In Her Sights (2 page)

Jazz’s body froze in readiness. He was coming her way. If Blue Leader ordered the guys to rush the house, she had to be on her game. She
would
protect them. She wouldn’t fail.

The blinds fluttered. Jazz forced her breathing into a comfortable, familiar pattern. “Blue Leader, this is Blue Four. I see movement.”

A blond head peered out, face straight on front, the area between nose and teeth in clear view.

“Target acquired. It’s a good shot.”

“Can you see the girl?”

“He’s got a gun to her head.”

Only a second passed before the expected order came through.

“Take the shot, Blue Four.”

“Ten-four, Blue Leader.”

Slowly, deliberately, Jazz exhaled and, between heartbeats, squeezed the trigger.

Luke Montgomery ducked through the door of the bar, closing out the last hints of sunset behind him. He hated not knowing his enemy’s identity, but he would adapt. His Army Ranger unit had always been ready for an ambush. Five years in special ops had made him suspicious of most. On that last mission, though…even Luke had been taken in.

Not again. Never again.

He shifted his shoulder, the stiffness and scarring a permanent reminder of how close a bullet had come to sending him home from Afghanistan in a body bag. Lesson learned. Except for his family, Luke assumed everyone was lying. Tonight would be no different.

He kept to the shadows, studying the surroundings for potential threats and quick exits. He preferred covert operations, but stealth wasn’t an option here. Even he couldn’t blend his six-feet-four-inch frame in this cracker box. Though he hadn’t set foot in the joint in a couple of years, too many people would recognize him.

A sharp rap of the cue ball hitting its target echoed like a gunshot over the raucous laughter. Nope, Sammy’s Bar hadn’t changed. Neither had the clientele.

Cops. And some of them were on the take. How many guns would turn on him if they knew he was after one of their own? It didn’t matter. His informant had risked her life coming to him. She didn’t want her son forced into the world of organized crime. Luke understood the need to protect a child all too well. He’d get Grace and her son out, and bring down the bastards. Not only the criminals who threatened her, but also the cops who enabled them.

He searched the room as if he were casing the streets of Kabul for concealed insurgents. Colorado wasn’t Afghanistan, but his mission was almost identical. Ferret out the liars. As an investigative journalist, he just did it with a pen these days instead of an assault rifle.

Acutely focused on his surroundings, he stepped into the light and waited, patience something he’d learned the hard way in the field. The hum of whispers started soft then grew louder. Most everyone in the bar turned toward him. Excellent. He scanned the new faces and recognized one that definitely interested him. Sheriff Tower’s son, Brian. Luke’s intel hinted that the corruption went all the way to the top. How ironic if he ended up using an Internal Affairs cop in the sheriff’s office to get to the rotten core. And what better way to get at the father than through the son.

Luke stalked his target at the far end of the bar and slid onto the stool next to him, adjusting his position to create a clear view of the entrance while minimizing his blind side. “Cola,” he said to the bartender. “Straight.”

Tower snorted and sipped amber liquid from his shot glass. “Sure you don’t need some ice to water it down?”

“You got a problem?” Luke said. Tower’s eyes were bloodshot and glazed over. Good. Lowered inhibitions made Luke’s job that much easier.

“What are you doing here, Montgomery? Slumming with the boys in blue? Don’t you military types stay to yourselves?”

“Ex-military. I’m a civilian, and it’s a free country. Thought I’d catch a game of pool. Join me?” Luke nodded to the table that had just come open.

“Nah.” Tower swirled his glass. “I’m having a party of my own right here.”

“Celebrating?”

“You could say that.”

A shout blasted through the bar’s door, and a group of men shoved into the room led by none other than Luke’s brother. “The blue team beat the bad guys this morning. We’ve been waiting all day for this.” Gabe’s exclamation boomed over the bar’s chatter. A hearty cheer sounded. “Line ’em up, barkeep.”

Great. His brother wouldn’t be happy Luke had infiltrated Gabe’s favorite bar. Luke stroked his jaw. Might as well prepare for the punch that would come later.

