“You made a fuss, huh?”
“Son, she told Colonel Fenton to whip out his dick and show the entire team what he was lacking.” Commissioner King's voice preceded him into the room. Out of habit, Ryker struggled to sit up, sending a blast of pain through his shoulder and arm.
He hissed, and Brie hovered, trying to help. “Do you need something for the pain?” Brie's hand trailed down his cheek.
He shook his head and fell headlong into her eyes. “No. I'll be fine.”
“Brie, maybe you could go tell the rest of the team that he's okay. I'd like a word alone with Captain Ryker.” He watched as father and daughter stared at each other. Finally, she nodded. “I'll be right back.” She leaned down and kissed him then ducked between the curtains.
Commissioner King put both hands in his slacks pockets and rocked back on his heels. “What did the doctor say?”
“He replaced my shoulder, long rehab, but I'll be ready for desk duty in three weeks.”
Brie's father nodded. “Exactly how long have you been having problems with Fenton?”
“Sir?”
“Answer the question. You look coherent enough to understand what I'm saying.”
“Since I took the position.” Which was the truth. Fenton had a hard-on for him as soon as he started forming the team.
Commissioner King nodded and stared at the IV stand as he spoke. “Here's what we're going to do. From now on, you report directly to Mavis. JDET is now under Central. The politics and economics of the situation be damned. Fenton and Hughes are no longer in your chain of command. As there seems to be a conflict of interest brewing, Deputy Commissioner Duckworth will be your immediate supervisor, Deputy Commissioner Farrington will be your next level. That removes me from direct supervision.”
“Sir, Major Hughes did everything he could––”
An elevated hand stopped his words, mid-stream. “Hughes is a good man. Thank you for the confirmation.” Chauncey slid his gaze and pegged him with a level stare. “How long have you and my daughter been involved?”
“Three months. We met when I was removed from JDET.”
“And when were the two of you going to announce this relationship?”
“Sunday at dinner.” He swallowed hard. “I love her, sir. With everything I am.”
Brie's father nodded again. That nod could mean anything from I hear you to Fuck off and die.
“Save me the effort of looking it up in your personnel files. How old are you?”
“I'll be forty-seven this year.” He drew a deep breath and waited, knowing what was coming next.
“Then you are damn well old enough to understand my next comment, and this comes from her father, not your commissioner. You hurt my daughter and this drive-by will pale compared to what I'll do to you.”
He blinked. Not. What. He. Expected. “I'd never intentionally hurt her. You have my word.”
Chauncey stared at him for a moment. “Dinner is at six on Sunday. I'd advise you not to be late.” The Commissioner turned but glanced back at him. “Get yourself healed up. Your position on JDET is secure. Lieutenant Theron will man the ship until you get back.”
“Yes, sir.” He closed his eyes as the curtains filled in the big hole left by the one hell of a big man. Damn it, it had been a long, long day.
Chapter 8
Brianna gripped Ryker’s phone and lifted it. “Thank you for this.” It was the first time she’d talked to Brody since her rant against Fenton. Most of the team was still in the waiting room, all wanting to pay their respects to their captain. Brody nodded down the hall and they strolled until they were out of earshot. Brody stopped and leaned against the wall.
“So, you and the Captain, huh?” He shoved his hands into his pockets and did everything he could to avoid looking at her.
“Yeah.”
He scraped the toe of his boot against the tile floor. “How long has this... thing been going on?”
“Thing?”
“You know what I mean.” He crossed his arms and leveled a pissed off stare at her.
“Wait, why do you care?”
“He’s my boss, Brie! You could’ve cuddled up with a half-million other men in this city, but you put the moves on my boss! Do you realize what kind of position that puts me in? What type of mess this puts Dad in?”
She lifted a hand. “Whoa, right there. First and foremost, I had no idea he was your boss. We met when he’d been removed from command of your team. I didn’t ask what he did, and he never asked if I was the commissioner’s daughter. I love that man, so I’m sorry my relationship with Ryker puts you in an awkward position, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to walk away from the best thing that has ever happened to me to please my little brother.” She hissed the words at him. Even trying to be quiet, a few heads from the waiting area turned their direction.
