“Well,” said Chas, “I guess I can also come clean. I’ve recently been in contact with the FBI about all of this.” Once again, the crowd gasped. “Years ago I was told by my contact there that I could exonerate my father if I found the right information—”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute,” the Boss said. “Do you know Fritz? Does he know we’re working together on this?”
“First of all, Fritz is actually a ‘she,’ not a ‘he.’ Apparently she’s been very amused by how tense her assistant makes you when he impersonates her on the phone. I think it’s been very helpful for her secretary, actually, to pretend to have some kind of power. My contact told me that Fritz tends to be a bit of a control freak, but I’ve never met her, never even heard of her till yesterday, so—”
“Slow down, Chas,” the Boss said, looking confused. “Her name is Fritz? And I’ve been intimidated this whole time by her SECRETARY?”
Chas smiled. “I really shouldn’t deprive her of this. When I spoke to her yesterday, she said she was looking forward to your reaction. Fritz is her last name, by the way. She keeps her first name to herself. And I think she was well pissed off when she answered the phone that first day and you assumed she was the secretary. Anyway. You’ll talk to her one day soon. She’s looking forward to it. I think everyone was duly impressed at how you guys have done given the fact that they all thought this was a cut-and-dried white-collar case. Now they think you’re rock stars for having busted ass in a different discipline.”
“But what the fuck?” the Boss exploded, really losing his cool now. “If you’re working with them, why the hell would Fritz or her goddamn secretary ask us to investigate you?”
“Right,” Chas replied, chagrined. “Good question. Apparently this is something the FBI would like us to keep a cap on. This was the perfect example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was up to.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning I’ve been in deep cover for years, John. And apparently I was in so deep that the part of the agency I’ve been working with fooled the other part. Really. I had no idea you were working on behalf of the FBI, or I would’ve set the record straight.”
“ALL RIGHT,” the Boss said, “that’s it. I’m going to call Fritz right now. But frankly I feel like I’m the one who’s been fooled. Humiliated. Bamboozled. And I will exact one small piece of revenge.”
“Which is?” asked Chas.
“That you all have to work for me in the future. I want all of you under my auspices.”
“Good GOD!” Lisa Bee exclaimed. “Then every day would be like we were in an episode of The Mod Squad.”
Jackson grinned. Looking around the room at Tyka, G, Chas, Susannah, Lisa Bee, and even the Boss, he realized they were all easy on the eyes and would make a fine pinup calendar. Private Investigations, a monthly datebook, perhaps? “Naw.” He chuckled. “Not with this group. The Bod Squad is more like it!”
“Hmm,” the Boss said. “The Bod Squad. I dig it.”
“Me too,” said Lisa Bee. “I’m in!”
AJ piped in on the “god mic.” “Oh, I think we’re all in, Honey Bee,” she hummed. “Even the trolls among us.” And as they filed up the stairs, one by one, she made sure they all heard Ella belting out “Our Love Is Here to Stay.”
‡‡‡
SUSANNAH HELD ON TO Chas’s hand tightly as they made their way out of the basement and into the clear light of day. They caught eyes, and her heart almost popped out of her chest. How could she ever have doubted that he was The One? He looked back at her, piercing her soul with his gaze, and smiled a seductive grin. They had begun a conversation that she never wanted to end. She couldn’t wait to get to know every detail of him. He winked at her. She knew what he was thinking. That she was, indeed, the woman of his dreams. And she couldn’t wait for the chance to make every single one of those dreams come true.
‡‡‡
LUIGI “THE BOOT” BORRELLI had been taking a nap in a far corner of Bruni’s New York basement. He’d been called in by Bruni very last minute, and hadn’t had time to sleep after a plane ride over that had been hell on wheels. There were several rooms in the vast area, and he had chosen the one called “Il Caverna,” the cave. He was quite a heavy sleeper and only awoke when the second bodyguard plastered the space with shots. By the time he crept to the main entryway the women were fighting, and he saw G win. Then he watched, with horror, as she killed his boss, his mentor, his best friend. Shocked and outnumbered, he retreated, grabbed his bag, and made his way out the back. He would collect himself. He would take a bit of time, then he would exact his revenge on G for murdering Bruni, for humiliating him, for being a traitor. When the time was right, he would end her in the most violent way imaginable. Her, and her protégée, and the team that took down the Italian. All he needed to do was be patient. And when he needed to, when it was important, he was a very patient man.
‡‡‡
JACKSON EXITED THE BASEMENT, tossing the bucket of meatballs back into the kitchen. It was time for him to make his move. They were ready. It was a moment of triumph. And he and the woman he had his eye on could celebrate together. He was just making his way over to Lisa Bee when he heard his phone’s text message notification, a riff from the song “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from the movie Hustle & Flow. He looked at his phone and saw it was a message from Mahmoud. As he opened it, his breath caught when he saw the single word:
Casablanca
14
SUSANNAH AND CHAS wound up back in the town house a few hours later, exhausted from the day’s events but exhiliarated at the new possibilities that lay ahead. Susannah had shown Chas what she and Fingers had discovered: the painting, the safe, and the secret key.
“Why did you take the family tree after you drugged me?” he asked. She was sitting on his lap on his office chair, and he was playing with the tree that was still around her neck.
Susannah smiled, and kissed him, lingering on the softness of his lips, and loving the hardness that pressed against her thigh. “Well, I just figured . . .” She kissed him again. “There’s always hope, right?”
“But then I almost broke your cover,” he said, kissing her again. “And that would have ruined all of it. I called you a whore, which made me nauseous by the way. Worse than that was calling you a joke—sweetheart, you are anything but.”
“That’s okay, Chas,” she said, nipping him on the nose. “I liked how angry it made me. I got a whole lot of self-confidence out of that kick in the ass. And as it turns out, Gabriella took good care of me.”
“I’m glad. It is an awesome cover you can use in the future. But just so you know—I did have a backup plan.”
“Hmm,” she murmured, going in for yet another kiss, “do tell.”
“Well,” he said, “I figured if you couldn’t keep the name Carter, that maybe you could change it to Palmer.”
She stopped kissing him and looked him straight in the eye, ready for a challenge. “Are you making me an offer, Tex?”
He quirked a grin. “What if I was?”
“Well, cowboy,” she said, sliding off his lap and moving toward the door, “if you want to get me, you’re gonna have to win me.”
“Meaning?” he asked, standing at attention with a gleam in his eye.
“Follow me to the bedroom, and meet me ‘undercover,’ ” she said, biting her lower lip. “That is, unless you think life gets easy now that you’ve closed a case.”
“Oh, I may be cheap,” he said, smiling, “but I’m never easy. And with you by my side, Legs, I bet it’ll be one heck of an interesting life.”
Their eyes connected and they both silently agreed. Yup. It was going to be one heck of an interesting life. And they were both ready for it to begin.
“Well, then,” Susannah breathed. “Game on.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Debut author and actor Gabra Zackman knows romance. Game On was inspired by the more than 100 romance and women’s fiction titles she has narrated for audio. Zackman divides her time between her native New York City and Denver, Colorado.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2015 by Gabra Zackman
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First Pocket Star Books ebook edition April 2015
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ISBN 978-1-4767-8924-8
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
About the Author
Game On (The Bod Squad Series Book 1) Page 16