by Taylor Lee
“Yeah, Bro, after we fuck over your self-righteous brother, let’s you and me celebrate with a sweet piece of police pussy.”
Swallowing the bile threatening to choke him, Jared congratulated himself for his restraint. Instead of knocking Janko’s teeth down his throat, Jared drained his glass and poured himself another Jamesons. Smiling at his one-time friend, he spoke evenly, “That sounds like an interesting plan, Janko. Only with a woman that sweet, I may not want to share.”
Janko barked a harsh laugh and raised his glass. “Tell you what, you arrogant bastard. How about we flip a coin—to see who gets her first.”
Jared rose to his feet and grinned at Janko. “Before we start letting a woman come between us, Dude, I think I better see if she’s as hot up close as she is from across the room.”
Like everyone else in the room, Hailey kept her head down pretending to ignore the ominous group at the table in the corner. She’d been shocked when Jared strolled in with the leather-clad members of the D.C. The hush that settled over the noisy bar at their entrance spoke volumes. If danger came in pairs, the five members of the DC gang with Jared bringing up the rear signaled that Armageddon had arrived.
Hailey jumped when Tara jabbed her in the side and said in an excited stage whisper, “Don’t look up, but he’s coming this way. OMG, I don’t believe it, Jared Justice is coming to our table!”
Keeping her head down, refusing to meet his gaze, Hailey focused on her drink.
Mitzi growled. “For God’s sake, Tara, act your age. Just because you were hot for him when you were fifteen years old…” Mitzi’s disparaging warning died when a deep voice rumbled.
“Good evening, Ladies. Don’t tell me that your overbearing commander allows his harem to frequent the bars? Doesn’t he know that dangerous men are likely to accost them?”
“Beat it, Jared. My friends and I are enjoying each other’s company. We get enough testosterone on the job. Besides, don’t you and your gangbanger buddies have some heroin or crystal to hawk?”
Jared laughed a deep, sultry sound that sent a shower of sensation sparking across Hailey’s overwrought nerves.
“Now, now, Mitzi, is that any way to greet an old friend? Hell, woman, don’t tell me wild, wicked Mitzi Olson has changed her stripes. C’mon girl, you’re not too old to remember the nights we spent at Finnegan’s Field—”
Before he could finish his sentence, Mitzi growled. “I’m serious, Jared. Get lost. My fellow officers and I spend enough work time with pond scum to deal with the likes of you on our nights off.”
“Hmm. That may be true of you, Officer Olson, and potentially, the lovely Tara, but the least you can do is introduce me to the Barbie Doll. What’s Miss Sweden doing hanging out with cops? She need protection from all the badasses tripping over their tongues to get close to her?”
Knowing that her face was flaming, Hailey stared at her drink and refused to acknowledge him.
Mitzi answered for her. “For your information, hotshot, Officer Michels is a cop and happens to work for your brother. You remember him, one of the Justice Brothers who is a credit to his family and community, not a blight on the family name?”
A shrill voice prevented Jared from answering.
“Hallelujah, girls! You’re right! It is Jared Justice. Damn, big guy, where’ve you been keeping that sexy ass of yours? I’m telling you half of the women in this town have forgotten what it’s like not to have to fake a climax. Thank God, the prodigal son has returned!”
Hailey looked up to see Chloe Reynolds and two other women who topped the vice squad’s list of known prostitutes crowding around Jared. To her surprise three women wearing DC tats on their virtually naked bodies, left their gang table and stomped over to join the crowd of lusty women surrounding Jared. Hailey stood it as long as she could watching the women make fools of themselves fighting to be the next one to dance with the grinning Lothario who was clearly the “Chris Brown” figure of this northern woods capital. When Brittany, one of the Goth girls, smacked Chloe across the face, starting what looked like it would become a brawl, Hailey’d had enough.
Ignoring the raucous laughter from the envious men watching the superstar in the middle of the circle of drunken women all fighting for his attention, Hailey shoved back her chair and battled her way through the crowd to the exit. Stumbling down the alleyway, she bent over to catch her breath and block the ugly sight of the women pawing Jared. Fighting back hot angry tears, she admonished herself for being such an idiot. How could she have thought that Jared was interested in her?