Tower lowered his head, a sly smile tilting the corners of his mouth. A tingle vibrated in Luke’s temple, an alarm he’d learned the hard way not to ignore. Something was definitely up with the guy. Maybe his source had been right after all.

Glasses clinked as the SWAT team members piled into the bar. “Wait a minute,” Gabe said. “Where’s Jazz?”

The second Luke heard her name, he couldn’t fight the urge to watch for her. He surveyed the room then lasered on the bar’s entrance. A flash of blond glinted in the dim light and a tall, lithe frame filled the doorway. He knew that silhouette well, from the generous curve of her breasts, to the narrow waist, to the slim but strong legs that could hold him…Damn, if he let his mind travel any farther he’d need a cold shower. She did look good, though. Better than the academy photo he’d stared at all day on CNN.

He’d spent too much time thinking about her today after avoiding her for the past two years. They’d replayed the story of her precision shot and the rescue of the governor’s daughter over and over. His editor, sucked into the idea of a female sniper as much as the rest of the country, had tacked on the human interest assignment to Luke’s already full investigative plate. Just because he knew Jasmine. Now she was here. Much too close for his own sanity.

He’d have to talk to her. Soon. He forced his attention back to Tower, who’d gone rigid in his chair.

“Let’s hear it for Jazz!” Gabe called out.

A roar of applause rocked the bar.

“Yeah, right,” Tower muttered into his drink.

“You got a problem with her too?”

Tower slanted a disgusted look toward the doorway. “Parker’s got female quota written all over her. She doesn’t belong.”

The swarm of SWAT bodies concealed Luke’s presence, so he took the opportunity to study Jasmine. With stiff movements, she strode to the bar and nodded as Gabe handed her a drink. She squirmed under his brother’s toast, edging away from the group as soon as she could. The laughter and conversation rose, but she pulled away. Tower was right on one count. She didn’t fit into SWAT’s easy camaraderie. She stood apart from the group, solitary and watchful, just like the first time they’d met in this same bar, when he couldn’t resist introducing himself to a lone goddess. He’d wanted to know if the full lower lip that didn’t smile hid untapped passion. He hadn’t been disappointed.

“What are you doing here, Luke?” Gabe’s voice came out of nowhere.

Luke had to admire the stealth flank. His little brother really could’ve been a Ranger. He shook off the memories. “Just having a drink with my friend here. Join us?”

“Looks to me like you’re consorting with the enemy,” Gabe said.

“Internal Affairs keeps the riffraff out of the sheriff’s office, Montgomery.” Tower stared at Jasmine. “Most of it, anyway.”

Gabe let out a low curse and nodded toward the bar’s entrance. “Outside, Luke. Now.”

He tossed down a couple of bills and called the bartender over. “I’m buying this round,” Luke said. He’d made initial contact. It was a start.

He slid off the barstool and followed his brother. His gaze swept the room one last time for Jasmine, but she’d vanished. Probably for the best. One investigation at a time. He had an article on her coming out in tomorrow’s paper. He wasn’t looking forward to telling her about it or requesting an interview for the follow-up.

At least he wouldn’t have to go searching for her hangouts when he needed to talk to her. Jasmine was a creature of habit, and Luke knew her patterns. Hell, he knew much more than that. He knew she loved her sex hot and her whiskey straight. He knew she couldn’t stand cantaloupe or cauliflower but was addicted to butter rum Life Savers. He knew she liked her showers scorching, her kisses gentle, and that she purred in the middle of the night when he splayed his hand along her hip and nuzzled her neck.

Whoa. Where had all this rehashing the past come from? He’d been burned with Jasmine’s brand once too often, and he still had the scars as evidence. He had to remember that.
She’d
been the one to walk out. With a soft shake of his head, he shoved out of the bar and stepped into the cool night breeze. Instinctively he gave the dusk-lit parking lot a quick scan.

