School of Fish (Fish Out of Water #6) - Amy Lane Page 0,89

do something about it. We can get Ty off, we can find out where those kids are being taken. We just need the right amount of pressure to apply to Dima Siderov, and we can get it done.”

Ellery looked at him with troubled eyes. “Dima Siderov is a pretty big fish,” he said softly. “And he’s surrounded by his own personal army of sharks. I’m not saying I’m not willing to go down fighting with you, but I was kind of hoping for a couple of years together before our bodies hit the floor.”

Jackson winced. “Yeah. Me too.” He let his tired eyes meet Ellery’s, and Ellery saw an amazing thing.

Hope.

“Maybe we don’t take down Dima Siderov all in one bite,” he said softly. “Maybe we stick with Ziggy Ivanov and see if we can get him. Ziggy’s a captain. He wants to go higher in the organization. If we can… I don’t know. Not so much get him to turn on Siderov, because that’s not going to happen.”

“Why not?” Ellery asked curiously.

“Family. James Cosgrove wasn’t thrilled with what happened to Ty Townsend. I think that’s why he was killed. He said something to Ziggy about it the night Ty got arrested.” Jackson sighed. “It was so sad. According to Nate Klein, James said, ‘But Ty was my friend,’ and Ziggy said, ‘But he’s not family.’”

“Mob family,” Ellery murmured.

“Yeah, and Mrs. Eccleston backed it up. Cosgrove wasn’t his original name. His family changed it. So his family is in with the family, and he asks somebody to back off Ty, and Ziggy executes a kill order, framing Tage and taking his brother and sister since he won’t be there to stand up to them, since his parents won’t or can’t. So Ziggy killed Cosgrove, and he might know where the kids are. If we can get him to tell us where the kids are, we can save Dima Siderov for another day.”

“So that’s our solution,” Ellery said. “Henry asked me what our endgame is. For right now, our endgame is Ziggy Ivanov and getting Tage’s siblings back.” He took a deep breath. “And we use Ziggy to help the DA build a case against Dima.”

“And invest in Kevlar underwear,” Jackson said grimly. “Because if Dima finds out about us….”

Ellery took a deep breath. “Maybe you should call your lawyer friend back this afternoon, after I take you home.”

“Take me what?” Jackson sat all the way up and then collapsed back against the headrest again. “My head hurts,” he said, his voice humble. “Why does my head hurt? My ass is what should be hurting.”

“Dehydration,” Ellery said. “Your body is not quite recovered, and you didn’t eat. C’mon, Jackson, I know you’re not dumb.”

“Gah!” Jackson took a deep breath. “Some food, some water, and then we need to visit Ty so I can talk to him, okay? And we need to warn him and his family too. And Tage’s parents. They might talk to us when they won’t talk to the police.” He leaned forward gingerly and fumbled for the glove compartment where Ellery had started to keep the ibuprofen after he and Jackson had become a thing.

Ellery watched him for a moment, trying to decide if he was angry or not. Jackson had made promises about taking care of himself, about being truthful regarding his health, and about balancing his own welfare and Ellery’s peace of mind against his impulse to go out and do his job.

Watching as the man he loved fumbled for painkillers and then wash them back with a swig of water actually stilled the thundering in Ellery’s own chest.

“Jackson, on a scale of one to ten, how do you feel?”

“Ellery—”

“Please. Humor me.”

“A four, with room for improvement,” Jackson said, closing his eyes against the sunlight.

“Given that Henry, Galen, and I still need to file an insurance claim before this investigation can move forward, how urgent is it that you come back with us after you go home and change?”

Jackson took another deep breath. “A five,” he said reluctantly. “I can do some of the interviews on the phone.”

Ellery swallowed and nodded. “You know, I shouldn’t have hung up on you when you told me you were getting your ass stitched up.”

Jackson let a pale smile slip through. “You were pissed. It’s my second day out. What should you have done?”

“I should have made sure you were okay,” Ellery said soberly.

Some of the tension eased from Jackson’s smile. “If I was telling you I needed stitches, I