His sultry query startled her. “Where you going, Valley Girl? Scene too hot for your beach bunny bod?”
In seconds he was beside her, a dark, dangerous wall of muscle. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him. Pressing her against the wall, he growled in her ear, a low, lusty sound. “That’s too bad, Sugar, because it is about to get a hell of a lot hotter.”
At her mangled cry, Jared grabbed her hands in one of his and dragged them up above her head. He drove his strong thigh between her legs, pinning her against the wall. Hailey struggled against him, fighting both Jared and the fiery heat now flooding her body. With his free hand he lifted her chin forcing her to look at him. His jaw was rigid, his emerald eyes blazing with lust.
“Damn, woman, I haven’t been able to think of anything but you for the last week. Especially that hot mouth of yours and how I’m going to take it and take you.” He pressed her harder against the wall and huffed a raspy command. “Open to me, rookie, the way you did that crazy night. You didn’t want to stop then did you, baby? Did you?”
At her soft breathy moan, Jared couldn’t squelch his groan.
“Oh yeah, baby. That’s the way. Climb up on my thigh. Ride me, rookie, ride me hard! Christ, yeah, darlin’, like that!”
Hailey cried out a shaken plea tormented with desire. “Oh God, Jared. I…I…can’t…”
Running his hand over her chest, he crooned, “You can’t what, rookie? You can’t keep your heart from pounding? Can’t keep your nipples from hardening, begging me to suck them?” At her whimpering cry, he slipped his hand between her legs and groaned a deep male sound. “Can’t keep those sweet juices from soaking my fingers?”
He grabbed her ass in his big hands and jerked her against his rock hard erection. He pressed his lips against hers and murmured, “Tell you what, Angel Face. How about you don’t say another word? Just let your hot sexy body speak for you. The way mine is speaking for me.”
Jared rubbed his hand across her chest reaching unerringly for her throbbing nipple. Just when Hailey was sure that she would faint if he didn’t release her aching breast, a taunting voice reverberated across the alley.
“Hey, Bro, ain’t you jumping the gun a little, Buddy? Thought we were saving her for later. You know, for some of that…mmmm…two-on-one action we both like?”
At the ugly question, Hailey lurched around to see Janko and three of his forbidding men approaching.
Jared jerked Hailey up against himself, sheltering her with his strong body. His harsh laugh sliced across the ominous silence.
“C’mon, Dude. You know I never did follow the rules.”
Jared looked down at her with a grin but Hailey didn’t miss the iron in his eyes or his tight, protective grip. She felt rather than saw him punch his phone. His voice was lazy, but riddled with an undercurrent of danger.
“But I gotta admit she doesn’t seem all that willing.”
Janko snorted as he and his men slinked closer, surrounding them in a menacing circle. “Since when was that a problem for any of us, Bro? The only question now is whether my boys get to flip a coin for their place in the circle jerk.”
Just then the squealing tires and flashing lights of a trio of squads pulled alongside the gangbangers, stopping their foreboding advance. Hailey breathed a sigh of relief when Lt. Justice leaped out of one of the cop cars.
He ambled toward her, one hand resting on his hip inches away from his
holstered Glock. His voice was laced with irony. “I know you’re off duty, Officer Michels, but how about I give you a ride home? I wouldn’t want you to tempt these fine upstanding citizens. We’d hate to have to detain them for loitering in alleyways.”
Chapter 8
“Jesus Christ, Jared, are you insane? What the hell were you doing, Dude? Christ, you both coulda been killed. Thank God, we were tailing you and I got your alarm.”
Jake’s voice was harsh with anger. Jared didn’t need to see him to know that his brother was furious. He’d waited until he got to his rented apartment before he flipped on his phone. He held the phone away from his ear, allowing his brother to rail at a distance. Sucking in a deep breath, he shook his head then spoke into the phone.
