Content with the knowledge she’d at least scared the intruder into an ugly jump for freedom, she’d clear the apartment and take inventory. Hopefully it had just been a college kid looking for cash. She’d left precious little about her real life lying about, nothing that should feed anyone’s suspicion. But the idea that someone was interested enough to break in was disturbing and something she’d need to report.
A peek in the closet showed her clothing untouched. If a thief had been looking for electronics or valuables, he’d have been sorely disappointed. Unless he collected rooster knick-knacks, there wasn’t a damn thing inside the place worth carrying over the threshold.
She stepped back into the hallway, her instincts kicking in just a second before large, powerful hands grabbed her from behind.
She rammed an elbow into a rib cage. When the guy crumpled over, she landed a sharp, vicious blow to his head with the butt of her gun.
He dropped to the floor and didn’t move as she drove the barrel of her Glock into the back of his neck.
The takedown had been much too easy for an intruder of his size. Not a single protest, no fighting back. Jordan blinked in the dim light filtering in from the bedroom and immediately recognized the dark, wavy hair and expansive shoulders. Her gun was burrowed squarely into the neck of Tyler McGee.
“You really are some kind of an idiot, aren’t you?” Stomping a foot on his butt, she stepped over him and raged off into the other room. “Honestly, what the hell are you doing here? Do you have a death wish? I could have shot you.”
He stood and followed her. Saying nothing, he folded his arms across his chest, and his lips curved into one of his smug smiles.
“Really? You think this is funny?” She raised the gun, pointed it at him. “I ought to shoot that stupid grin right off your conceited face.”
“Shooting an unarmed man at point-blank range seems like a bad move for a cop.” He leaned casually against the back of her couch, not at all bothered by the gun aimed at him. “They’d probably take your badge if you killed an innocent man.”
Her eyes opened wide as her brain fully absorbed the impact of his words. She made a sound very similar to a cornered, rabid animal. “You are a lot of things, McGee. Innocent is not one of them.”
He’d figured it out. Figured her out. She took a few steps and kicked over a dining room chair, then whipped around and threw a rooster salt shaker at his head like a missile.
He ducked.
“Damn it all to hell. You’ve been a royal pain in my ass since the moment you walked into Buck’s,” she said.
She’d blown it. For the first time in her career, she’d blown it. A huge multi-jurisdictional investigation, and she’d been made as a cop.
This whole hellish undercover had been one big, hairy disaster from the moment she’d crossed into the little flea-infested, two-bit, rat-hole town. And given the fact she’d messed the whole damned thing up so thoroughly, screwing with McGee’s mind felt like the only reasonable thing left to do.
If she was going down and had to give up this undercover, she was at least going to give him as much grief as she could inflict. She stalked to a small desk in the corner, unlocked a drawer, and pulled out her badge and handcuffs.
Deadly serious, she walked back and looked him squarely in the eyes. “Down on your knees.” With the wave of her gun, she motioned for him to drop.
His face sobered. “What?”
Ha. That knocked the smart-ass grin right off his face. “I said get down on your knees. Put your hands behind your head.”
She watched as confusion and skepticism dawned in his eyes. He had no idea what to make of her now. Oh, yeah, she was going to enjoy this. And she was going to find out once and for all what his connection to Arlo Buck was.
“Funny. You’re real funny, Jordan. Come on, I’m not getting on my knees.”
She tossed him her badge. “I’m Jordan Delany, a narcotics detective with the St. Louis County PD. I’m working on an interagency drug task force team based in St. Louis. We’re investigating a trafficking ring believed to be operating out of Buck’s Nightclub. Because you broke into my place tonight, you’re under arrest for breaking and entering. And because of your involvement as Arlo Buck’s head security guy, I’ll do my best to throw in suspicion of drug trafficking with intent to distribute.”
