Game of Risk

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER TWO

Waiting wasn’t Ruger’s strong suit. From the moment he’d learned of Bri’s ordeal, and that it had been his fault, setting things right preoccupied him. That started with getting the truth about what had happened.

In a hotel room in Atlantic City, fun was the last thing on his mind. Gambling was on the agenda. Just being there was a gamble. The Jansen guy might not even show. Setting up the meet took two weeks, the guy was reluctant, which made sense given some of the crooks they had in common. Being stood up wouldn’t change his goal. One way or another, he’d track Drew Jansen down.

Dropping to the end of the bed, his head fell into his hands.

His work as a fence, a black-market trader, wasn’t supposed to put anyone he cared about in danger. He worked away from his family and never revealed what he did to keep them safe.

When Colt told him about what Bri went through… it had plunged a knife into his heart. Blaser loved Bri and had since they were teenagers. Bri had given him a pass, which was the only reason Blaser did too. Despite that, Blaser had spent the last two weeks scowling at him. It wasn’t over yet.

An abrupt knock on the door brought him to his feet. Striding the width of the room, he opened the door without checking who was on the other side of it. Only three other people knew his location and one of them was the man he was about to meet.

Jansen went into the body of the room while Ruger closed and locked the door. He didn’t expect interruptions but didn’t want Jansen choosing to make a speedy exit.

The lithe guy walked with purpose as he paced to the top of the bed then back to stand next to the TV. “Rushe and Flick have saved Serendipity more times than I can probably count,” Jansen said. Serendipity was his girlfriend, the woman he’d intended to save when he saved Bri and Flick. “I’m only here now because Flick did the pouty face at Rushe, and he got pissed off.”

No one was safe when Rushe got pissed off and he’d do anything to keep his girlfriend, Flick, happy, even if that meant attacking a friend. Rushe was Ruger’s only link to Jansen, and the guy who’d put the meet together.

“I appreciate you making the effort to be here.”

“Good, ‘cause it is an effort,” Jansen said, his hands rising to his hips. “I’m not a cop anymore, which means I work alone.”

“Like Rushe,” Ruger said, though Rushe “worked” with his girlfriend now.

That description was dubious because Rushe hated to see Flick get into any kind of jam and she managed to get herself into them frequently. Rushe would probably rather see Flick at home safe all the time, but Flick wasn’t that kind of girl anymore.

“No, not like Rushe,” Jansen said. “I leave Serendipity at home. And I don’t have Rushe’s rep or… manner.”

Rushe’s manner had a lot to do with scaring the s**t out of people and showing no mercy. “All I want from you is information.”

“About Victor?”

“Yeah,” Ruger said. “I know he was working for someone higher up; the feds are dealing with that mess. I need to know, are Victor and his men dead?”

“You should’ve asked Rushe that question. He killed them.”

Rushe hadn’t offered information, the guy didn’t answer to anyone and distrusted everyone. The only reason Ruger got that far was with Flick’s assistance.

“Yeah, Flick told me how it went down. Victor’s men died after the rescue.”

“Look, I worked with Victor and his g**g undercover, as a cop. Victor found out who I was, and he kidn*pped Serendipity to manipulate me into feeding my superiors false information. I did everything he asked, but it didn’t matter. Their trade was human cargo. They trafficked women to men all over the world; men who ordered what they wanted and had it delivered to them.

“I heard about a drop. I knew Victor and his guys were sending out a shipment of women. I had to get Serendipity. If I let her leave the country… I had tried everything else, tried to get to her from within, but Victor was too strong. So I intercepted them on their way to the cargo containers. The van full of women left Victor’s mansion, and I knew the route. When the time was right, I rammed them off the road. I killed John and Victor’s other guys and let the women go.”

“Bri?”

“Yes,” Jansen said. “I wasn’t being a hero. I was there to get my girl.”

“And did you?”

