Shield of Protection Read online

  “Yes.”

  “And you’ll kill him to get it.”

  He sighed. “It would be so much better if he just handed it over, but yes, I’ll kill him if I have to. I have a family to protect, and if you allow a threat to thrive, even an idle one, there are consequences. It’s like a weed. One little weed spreads and infests the whole garden if you don’t take action. You see?”

  “I see that you’re a drug runner and a killer and you’re going to go to jail.”

  He went still. “I like to think of myself as a gardener, but your perception and your uncle’s do not matter to me. He will die unless you convince him to give me the recording. He’ll listen to you. You can make this whole mess go away.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  He brushed a bit of lint from the lapel of his coat. “Then you’ll both die.”

  Fear crawled up her spine. She was not naive enough to believe Spade. Even if he had what he wanted, he would kill them both anyway. They were weeds in his well-tended garden.

  She stood as tall as she could manage. “I won’t let you hurt my uncle.”

  He looked into her eyes, his own a flat, remorseless brown. It was as if he saw past her brave facade right into the deepest core of her.

  “How do you know I haven’t already?” he said. “Maybe while we’ve been talking, Burner has already killed your uncle.” He laughed. “Then all that’s left would be to yank out one more pretty little weed.”

  He took a step toward her.

  April ran.

  FOUR

  Declan pulled his weapon, quieted Storm and put him into a sit just outside the crumbling stone of the storage house. He’d seen Burner jog around the back between the side wall and the enormous dumpster awaiting the demolition debris. Declan’s heart pounded. He considered calling for backup, but there was no time. He’d get Burner. Then they’d take down Spade with the proper backup no matter what April had to say about it. He’d keep her safe, with or without her permission, and if it negatively affected his career, so be it. At that moment there was nothing in the world more important to him than April. His emotion surprised him, but there was no time to dwell on it.

  He pressed his back to the stone and crouched.

  He did a slow count to three and poked his head around the corner, just long enough to spot Burner. But his target was not alone. Burner had a gun trained on an older man with his hands up in a reflexive posture, terror blazing in his expression. April’s uncle Hal. In Burner’s hand was a small tape recorder.

  Hal spoke in a quavering voice to Burner. “Leave her alone. I’ll do whatever you want, just don’t hurt her.”

  “Too late, old man,” Burner said. He shoved the recorder into his pocket. “Mr. Spade’s done playing with you.” Burner aimed the gun at Hal’s forehead.

  “Police,” Declan yelled. “Drop your weapon.” Storm added a series of deafening barks.

  Burner unleashed two shots at Declan, forcing him to duck back around the corner. Bits of stone exploded through the air. There was the clang of metal as a third shot ripped through the dumpster near his head. At the sound of running feet, Declan erupted from his hiding place. Burner was already several yards away from the building, edging around pallets of stacked lumber, leaping over the small fences that marked the areas undergoing sea wall restoration.

  A groan drew his attention.

  Uncle Hal was on his feet, barely, clutching his shoulder. One of Burner’s bullets had found a target. Blood soaked the worn denim of his coat and seeped through his grasping fingers.

  Declan ran to him. Storm barked, and Declan called him to come. He flew around the corner and skidded to a stop.

  Declan was relieved that Hal was still conscious. “I’m calling for an ambulance.”

  “No,” Hal said, gripping Declan’s hand. “Get to April. Spade’s here, in the park. He’ll kill her to punish me, or to be sure I didn’t tell her anything.” He pulled a pen and a crumpled paper from his pocket and began to scribble.

  Declan’s mouth went dry. He realized in his zeal to get Burner he’d left April completely unprotected. How could he have been so stupid?

  “Here,” Hal said, thrusting the piece of paper into Declan’s palm. “Burner took the recording and my phone, so this is all I’ve got, no proof. Spade’s ruthless, and he’ll never forget. You have to take him down or she’ll never be safe.”

  “Tell me what you know.”

  “Go,” Uncle Hal thundered. “He could have his hands on her right now. He could be killing her. Please. Spade will send more men. It’s not safe here for either of us.”

  “I’ll be right back for you. Don’t move.”

  He retraced his steps, scanning. Across the field, the benches were empty. No sign of April. He’d left her, gone off and left her. What if...? He forced air in and out of his lungs. Work the problem. Where might she have hidden?

  A flash of white-blond hair caught his eye, April’s pale face peeking from behind a pallet stacked with wood.

  He blinked. “April?”

  She took one look at him and launched herself into his arms, nearly knocking him over.

  “I heard shots,” she said against his neck. Her whole body trembled. He squeezed her close to convince himself that she was really there, safe.

  Thank You, God. “I shouldn’t have left you.”

  “Spade was here.”

  He pulled her to arm’s length. “Did he hurt you?” The sheer avalanche of rage that rose up nearly choked him.

  She shook her head. “He told me if I got Uncle Hal to turn over the recording, he’d let us both live.”

  “Too late. Burner’s already got the recording.”

  Her mouth fell open. “What? How do you know?”

  Declan took her hand. “Come with me.” He didn’t want to tell her the rest, but he could not lie to her. “Your uncle is here, but he’s...hurt.”

