A Heart Decision by Laurie Kellogg

affiliated with the Latin Kings
gang. One of their more reliable snitches had told them Suarez
planned to meet with one of his suppliers at the club and,
supposedly, had a big score going down that night.
    “Watchin’ the door, huh?” Cal snorted. “Bullshit.
The day you start ignoring double-D tits like those is the day I
tell the captain you need a psych eval.”
    Luke heaved a sigh and drained his glass. “Sabrina
kissed me today, okay?” He glanced at his watch, which read
one-thirty in the morning. “Well— yesterday , now.”
    “All right! And that’s a problem?”
    “Hell, yeah. She and Ben announced their engagement
at her birthday party yesterday—you know Ben, one of my best
friends .”
    “So what? You should be celebrating, jackass. The
girl who stars in all your wet dreams has the hots for you.”
    Since his friendship with his partner was completely
separate from his relationship with Tyler, Ben, or his family, Cal
was the only one he’d ever told about his secret feelings for
Sabrina.
    “The hell with your buddy.” Cal waved his hand.
“Seems to me Sabrina wants you and not him. Why don’t you speak up
and marry the girl?”
    “Believe me, I would if I could.”
    Cal pointed one of his frankfurter-thick fingers at
him. “Don’t give me that crap about how hard it is for a cop’s wife
and kids. I’ve gone undercover for weeks at a time, the same as
you, and Darlene and I’ve been married eighteen years. She and our
three kids are doin’ just fine.”
    “It’s not that simple, Cal. There’s more to it than
just protecting her from my career.”
    “Such as?”
    “Take my word for it. I can’t marry Sabrina—or any
other woman.”
    If Luke ever told anyone why he’d condemned himself
to going through life solo, he might as well put a bullet through
his head. Either way, his life would be destroyed.
    He glanced up as the door opened and Suarez strolled
in. In the week since Luke had last seen him, the bastard had
spiked his black hair and added a thick gold chain around his
scrawny throat. Was it wrong to hope the necklace was heavy enough
to drown the little cockroach if he happened to accidentally fall into the Delaware? Seeing as they’d been trying to nail the
scumbag for over a year, no one would cry if Suarez sank like a
slab of concrete.
    “Don’t look now, but our boy just walked in with a
new do, and it looks like business has been good lately.”
    Cal peeked over at Suarez who stood in front of the
stage and waited while one of the dancers shook her way over to
him. He pulled a box of over-the-counter allergy meds out of his
jacket pocket and tucked one of the blister packets into her red
sequined G-string.
    “Okay.” Cal hoisted himself out of his chair. “They
sure as hell aren’t gonna make the transaction in here. I’ll cover
the street. You follow him out once he makes contact.”
    After his partner slipped out the exit, Luke kept
his head down and watched Suarez wend his way to the back of the
club where a swarthy, bearded brute sat, his gaze glued to the
stage. The man responded to Suarez’s greeting without shifting his
attention from the exotic dancers.
    Suarez’s gravelly voice cut through a lull in the
music. “Let’s go. I don’t have all night.”
    Fuzz-face drained his glass and stood.
    Luke threw a tip on the table and took the safety
off his weapon as he followed them through the exit. Outside, Cal
waved to him, crouched in the shadows between two parked cars.
Suarez followed his contact a short way down the narrow alley to a
dark blue sedan at the curb. When fuzz-face popped the trunk, the
light inside filtered past the crack and illuminated the interior
of the car.
    Shit . There was a third man behind the
wheel.
    Before he could signal Cal, Luke’s partner stepped
into the road, his weapon drawn, and yelled, “Police! Hands in the
air where we can see ‘em.”
    Luke dashed into position to cover Cal, and the
sedan’s engine roared to life.