“No,” Jansen said, slumping down to sit on the bottom corner of the bed. “Serendipity wasn’t there, but Flick was and so was Bri.”

“You’ve got Serendipity now, how—”

“Yeah, Flick and I went back in to get her out. They were holding Rushe too. Once we freed him and Serendipity, we took Victor and the rest of his guys out. That was the end of it.”

That was far from the end if what Flick had told him was true, but that was irrelevant.

Ruger offered Jansen a hand. “Thank you. Whether you meant to do it or not, you got Bri out of there. She’s back with my brother, Blaser, and they’re working things out.”

“You’re welcome,” Jansen said, frowning and getting back to his feet while avoiding the handshake. “Is that all you wanted to know?”

Ruger lowered his hand. “No.”

“I didn’t care about Bri. I didn’t even care about Flick back then. I was there to get my girlfriend out. I turned a blind eye to a lot of suffering in the name of keeping her safe. I’m no hero.”

“Regardless,” Ruger said. “I owe you a debt.”

Ruger had worked for Victor himself before he figured out what the thug was into. As soon as he learned they were human traffickers, he cut all ties and refused to work for them anymore. His abandonment of their cause led to Victor instructing his men to abduct Bri, and subject her to horrific treatment, in the name of revenge against him.

“You owe me nothing,” Jansen said. “We’ve all moved on from that. Dipity, Flick, they don’t deserve to go through that again, and neither does Bri.”

“I’m not talking about putting them through anything,” Ruger said. “There must be something you need. I heard you went into private practice. Are you a PI now?”

“No, I’ve got a kinda vigilante thing going on. Maybe it’s my cop days chasing me, or maybe I still have guilt about what I did for Victor. These days, I spend my time investigating corruption.”

“My brother, Colt, was a cop. He spends his time tracking stalkers,” Ruger said. “I understand not turning your back on the job.”

“Except my current job has the potential to get me and mine hurt,” he said. “Serendipity works freelance as a reporter. She’s uncovered… Ashcroft is crooked, and it looks like he’s in bed with the DA.”

“Governor Ashcroft?”

“That’s right,” Jansen said. “He doesn’t know Serendipity is involved yet, but he knows I’m sniffing around. I can keep her safe. I’m much better at it now than I used to be.”

Almost losing his love once would be enough to make Jansen more vigilant about it.

The ex-cop’s pensive expression drew him in. “You’re worried about someone else?”

“I have a sister in Miami,” Jansen said, tensing as he made the admission. “I guess… once bitten, twice shy. I know what it is to have someone you love used against you. We lost our mom young, just a week after Layla graduated college. It’s just her and I now… I can keep Serendipity in my eyeline almost twenty-four seven. Rushe and Flick are still in Jersey too. They’ve been helping me work through the possibilities and with surveillance…”

“Wow,” Ruger said. “I didn’t think Rushe was the type to give a rat’s a*s about politics.”

“He’s not,” Jansen said. “The trick to Rushe these days is getting Flick interested and she knows plenty about moving in society’s highest echelons. Her family is seriously old money. She and Serendipity were the ones who started asking questions. Rushe and I are just trying to keep up.”

“If Serendipity and Flick are involved, aren’t their families in trouble?”

“Flick’s family can look after themselves and have their own influence. Plus Flick hasn’t had anything to do with them in a long time. Serendipity doesn’t have family of her own. Her father split when she was young, and her mom died a couple of years ago.”

“And Rushe doesn’t have anyone to worry about,” Ruger said.

Family was a foreign concept to Rushe.

“I’ve been doing the digging. I’m the only one Ashcroft has seen ask questions. Rushe spends his time trying to keep Flick out of it.”

“If you’re the only one the governor has seen, you’re the only one in real trouble.”

Jansen dismissed the threat to himself with a shrug. “Which I don’t care about, but I can’t protect Serendipity in New Jersey and Layla in Florida.”