“I don’t know, man, maybe I am insane.” Jared snorted a hard sigh. “I have to admit it, Jake. I’ve got it bad for the little rookie. Christ, man, you know me. I never fall for a woman, not like this. But since last week, I can’t stop thinking about her. Somehow I’ve managed to stay away, kept from going after her, but seeing her sitting there tonight all flushed and upset while those horny babes were assaulting me—”
“Yeah, Dude, I heard about the stampede in the Shipwreck. I can just imagine how hard it was to tear yourself away from the throng of hungry women after your ass. But did you have to go out in the alley and jump one of my officers!?”
“Like I said, Jake, I can’t explain it. Fuck, man, I can’t remember when if ever a woman has gotten to me the way that the rookie has.” He blew out a hard breath. “But before you crawl any further up my ass, I do have news, big news. The exchange is set for tomorrow night at an as yet undisclosed location.”
Jared was quiet for a moment as he considered the enormity of what they were about to do. He couldn’t hide his excitement when he added, “I gotta tell you, Jake, if we pull this off it will be one for the history books. Janko is wetting his jeans he’s so charged. Convinced he’s about to become the BOC’s go to guy in Northern Minnesota and will soon rule the entire St. Lawrence Seaway. If he wasn’t such a disreputable prick, I might feel bad for the way he’s going down.”
“Don’t waste a second of pity on that asshole, Jared. He’s been bad from birth and we’ve got him at the scene of at least a hundred drug deals, and not a few murders. But he’s smart as hell and slippery as a goddamned eel. Now that he’s into that ‘white might’ shit he’s even more dangerous. We haven’t been able to get enough evidence but it’s a 99% certainty that the rash of fires on the rez is the work of his moronic racist followers. Given the shit he’s been shilling, the bodies we can pin directly on him, and his asshole followers, Janko’s earned his inner circle of hell.”
“You’re right, Bro. From the time Janko set cats on fire for fun and beat up homeless drunks to add excitement to a boring Saturday night, he’s been bad to the bone. Even as a snotty teenager I knew that and was secretly relieved when you and Jude yanked me back. Plus, if Janko gets the full force backing of the BOC like he’s damn close to getting, he’ll become more powerful, more dangerous than his wildest dreams and our worst nightmares. But that’s not going to happen, Bro. We’re gonna take him down in the slickest way possible.”
Jake’s low whistle over the ether was admiring. “You’re sure as hell right about that, baby brother! Those international compadres of yours have changed the way an op goes down. In the old days—a year or so ago, we would have been exchanging suitcases of marked bills and bags of crystal. Now we’re doing it over the internet? Amazing!”
“Yeah Jake, if all goes as planned, when I give the signal and my ‘client’ in Thailand confirms that he’s received the crystal, I’ll hit the code on my IPhone and $30 million will race over the internet to the BOC’s numbered account. Neat, clean, very high tech. Only the money that electronically goes into their account is marked just like the counterfeit bills in the old days. But the crystal our Thailand guys receive will be as real and valuable as ever. As will the BOC team who hands them the dope and then shuffles off to prison.”
“Beautiful, buddy. Soon as you know where you and the gang are meeting, contact me. I need to get all of our men in place. The best part of this whole operation will be seeing those assholes’ faces when they get taken down by the local boys.”
“I agree, Jake. Those motherfuckers need to know that as always, Justice rules our fair forests. As for the exact location, I’ll send you the coordinates as soon as I get them. Just know it will be somewhere with access to an international financial exchange.” He added with a laugh, “Which in this crazy new world of ours is as close as the phone in my hand.”
“Sweet, man. Almost unbelievable for a backwoods cop like me. But you gotta know, Jared, the only part of this gig that makes me nervous is that at least in the beginning you’ll be alone with Janko and his animals.”
“Yeah, but you’ll be there in the shadows, Jake, rushing in to ‘save’ me. Like you always have, big brother. I can see it all now: Just as our DEA team sweeps in and captures the BOC guys in Thailand, the Duluth PD—led by their indomitable Commander Jake Justice—will saunter in and take down the Dragon’s Curse. Like a flock of mallards a half hour before sunrise on opening day of duck hunting season, the sorry bastards won’t know what hit them!”
***
Jared was confirming the final details of the exchange with his team in Thailand when there was a knock on his door.
