Free Undercover Lover by Jamie K. Schmidt Page B

with just a few bullet holes. She slid into it gratefully and rested her head on her hand. Her chest was tight and raw from the asthma attack. She hadn’t had one in months, and now twice in as many weeks. She took another hit off the inhaler and looked around.
    The beautiful bar was riddled with bullets. Glass from the main windows and doors had blown into the tasting room. Furniture was ripped apart. Blood stained the marble floor and wallpaper. In the same half-daze, Pam watched the ambulances pull up and the paramedics do their thing. She got to watch Drake and Mark in action as they divvied up the uniformed officers for various tasks. Drake kept looking over at where she was sitting, as if to make sure she wasn’t going to make a break for it like Oksana had.
    After another hour or so, the moment Pam had been dreading came about. Mark stepped up to Drake and showed him something on his smart phone. Pam saw Drake’s jaw clench, and he shot her a terrible glare. So now he knew all about her family. His eyes were so intense that she flinched as trepidation danced along her nerve endings.
    Drake could choose to splash the information all over the news media and ruin her practice at Harding General. They’d never keep her on once they realized who her brother was and what he had done. When Drake came toward her, she noticed he had a slight limp.
    And it hit her. Drake was Ralphie. She should have figured it out before now. The clues were right there. How Drake had known so much about her. How he kept reminding her of Ralphie.
    “I’m going to take you home,” he said, but his soft tone belied the anger in his eyes.
    “What about my car?”
    “I’ll drive it. Mark can pick me up later. You and I have some things to talk about.”
    “I’ll say.” Pam slid out of the booth and clung to his arm when she wobbled. “I’d like to say goodbye to Andrej.”
    “He and Marishka are busy right now. I’ll let him know.”
    “I’d appreciate that.” It was a little surreal to crunch over the remains of Nikolai’s place.
    Drake flashed his badge and held on tight to her arm as they walked down the block to her car.
    “I’m probably sober enough to drive,” she said. “It’s been a few hours. A few awful hours.”
    “‘Probably’ isn’t good enough.”
    “You had as much to drink as I did.”
    “I outweigh you by a good seventy pounds.”
    Pam sighed and decided to choose her battles. She let him open the car door for her, and she slid into the passenger seat. After adjusting the driver’s seat and the mirror, he pulled away from the curb. He headed toward her apartment without asking where she lived.
    “Where are we going?”
    “I’m taking you home. Don’t even think about asking me to drop you off at the hospital.”
    “How do you know where I live?”
    Drake waggled his fingers at her. “Hello, I’m a detective.”
    “I’m glad you weren’t hurt,” she said in the awkward silence that followed.
    He sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me that your brother was vor v zakone ?”
    “Why didn’t you tell me you moonlight as a bum?”
    He didn’t even flinch or try to deny it. “When you met me, I was undercover. Something I need to get back to very soon.”
    “Does it involve the hospital?”
    “I can’t discuss my case with you.”
    “Do you think it had something to do with Nikolai?”
    “What part of I can’t talk about it are you missing?” His tone was mild, but Pam felt slapped.
    She stared out the window and watched the other cars pass by.
    “Well?” Drake said.
    “Well, what?”
    “This is where you tell me about Dmitry.”
    “His name is Darren.”
    “He goes by Dmitry.”
    “Not to me, he doesn’t,” Pam snapped.
    “Fair enough. He just got paroled a few months ago. Have you been in touch with him?”
    Pam shook her head. “The last time I spoke with him was the day he went to jail.”
    “He was the wheel man for a bank heist.”
    “That sounds rather romantic and