Yeah, everyone was well aware that with each dead Fed, Greyson Croft was one-step closer to losing his mind. “Yes, sir,” he said, as he began relaying his report.
* * *
Sitting in the distance, the killer watched the FBI in their spiffy blue and gold jackets. If they only knew that wearing them to a crime scene made them easier targets, they wouldn’t be so willing to sport the team colors.
Now would they?
Just aligning themselves with the most corrupt entity on the planet made them easy pickings. Pulling the trigger had been incredibly easy the last three weeks, since it was all in the spirit of an eye for an eye.
Who could point the finger of blame, when the job at hand was wiping the corrupt from the game?
This mission couldn’t be turned down.
It was in the blood.
It was a calling.
Staring down the sight of the Remington M24 sniper rifle, the next victim was picked out. It was easy to find him in the crowd as he stood there among the others. When the time was right, he’d be meeting his maker and taking his sins to a higher power.
Then, he’d be judged by God for the crimes he committed.
That would be justice enough.
Hell was certainly going to be one hot place to spend the rest of his sin-filled afterlife.
Getting ready, the killer let out the held breath, focused on the target, and prepared to make the kill.
Revenge was coming, and it was well past due.
Nothing could stop it now. Those who committed the crime needed to suffer, and this was the only way to pay for their sins.
The game was in play, and the victory would go to those who were on the side of justice.
The bolt slid back and the killer’s finger was on the trigger, ready to make history.
In three.
Two.
One….
~Chapter One ~
Tuesday Morning
LVPD
Detective Emma Croft was easy going by nature. One might even call her laid back, incredibly friendly, and mostly optimistic. Yet, the case file sitting in front of her had her worked into a tizzy. When Thomas Booker, the police commissioner, was killed in cold blood, she was handed the case.
It was done out of necessity.
For her, nothing was more important than to find the individual who was trying to take Greyson Croft down. As a favor, and the need to save the LVPD’s image backing it up, Captain Christopher Ford put her on the case.
It was ironic. When the killer took Thomas Booker’s life, he set the chaos into motion. By screwing with the Crofts, murdering Thomas Booker, and breaking the law, someone had sicked the police right on their tail.
The hunted had become the hunter.
Emma was now looking for the person who killed her corrupt boss, and abducted her to damage her husband. Only, it wasn’t as easy as she had hoped. When she was given the assignment, she went into it thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard.
Boy, had she been wrong.
The person who put the bullet through the brain of Tom Booker had covered his trail. There was no DNA, trace, or a freaking chance of keeping it alive at this point. Now, three months later, the case was as cold and dead as the commissioner’s body.
Making matters worse, the man who put her on the trail of the killer had hightailed it out himself. Oh, Chris Ford didn't quit. No, he got himself promoted.
He was now the police commissioner. The ‘Tzar of the Dead’ had become the top cop in the city. It was somewhat funny if you thought about it. Chris Ford didn't play well with others and now it was his job to mediate.
Yeah, life was crazy like that.
While Emma was very happy for him, she was in her own personal hell. When Ford cleaned out his office, he promised to have her back. Yeah, she believed him, but there was one major obstacle between her and the main man.
The new captain.
The week after Chris Ford moved up the ladder, another person moved into his place. Again, Emma considered herself easygoing by nature, until she met his replacement.
Before, they used to bust Chris Ford on being too strict with the rules, but now… his replacement was ten times worse. Where at first they thought there would be a slight reprieve, there wasn’t. The new captain rolled in and made the old boss look like a kindergarten teacher.
The woman they picked to replace Chris Ford was tough, didn't take any nonsense whatsoever, and made them work for it. It wasn’t like they didn't do their jobs to the best of their abilities, but this woman wanted perfection, every single time.
With no excuse.
Emma was pretty sure that she hadn’t seen the woman smile once in the almost two months that she’d been there. In fact, she’d bet cash on it. Captain Patty Stout was the epitome of hardass.
She didn't joke around.
The captain ran the place like a dictator.
Her organizational skills made Greyson Croft’s look flawed, and that was saying a lot.
On the day the woman walked into the office, everything changed. She came into a squad room, which had been filled with joviality and laughter, and promptly eradicated it.
She was the killer of all fun.
Maybe that hadn’t been her intention, but just from the look on her face, and the sound in her voice, everyone knew the truth.
Their jobs, as they had known them, had just been zipped up in a body bag.
On the tombstone?
Here lies fun. It was smothered to death.
Sad but true.
Walking in on day one, Patty Stout laid down the law. Vacation time had to be scheduled two weeks in advance, all of their allotted time had to be sent to her daily, and no one was allowed to use snitches without the prior approval of her office.
Holy shit!
It was as if the headmistress at a nunnery had just been set free on the detectives. Granted, some of the antics and people needed monitoring, like Detective Laden. He was a pain in the ass, always being called into the ‘principal’s’ office, but the majority did their job and well.
Although, it did give Emma a perverse joy to watch Sawyer Laden being called out. After all, he deserved it. The man was a menace to law and order everywhere. There was no love lost between them, and she had opted to stay as far away from him as possible.