Brody tightened his fists and started pacing. “Do you realize how old that man is?”
“I know exactly how old he is. Why?”
“Brie, think about it. If you had children today, he’d be like seventy by the time they were twenty!”
She jerked up and snapped her mouth shut. The words she wanted to say slammed against her brain, demanding to be let loose. “What did you just say?”
Brody didn’t catch the warning in her voice. He just continued pacing. “He’s in his late forties now, you’ll be a widow by the time you're fifty, with kids and bills. Hell, you got to look at this rationally.”
Her palm found his face and connected with a resounding smack. All conversation on the floor stopped. He lifted his hand to his cheek and narrowed his eyes at her. She pointed a finger at him. “You have no right. None. I don’t know where this relationship is going, but I know one thing—whatever happens between us is our business, not yours. Never yours. You judgmental asshole! You don’t want me to bring up your relationship with Amber, do you? No, I didn’t think so. You don’t get to dictate my life. Hell, you don’t get any input into my life! So take your sanctimonious bullshit and stick it up your ass, Brody.” She spun on the ball of her foot and headed back to the surgical ward.
“Brie.” He jogged after her and spun her around. “I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
“The only thing hurting me is your attitude. You know him. You know the man he is!” She shook off his hand. “Just leave me alone. I can’t do this with you right now.”
“Brianna.” She spun at her mother’s voice. Brie launched herself into her mom’s arms. All the worry, the terror of the call, the stupid low-life scum threatening her, and her scuffles with Fenton and Brody exploded into a barrage of tears. She felt herself being led to a bench where her mother held her and stroked her hair as she cried. Her mom thrust a tuft of tissue into her hand. She blew her nose and hiccupped, “I’m sorry.” Her mom shushed her and continued to stroke her hair. “Brody pissed me off.”
“Yes, I heard. Normally, I’d suggest that you need to apologize, but in this case, I think my son needs to pull his head out of his ass.”
“Mom!” She sat up and gaped at her mother.
“What? It’s the truth. I heard most of what he said about Ryker. I agree with you. One hundred percent. Your relationship has nothing to do with Brody or your father or the force.” She tugged more tissue from her purse. Her mother pointed to her own eyes and whispered, “You need to de-raccoon yourself.”
Brie chuffed a laugh and dabbed at her eyes. “Better?”
“Much. Now, tell me how your man is doing.”
“They did a shoulder replacement. He looks good. Pale and tired, but good. The nurse said she’d come get me when they transferred him to the post-op ward.”
“He was shot?”
“Yeah. At his house.”
“Well, neither of you will stay there for the foreseeable future. I can get the guest room ready and you can have your old room. They wouldn’t dare come to our house.” Hannah dropped her hands into her lap and smiled as if she had the entire situation handled.
“Ah, Mom, I don’t want you to take any offense at this, but... no.”
Her mother blinked and then broke into a wide smile. “Spoken like a woman in love. We will need to find a place for him to stay and recuperate.”
“I agree.”
“Is his family here? Maybe they have a suggestion.” Her mom twisted to look down the corridor at the people milling around. Amber was talking to Brody. No, make that scolding Brody. She couldn’t hear, but she could see Amber’s attitude from where they sat.
“Brie?”
“Oh, sorry.” What were they talking about? Ryker’s family. “No, I don’t think so.” She toyed with the phone. “I wasn’t sure if I should call them without his permission.”
“Why?”
“They aren’t as close as we are. A gut feeling based on things not said. There may be substantial discord running through the family.” She looked at the screensaver on his phone. It was a selfie of them together at the inner harbor boardwalk.
“Is that him?” Her mother pointed to the picture.
“Yes. This is Ryker. Mom, he is so good to me and I love him so much. What Brody said was hurtful.”