  Her fingers went rigid in his. “How bad?”

  “Shoulder wound. We’ll control the bleeding, I’ll get an ambulance.”

  Her mouth moved in what he knew was a silent prayer. He guided her along and added his prayer to hers.

  Storm trotted ahead of them, and Declan did not stop him. All his energy was fixed on April and Uncle Hal’s condition as he held her hand in one of his and used the other to call for an ambulance.

  He stopped short as they rounded the corner.

  April looked at Declan.

  Uncle Hal was gone.

  * * *

  April felt the whole world spin out of control as she clutched the blanket the police had given her. She was still shaking as she stood in the shadow of the Queensboro Bridge, staring at the empty bench where Spade had vowed to kill both of them. Now Uncle Hal was missing, wounded and scared, and she hadn’t even been able to hug or comfort him.

  And Declan...

  She shot a glance at him as he stood frowning, talking to Carter Jameson who’d been in the area and heard the call, and the lieutenant who held Declan’s career in his hands. He’d been summoned to the scene, she knew, because Declan was one of his trainees. Lieutenant Farro arched an eyebrow in her direction.

  “So what’s the message from the uncle say?”

  Declan handed him the blood-soaked paper.

  Farro squinted. “Can’t make out the first item, only the date. Tomorrow, noon and a location. Long Island City.” He frowned. “Who or what is Spade’s target exactly?”

  “I don’t know, sir.”

  “So you’ve only got the word of your girlfriend’s uncle?”

  “She’s not my girlfriend.”

  “Who is she then?”

  April stared at her lap, listening. Who was she to Declan, a man who’d grown to be the echo in her every thought?

  “My best friend’s sister.”

  My b
est friend’s sister. Not his girlfriend, and she never would be. At the moment, she was a problem to be dealt with, a case to be closed out of loyalty and family friendship. April blinked back tears. She’d been right to leave, to try to handle this herself.

  The lieutenant shoved the paper back at Declan. “Let me see if I have this straight. A guy who works for a crook says that something is going to happen somewhere in Long Island City tomorrow and we’re supposed to do something about it?”

  April stood. “No. I’m sorry for the trouble I’ve caused. May I go now?”

  Declan, Carter and the lieutenant all stared at her, and she knew her cheeks were crimson. “I know my uncle isn’t your problem, and the whole thing sounds ridiculous. I’ll find Uncle Hal and take care of him.” She leveled what she hoped was a calm stare at the lieutenant. “But Spade is a killer, and he doesn’t care about laws or right or wrong so I hope you will do what you can to put him away.” She took off the blanket, put it on the bench and walked off.

  Declan hurried after her. “Hey, where are you going?”

  “To figure out where my uncle might have gone.”

  “Let me get you home first. You need to rest. Then I’ll help you. We’ll do it together.”

  “No, Declan.”

  He took her arm.

  “Officer Maxwell,” the lieutenant called. “I need you for a moment.” His tone was hard and tight.

  “Go talk to him, Declan,” she urged.

  “Wait here for me.”

  “I’ll go home, like you suggested. I need to change clothes and figure out what to do next.”

  Declan gestured to a fellow officer. “John will give you a ride. Wait for me at your apartment, okay?”

  The lieutenant’s voice was louder now. “Maxwell...”

  “One minute, sir.” He bent so he could catch her eye. “Promise me you’ll stay put until I get there. Lock yourself in. I’ll check on you when I can. Don’t go anywhere without me.”

  He was going to remain until she promised or until the lieutenant lost his patience. “Okay,” she said.

  Broad shoulders sagging in relief, he returned to his boss.

  She fought down a swell of sadness at what she had to do.

  I’m sorry, Declan. This time I can’t keep my promise.

  FIVE

  Declan braced himself and returned to his boss and Carter.

  “You knew her uncle worked for Spade?”

  “No, sir. Not until today.”

  “I’m supposed to believe that?”

  Declan straightened. “All respect, sir, it’s the truth. I didn’t know.”

  “But if you had, you’d have done what? Been smart and distanced yourself from her?”

  Declan looked at his boots. He’d sure heaped out enough comments to make her keep her distance from him.

  This training is everything to me.

  I need to focus 100 percent...to show them I’m not my father.

  After Paige, I’m done with relationships.

  “I... I don’t know,” he said with a sigh.

  “You should know. It should be crystal clear in your mind, Maxwell. You, more than any cop, need to keep your nose clean.”

  Declan’s blood went molten. He looked right at his commanding officer, fighting to keep his tone level. “I know, and I have.”

  “I stuck my neck out, taking you on for training. Your dad hurt the reputation of the NYPD and smeared us all with mud.”

  Shame licked at Declan’s soul. Would he ever be seen as good enough? Could he ever see himself that way? But when he thought about April, suddenly his priorities became clear. Just like she’d said to him many times, he was not his father, and he didn’t have to prove it to himself. She believed it. God believed it. So should he.

  Carter cleared his throat. “Sir, Declan’s a good cop.”

  Farro frowned. “I realized Declan is a friend of the family, but I don’t know that I would agree about the way things were handled today. No backup, a shooting in a public park, knowing full well that Malcolm Spade was involved...”

