Deep Undercover. Lenora Worth

       FOUR

      Gavin didn’t have time to think.

      He dove over Brianne, his body covering hers as the dark SUV sped by, one tinted side-window in the back open enough to show the tip of a long-barreled revolver. With a silencer.

      But even with that silencer, he could still hear the hiss of a projectile coming straight toward them.

      While he held her, bullets ricocheted off bricks and iron, one hitting the umbrella where they’d just been sitting, the force ripping the sturdy canvas apart. After what seemed like a lifetime of seconds, the SUV peeled away, wet tires spinning.

      For one moment, everything went silent and then everyone moved at once.

      The two officers who’d gone inside just minutes earlier came rushing out, weapons drawn.

      “Hey, are you guys okay?”

      “Shots fired.” Gavin looked down at Brianne. He’d knocked her down so quickly, her hair had tumbled out around her face. “You hit?”

      “No, no,” she said, her breath rising. “How about you?”

      “I’m fine.”

      “The dogs?”

      Gavin checked Stella who sat loyally beside where Brianne had landed, her ears up and her eyes on alert. Tommy did the same. These two weren’t trained to attack but they wouldn’t back off either if push came to shove. “They’re good. A tough combo.”

      Brianne reached out a hand and touched Stella’s furry head. “Good girl.”

      He sat back and then leaped up, offering her a hand. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

      “I’m fine,” she said, grabbing hold, her hand sending little currents of warmth straight to his heart. “My knee is still bruised and cut from falling yesterday in the park and I’ll probably have a bruise on my elbow where I hit the concrete when...when you dived over me.”

      “Sorry,” he said, unable to stop staring at her. “I saw the barrel of a gun and went into action.”

      “We’d better stay in action,” she said, her expression hard to read. “We should contain the scene.”

      Gavin looked around, his mind refocusing. Lou came hurrying out, oblivious to the rain or any shooters, his salt-and-pepper hair standing straight up. “Get inside,” he said, worry in his tone.

      One of the patrol officers nodded. “Go on. We’ve called it in. but we didn’t see the vehicle or the shooter.”

      “The vehicle—a black Denali,” Gavin replied. “I didn’t get the tag numbers. I’ll see if I can remember any details when we file a report. Could have been random.”

      “Right,” the younger of the two said. “Two cops sitting on a patio. An easy target.”

      Lou studied the street, his expression grim. “Who knows these days? We had that shooting when Sophie Walters was targeted, but that man’s dead now. Then Eva Kendall’s nephew Mikey got taken from here, remember? Glad they found the boy safe and sound.”

      He shrugged and then held his hands up in defeat. “Maybe I should just sell the place.” He turned to go back inside but whirled around. “This time might have been a warning for me. Someone really wants to buy this property, but I keep refusing to sell. Different real estate agents come by all the time, smart-mouthing.”

      Gavin shot a glance to Brianne. “Lou, are you being strong-armed?”

      Lou shook his head. “I have been but I handled it. Just braggish folks with business cards and big offers. You know, gentrification. As if anyone around here wants to become more refined, know what I mean? I refused all offers, of course. But today, they might have fired their first warning shot directly at me. If this keeps up, we’ll lose business and I’ll be forced to shut things down.”

      “Like I said,” Gavin replied to the officers. “Random? Or maybe not.”

      “We’ve got this,” the other one said. “Get inside and dry off.”

      “Bree, let’s go in and talk about what happened.”

      She fixed her hair, her skin and uniform soaked. “What’s to talk about? They shot at us, right? Whether they were targeting Lou or us, we’re in this. I’m not going inside.”

      He nodded, worrying, calculating.

      Brianne studied the porch and the street. “I don’t think this was random, Gavin. So I’d like to help process the scene.”

      “We can agree on that,” he said, his tone grim. “Did you see anything?”

      “No. I should have been more alert.”

      “Except I had you distracted with my lamebrain plan.”

      “We’re not done with that,” she reminded him.

      The rain softened into a drizzle but since they were both drenched they didn’t care. “Let’s check for bullet fragments,” she said. “The rain might not let up and it’s washing away evidence.”

      “I saw a black SUV, a late model Denali. I didn’t get a license plate number. But then we see those all over town all the time. Hired drivers.”

      “And Lou doesn’t have video footage to the street.”

      “Nope. But the transportation department does. I’ll get Danielle’s team on that.”

      They walked the patio, lifting bullet fragments for balistics and taking statements. The rain ended and a hot scalding sun came out to make their wet uniforms even stickier. The patrol officers cordoned off the patio until they’d cleared the scene.

      Lou brought out water and offered them coffee. “Find anything?”

      “Nope,” Gavin said. “But we’ll try to figure it out.” Then he touched Lou’s beefy arm. “I’ll need to sit down with you later and hear more about the people trying to buy you out.”

      Lou shrugged. “People have been trying to buy me out since I opened the diner over thirty years ago. I don’t plan on going anywhere. Not without a fight, at least.”

      Gavin wondered about that. And he wondered if the people who seemed to be targeting Lou might also be after Gavin now, too. Did they know he’d been asking around? Did they assume he was snooping on Lou’s behalf?

      “Can I get you anything else?” the older man asked, clearly rattled. Barbara came out and tried to tug them all inside, her face etched in worry.

      They worked the scene in quiet and then went inside to interview the patrons and Lou and Barb. No one had anything new to add. Most of the diners had been cleared to leave.

      “We’ve had a couple of real estate agents handing out cards and telling us how much we can get for the property,” Barb said. “We didn’t think anything of it and Lou politely told them we didn’t want to sell.”

      “They weren’t polite,” Lou told them. “But you know how that goes. Firm and with greed glowing in their eyes. I threw their cards in the trash.”

      He barely remembered what they looked like, so not much to go on there. “Violet was here the other day when a woman came by and handed me a card. She might be able to describe the woman better. I had people shouting for food so I hurried away.”

      As if on cue, Violet showed up, pushing her way through the bystanders and the yellow police tape. Hugging her parents close, she turned to Gavin. “What happened?”

      Gavin brought her up to speed. “Everyone is okay but I need to ask you some questions.”

      “Sure,” she said, her dark hair