“The doc rebuilt my shoulder. I’ll be back at work in three weeks. Desk duty.”
“Well, I for one am damn glad we’re doing the investigation instead of homicide. No offense to your brother, man.” Callaway winked at Brody.
Brody looked straight at him and nodded. “Yeah, I’m damn glad it’s you, too.” Brody turned his attention to the detectives and added. “What do you need from us?”
“Nothing. Once we get a trace on this number, we may need some coverage on surveillance.”
“Whatever you need, you’ve got it,” Terrence assured him.
The detectives left, and the door closed behind them. Ryker leaned to the side, trying to ease the pain in his shoulder. “Have we checked on Clare Edelman? What about her husband?”
Brody answered, “I checked on Clare this afternoon. She’s out of general pop. It was the best we could do without more probable cause. The marshal in charge of her husband’s case has assured me he’s safe and aware of the situation. But I have to ask, why in the hell would Peña go after you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he thought Mouse was with me? God only knows what Alice said if they got to her.”
“Yeah, but calling your cell to put you in the line of fire... Cap, that is almost like whoever was shooting at you knew what your routine was.” Brody rubbed his stubble. “Cap, do any of your neighbors have security cameras?”
Ryker blinked. “You think they’ve been watching me.”
Brody nodded his head. “I do.”
“Mrs. Thorn has a system. She lives across the street. Some kids were messing with her flowers and she had her son put it up. I don’t visit much with the other neighbors, so I’m not sure.”
Terrence dropped a hand on Brody’s shoulder. “Let’s go talk with Mrs. Thorn and canvas the neighborhood.”
“Sounds like a plan, but in the morning. It is way too late to be knocking on Joe Citizen’s door, especially after a shooting in the hood. It would be our luck we’d get taken out by a John Wayne wannabe and then Ryker would have to run his own investigation.” Brody smiled at him. It would seem the surprise relationship had finally settled around his sergeant.
“Morning would be better. I haven’t lost a cop on my watch and I don’t want to start with either of you. We should give Forsythe and Callaway a heads-up,” he reminded his team they were not the lead on this matter.
“And we will, Cap, as soon as we know whether we have any information to give them. No sense sending them on the trail of a red herring.” Brody smiled at him.
“Fine, getcha assess out of here and send in Brie, would you?” He spoke directly to Brody.
“I damn near had to tie her to the chair to keep her out when I retrieved your phone.” Brody rubbed the back of his neck. “We good?”
“We’re good.” Ryker nodded and winced. The pain medication was definitely taking its time to kick in.
Terrence winked at him from behind Brody. “Rest and get yourself healed up.”
Chapter 9
Brie hugged her mom goodbye and sat patiently in the small waiting area in the post-surgical ward. Ryker’s team had drifted away but only after their lieutenant, the kind man who’d explained things to her when she first arrived, had announced their boss would be fine and no one else would be able to see him tonight.
The sound of footsteps turned her attention to the hallway. Four tall men walked in unison to the nurse’s desk. One was attired in a three-piece suit, one wore jeans, a maroon tee-shirt, and work boots, another wore workout clothes, and the fourth looked as if they had dragged him from bed. They had similar features—sandy brown hair, high cheekbones, broad shoulders, and long legs. Their features were so alike, relatives… brothers probably. All four leaned forward when the one in the three-piece suit talked to the nurse. Ah, they probably just found out about a loved one’s surgery.
She closed her eyes and relived the phone call she’d received from Amber. The confusion and then the terror that raced through her and then the profound urgency to be with Ryker were still so fresh and raw. She knew what that family was going through and she wouldn’t wish it on anyone.
“Excuse me. Are you Brianna?”
Her eyes popped open. The men from the nurse’s station formed a semi-circle around her chair. Not close enough to make her feel uncomfortable, but she stood up anyway. “Yes.”
A soft smile spread across his face. “I’m Xander, this is Killian, Elias, and the one on the end is Dimitri.”
Brie glanced at the other men and then looked back at... Xander. “I’m sorry, should I know you?”
The smile fell from the man’s lips. “Ah, perhaps not, although we’d hoped. We are Ryker’s half-brothers.”
Brie smiled and ran her hand through her hair. “Oh, I’m so sorry. I knew he had a large family, but we haven’t talked much about you.”
“There are the four of us besides Ryker. How is he?”
“He’s out of surgery and awake. They just moved him up here and his lieutenant and sergeant are with him now.” She motioned to the room as the lieutenant walked out. He smiled at her and headed down the hall in the opposite direction.
“Our father said that you were his girlfriend?”
“I am.” They were more than that, but she didn’t share that information. She motioned to the chairs. “Would you like to sit down?”
“Thank you.” They all took a seat and then Xander spoke again. “What happened?”
“Well, I just have the broad picture. From what I understand, he was at home and someone shot at him through the front picture window.”
The lieutenant and two other men went back into Ryker’s room. She sighed and realized Ryker’s brothers had been watching the door, too.
Finally, the one in work clothes, Killian, cleared his throat. “I knew being a cop was dangerous, but damn it, I never thought he’d