It was a bluff, but a decent one. Watching the color drain from his face was satisfying. Very satisfying. She could see him reeling from the insult, but she knew better than to think he’d quietly cave. She’d bet every last dime on the fact that the man had never quietly caved on anything in his entire life.
“You can’t arrest me. I didn’t do anything.”
“At the very least you broke into my apartment. You can’t deny that, since I caught you in the act. B and E alone can get you time, McGee. Add assaulting an officer, resisting arrest, drug charges—you’re in deep.”
Jordan was pleased her bluff had the intended effect. His eyes were wild with anger, but he swallowed it quickly. It was a nice recovery. And such a smooth one that she suspected he was plotting his countermove.
“Drug charges? Against me? That’s ridiculous.” His tone was dangerous and even; his body language implied, “I’m not worried”; and the man wore his arrogance like a finely made suit. But his eyes were a dead giveaway. He’d never be able to hide a damn thing from her in those overly expressive eyes. They spoke volumes in complete silence. Right now they said he was livid.
“I only broke in to get you to admit to being a cop. It finally sank in when you took me down in back of Buck’s. Your moves were too powerful, too practiced, too precise for a cocktail waitress who’d simply taken a self-defense class. I knew you’d never come clean unless I forced you, and here you defended yourself like a cop, gun and all. Case closed.”
“Let me get this straight.” She stepped closer. “You figured it more logical to break into my apartment and possibly get a bullet in your ridiculously smug ass than to just confront me? You really are some kind of stupid. Get down on your knees. Now!”
Vibrating with anger, he assumed the pose—the one she’d seen him use on Warren. The one he’d whip out on any customer who dared to challenge him. The arms-folded, chin-set, I’m-not-budging stance.
“I’m not amused with your game, Jordan. I’m inside Buck’s for the same reason you are. I’ve spent six months embarrassing myself and my family, letting the rumor circulate that I lost my badge because I failed a drug test. Now that I’m inside, no one is going to screw this up for me. Not even you, sweetheart. Sorry.”
Jordan leaned casually against the wall and raised an eyebrow. “Wanna bet? Last time I checked, a federal investigation trumped the hell out an unauthorized, half-assed local one. I’d be happy to call my FBI contact and let him come sort this out.”
An interesting shade of pissed-off red flushed his face. “You can’t be serious. Everyone knows Arlo Buck is a major distributor of drugs, and not one person wanted to risk crossing him. It’s about damn time someone did something about it. I’m on the same side of the law you are. Don’t screw with me. If this is a joke, it’s not funny.”
“No joke, cowboy.” Jordan stood straight, let every bit of emotion drain from her face. Bahan had dubbed it her ice bitch face. It had the intended effect when she was working over a junkie in one of the interview rooms. Ty certainly wouldn’t be a pushover, but she hoped it would set him off kilter for at least a minute or two. “I’ll ask for your cooperation one more time. Down. Now. Put your hands behind your head.”
He dropped, laced his fingers, and nailed her with a look so dangerous, it almost unnerved her enough to blow her game.
She walked around behind him, slapped the cuffs on. “Start talking, cowboy. Everything you know about Arlo Buck.”
Stepping back in front of him, she bent slightly to get in his face. “If I get the teensy- tiniest inkling that your story is off, I’ll have a dozen federal agents here before I get done reading yo
u your rights.”
“I’m a damn cop, too, Jordan. My chief authorized me to do some poking around on Arlo Buck. I’ve only worked for him for a couple days. This is bull. You can’t touch me, and you know it. You need to call my chief.”
Relief buzzed all the way to her toes. Having sex with another cop was considerably better than sleeping with a criminal. It still wasn’t good, but if he was telling the truth, maybe last night’s indiscretion wouldn’t threaten her badge.
“I don’t need to do anything but make one simple call and wait for the special agent in charge to come haul you away. Spill it now, McGee. If you’re really trying to bust the Bucks, lay it all out for me. Your suspicions, your research, your hunches.”
