to the Bahamas so you’ve had nothing to do this week.”

  Cole conceded that point. She had really enjoying coaching Leila. Not that it could have continued for much longer.

  She rubbed her brow. “How do you decompress after an undercover mission?”

  “You make plans while you’re still undercover. You decide what you’re going to do first. And then second and third. You need to have some things to look forward to. Things you can’t do now.”

  “Like patrol duty?”

  “See, I would have gone with a short vacation. Time away is helpful. Lets you put a period between now and what comes next.”

  Cole gave herself a moment to think about bright waves breaking on warm sand. Sun heating her sunscreened skin. Lazy half-awake thoughts drifting in the shade of an umbrella. She could almost taste the salt water on her lips. “I haven’t been to the shore this year.”

  “There you go. A week at the shore. You’ll come back all tanned and rested and looking hot. These last weeks will be a dim memory.”

  Cole didn’t bother to contradict him. The truth was, she was never going to forget the last weeks. She wasn’t yet at all certain whether that was a good or bad thing.

  But that wasn’t her main concern at the moment. Her mind kept circling back to X. “How would you classify X’s behavior?”

  Scott frowned. “Intimidation. Mind games. He’s a prick.”

  “Yeah, but it’s like he’s got a plan of escalation that is covert. Why not just shoot you? Or stab you, if he wants revenge. Instead, he’s been coming at you through your friends and family. He’s back-dooring you.”

  “What did you just say?”

  “He’s using covert action.”

  “Cop behavior.” Scott sat up and reached for his cell phone. “You may have bought us a winning lottery ticket, Officer Jamieson.” He punched his speed dial.

  “Hear me out, Dave. What if X is one of us? Ex-law enforcement. SWAT or SOG. Probably got into undercover, loved the thrill of it, and went deep blue and stayed.”

  Scott had punched “speaker” so Cole could hear Dave’s reply. “Wouldn’t be the first time. No department wants to advertise their bad apples. Usually the guy is just written off and dismissed.”

  “We’ve got something else. That birth date he mentioned to his parole officer the other night. Want to bet it’s different than the one on his paperwork?”

  “How did I miss that? Wish we had a year to go with it, for investigatory purposes.”

  “A wild guess puts him in his early forties. He’s lived hard a long time. Even if everything else on his prison forms is lies, you’ve got his face and fingerprints to run through law-enforcement channels.”

  “Called himself Dos Equis when you met, correct? Sounds like he’s not from the East Coast. I’ve had to move carefully locally so as not to draw attention of the wrong sort. But I can be more straightforward in the Southwestern states, Texas to southern California, I’m thinking. I’ll check with major internal affairs departments. Turn over a few rocks and see what crawls out.”

  “Thanks, Dave. I owe you.”

  “Only always.”

  When he’d hung up there was a smile on Scott’s face. “You done good, babe. I’ve been thinking like a Pagan where X is concerned. I should have been thinking like a cop.”

  Cole shrugged, basking in the glow of his praise.

  Her phone chimed with a text. She read the message and her smile deepened. Maybe their luck was changing.

  “It’s Shajuanna. She says she didn’t make it to the Bahamas after all. She’s enrolled Shujaa in an Agility competition near Philadelphia tomorrow and wants to know if I can meet her there. What do you think?”

  “Let me check with Lattimore.” Scott made the call. After he explained the situation, he scribbled something down on his pad. “Yes, sir. I’ve got it.”

  He looked at her with a smile. “We’re good. You like Philly cheese steak sandwiches?”

  * * *

  “Sorry I overslept.” Cole slid into the passenger seat of Scott’s truck where he’d waited for her to dress. One motel room was too small for two people and two dogs. “I’m usually up half the night running obstacles in my mind. Not competing today removed the pressure.”

  “Take your time.” He passed her one of the cups of coffee he held. “Shajuanna never shows up early.”

  Except that Shajuanna’s motor coach was already parked in the lot next to the exposition building when they arrived thirty minutes later. Next to her coach was one marked WQQR. She had brought her TV crew with her.

  Scott nudged Cole. “Looks like we’re in for a show.”

  Cole nodded. “Wonder what sort of manufactured drama she’s come up with this time?”

  This event was much more than an Agility event. There were booths and rides, and other dog competitions set up on the fairgrounds. It was more like a festival with dog competitions as part of it. The indoor air-conditioned hall was packed with spectators as well as competitors. The Agility ring had been laid out under arena lighting with Astroturf flooring. The competition was well under way, with small dogs running first.

  When they had walked through, not recognizing anyone from a previous meet, Cole and Scott, along with Izzy and Hugo on leashes, moved out onto the midway area.

  Cole waved when she caught sight of Shajuanna among the crowd. Not that it was difficult. She was surrounded by her entourage and curiosity seekers, and spotlights on poles had been set up to light her effectively.