Then, you had the other side of the cop coin. There was Mace Bristol, the calmest, most peaceful detective of the bunch, and even he was under scrutiny. Right after the holiday, his wife of fifteen years decided to do the unthinkable.
She left him.
His wife packed up the kids, their possessions, and walked away, stating that being married to a cop was a huge mistake. Now, the man was struggling daily to focus, since he never saw it coming. Gone were the smiles, kind words, and generally pleasant behavior, and that made him a target for the new boss.
It was as if she preyed on the weak. In two months, he’d accumulated more write-ups than all of them put together--and for stupid shit.
He didn't wear a tie to work.
He was ten minutes late.
His attitude was piss poor.
Well yeah! His heart was just handed to him. That would make anyone cranky. Mace had a good reason to be off his game, but the new boss didn't care. She was riding him and everyone who stood up for him.
Whenever someone brought up his divorce, trying to get him a break, Patty Stout would just grimace and say, ‘it happens to the best of us’.
Unfortunately, the new captain, also a divorcee, didn't feel the need to sympathize. In fact, she seemed to find pleasure in making the man as miserable as possible.
Yeah, bitter, party of one. Your table is ready.
It pissed Emma off to no end, and she had made it her mission to run interference for Mace, especially after her husband let her in on a little secret. Emma never knew that Ethan Blackhawk, Greyson’s boss, had assigned his longtime friend to watch her back.
For the last few months, Mace Br
istol had been keeping her safe. Now, she had a debt to pay. Whenever Captain Patty Stout had her claws out and blood on her mind, Emma took the hit for him.
It was the least she could do.
How could you kick a man when he’s down? Apparently, the new captain didn't care. It was all about the rules and taking a very hard line on them.
Emma wasn’t worried in the least about her job. If the woman wanted to play hardball, she was willing. After all, if worse came to worse, she’d let her record stand. Emma knew that the new captain couldn’t touch her. Not because her husband was the top Fed in the city.
Oh no. Not because Patty Stout’s boss was someone who had her best interests in mind.
Nope.
It was because of the media.
Yeah, they were a pain in her ass, but they were ironically her bulletproof vest.
Since the last two assignments had drawn nationwide scrutiny, Emma had become their darling. The mayor loved her and Greyson Croft. The new police commissioner, Chris Ford, liked the positive spin, and the public enjoyed the idea that a sweet looking little woman was keeping them safe.
She was Captain Stout’s worst nightmare. The media was so focused on her, that she’d become something of legend in Vegas. Whenever she was out in the street, there were questions about her clothing, her cases, and her relationship with Greyson Croft. The TV hounds followed her around. They even staked out their home, wanting her attention.
That made Emma hands-off to the new captain, and it was driving the boss insane. Miraculously, each and every time Patty Stout tried to write her up, it was squashed from above.
Yeah, sometimes you had to play dirty to save the people you cared about, and her co-workers mattered. Let the boss lady take her best shot.
Emma was ready.
As long as the people of Vegas, and the media, were focused on her, it was bad PR to screw with her. When your city was fraught with murder, you needed a little sunshine in the news.
Emma was it.
She knew that it drove her boss crazy, and that’s why she would take the heat as much as possible. Oh, she wasn’t bullet proof by any means. The big bone of contention, which was currently brewing between Patty Stout and Emma Croft, was sitting right beside her in the form of an FBI babysitter.
Before leaving his post, Chris Ford approved the request to keep Special Agent Curtis Briggs as her partner of sorts. He was now officially the liaison between the FBI and Greyson Croft’s office.
It was driving the new captain bat shit insane.
And Emma loved it.
Every time Captain Stout came out of her office to find the young agent laughing, or smiling, it drove her nuts.
Why?
Because while her detectives had to fear her, listening to everything she barked, the Fed didn't. Patty Stout had no authority over him, and when she complained to Chris Ford, he told her to suck it up.
It was all about interdepartmental cooperation.
Yeah, and because the man knew the truth.
There was a shitload of corruption going on in Vegas, and Ford wanted it stopped. While the LVPD didn't have the funds and means to ferret it out, the FBI did.
It was a symbiotic relationship.
The Feds scratched their backs, and the detectives kept their eyes open and ears to the ground. The FBI’s reach was now ebbing its way into the department, and Patty Stout hated that.
Yeah, again, it was win-win for all her cops.
Sometimes, it was the little things in life which mattered the most.
Everyday Emma came into work with the intent of playing nice, since she believed there was good in everyone. Maybe Patty Stout wasn’t bad, and she was just having a hard time adjusting. It wasn’t easy entering into their ‘family’ and being accepted.
She should know, since she had to do the same exact thing not so long ago. So, everyday Emma offered up the olive branch to her boss, hoping she’d take it.
Even her partner, Brynn Westmore, was trying to be nice, although she was having a far easier time. Apparently, they got along, since they had something in common.
Their perverse love of paperwork.