“I have to sign off. Someone’s at my door. But, everything is copacetic, correct, Agent Thomas?”
Jared’s point man in Thailand responded in his usual outrageous manner.
“Absofuckinglutely, Big Guy. We’re in the back of the sluttiest titty bar you’ve ever seen. Our UC confirms that the BOC marks are half a block away. They’ll deliver the stash to us when they confirm that the money has been sent. Now if I can just keep these randy guys of mine sober, with their hands off the bar girls and their dicks in their pants for the next four hours, we’ll be ready to rumble.”
Jared laughed. “Are the rest of you as ready as your scandalous commander is?”
At the chorus of “Copy that, Agent Justice” from the members of the Thai-based team, Jared said, “Thanks, men. I’ll check back at 2300 hours for a final sit rep.”
At the second sharp knock, Jared closed his phone and walked to the door. To his surprise, he saw Janko and five of his goons standing on the balcony. Striving for nonchalance, he stepped back and frowned at Janko.
“What the hell, man. What’s up?”
Shoving past Jared, Janko and his glowering men entered. Turning to Jared with a sly grin, Janko said, “Not much, Bro. It’s just that me and my boys decided we couldn’t wait to get this rodeo started. We want to do it now.”
Jared managed to mask his surprise.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” He added threateningly, “Don’t tell me your BOC pricks are pulling back?”
Janko shook his head. “No way. They’re in place and ready to hand over the crystal when I give the word. But I wanna move up the timeline.” His frown tightened. “We’re gonna do the exchange now.”
Jared started. “Now? What the hell, Janko?! I arranged for the exchange at midnight our time.”
“Change it.”
Seeing Janko’s fierce expression and wondering what the hell was going on, although the snakes crawling up the back of his neck confirmed that he was in deep shit, Jared said carefully, “I don’t know that we can, buddy.”
Janko sneered. “What? You saying that you, a Justice Brother, can’t make somethin’ happen? Fuck it, man. You know goddamned well that in ‘Justice land’ the sun doesn’t rise or set without permission from one of the golden boys.”
Jared glared at him, assuming an aggrieved tone. “What’s going on, Janko? Has something happened on your end? Christ, man, we’re four hours away from closing the biggest deal of a lifetime. This isn’t the time to start fucking around. My buyer doesn’t tolerate ‘problems.’ ”
Janko shoo
k his head. “Relax, Jared. It’s just that, like you, I prefer to be in control. You know I trust you. Or as much as I can trust a Justice Brother. Humor me, Dude. I wanna be sure you don’t have nothin’ up your sleeve.” He nodded at the surly men surrounding them. “As do my boys.” He added with a foreboding smirk, “C’mon, Jared, how about you pull strings the way you always do? We’ve alerted our team in Thailand that the timing has changed. I told them to meet your boys in ten minutes and deliver the stash. I also assured them that the money will be there when they arrive. As you’ve said, all you need before you wire the money is confirmation that your men have the drugs.”
He pinned Jared with a hard glare.
“So whadda you say, Buddy? How ’bout we saddle up and get this rodeo started?”
Holding Janko’s gaze with a frown of his own, Jared took out his phone but before he could open it Janko snatched it out of his hand.
“Uh uh, Jared. If you don’t mind, I’ll place the call.”
Jared shrugged. “You really are a paranoid son-of-a-bitch, Janko. Go for it, asshole. Put the damn thing on speaker and hit redial. I just hung up from my head guy in Bangkok.”
Jared breathed a sigh of relief when Agent Thomas merely responded, “Yes?”
“Mr. Thomas, the schedule has changed. The exchange will take place at the designated location in ten minutes. Initiate Scorpio now.”
Jared decided he might survive after all when Agent Thomas simply answered, “Yes, Sir,” and hung up.
“You better not be fucking me, Jared.” Janko frowned betraying his distrust. “What does Scorpio mean?”
Jared snorted, “First off, you better not be fucking me, old pal. Second, it means that when I type in the code and hit send, $30 million dollars will scamper across the internet into your BOC buddies’ offshore account.”
Janko glared at him. “Alright. Then how about you hit that button?”
