Page 5 of Tough Justice

“Deck.” Lisa rose from the side of the bed to give him a tight hug. “It’s good to see you. It’s been too long since we’ve had you over for dinner. As soon as Dan is well enough, we’re going to have a big barbecue at our house.”

“Can Thor come?” Tommy’s big blue eyes widened as he looked hopefully at Deck then to his mother and father.

“Of course Thor can come.” Lisa winked at Deck. “Let’s go get something to eat while your daddy talks to Deck.” Lisa grabbed her purse then practically had to drag little Tommy away from Thor.

When Lisa and Tommy had gone, Deck met Dan’s eyes. For a long moment, neither of them said a word, then Dan gave him a sheepish look. “Yesterday sure sucked.”

Deck’s gut tightened as he recalled the moment he’d found Dan face down, unconscious. “Yeah, it did.” In fact, it had more than sucked. It had been one of the worst days of Deck’s life. Second only to the day Marianne died.

What should have been a routine warrant on a cocaine dealer had turned into a real shit show. Whatever the guy was dealing in, it wasn’t coke.

Dan had gone inside the main house with the rest of the entry team then headed out back to secure the fence line and passed out cold behind a pile of debris and discarded tires. By the time Deck got to him, he wasn’t breathing. Even now, the DEA lab was doing a rush job on the baggies of gray powder they’d seized, along with Dan’s clothes. There’d been no visible residue, meaning that whatever Dan had been exposed to was more potent and deadly than anything they’d encountered before in Colorado. As soon as those lab reports were in, he’d compare them to the DEA’s database to see if there was a match anywhere else in the country. It might be the first time the DEA had encountered this particular opioid cocktail, but he had a feeling Dr. Sampson’s rash of OD deaths was connected, and she was right. This could quickly become a deadly health crisis of mammoth proportions.

Dan tried smiling, but the sentiment didn’t fully make it to his eyes. “How’d the rest of the warrant go? Did you get him?”

He nodded, falling heavily into a chair. Thor rested his head on the mattress for Dan to stroke his ears. “We got him, but he’s not talking.” Just like the last two heroin dealers they’d busted, no one would give up the name of the distributor. They were no closer to shutting down the flood of opioids today than they were yesterday. The only difference was that something new was on the streets, and his friend had nearly died from it.

Maybe that prickly ER doctor was right. Maybe it was the DEA’s fault that opioid deaths were skyrocketing. He exhaled on a groan. Unusual for a K-9 agent, but Deck had taken point on the last two warrants. Maybe what happened to Dan was my fault.

“It’s not your fault, Deck. Even with protective gear, shit happens.”

He shook his head. “We weren’t prepared for what happened yesterday, and we never will be. Some of us are trained EMTs, and we all carry small doses of naloxone, but that wasn’t enough to get you breathing. You didn’t respond until we got you to the hospital.”

Voices and the clomp of heavy boots sounded in the corridor. Deck’s soon-to-retire boss, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Santiago Rivera, came through the door first, followed by two of Deck’s closest friends, ATF Special Agent Brett Tanner and FBI Special Agent Evan McGarry. Like Deck, both were K-9 agents on Denver’s Special Ops Task Force.

ASAC Rivera carried a large vase of flowers and set it on the window ledge. “Compliments of Uncle Sam.”

“And this,” Brett said, balancing a large pizza box in one hand, “is compliments of us.” He set the box down on the rolling tray and lifted the lid.

“Figured you’d want something besides Jell-O.” Evan took a chair on the other side of the bed.

“You got that right.” Dan leaned over, inhaling as he closed his eyes. “I think I love you.”

“You should,” Brett said. “You don’t know what we had to do to smuggle that pizza in here. They’ve got a real Nurse Ratched sitting at the nurses’ station.”

Evan grimaced. “She’s scarier than some of the guards at Sheridan.”

Deck had to agree with Evan. That prison was a real crap hole. “Only one,” he said, catching Dan slyly slip Thor a piece of pepperoni. “You’re not the one who has to clean up after he eats spicy food.”

Thor inhaled the thin circle of pepperoni, barely chewing it before swallowing and licking his lips as if he just ate a rare sirloin steak. All the agents on Denver’s SOTF—Special Ops Task Force—loved Thor, but Dan had an especially soft spot for dogs.

“I hate to interrupt the party.” ASAC Rivera sat in another chair. “Deck, I read your report, but I wanted to confirm a few things with all of you in person.”

Not that his boss needed it, but Deck nodded his approval. He really was going to miss Rivera. The man was the best boss he’d ever worked for.

“We don’t need to go over the logistics of the warrant,” Rivera continued. “That was all textbook. What I want to talk about is Dan’s exposure. Walk me through it in as much detail as possible. Special Agent in Charge Osaka wants changes made to our high-risk warrant protocol, and I want to get your input.” Rivera looked around the room at all of them, stopping at Dan. “Dan?”

Dan cleared his throat. “Before I went outside, I did a sweep in the basement where they were bagging the stuff. I felt fine then. Right after I went outside, I took off my mask then started checking out the backyard. I noticed a few specks of what I thought was coke on my shirtsleeve, so I brushed it off. That’s the last thing I remember before hitting the deck.”

“We think when he brushed it off,” Deck said, “he inhaled it. But it couldn’t have been very much.”

Rivera’s brows lowered. “So, this stuff is that dangerous.”

“Yup.” Brett nodded.

“What about the dogs?” Rivera tipped his head to Thor, who lay on the floor, gazing lovingly up at Dan in the hopes of another slice of pepperoni. “Do we need to take additional measures to protect the K-9s?”

Deck reached down to scratch his dog’s ears. “The latest protocol includes facemasks, booties, and body coverings. A body suit would be too restricting. But we’ve added a full bath to the protocol after every warrant.”