School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,108

up in—” He looked at the microwave over the stove. “—less than five hours. Let’s do what we can.”

“Fine,” Jackson muttered. “Hate this.”

“Yeah, mortality’s a bitch. Call.”

Jackson stalked off, muttering to himself, and for a heartbeat Ellery mourned the quiet moment they’d just been sharing.

Then he remembered that he’d won. Jackson had conceded that—this once—being in the thick of the battle wasn’t the best way for the two of them to win the war.

Oh God, they might survive to see forty.

Hell, they might survive to get married.

Ellery was going to give a truckload of money to his synagogue to spend on good works, because whether the rabbi thought so or not, he was sure somebody was looking down on them and perhaps just once had whispered in Jackson’s ear.

Swimming Fury

GOD, IT sucked when Ellery was right sometimes. By the time Jackson had gotten off the phone, he’d woken people up and pissed people off, but he’d gotten Fetzer, Hardison, Andre Christie, and the entire SWAT team mobilized to the Dobrevks’ apartment complex.

Christie had been particularly glad Jackson and Ellery weren’t in the thick of things.

“Stay home,” he’d muttered, apparently texting someone else while he got out of bed and got dressed. “You don’t know these apartment complexes.”

“The fuck I don’t,” Jackson replied shortly. Rabbit warrens, with ins and outs and often no rhyme or reason. It was easy to lose a suspect in one and easy to be ambushed while you were finding your way.

“Okay, maybe you do. But if there’s a gang takeover going on, there will be a boatload of guns out there and too many civilians as it is. This is a good tip—and you could save some lives tonight—but not if we’re watching your ass too.”

Jackson growled, hating being sidelined, but then he remembered Kryzynski. Odds were, even if Sean and Jackson trained together every day for a year, there would have been no way to predict what had happened when Ziggy Ivanov had leaped over that railing and stabbed Sean Kryzynski.

But Jackson couldn’t know that. Not for sure.

He’d spent nearly ten years expecting nobody to have his back and counting on good luck and good reflexes to save his life. Relying on those things to keep everyone else safe while he ran around and stirred shit up was a good way to get other people killed, and that was no goddamned fair.

And the fact was, the cops didn’t know who he was and didn’t trust him to wipe his own ass. He could be doing everything right, and he’d still get people killed because they’d be watching him instead of the bad guys.

“Fine. Whatever. But if this pans out, I want you all to remember this the next time shit goes down. I’m one of the good guys, and just like you, we want the innocent people safe and the real bad guys off the street.”

Christie blew out a breath. “We’re starting to get that. Let me go be a cop, and I’ll let you know what goes down.”

“Fine. Be safe. Don’t get dead. If I have to visit you in the hospital, I might have to wipe the floor with more beat cops, and that’s not what Ellery had in mind when he told me to make nice.”

Christie’s chuckle was bad-guy dirty. “I heard about that. You beat the crap out of some of the guys who’ve given Sean the worst time for being out. So, well done.” He sobered. “And I’ll keep you in the loop. That’s not bullshit. You’re doing good work here. Later.”

“Later,” Jackson grunted and hit End Call. Okay. Fine. He could do this. He called Fetzer next, and she was a little grouchier about being woken up.

“Seriously? You are being serious here calling at this hour? Some of us have to work, Rivers!”

“I’m one of them,” Jackson retorted. “And I’ve got a 6:00 a.m. meeting that promises to be a bear. Did you know that Dima Siderov’s boss got blown up tonight, and Ziggy Ivanov is probably working for his archrival? Because that’s our theory right now, and if that’s the case….”

Fetzer had stayed alive on the streets for too long to not understand the implications.

“Oh holy Jesus,” she muttered, and Jackson could hear waking-up noises in the background. “This could get bloody. This could get…. I’m going to hang up now and call the dispatch sergeant, and I will call you if we all survive the night.”

“Be safe out there. Keep Hardison safe. You’re the only blue uniforms