Protecting What's Theirs (Line of Duty, #1.5)(3)

“Tell me everything.”

Alvarez had the good sense to keep a straight face. “As you know, we’ve had to pull our undercover officer embedded in the Lazio crew and relocate him. Things were getting too hot. They suspected a leak and he was new blood. Good news is, we’ve got an informant who continues to deliver. Lazio’s nephew. We pick him up for cocaine possession like clockwork once a month and he spills his guts in exchange for leniency.” Alvarez paused, seemingly for effect. “The kid swears Lazio is returning from Italy this week for a major meeting with Modesto’s remaining crew.”

Derek’s eyes widened at that piece of news. He’d been commended by the department for leading the bust on the Modesto crew last year, right around the time he’d met Ginger. Trafficking charges had stuck to the major players, but a small portion of the crew had walked. “Lazio is absorbing the Modesto crew?”

Alvarez nodded once. “And their territory along with it.”

“Can’t let it happen.” Derek meant every word. Lazio’s operation, thanks to generations of experience dealing dirty in Chicago, was twice as sophisticated as Modesto’s. If they were granted rights to more territory, the police would have a damned hard time containing it. They had ten times the men and enough firepower to cause serious damage to the city. His city. “When and where is this meet taking place?”

“That’s the bitch of it. I leaned on the nephew for hours and he swore to every saint his junkie brain could remember that he doesn’t know. He likes his freedom too much to bullshit me, Lieutenant.”

Derek cursed under his breath. “Where the hell does that leave us?”

“Waiting on pins and f*cking needles. That’s where.” Alvarez propped his booted foot on the edge of Derek’s desk, removing it just as quickly when Derek scowled at him. “The kid says Lazio and company have grown too suspicious of the leak. The meeting time and place is going to be spur of the moment to avoid police interference. We have to be prepared to go at any time.”

“I don’t like it. We need more intel going into something this big.”

“Working on it.”

“Lazio and Modesto meeting,” Derek mused. “Lazio sure as hell won’t take any chances on getting caught. We’ve got an eyewitness in Detective Troy Bennett. That bullet killed his partner. He transferred to New York last year, but he’d fly back in a heartbeat to testify and put Lazio away.”

Alvarez made a sound of agreement. “Yeah, he would. It’s up to us to bring in Lazio, though. You were right about them not taking any chances. There’s going to be more guns at this meeting than an NRA convention. Lazio is already a scary son of a bitch. Throw in the fact that he has nothing to lose? We’re walking into a possible massacre.”

Dread settled heavy in Derek’s stomach. His eyes strayed to the picture of Ginger sitting on his desk. Blowing him a kiss in her purple bikini, the Miami sun setting in the background. Long, chestnut-colored hair in tumbling waves around her face. Brave, vulnerable, too-gorgeous-for-words Ginger. His reason for drawing breath.

Derek reminded himself that Alvarez was still waiting for a response. “You’re right about that.” He held his hand out for the folder and Alvarez handed it over. “But if we’re successful, and I plan to make damn sure we are, this department will finally break the backs of both the Lazio and Modesto crews in one fell swoop.”

Alvarez studied him for a moment. “All right. I’ll leave you to plot the bad guys’ respective downfalls, Lieutenant.” The older man rose to exit the office, but paused with his hand on the doorknob. “You know what they call a raid like this?”

Derek arched an eyebrow.

“A widow-maker.”

Long moments passed while Derek absorbed the implications of what he was taking on. The risks involved in taking down a dangerous crime family and their potential new partners. Was getting justice for one man and his family worth the risk? Yes, he thought without hesitation. How many men would they lose in the years to come if he allowed these criminals to remain loose on the streets? How many more widows? Fatherless children? This was his job. His responsibility. He had the power, the opportunity, to stop it. Turning a blind eye would be irresponsible. Beneath him.

Once again, his gaze landed on Ginger’s smiling face in the photograph. She would protest mightily if she knew he considered her to be his responsibility as well. An infinitely more pleasurable one than his job, but a responsibility nonetheless. Hell, they were responsible to each other. She would lose her shit if she knew the danger he was getting ready to put himself in. Just like he’d lost his when she’d endangered herself last year in a stubborn attempt to do the right thing and return the $50,000 she’d stolen to create a new life for herself and Willa.

Derek raked a hand down his face. Shit. He couldn’t tell her about the upcoming raid. Not without scaring the hell out of her. Their relationship thrived on honesty. He’d been the one to insist on that—to demand it, initially. Breaking through her barriers, earning her trust, hadn’t been easy, but it had been the most rewarding accomplishment of his life.

He brushed his thumb over the photograph, imagining her beautiful face covered in tears. Her ability to love without the constant fear of losing that love was still fragile. The possibility of not holding her through the night, every single night for the rest of her life should things go bad, was a distraction he couldn’t deal with right now. Distractions could cost lives—maybe his own.