Sparring with another cop was never as easy as yanking the chain of some street thug. The problem being, he knew the law, too.
“See, you keep threatening me, but you’ve made no serious attempt to read me my rights. No call for backup.” His smug smile returned. “I think you believe me.”
“Don’t think. Just talk.” She was channeling her ice bitch, but she needed to study him in order to get a really good handle on whether he was telling the truth or not. And therein was the catch-22. Looking at him seriously screwed with her instincts.
“You know why you’re not calling for backup?” His smile grew even more cocky and self-assured. “Because you already know you don’t need any. You know I’m on your side.”
He sighed as if digging deep for patience. “Look, I’m sorry I set you off by busting in here tonight, but I needed to know if I was right. I needed to know if we could work together and trust each other.”
She choked out an incredulous laugh. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back the hell up. We are not partners. We are not working together. This isn’t going away just because you want it to. You wanted to find out if I was a cop by breaking in here tonight? Well, congratulations, I am a cop, and you’re in serious trouble.”
Dropping onto his butt, he began to shift around, the irritation of being restrained clear on his face. “Is all this really necessary?” He jerked against the cuffs. “I get it, you’re pissed. But quit screwing around. I know you’re a cop; so am I. I want to help you. We can do this together. If there’s an investigation going on, I want to be a part of it.”
“Well, that’s going to be tricky to pull off from jail,” she answered coolly.
Without a doubt, the man had more balls than brains. She could totally see him trying to be the single protector of Titus; it was just like him. Stupidly cocky and unbelievably dangerous. Vigilante cop, taking on a drug ring all alone. No backup, no contacts, no FBI or DEA. She actually bought that scenario more than she bought into him being a dirty cop.
“Come on, take these off. We need to talk this through. I can help you, Jordan. If you’re going up against the Bucks, you’ll need help. You’ll need me.”
“Listen, sport, I didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday. As much as it may shock and amaze the pig-headed, chauvinistic attitudes so deeply engrained in this godforsaken town, I’m more than qualified for this job. I do not, under any circumstances, need you.”
“Yeah, darlin’,” he mocked, pure country drawl in his words. “You’re doing a bang-up job so far. And hell, you’re right, you didn’t need any local hick cop when Lewis kicked you face first onto the floor at Buck’s. No, sir”—he laid the drawl and the sarcasm on thick—“you and your fancy investigation didn’t need me to cover your naked breasts or take you to a hospital or stop Warren Buck from having his way with you out behind the club tonight.”
“You’re an ass,” was all she could manage through the blinding rage.
He dropped the sarcasm and the drawl but continued to glare. “Maybe I am, but I know a hell of a lot more about this town than you do, things your big-city training can’t teach you. I don’t care how many agencies you claim to be working for; they don’t know this town. They don’t know Arlo Buck. And none of you know me. So take the cuffs off now. Settle down, and get over your snit because I surprised you tonight.”
Jordan was pretty sure her brain had just seized up. Settle down? Snit?
Her head began to pound. Or maybe it was mini-strokes from the spike in blood pressure. He was going to kill her with smugness and stupidity. It was a new technique, one she hadn’t seen before, but damned if she wasn’t one step away from an aneurysm.
The fact that he was local and no doubt did have a perspective on the town that she would never have throbbed like a rotten tooth.
She paced, tamping down the desire to throttle him. He was actually trying to call the shots while wearing handcuffs. She had no actual desire to arrest him, but she was far from done when it came to getting answers.
Turning, she allowed her eyes to connect with his. So much always passed between them in a simple glance. His jaws were clenched, his brows drawn together with a line of stress etched between them. The last thing she wanted was for him to shut down before she got the answers she needed.
“I want the truth, Ty. All of it.”
***
Ty made no attempt to evade Jordan’s questions. His gaze bore into her. “My chief and I decided a well-placed lie about a failed drug test made the most sense. We let the rumor leak to a few of the right people. I hoped Buck would find me more appealing if I’d run into a little drug trouble of my own.