“How much older is he?”
“Thirteen and a half years.” She traced her finger over the picture.
“Oh goodness, that isn’t bad. I have a friend who married a man twenty-five years older than she was. He was fifty when they married. First serious relationship for her and second for him. They had four kids and at seventy-five he is still as handsome and strong as he ever was. A silver-haired fox. They have had twenty-five years together and are still going strong.” Her mother pushed her hair behind her ear and smiled at her. “If you love that man, you grab ahold of him and you don’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of what you have together.”
“Brody said it would cause problems for Dad.”
“Brody needs to mind his own business. If your father has issues with your relationship with Ryker, he’ll tell you and Ryker, not Brody.” Her mom snorted. “Believe me, two people in love is a minor bump on the mountain of bullshit he has to deal with on a day-to-day basis.”
“Mom!” Shocked, she glanced around the hall. “That is the second time you’ve cussed in less than thirty minutes.”
Hannah chuckled. “What? You think I don’t know how to use curse words? I do, and I let them fly when I need to make a point or get someone to listen to what I’m saying, and that’s what you need to do. Listen. Your relationship with this man won’t cause any hardship for your father. If it does, he’ll take steps to mitigate it. As far as Brody’s problems, that’s on Brody. Your brothers are protective. You ripped him a new one, and from the looks of it, Amber is confirming your tirade.” Hannah nodded down the hall. Amber’s hands were on her hips and she was talking a mile a minute. “Just give him a while to lick his wounds. He’ll figure out he was way off the mark and apologize. And if he doesn’t, I’ll show him the light of day.”
“I was going to bring Ryker to the house on Sunday and introduce him to you and Dad and whoever else came to dinner.” She dabbed her eyes again. “Did I get it all?”
Her mother took a fresh tissue and dabbed under her eyes. “There are no more mascara rings.”
Brie laughed and stared down at the phone in her hand. “Should I call his family?”
Her mother shook her head. “Well, I would want to know if my child was hurt. Would you want to know if one of the boys was shot?”
“Yes, I would.” She opened the phone and scrolled down his list of contacts to the one that read Father. She punched the number in and put the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Terrell?”
“No, my name is Benjamin Ganas. I take it you’re calling about Ryker?”
“Ah, yes sir, my name is Brianna King, I’m Ryker’s... girlfriend. I’m calling to let you know that Ryker was injured in the line of duty. He’s going to be okay, but he’s had surgery. He’s at Sacred Heart and is being moved into the post-surgical ward.”
“Did he ask you to call me?” The man’s question was more like a demand.
“No sir. My mother and I felt we would want to know if a member of our family was injured, so I called you.”
There was a pause before he spoke again. “Brianna was it?”
“Yes sir.”
“Thank you for the call.”
She lowered the phone and frowned. The man had hung up. “Wow, okay, that was weird.”
“How so?” Her mom looked at her expectantly.
“Well, he was rather distant.” Uptight and cold were the words she’d use.
“Some people don’t show emotion easily.” Her mom patted her arm.
She nodded. Yeah, maybe. She bit her lip and glanced down the hall. Damn, she hoped making that call wasn’t a mistake. Ryker had so much on his plate as it was, he didn’t need family drama thrown into the mix.
Ryker winced as he pushed the button to lift his bed up straighter. He’d asked the nurse to send in Terrence and Brody. He needed to talk to them without Brie present.
There was a knock and Terrence opened the door, stepping inside with Brody on his heels. “Well, shit, you don’t look too bad.” Terrence walked up and shook his left hand carefully. Brody just nodded from the foot of the bed.
So be it. He directed his question to his lieutenant. “What have we learned from responding patrols and the crime scene techs? Who has the case?”
“Shootings Division has the case. Detectives Callaway and Forsythe. They are waiting to talk to you.” Terrence nodded toward the door.
“Call them in.” Brody moved to leave. “No, Terrence, you go get them. I need a moment with Sergeant King.”
