Deep Undercover. Lenora Worth

so far no other explosive devices had been found. The lab would go over every shred to find clues or markers. No word on the suspect they’d seen earlier.

      Random? Or deliberate? She hoped they’d find the suspect somewhere in the city.

      Brianne still shuddered each time she thought about the device that had exploded less than two hours ago in the haze of the coming dusk. If Stella and Tommy hadn’t alerted...

      But that was the job. Taking care of this city. New trainee Stella had done her part and she’d been rewarded with her treat, which involved a ball and a few minutes of playtime, followed by a doggie treat. They’d have more playtime when they got home. Aggravated that she’d let the suspect get by her, Brianne looked up and found Gavin and Tommy heading toward her. Glad that they were still alive, she tried not to think about how Gavin made her feel.

      “What a night,” he said, fatigue darkening his eyes.

      “And it’s not over,” she replied. “We don’t leave until everyone else does.”

      “Could be a while.”

      Brianne had not been happy to be partnered with this man. He had a reputation around headquarters for being an overly ambitious hothead. But she had to admit that today he’d been professional and courageous. And caring. He’d personally made sure the elderly couple that had been nearest to the explosion had both been checked over by the paramedics and cleared. Then he’d seen to it that they had an escort home, not a taxi but a cruiser.

      Now Brianne wondered if a big teddy bear hid behind that gruff, fierce exterior. Gavin was good-looking in a don’t-mess-with-me way, his hair a rich tousled brown, his eyes almost black, his attitude tough and untouchable. Maybe she’d misjudged her coworker, but then her last boyfriend had explained to her that she needed to work on her trust issues.

      Even though she’d caught him cheating with her now-ex-best friend. Yeah, she had a few trust issues. But more than that, her determination and ambition matched that of the man walking with her right now. And that meant no love life. Too messy.

      “You might need some downtime later tonight,” he said. “It’s always rough when things get this heavy.”

      Whirling to face him, Brianne scoffed. “You don’t think I have the mettle to handle this, Gavin?”

      “I didn’t say that,” he replied, clearly confused. “We had an intense situation, but you handled it like a pro.”

      Anger gaining strength, she glared up at him. “I am a pro. I haven’t gotten my official graduation certificate yet, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do the job.”

      “I said all of that wrong,” he replied, looking adorably sheepish. “You’re tough, Bree. We can all see that. You work harder than any of us in training and on the streets.”

      “You mean, for a woman, right?”

      “I hadn’t noticed,” he retorted, with a trace of a smile.

      “Are you laughing at me, Sutherland?”

      “No, ma’am.”

      “Now you’re calling me ma’am?”

      “Look, I’m headed for coffee and something to eat once we’re off duty. I’m bushed and I’m starving and my adrenaline has about run its course. You’re welcome to come with.” Checking his watch, he added, “Our shift should have ended an hour ago.”

      Feeling contrite and a bit embarrassed, Brianne again wondered about Gavin Sutherland. She hesitated for her own reasons, but he took it the wrong way.

      “Okay, I get it,” he said, walking ahead of her. “You obviously don’t want to hang around with a piranha like me.”

      “You don’t look that dangerous,” she said, catching up with him. “I don’t think of you in that way.”

      No, right now she thought of him in a whole new way. Something that had more teeth than any old scary fish. Mentally doing a shakedown, she pushed all of that away for now. Her adrenaline had drained away, too.

      “Then what do you think of me?”

      His question caught her off guard. She’d noticed him. It would be hard for any woman to skip right over a man like him. But she knew better than to get involved with a coworker, especially since he was right. She’d worked hard in training and on the job to show everyone she meant business. She’d taken on the task of training Stella to make some points, but now she loved the dog with all of her heart and she planned to make Stella the best bomb-detection dog in this city. Stella had done a good job today, so Brianne knew her gut instincts had been spot on.

      “Can’t even say it?”

      Holding tight to Stella, Brianne shot him another glare and got her mind back on the conversation. “Yes, I can say it. I don’t know you that well, but I think you were given a bum rap. You might want to get promoted, but you wouldn’t kill anyone to make that happen. You’re too loyal to the department for that and besides, you have a solid alibi for when Jordan disappeared.”

      Giving her an uncertain frown that made his eyebrows shift up, he said, “Thank you, I think.”

      He took off and followed Tommy, his whole body on alert. Maybe the man just needed a friend.

      “Look,” she said, tired but still full of enough tension to know that this man made her pulse beat a little faster. “It’s been a long hot day and I’m going home when I’m done. Then we get right back to it tomorrow.”

      He didn’t argue with her. “Yep. I need to find some food and then I’m going to go over my report one more time. We have to keep looking for the man in the plaid hat.”

      “Because he could strike again,” she replied, her eyes holding his.

      Gavin nodded. “Yes, I have a bad feeling this might only be the beginning.”

      * * *

      The next morning, Griffin’s Diner was hopping as usual. People still enjoying what was left of the Fourth of July weekend were lined up at the double French doors of the quaint brick building located on a bustling corner near 94th Street in Queens.

      Brianne had walked the couple blocks over from the K-9 Command Unit in search of some good coffee and a nice shady spot on the patio.

      The old red bricks of the restaurant had mellowed to a deep burgundy over the years. Brianne remembered coming here with her parents as a child and seeing the pictures on the wall of fallen officers, one of them a brother to the owner, Louis Griffin. Most of the K-9s in service now had been named after those who’d died while on duty, including Gavin’s partner, Tommy, named after Officer Tommy McNeill.

      The diner had been in the Griffin family for generations and easygoing baseball fanatic Louis “Lou” Griffin was a fixture in the place, along with his blunt-talking wife, Barbara, who had a no-nonsense attitude and took care of everything from bookkeeping to settling down unruly customers. Their daughter, Violet, a friend of Brianne’s, worked with them when she wasn’t at her regular job as a ticket agent at the airport. They’d lost their five-year-old son to meningitis nearly twenty years ago. She often wondered if that’s why they all poured so much love into this old building.

      Brianne moved around to the right corner where an alfresco area lined with potted dish gardens led to the private space designated for the NYPD and the K-9 team’s four-legged partners. She opened one of the matching French doors there, smiling at the etched plaque over the door—The Dog House, Reserved for New York’s Finest.

      She headed inside to see if Violet was working and get that big cup of coffee but stopped when she heard her name.

      “Hey, Bree.”

      Turning, she saw Gavin approaching, Tommy moving ahead.

      Holding the door, she tried to hide her surprise. “What are you doing here?”

      He pointed