  Declan was about to snap off a retort, but Carter cut him off.

  “He didn’t know that, sir, but now he does. He’ll go through the proper channels.”

  Farro crimped his lip. “You know I can’t do much here. It’s not up to Vapor Wake to investigate. I’ll send out an alert to the beat cops and fill in Chief Jameson and the detectives. They’ll do some research and turn up the heat on Spade, but the NYPD can’t act on some nameless vague threat given to us by Spade’s former employee.”

  Declan pushed out a breath. He was about to step out on a limb that might just snap and send him falling. “Give me tonight and tomorrow morning to work on it, sir.”

  “Not your business and you’re scheduled for training.”

  “I’ll take personal time.”

  “Not allowed. I could drop you from the squad.”

  “I understand the potential consequences.”

  “And you’re willing to take that risk? For a family friend?”

  Declan felt a sense of calm steal over his body, along with the truth. April Reed was more to him than a family friend. Without her, his life was flat and colorless. She believed in him. His world was not his duty, his reputation or even his career. His world was her; his heart was hers, if she’d have it.

  He wondered if it was too late to tell her.

  “I will risk what I have to,” he said. “I want to be on the squad more than anything to prove to you and everybody else that I’m a good cop, that I’m not my father. That means I have to stand up for what’s right.”

  “Helping a girl and her uncle with mob ties?”

  A girl? Hardly. A woman, a spectacular, faithful woman, and the family she loved. Worth the risk? Yes didn’t even begin to cover it. “Yes, sir.” He clenched his jaw and waited. “It is.”

  To his shock, a small smile quirked the lieutenant’s mouth. “Maybe you do have enough guts to be a Vapor Wake cop after all.” His frown returned. “Jury’s still out on that. You are excused from training until tomorrow evening, and you’d better have something to report to me. This is the only time I will give you any slack, do you understand, Officer Maxwell?”

  “Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

  “All right. Go prove you aren’t the biggest chump on the block for believing dear old Uncle Hal.”

  The lieutenant headed for his car. Declan stared after him. Carter clapped him on the back. “Gutsy.”

  He could only manage a nod. They let the silence linger for a moment. “Thanks, Carter, for standing up for me.”

  Carter shrugged. “Gotta get you on the Vapor Wake squad so you can pay me back for the boots.”

  Declan laughed, but the task before him cut his amusement short. “How are we going to find a needle in a haystack?”

  “I’ll go home to pick my brothers’ brains after I clock out. I promised Ellie a pizza party with all her uncles and Grandma and Grandpa, and that usually brings everyone out of the woodwork. Zach generally has some good ideas on how to handle an investigation if he can sit still long enough to tell them. Noah keeps his ears open so he might be able to add on, too. You?”

  “I’ll meet you there. I’ve got to figure out Spade’s target.”

  Unless he did, April would never be free from the target on her own back.

  * * *

  April paced the confines of her tiny apartment the next morning, stomach balled up in terror. Uncle Hal, where are you? She’d spent hours the night before racking her brain in between calls and a visit from Declan, which she cut short as best she could. Groggy, brain numb, she sipped coffee and tried again to solve the puzzle.

  Where would Uncle Hal have gone to hide? He couldn’t have gotten far, not hurt, with no car, no money, no phone. Declan told her the police
had already checked the emergency rooms and local clinics.

  Long Island City and a time were the only concrete bits of information Uncle Hal had provided.

  Hal would seek it out, the place where Spade meant to commit his crime, but she had to have some way to narrow down the exact spot so she could find it too. She poked the words into her computer. The screen provided lots of data, pages and pages through which she scrolled about Long Island City, the same results she’d waded through all night, it seemed.

  The clock ticked the minutes into a half hour, and her tension rose. She had to find a lead on her uncle and leave before Declan returned to stop her.

  My best friend’s sister.

  Since that was all they were, she could not let him risk his career to save her uncle. If only she hadn’t run into him at the subway station, he would be uninvolved, safe, but Burner might have killed her.

  She remembered the feel of Declan’s arms around her. Sweetness... The warm ache inside was just evidence that she’d fooled herself, imagined that his friendship had morphed into something different, that she could somehow be more important to him than his burning quest to win the respect of his fellow cops.

  She forced her attention back to the computer screen, and an article jumped out at her.

  Judge to Keynote Law Library Dedication Tomorrow in Long Island City.

  It was a blurb about the dedication of a new law library at the Long Island City Junior College. Nothing particularly remarkable in it except for the guest slotted to provide the remarks.

  The speaker was Judge Wyatt Flannery, who had gotten his start at the college.

  Judge Flannery, who had sentenced Spade’s brother to prison.

  She shot to her feet. Spade was going to kill Judge Flannery at the dedication. It would be a public assassination, Spade’s deadly message to all who would cross him. Her whole body went cold, and she knew deep in her bones that her uncle was heading there to stop Spade. This wasn’t something she could handle herself. She’d have to call Declan and the cops and get her uncle out of the line of fire.

  Lord, help me find him in time. She grabbed her bag and ran for the door.