Page 74 of Tough Justice

All but confirming Deck’s original suspicion. “I was set up.”

“Looks that way,” Rivera agreed. “We put a BOLO out for him.”

Deck dragged his hand down his face. There’d come a point where he’d known he was getting played, but his need to help addicted teens had overruled his common sense. Maybe Tori was right. No matter how hard he tried and no matter how much he wished otherwise, he couldn’t save everyone. Some people didn’t want to be saved.

He could still remember the cop who’d come to his house the day they’d found Marianne’s body in that alley. Had she really spiraled so far down there’d been nothing any of them could do for her? Maybe all the guilt he’d carried around with him had been a waste. He would never know for certain.

“Did you tell him?” Rivera looked from Brett to Evan.

Brett shook his head. “While you were napping, the PD talked to the guy Thor took down in the park. That dealer in Loveland was tipped off by someone called ‘the doc.’”

Deck’s brows shot up. The doc? “As in, a real doctor?” What the dealer’s hired muscle had said at the Loveland warrant came back to him. “The Big D,” he murmured, locking gazes with Evan. “Sammie didn’t find anything in the databases on the Big D, but maybe the D stands for ‘doctor.’”

“Yeah, and something else.” Brett frowned, telling Deck whatever was coming next would suck. “This ‘doc’ ordered the hit on you. Word on the street is that the doc set you up because you’re taking down too many of their dealers.”

“You and Thor took a major bite out of their business,” Evan added.

“Did you get any specifics?” Deck asked. “Like where this doctor works?”

His boss exchanged a quick look with Brett and Evan before focusing on Deck. “You said you got a text from an informant about a leak in our operation, and that was how Jack knew about the warrant in Loveland before you hit the place. You’ve been working closely with Dr. Sampson. Is there any possibility that she’s involved? She has no criminal history, but that doesn’t mean—”

“I know what it means.” He couldn’t wrap his brain around the possibility that she’d tipped off a drug dealer. But he was personally involved. Back at her house—in bed—he’d practically blurted out how crazy he was about her, so how could he possibly remain impartial? “I don’t think she’d tell anyone.”

“You need to be sure about this,” Rivera said. “It’s important.”

“Don’t you think I know how important it is?” he shouted, instantly regretting it as the dull throbbing in his shoulder and ribs worsened.

“Could Dr. Sampson have tipped them off?” Rivera asked quietly.

Could she? Yes. Did she?

Deck had witnessed for himself how strong her desire was to help people. If she were the leak, what would have been her motivation?

“Deck?” Rivera asked again.

He shook his head, more to himself than anyone else in the room. Was it possible her hatred of the DEA was so bad that she’d done it out of revenge? He’d thought they’d gotten past that. Maybe he was wrong.

God, his head hurt.

Deck squeezed his eyes shut, knowing his boss and his friends were watching him closely, waiting for the response he had to give and didn’t want to.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully.

…

With her heart in her hands, Tori took the last steps to Deck’s room.

Would he even remember what happened or the things they’d said to each other?

It was possible that the extreme pain he’d been experiencing might have impacted his memory. Not that it mattered. She’d been given a ringside seat to what being part of his life would entail, and she was too much of a coward, even to hold on to something she so desperately wanted. Him.

All she wanted was to see with her own eyes that he was really okay, then she’d leave. Thinking he might be sleeping, she began pushing the door open as quietly as possible but stopped when she heard Brett and Evan discussing someone called “the doc.” With the door cracked, she listened a moment longer. Apparently, someone had tipped off that drug dealer, Jack, about the Loveland warrant. Another man, one who’s voice she didn’t recognize, asked Deck if she could have tipped Jack off.

Tori held her breath, waiting for his answer.

“I don’t know.”

Her jaw dropped, and she let the door fall back into place. It wasn’t possible. I must have misunderstood.