“Dee?” His brow lifts with arrogance, but my phone rings and draws my attention. I’m never not on call, so I reach over to my bag and dig through the side pockets until I find my cell. Andi’s headphones remain in, the music up, so she still doesn’t know I’m here, and my ringing phone does nothing to draw her attention.
Chest heaving, I bring the phone to my ear and watch Jimmy step away to allow me privacy. “Yeah?”
“Cruz?” Jay Bishop’s gruff voice moves through the phone and sets me on high alert.
“Yeah.” Standing, I grab my shit and move through the gym until I hit the sunlight outside. The cold weather is coming fast; the mornings already bite, but the afternoons are still clutching to the last moments of warmth. “What’s up?”
“Hayes has a delivery coming in, and my brother’s distracted. I need you on guard for this, because it’s gonna get messy soon, and I won’t risk his life.”
“You won’t risk Hayes?”
“No, I won’t risk Kane! Hayes can go fuck a fire hydrant, but Kane can’t die for him. I won’t allow it, but we’ve been here awhile and shit’s coming to a head.”
The grit in his voice, the truth in his words makes my heart race. He’s talking literals, and the undercover brothers tempt fate every fucking day that they work for Abel Hayes. They could slip up any day. They could screw up and Hayes could figure out they’re not his allies.
Alex and Oz are busting their asses trying to take Abel down, but they’re just cops in cop’s clothes, whereas Jay and Kane are agents in plain clothes. Abel has no clue he has snakes in his house, so they get a million times closer than anything Alex ever manages. Abel Hayes is a puzzle, too, and I’m playing both sides of the board and could just as easily end up with a bullet in my head… or with walking papers from Alex when he figures it out.
“What do you need from me?” I slide into my truck and slam the door, because this shit can’t be overheard by anyone, especially not anyone inside that gym. “I already told you I’m around. I’m just waiting for orders.”
“Does X have anything new on your end? Because Hayes is getting antsy. He’s pushing us hard, but in opposite directions. He’s nervous that we’re together so much, so he pushes us into different warehouses most nights. He’s frying my brain, and I’m not sure I’m sharp enough to have Kane’s back anymore.”
“Fuck, Jay. We have nothing new. X is working his shit, and the lawyers are working theirs. But really; we don’t have shit. I take your tips, call them in when you give me the green, and that makes me the golden boy when X shuts something down, but your man is slippery.”
“Don’t underestimate him.” His voice crackles, like he’s had a hundred cigarettes too many and passed the point of no return. “Hayes has no morals. No line. No fucking clue the law even exists. He has his mission and nothing is slowing him.”
“What does Eric think? He’s your brain; what the fuck does he wanna do?”
“He’s got the same information we have, and he has superiors to answer to. I’ve got someone on the side, he’s helpin’, but he’s only good with data. We already have the data on Hayes, that’s not the issue. We just need to take him out.”
“So what you’re saying is…?”
He lets out a long sigh. “I’m saying shit’s heating up, and soon it’s gonna blow. I don’t care much for the law anymore. I just need him dead, and I need Kane safe. He’s my big brother, and I’m not fit to protect him anymore.”
“Do you need out, Jay?” Finally, the desperation in his voice registers beyond the regular concern for a shitty job. “What’s Hayes making you do?”
“He’s making me wanna blow my fuckin’ brains out.”
“Call in sick, then bow out. Your people can start again; officer safety is always priority.”
“No. The girls I have to count every night; they’re important. They’re the priority. I met a fifteen-year-old whore last night, Cruz. She didn’t even have boobs yet, but he was selling her anyway. I counted guns this morning; guns I gave you the tip on, but they got in anyway, because Kane and I arethatfuckin’ good. We literally give you the where and when, and we still get them in. Next week, those guns will be in schools and in basketball courts.That’swhat’s important, and if I bow out now, then we fall behind a year and a half, and the kids that are alive today won’t be alive by the time we regroup. You want that shit on your conscience?”
Groaning, I run a hand through my sweaty hair. “No, I don’t want that. They can’t replace you? Keep Kane in, get you out? He’s your brother; he’d want you out.”
Furious electricity fills the air. “You know how I know you’re an only child?” Before I can answer, he snaps, “because a real brother would never suggest that bullshit. Fuck you and yourme firstattitude! If you get Kane killed, you won’t live long enough to say sorry. I’m not fuckin’ playing!”
I slam my hand against the steering wheel. “I’m not trying to kill your brother, asshole. I’m trying to help you. Tell me what you want from me. Tell me, and I’ll work it on my end. You need X to siege the club? Take the warehouse and seize the guns? We can do that. We can be in there tonight if you want us, but I don’t know what you need until you tell me. I’m walking a fuckin’ tightrope between cops and agents, Bish, and I promise, losing my job is low on my list of things I give a shit about. I’m trying to help you.”
“Just stay close,” he snaps. “Stay available, and if Kane sends up the SOS, run, don’t walk.”
“You got it. Take care of yourself, yeah?”You know what else I studied during my biochem degree? Cocaine. And the effects they have on an otherwise healthy man’s body. If Jay Bishop isn’t crashing hard right now, then I’ll eat my hat.“Call me anytime you need me, okay?”
“Yeah.” The telltale click of a cigarette lighter rings in my ears. “Yeah, okay. Stay alert, Cruz. It’s coming.”
Instead of going back into the gym to finish my workout, instead of risking seeing Andi again and having to explain the sick gut I’ve suddenly developed, I start out of the parking lot and drive home.
Parking in my driveway, I grab my shit and head inside to shower.
If Andi saw me in the gym today, she doesn’t let on. I get no texts, no emails, not even a smoke signal. I get cold, hard silence… until I don’t.