Yeah, they were both freaks when it came to forms in triplicate, emails with status updates, and charts with bars and lines. Emma wrote it off because Brynn aspired to wear captain bars one day.
Hey, to each their own.
Secretly, Emma was well aware that Brynn admired the woman. She could understand why, since you didn't find a lot of forty year old females in the power position of a male dominated field.
Brynn looked up to her.
And Emma trusted her partner, so she was trying to find the silver lining in the storm clouds too.
Don’t get her wrong, it wasn’t all bad. The sexual harassment in the workplace came to a screeching halt. Before Patty Stout arrived, the male detectives were a handful. Emma had been whistled at, received love notes, and even a few proposals. They were cops being cops and nothing more. Fortunately for her, Curtis Briggs was keeping his lips sealed. All it would take was one hint of what the men around Emma were like, and Greyson would lose his mind. The detectives would have been skinned, skewered, and roasted over the hot flames of Hell.
Yeah, she could see it happening.
Emma loved her sexy FBI husband more than anything in life, but it was common knowledge that he had one trigger.
Her.
If he even suspected men were sniffing around his woman, there would be hell to pay. While some women would be pissed to have a man claim ownership, Emma didn't mind. It gave her that warm tingly feeling in the pit of her stomach. There was something alluring about being ‘Greyson’s babe’. Who didn't want to be the focus of the city’s sexiest man? From his wicked grin, to that pirate scar, he was hotness wrapped in even more hotness.
Besides, letting him drive the marital bus made for some truly amazing sex. When her husband got all territorial, she reaped the benefits.
Holy sex-God-ocalypse!
It was that damn good.
Emma forced herself to focus on her surroundings. Thinking about her husband was making her break out in a cold sweat. When she heard the new guy’s laughter, Emma glanced over.
Everyone knew hazing was a big no-no, but Patty Stout’s other favorite target was their brand new transplant. Emma felt sorry for him.
Well, almost.
Don’t get her wrong, she didn't mind Detective Heath Spencer. He was funny, pleasant, and a good break from the day’s stresses. Unfortunately, he was a little too… flirty.
The man liked to rile Agent Briggs up, driving him insane. It was true that Curtis and Emma had a very close relationship. She was like his sister, or even a mother. Yet, Detective Spencer assumed it was more.
He would incessantly flirt with her, both to get his jollies and to stir the younger man up. Each time, Curtis would come to her ‘rescue’, giving the detective enough ammo to last a lifetime. Heath Spencer was playing a game, and in the process got what he wanted.
Briggs going all mini-caveman.
Emma tried to reassure the young Fed that the detective was harmless, but he wasn’t listening. For now, she’d managed to keep Curtis from spilling the beans to her husband.
If that happened, there would be a murder.
Rest in peace, Heath Spencer.
If he only had a clue how dangerous it was to play with fire. Oh well, live and learn. It was the only way to learn those pesky lessons.
In life, you sometimes had to experience things that would change you forever. Emma found that recently, she was no exception. Her big dislike in life was funerals. As a general rule, she didn't go to them. After burying her family, it left a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Unfortunately, when it came to work, there was no way around it. The funeral for Commissioner Thomas Booker had been terrible. All the cops in the city had attended, and it was hard for Greyson.
His emotions were torn between a man who he had once called friend, and someone who wa
s skirting the laws which he held dear. Her poor husband didn't know whether to be pissed or sad, and it had wounded his heart.
Greyson desperately wanted to hate the man, since Tom Booker had called out the hit squad on his wife. He crossed a line, and Greyson was old school to his bones. He wanted to handle the situation and level the playing field.
Now, someone else had done that for him, and left him feeling off kilter. To her honorable husband, he wasn’t able to balance right and wrong. Some unknown force had done it for him, and that rubbed him the wrong way.
As they stood there at the funeral, watching the widow weep, it was hard not to be upset. Every law official there understood. With their jobs, you sometimes didn't come home. It broke Emma’s heart, since she never wanted to face the reality that had unfolded in front of her.
If she lost Greyson, she would be crushed. No one mattered more in her life. He was her rock, her shelter, and the love of her entire existence. When it came to their relationship, they were soul mates.
She’d die for him.
Having to watch a woman bury her cop husband, despite him being crooked, was difficult at best. As she stood between Greyson and Randall Mason, her heart ached.
Now, she was focused on trying to find his killer. Was it a hit gone bad? Had the man hired someone to take both her and Greyson out, only to have the individual change his mind?
After all, the man who abducted her, a dirty cop, ended up with the same fate. Right now, they had two dead cops and no answers.
It was making her insane.
Something had to give, and soon. If it didn't, the file would be boxed up as a cold case and sent to storage. Emma couldn’t let that happen. Not out of affection for a corrupt man, but because it was her only way to stay alive.
Someone was chasing them, and she needed to catch him first.
Or…
At the tap on her shoulder, she turned to focus on the young man beside her. Curtis Briggs was holding out a coffee for her, a big grin on his face.
Love is Bleeding (A Croft & Croft Romance Adventure Book 4) Page 2