No, he couldn’t, which presented Ruger with the opportunity he needed. “I’ll get her.”

“You’ll get her?” Jansen asked, wearing another frown. “What do you mean?”

“You’re worried about your sister. I have two brothers, their women are practically my sisters. I get it. I can look after your sister.”

“No offense, Ruge, you’re a big guy and I sure wouldn’t want to take you on in a fight…”

“But?”

“But you’re not security, you’re not a cop, you’re a fence. What do you know about taking care of an asset?”

Good point. But he’d seen his share of action over the years, even if he wasn’t specifically trained in combat.

“I don’t have to fight anyone,” Ruger said. “I can pick her up and bring her to you.”

“You can’t bring her to me,” Jansen said, shaking his head. “That just puts her in the path of trouble. Ashcroft might not be looking for her, yet. Bringing her to me would put her in more danger.”

“But you’re worried about what happens when Ashcroft realizes you’re on to him. If he thinks you and Serendipity have threatened his way of life, he might try to get to Serendipity or Layla to get you to back off.”

“Yeah. I have Serendipity covered.”

“Then I’ll cover Layla,” he said. “Do you have an address? Somewhere I can find her?”

“Why would you—”

“Because you took care of Bri, whether you meant to or not. Running that van off the road, getting her out of it, you saved her from being trafficked to God knows where. As far as I’m concerned, I owe you.”

“You think you can take care of Layla? That you can look after her? You’d have to get her out of Miami.”

“That I can do,” Ruger said, fishing his phone from his back pocket. “Do you have your phone?”

“Yeah,” Jansen said, taking out his own.

“Turn on your AirDrop and send me your most recent picture of her. If you give me her address, I’ll track her down.”

“She doesn’t know any of this is going on,” Jansen said, searching through his phone, doing as asked. “She’s stubborn. Picking her up won’t be easy.”

“Oh, I know about stubborn women,” Ruger said. “I’ll keep an eye on her until I figure out the best way to approach her.”

“Then what will you do? You have to get her out of Miami, but you can’t bring her here. If Ashcroft decides to look for her, she won’t be safe at her friends’ houses or—”

“That’s easy,” Ruger said. “I’ll take her somewhere safe. A place filled with guys who’ll watch her back. They won’t let anything happen to her. Trust me, this isn’t just important to me. It’s important to Blaser and Bri, and to Colt and Lyssa too. We’ll keep an eye on Layla for you. No one will harm her. You have my word.”

“Okay,” Jansen said, putting his phone away once all the information was transferred. “I’m trusting you because Rushe does, because from everything I hear you’re a good guy. Once you have Layla, get her to call me. I’ll try my best to get her to give you a break. If I call her before you go down there, she’ll be expecting you and will probably go into hiding before you get the chance to get her. Like I said, she’s stubborn.”

“I can handle it,” Ruger said. “I’m not worried about picking her up or looking after her. I can be persuasive when I have to be.”

“Layla knows every line in the book,” Jansen said. “She’s used to guys and their attention. She’s had more marriage proposals than most guys have pairs of shoes.”

“Proposals? Does she have a thing for engagement rings, or—”

“No, she never accepts. As soon as a guy gets down on one knee, she ends it and runs, usually moving to a different state, or at least a different city.”

“Why’s that?”

Jansen shrugged. “Beats me. She’s always been independent and thinks she knows best about everything. If you ask her, she’ll tell you she doesn’t need a man.”

“You think different?”

“I think she doesn’t need any of the losers who’ve tried to coerce her into marriage. One day, when the right guy takes charge… she’ll figure it out.”

Ruger nodded. “Okay.”

Her relationship status and attitude toward marriage was irrelevant to his mission. But when he glanced down at the picture Jansen had just sent, he saw sultry almond eyes and glossy dark hair. The allure that had ensnared the men who wanted to marry her was obvious. Looking after her was his job and that didn’t involve cracking the code to break into her heart.