Before he could finish, Gabe turned on him. “You just had to bring the investigation here, didn’t you? And who do you start on? Tower?”

Calmly Luke removed Gabe’s hand from his clothes. “You don’t care if there’s a dirty cop working beside you?”

“Of course I do, but Tower’s on a power trip. He thinks his old man’s position as sheriff gets him a free ride, and he hasn’t been far from wrong. When Jazz beat him out of the sniper slot, he moved to Internal Affairs for a reason. He plays a good game with the brass, but he’s got more than an eye on SWAT. He’d like to bring us all down.”

“Then you should be glad he’s on my radar. I won’t stop until I get to the truth.”

“Life’s not all black and white, Luke. You’ve never tolerated the gray, and if you get this wrong, good cops could lose everything.” Gabe poked Luke’s chest. “You have one source. No corroboration.”

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve been on this story a few weeks, and I’m already receiving threats to lay off or be sorry. I don’t like threats, little brother.”

Gabe’s expression hardened, but not before Luke caught the flash of hurt behind his brother’s eyes. Luke understood all too well. He knew from experience how much it sucked knowing the “supposed” good guys could let you down.

“Are you carrying?” Gabe asked.

“What do you think?” Luke lifted his jacket, revealing the HK in his shoulder holster.

“There’re a bunch of good cops in there, putting their lives on the line, Luke. Don’t screw them over.”

“I’m only going after the dirty ones. The ones with something to hide. They deserve what they’ll get.”

“This isn’t Afghanistan. You go Rambo, I’ll throw you in jail myself.”

Luke nodded, knowing his brother didn’t really understand. He hadn’t watched an entire unit massacred because of deliberate deceit. Good men dead because of a lie.

“Just be sure,” Gabe said quietly. He turned back to the bar, his posture stiff, then looked over his shoulder with a grin. “See you Sunday at Mom’s? I’m bringing chips. I can’t take another veggie tray.”

“I’ll be there.”

Speaking of his mother…Luke checked his watch. He had a few more minutes before she arrived to meet him. He could make some more inroads with Tower.

“You haven’t changed at all. Asking too many questions. Ruining people’s lives.”

He stilled.
Jasmine
.

The familiar voice wafted over the August breeze from a darkened nook. Those husky tones sent shivers through him even though it’d been two years since they’d spoken.

She stepped into the light only feet away. Oh boy. No one else sported hair that particular color—like honey kissed with sunlight. She’d pinned the silky strands tightly to her head. What a crime. He’d loved taking it down, studying the way the color changed as the soft strands slipped through his fingers and feathered the smooth skin of her arms and back, all the way down to the lush curve of her hips.

His best intentions evaporated. Every memory of every night they’d shared rushed through him, one after the other. His body responded, going heavy with desire. Man, he was toast.

He clutched at a light post in an attempt to steady his reaction. She’d always been magnificent, an Amazon beauty, and the way she’d fit him when they’d made love had rocked his soul. Obviously she still did.

“Doing a little recon of your own?” he asked, trying to sound normal when she made him feel anything but. “Why aren’t you partying with the team? You’re the hero of the hour.”

“An innocent girl’s alive, but a man is dead. I did that. Celebrating would feel…wrong.”

Her words as much as her flat tone sobered him quickly. Taking a life was never easy. “I checked out the kidnapper. The guy had ties to organized crime and a record. A long one. He was a criminal almost from the time he was born.”

Jasmine shrugged, as if hoping he’d drop the subject. He studied her closely beneath the flickering light. He’d seen that haunted look on the snipers in his unit—the acknowledgement that they’d ended a life. The weight could smother the soul.

“You saved a child. He would’ve killed her.”

“I know.” A shiver went through Jasmine and the shadows left her face, like a curtain being drawn. He’d seen this before as well. In battle. When a warrior pushed aside the reality so they could live with what they’d done.

The sniper was back. She crossed her arms and faced him. “From what I overheard you’re after cops these days instead of criminals? Are you out for a story or justice?”