  Scott nodded but said out of the corner of his mouth, “You go make nice. She’s already told you I’m not her favorite person. I’m going to walk through to the dog competition staging area with Izzy and hope we get lucky.”

  Shajuanna greeted her with a big hug. “Hey, Noel. That is your name? Noel Jenkins?”

  Cole felt the cool current of unease touch her. “That’s right.”

  “Then, sweetie, can you explain this to me?” She pointed to an enormous video screen that had been set up next to the TV van. It burst to life with a grainy picture of Cole in her K-9 uniform and Hugo on a leash.

  Cole felt as if a sinkhole had suddenly opened under her feet. The sensation of falling was so strong she reached out to clutch Hugo’s collar for balance as she stared at the screen.

  It was a picture from a six-month-old newspaper article from the Gazette. Beneath it the caption read, Montgomery County Police Officer Jamieson an
d her K-9 partner Hugo on patrol. At the bottom edge of the torn-out article a large X had been made with a felt-tip marker.

  Shajuanna poked her shoulder. “Explain that, Noel. Or Officer Jamieson. Or whoever the hell you are.”

  Cole glanced around, feeling a trap snap closed around her. There were two cameras trained on her face. Embarrassment burned in her throat, all but strangling her words. “Where did you get that?”

  “It came by mail earlier in the week.”

  Cole’s gaze homed in on the scrawled X. “I need to know exactly who sent it, and the envelope it came in.”

  “Excuse me. Who are you, Noel Jenkins? Or is it Officer Jamieson? And I know that’s your dog in that picture. So first you tell me, and everyone here, exactly why you’ve been lying about who you are.”

  Cole recoiled as the implication of the cameras trained on her fully impacted her. She needed to get away from them. “If you’ll excuse me.”

  “The hell I will.” Shajuanna reached out and snagged her by the arm. “Don’t you dare run away from me until I get some answers. Why are you targeting me? I’ve done nothing. Is this a case of police harassment? Eye-C’s got a record now, so we’re fair game for any and all kinds of entrapment schemes.”

  Onlookers had pulled out their cell phones. With a sickening lurch of her stomach Cole realized that whatever was said now would be all over the Internet in a matter of seconds. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Shajuanna stepped in close to her, her gorgeous face hard with anger. “And here I was worried about Boyfriend. You are one cold customer. You played me, bitch. Worse, you played my children.”

  “No I didn’t.” Cole’s gaze moved sideways, right and left. She lowered her voice. “Leila and I have a legitimate friendship.”

  Shajuanna recoiled as if she’d been slapped. “Don’t you bring her into this. Don’t you even say her name. I don’t want to hear it in your mouth. That’s why I had to send her away. You were using Leila. To get to me.”

  She turned a little toward the camera, her voice angry but trembling under emotion. “As a mother I try to protect my girls in every way. I tell them every day: don’t trust anybody. Take nothing at face value. Be smart. Don’t get hurt.” She faced Cole again, one long polished fingernail waving back and forth. “But you, you played me in front of my girls. That’s some cold shit, bitch.”

  Cole stiffened. “I’m really sorry if you think—”

  Shajuanna held up her hand, her palm inches from Cole’s face. “Don’t speak to me. If somebody throws shit on me I will get even.”

  Cole felt her middle hollow out with guilt. Shajuanna was acting her butt off for the benefit of the camera and their audience, but the pain in her gaze was real. She had every right to feel betrayed. Cole had lied and cheated and wormed her way into her family. But Cole hardened her heart. There was nothing to do now but tough it out. She was still a law-enforcement officer taught to control a situation and never back down.

  Cole held her ground, her voice firm. “I’ve done nothing to you or yours. You need to take a step back. Now.”

  “Or what?” Shajuanna took a step back, flung her hair back from her face with a toss of her head, and placed a hand on a hip and gazed down at Hugo, who growled in response to her stare. “You’re going to sic your dog on me? Is that what you plan to do?”

  Cole watched her carefully, willing her heart out of overdrive. Shajuanna was furious but she wasn’t in meltdown stage. Hugo was simply alerting on the woman he knew. If she kept her own head, nothing worse could happen.

  Cole turned to the cameras. “Turn those off. You’re in violation of my civil rights.”

  “Your what?” Again, Shajuanna moved into Cole’s space. “Your rights? What about mine? You going to arrest me for calling you out for the lying-ass double-dealing bitch you are?”

  Cole stood her ground and locked gazes with the taller woman. “I would like to walk away, Shajuanna. Do you really want to test me?” She lowered her voice to a whisper and leaned in close. “You don’t want your daughters to see their mother cuffed and taken away for accosting a police officer. You have more class than that.”

  Shajuanna blinked at her. For a moment, her expression crumbled, her voice choking her. “How could you? I trusted you. Had you in my home. Let you train my child.”

