“He easily slid into all the protocols for the Nevada State Patrol, so he fit in seamlessly to become another informant for me. He’s my eyes and ears on Boyd Newton when Newton’s with the governor. He’ll keep the governor from becoming collateral damage.”
Maybe that should make me feel better, but it didn’t. “He’d better be good.”
Jagger placed his left arm around the small of my back as he moved me beside the truck to wait for shit to kick off. The situation was as bad as anything I’d faced in combat.
I’d learned a lesson the hard way when I was in the infantry. When someone had nothing to lose and decided to become the source of destruction, they didn’t care who they took with them.
Cops quickly surrounded the building as Spitzer and a group of police officers breached the entrance and hurried through the lobby. The residents were rushed out the doors with their hands up, being herded by police officers to a safe distance away from the building.
My heart pounded as I waited for any indication that my brother was safe and Spitzer was escorting the two-faced son of a bitch who had betrayed Thomas from the beginning. The next thing I heard was gunshots before the cops sprang into action.
The gate slid open, and an ambulance that was out of sight of Thomas’s condo rolled in front of the building but waited for the officers to signal it was okay to move forward. The longer it sat unmoving, the more worried I became.
Suddenly, the second ambulance sped forward, and paramedics and EMTs got out, grabbed gurneys, and rushed into the building. Spitzer wasn’t there to ask what the fuck wasgoing on, and the other cops in front of the building were hiding behind the doors of their squad cars.
The front doors opened, and Lieutenant Harvey Rupert stepped out, using my brother, Thomas, as a human shield. Rupert’s Glock 22 was poised at Thomas’s right temple, and his expression gave away the fact that he’d pull the trigger without a second thought.
Everyone froze, waiting for Rupert’s next move.
I dropped to the asphalt and pulled my Glock, checking the mag and flipping off the safety. I tugged on Jagger’s jeans to get his attention.
When he finally looked down at me, he wasn’t happy. “What the fuck, Bailey?”
“I’m going around the building to come in through the back door. Keep Rupert talking. Spitzer is somewhere inside, and he's likely shot since he’s not coming out. We need to put an end to this shit before someone dies.
“I love you, and I’ll come back to you. Keep Rupert occupied, will you? If he takes the gun off Thomas, shoot that fucker. I’ve gotta end this before I lose my brother.”
Thankfully, Jagger knew how important Thomas was to me, so he nodded and pulled his Sig from behind his waist. He was more familiar with Rupert than I was. He’d know the buttons to push so I could get behind Rupert and get a shot off to make sure Thomas wasn’t killed.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jagger
I went to the back of the truck and opened the toolbox, tossing a Kevlar to Bailey and giving him the eye to put it on as I pulled one on myself. Once I had it adjusted, I buttoned my shirt, shoved my Sig behind my back, and held up my hands as I walked in front of the building.
Rupert hadn’t spoken to anyone, but based on how he held the governor in front of him, there was no way any of the cops could get a shot off without risking Thomas Gregory’s life.
The Nevada State Patrol couldn’t afford to have the governor murdered by a rogue officer, so it was time to try to talk Rupert down. “Hey, LT. What’s going on?”
I moved slowly closer to the front of the building. “Governor Gregory, sir, are you okay?”
“Yes, Jagger. I’m unharmed. Detectives Spitzer and Gallows were both shot and require emergency medical care. Boyd Newton was also shot in the arm, but I don’t believe it’s serious.”
“Shut up, Governor.” Rupert wasn’t the stoic officer I remembered from my time on the protection team. He’d been a fantastic leader, but somewhere along the way, Harvey Rupert had changed.
“Hey, LT, look at me. There’s no need to hurt the governor. He’s not the enemy. What happened? Why would you ever turn on the man you believed to be the answer to Nevada’s problems? You told me the same more than once, Harv.” My mind wandered back to conversations I’d had with the man, trying to figure out what had caused him to crack.
“You don’t know shit, Hansen. Hell, you walked away and turned a blind eye to the shit Gregory was doing with Newton. Fucking a young guy while his wife was devoted to him? That’s not normal, Hansen. You know that as much as I do.”
“Are you in love with Mrs. Gregory? Did she reject your affections, Harv? Why did you start dealing drugs for the cartel?”
I tried to remember my training as a negotiator from my days back as a patrol officer. I’d talked criminals down before, but as I looked at Harvey Rupert, I was at a loss. I’d respected the man far too much to believe him capable of what I was witnessing.
“I’m not in love with Lindsey Gregory. I feel sorry for her. She tried everything to get this pissant to love her, and he didn’t. As for dealing? The money is good, and who would believe a member of the governor’s protection team to be a drug dealer?”
Thomas stared at me. “I do love her, just not the way she needed me to love her. I shouldn’t have married her. If I’d known it would hurt her so much to be with me, I never would have married her.”
Tears were rolling down Thomas’s face, and I couldn’t see Bailey anywhere. What had happened between the governor, his wife, and his lover wasn’t for public consumption, but unfortunately, the press was witnessing it all in living color.
