His Risk to Take (Line of Duty 2)

Daniel propped a hip on his desk, breaking the cycle of his thoughts. “Morning, Bennett. You want the good news or the bad news first?”

“Good,” Brent answered for him. “Always take the good first.”

Shaking his head at Brent, Matt pulled up a chair and sat. “Tenney woke up from his coma this morning.

We just got back from the hospital. No permanent damage.”

A wave of relief rushed over Troy. “Great. That’s great. What’s the bad news?”

“Brent is still here,” Daniel deadpanned.

“Funny, asshole,” Brent returned, seemingly

unaffected. “The bad news is that tip we received about Tenney being involved with Driscol proved out. Tenney told us from his hospital bed that one of Driscol’s guys worked him over.”

Troy nodded, unsurprised. He’d already been convinced that Driscol was responsible, based on the fact that he’d gone into hiding and the evasive answers he’d gotten when questioning his associates. “That gives us what we need to bring him in.”

“Right. It’ll take us a day to put a team together. First, we need his location.”

Troy pushed his notes across his desk toward the men. “I’ve got it narrowed down to two places. Both in Brooklyn. Now that we know Driscol is our guy, the lieutenant will put more bodies on this. We should easily have his location by tomorrow.”

Brent picked up his notes and scanned them quickly. “Heard you put surveillance on a possible witness? The lieutenant wasn’t exactly forthcoming about the details.”

Troy shifted uncomfortably, knowing he had to come clean. His conscience wouldn’t allow him to leave his fellow officers out of the loop, unaware that a possible wildcard was in play. “Remember the girl pool player from O’Hanlon’s the other night?”

“The long-legged beauty with all that black hair?”

Daniel’s grin spread wider. “Sure, I remember her.”

Troy glared at him, then quickly explained the connection between Ruby and Driscol.

Brent’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you kidding me? She could lead us right to him.”

“Not going to happen,” Troy enunciated. “We’re not putting her at risk. She’s not one of them anymore, and if her association with me is discovered, we’ll be doing just that. We find Driscol on our own.” He turned to find Matt watching him silently.

“Guess a lot has happened between Friday night and this morning.”

“You could say that.”

Brent’s head dropped forward into his waiting hand with a smack. “Please don’t tell me you fell for this girl. She cheats people out of money for a living.”

Troy didn’t answer, merely raised an eyebrow. He had no interest in discussing his relationship with Ruby. Not when an axe still teetered so precariously over their heads, waiting to fall. “Thank Christ this emotional bullshit will never happen to me,” Brent continued. “If I ever see it coming, I’m going to haul ass in the opposite direction like I’ve got ten mother-in-laws chasing me with rolling pins in their hands.”

Matt gave an uncharacteristic laugh. “Your time is going to come, Brent.”

“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Daniel chimed in with a nod.

“Fuck that. If I go down, I’m taking you all with me.”

Daniel sighed. “I assume you’d be taking me along for advice on pleasuring a woman? You see, there’s this thing called a cl—”

“Are you lovely ladies finished?” Troy broke in impatiently. “We’ve got two locations to scout, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

…

Ruby walked briskly down the sidewalk, throwing occasional glances over her shoulder. Evening had fallen, and the cold wind nipped the skin of her cheeks.

After hiking her yoga mat higher on her shoulder, she dug her hands into her pockets for warmth. She’d spotted the unmarked police car five minutes ago, but she had to admit they were doing a good job of staying inconspicuous. If she hadn’t known to look for them, their presence might not have registered.

Too bad she was about to lose them anyway.

She’d walked for a good half hour to a billiards hall in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn she hadn’t frequented in over a year. The surrounding neighborhood had taken a turn for the better, college kids attending school in the city taking advantage of the cheaper rent in Brooklyn as opposed to Manhattan. New stores and coffee shops had popped up shortly thereafter to take advantage of the new blood. Her destination, however, had remained true to itself, standing out among the new developments like a sore thumb at the end of a row of empty warehouses.