  Cole swallowed and the guilt felt like shards of glass going down. “I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry.” Shajuanna’s gaze hardened to black-diamond brilliance as she straightened up and struck a pose. “We’re not done. First I’m going to run this tape on my show for all the world to see how the police treat people like me. Then I’m going to sue you. Sue your superiors. Sue your dog. Sue people who just know you by your first name.”

  With that she spun on a heel and walked away, trailed by cameras and onlookers.

  It seemed like an hour. Cole moved toward the exit on legs so tight with tension it felt as if her feet had turned to wood. Sweat ran out from under her bangs to sting her eyes but she didn’t wipe it away for fear the most persistent of the curiosity seekers would mistake her action for wiping tears.

  Where was Scott? How far could he have gone? She kept walking but she couldn’t see anything. It was as if she was deaf and blind. There was only the thundering of her heart and the deep-down soul burn of humiliation. She had been outed in public. The task force operation was blown to hell. All because she’d walked right into a trap without any plan at all.

  “Noel. Noel!” Scott’s sharp voice brought her to a sudden halt.

  She looked up at him. She was shuddering so hard she couldn’t focus.

  “Jesus. What’s wrong?” He raised his hands to frame her shoulders but she flinched away.

  “Don’t touch me. Just don’t.”

  He dropped his hands but continued to study her face. She was showing all the signs of shock, pale lips, shivering, a hundred-yard stare. He couldn’t guess what had happened. He glanced down at Hugo who seemed fine but on full alert as he stared full focus at his handler. He needed to get her out of there, and fast.

  “Can you walk?” She nodded. “Then start moving. Parade march, Officer. Now.”

  Cole wasn’t at all certain how she made it back to the truck. She wasn’t aware of anything until the engine started. Finally she glanced at Scott, who was staring at her with worried eyes. Still he said nothing.

  She swallowed hard. “I’ve been called a bitch many times in my career as a cop. This is the first time I felt someone was right.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “Way to go, Lucca. Flame out, much?”

  “Go stuff yourself, Hadley.”

  The FBI advisor snickered as he passed Scott and Cole in the hallway of the DEA Baltimore offices. It was Monday morning and there was about to be a full meeting of the task force to decide how to proceed.

  The story of the “outed” undercover policewoman had been all over the weekend news. Everyone from Extra to Huffington Post was vying for a chance to interview Cole and her “unidentified accomplice” who went by the name Sam Lott.

  Most of the speculation centered around rumors that Cole was part of a sting operation meant to snare Eye-C in illegal activities that ranged from tax evasion to his reentry into the world of illegal dogfighting. None of them came close to the real reason, which meant the puppy mule drug-smuggling operation could possibly continue.

  One thing was certain. It was going to happen without the services of K-9 Officer Nicole Jamieson and Special Agent Scott Lucca.

  Shajuanna was everywhere in the news and entertainment media, proclaiming loudly about the “police state” tactics of local and federal authorities. And promoting the late summer edition of her show, where she promised to reveal the “entire explosive footage” of her confrontation with the “heartless b-i-zitch who wormed her way into my innocent children’s lives.”

  “The thing is, Shajuanna’s right. Her family’s done nothing wrong. That’s all we proved, that s
he’s innocent.”

  Scott kept silent when Cole spoke those words on their drive into Baltimore. They were the only words she’d spoken on the subject since they left Philly two days ago.

  He was worried about her, deeply worried. Few undercover agents ever had their covers blow up so spectacularly in their faces. When an agent was outed, it was often in private, and sometimes just before a bullet ended their lives. While he felt for her, felt deeply, he knew she was going to be okay. She was alive and safe. But he also knew that was of little comfort at the moment. She still had to face Lattimore and the other task force members.

  When they were shown into his office, Lattimore looked as if he had aged five years over the weekend. His expression was flat, his complexion paler than usual. “I’ve read your initial reports. Is there anything either of you want to say before we begin the debriefing process?”

  “Yes. I’m sorry, sir.” Cole’s voice was calm, distant. “I should have been more wary. Especially after Shajuanna told me she’d made Agent Lucca.”

  “Are you referring to her claim to have some special ‘sight’ that allows her to so-called ‘read’ people?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’d have been more concerned if you had taken her seriously. I saw your report last week. That didn’t concern me. Your explanation to her for Agent Lucca’s attitude made more than enough sense to be believed.

  “I’m more interested in the person who mailed that newspaper article to Ms. Collier. You were outed by a third party, Officer Jamieson. We need to know how compromised we are.” His gaze strayed from one to the other. “Do either of you have any information on who and what is behind that?”

  “That would be me, sir.” Scott met the director’s inquiring gaze. “I have recently been targeted by a Pagan gang member, a man who calls himself X. He went to prison after an undercover operation I participated in two years ago. He’s out and looking to hurt me. I thought it had nothing to do with Officer Jamieson. Or this task force.”

  Lattimore’s expression gave nothing away. “Why am I just hearing about this?”

  Scott sat back. “My problem. I was handling it.”