Terry whistled and then chuckled. “Going to get it again, aren’t you, Sergeant King?”
Brody flipped off Terrence, causing the man to let loose with a rumble of laughter. “You’re not my type, King.” He opened the door and walked out.
Ryker pinned his sergeant with a stare. “Are we going to have a problem?”
Brody's gaze met his. He couldn’t read what was going on behind those blue eyes that looked so much like Brianna’s, but what he could do was confront his sergeant about the situation.
“No sir.” The response was terse and clipped.
“What did he mean by get it again?”
“Family issues.”
Right. That was a door closing in his face. Not like he’d let that deter him. “Yeah, well, here’s a bit of news for you: I love your sister. I’m not going anywhere, so that makes me family adjacent. You report to Terrence and then to the Deputy Commissioner, and before her, it was to Major Hughes. I didn’t change your supervision back to me after my return to duty because at first, I was swamped trying to clean up the mess Fenton had dropped in my lap. Then, when I figured out who Brie was, it was self-preservation. I’d never put my command or your position in jeopardy because of this relationship. So, suck up whatever objections you have about me and your sister and climb on board, or get the hell out of my way. I don’t give a shit which way you fall. Brianna is it for me and you doing the silent angst thing is done. Copy?”
Brody stared at him for several long moments. “Loud and clear.”
The door opened and Terry peeked in. His lieutenant spoke over his shoulder to someone, “No blood, you can come in.”
He stared at his friend and narrowed his gaze. Terry would make a joke out of anything. It was his way of reducing the tension in the room. Only it didn’t work this time, it just made things more awkward. Two men stepped in behind Terrence.
“Captain Terrell, I’m Detective Callaway, this is Detective Forsythe.” They flashed their badges and Ryker acknowledged them. “We need to find out exactly what happened at your house this evening.”
Ryker shifted in his bed and winced. “I came home as usual.”
“Did you notice anyone following you, anything out of normal on the drive home?”
“No. I�
�m very cautious. There was no one tagging me. I parked in the driveway and waved to Mrs. Thorn, my neighbor. She was doing whatever it is she does with her plants. I unlocked my kitchen door, walked inside, flipped the deadbolt, and dragged my ass into the living room. I took off my jacket, flopped it over the arm of my couch like I do every night, and dropped into the corner of the couch to veg for a couple minutes.”
Forsythe looked up from his notebook. “The corner of the sectional nearest the kitchen?”
Ryker shook his head. “No, the one closer to the hall. It’s where I always sit.”
Both Callaway and Forsythe scribbled something down. “Then what happened?”
Ryker thought carefully. “I got a phone call, so I slid across the couch to grab it from my jacket. That’s when all hell busted loose.”
“Do you have any idea who called you?”
“No, but it would be on my caller ID. If I hadn’t reached for the phone, the bullets wouldn’t have come anywhere near me.” Ryker stopped and swiveled his head from the two detectives toward Terrence. “Where is my phone?”
“Brie has it,” Brody answered. “I’ll go get it.” He darted from the room.
“Do you think someone called you to get you into a position to take you out?” Terrence spoke the question that was on his mind but then continued, “Your number is unlisted.”
Callaway looked up from his notepad. “Have you given it out to anyone recently?”
He shook his head but then stopped. “No, but Mouse did.”
“Who’s Mouse?”
“Mouse is my CI that is now a linchpin witness in a major case. She gave my number to a prostitute working the streets. Alice is her name. She texted me Mouse’s pickup location, and I sent a team to go get her.”
“Do we know Alice’s actual name? Where to find her?” Callaway scribbled as he asked.
Ryker shook his head. “No. I’d start at the Cottages and then the warehouses where the homeless congregate. That was where Mouse said she’d been hiding.”
The door opened and Brody walked to the head of the bed, giving Ryker the phone. With his good hand, he swiped the screen and entered his code. He hit the call log and winced at the top outgoing call. His stepfather? Damn it.
Ryker (Hope City Book 5) Page 8