A broken-down eyesore, Hildebrand’s Billiards hopefully still drew the same rough crowd it always had, in addition to the newer, younger crowd invading the neighborhood. In fact, Ruby was counting on it.

If she could do something to keep Troy from tangling with Lenny Driscol, she needed to do it. This was her dark, twisted world. She had the kind of access he would never have. And unlike every other man in her life, he hadn’t tried to use her to his advantage. He truly wanted to keep her removed. Safe from harm.

She knew what Lenny Driscol was capable of. Her father, who’d never been scared of another soul or a dangerous situation in his life, had lived with a healthy fear of Lenny. He’d warned her on several occasions to keep her mouth shut about anything she saw or heard pertaining to the man. Had even hinted at the possibility that Lenny might have friends on the police force or in political office who kept him out of trouble.

She couldn’t sit by and watch the same fate befall Troy as it had so many before him. Her own father, even. Not when she could so something about it.

She ducked into the yoga studio she’d looked up online this afternoon after returning from Troy’s apartment. A man in a white robe standing behind the counter looked up expectantly with a welcoming smile on his face. “Welcome. Are you here for the seven o’clock class?”

Ruby ignored his question. “You have a back door in this place?” He looked confused, but obviously interpreting the urgency behind her expression, pointed toward a dimly lit studio toward the back.

“Great. Thanks.” She started walking in the direction he indicated but came up short, turned, and picked up a brochure off the counter. Maybe she’d come back some time and see what all the fuss over yoga was about.

A moment later, she slipped out the back door into the alley running behind the studio. Knowing she only had about an hour before her personal surveillance team realized she wasn’t actually taking a yoga class, she hastened toward the back entrance of Hildebrand’s.

The crack of pool balls and bass-heavy classic rock greeted her as she pushed inside, immediately noting her favorite table stood empty in the corner. She skirted around a group of college students in trucker hats drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon and made her way to the bar, grateful when she recognized the stocky man behind it. Pulling a pint with one hand, Gerard smiled wide in greeting.

“Well, shit. If it ain’t Ruby Elliott. Where you been at, girl?”

“Around,” she said with a mysterious wink. Out of the corner of her eye, she scanned the bar for the man she’d come to find, but didn’t see him. “Mind if I knock a few balls around?”

“Go on ahead. Your table awaits.” Gerard leaned forward on the bar and dropped his voice. “Just do yourself a favor and don’t take any money off my new hipster clientele. They’ll write a Yelp review faster than you can blink, and that ain’t good for nobody.”

“No worries, Gerard. Their money is safe tonight. I’m only here to practice.”

He straightened once more, suspicion tightening his mouth, but he didn’t comment. Anyone who’d known Ruby a year ago wouldn’t believe she would waste her time in a place like this unless there was a pile of money waiting at the end of the night. Before he changed his mind and questioned her further, she grabbed a tray of pool balls off the counter and headed toward her table.

Forty-five minutes passed without any sign of her man. Ruby tried to appear disinterested in the comings and goings of customers into Hildebrand’s but felt herself beginning to get nervous. She needed to walk out the front of the yoga studio within fifteen minutes or the unmarked car would report back to Troy that she’d ditched them, which would lead to a series of questions she didn’t want to answer.

Just as she was about to give up hope, she saw Tim Keith walk in through the front entrance and park himself at the farthest end of the bar. Gerard automatically began building a pint of Guinness for Tim, a Hildebrand’s regular and neighborhood lifer. If information existed about Lenny Driscol’s whereabouts or what he’d done to put the cops on his trail, Tim Keith would know the details. Now she had to find a way to get the lowdown without trying too hard.

Ruby re-racked her balls, shoved her stick back inside the rolled-up yoga mat, and headed toward the bar. Sliding into the seat beside Tim, she sent a smile in Gerard’s direction. “Ginger ale, please?”