“I turned in my badge, wrote a letter of resignation. Even told my family and friends I resigned. My chief and I are the only ones who know the truth. It had to be that way.”
Still cuffed and sitting on the floor, he shifted, leaned against a padded chair and stretched out his long legs. “Law enforcement in a small town is tricky. In bigger cities it’s more impersonal, more black and white. Around here, half the people are related in one way or another. I can’t be sure who, but I’d bet my life Arlo Buck has local cops backing him. Hell, he has two cousins on the Titus police force.”
“So you decide to simply dive into a dangerous undercover alone?” She sank to the floor, needing to be face to face with him. It was hard to sort out if what she felt while questioning someone was purely cop instinct or part of the perverse abilities she’d been stuck with, but she was sure she’d know if he was lying. “What possessed you to think you could go up against the Bucks without help?”
He glanced at her, then shifted his eyes away. Anger and sadness and something more passed across his face. It was there for only a moment, no longer than the brief click of a camera.
But she’d caught it. And she’d felt it. Devastation as crushing as the night her family was murdered. Breath clogged in her chest, and she shifted away from him to process what she’d just felt.
“It’s a small town.” He shrugged but refused to meet her eyes. “When you grow up somewhere like Titus, the lines blur, you know. Friends become family and vice versa.”
Now he did look at her, his expression as open as a fresh wound. “It might be a case to you,” he finally said. “And to the Feds these kids are numbers, just statistics. But to me they’re family. I grew up here, Jordan. This is my home.”
She felt his pain so brilliantly, so clearly. He couldn’t possibly be this raw with grief if it was just a case. Something had turned it into a personal vendetta, of that she was sure. After all, she was the queen of personal vendettas.
“I’m well aware I don’t always give the warmest, fuzziest first impression.” Her voice sounded thick and hoarse. “But nobody who dies because of something as senseless as drugs is ever just a statistic to me. Especially the kids.”
Still on her floor, he scooted closer, folded his legs. “Then maybe we understand each other better than either of us thought possible.”
No, Jordan thought. Not really. Because she was having a hell of a time understanding any of it. Her emotions. His emotions. Both swirling together into a thick cloud of heartache. She squeezed her eyes shut, because if she looked at him, she was terrified of what would happen.
A couple of d
eep steadying breaths and things would be better. She could do this. Determined to break through whatever tangled web the moment weaved around them, she opened her eyes.
But his gaze dipped to her lips.
Oh, God. That hungry shift of his eyes fueled a fire that already crackled through her blood. Memories of last night arrowed through her. His rough kiss, taking. His skilled hands, determined. His beautiful body, slick from the heat between them, slipping inside her.
She scooted away and stood. She needed distance. She needed time. Hell, she needed a drink. A strong one. But given the sorry state of her cabinets, ice water was going to have to do. Retreating to the kitchen, she let cool water run over her hands and splashed her face. Forgetting he was still cuffed, she returned and offered him a glass of water.
“I need a key first.” He rattled the cuffs. “Unless you really think I’m a hardened criminal who needs to be restrained.”
She nodded and moved to the desk. Any excuse to put some distance between them was a blessing. Lingering much longer than needed to pull out her key, she steered the conversation back to a professional one. “Even in Titus, there must be someone you trust. Why wouldn’t you try to put a task force together?”
“We have three small towns that make up Titus County: Longdale, Cooper, and Titus. Each town has its own small PD with just a few guys. Do you know how many cops are on the Titus force?”
“Four,” she answered. “Plus the chief. I’ve done my homework. I’m not an idiot, Ty.”
“Then I guess you know that two are Buck’s cousins. Plus, one of the other two cops, Troy, was married to Buck’s sister about ten years back. They had a kid together. Now the kid and Bess live in a rental house owned by Buck. Rumor has it that Troy has to pay rent and/or housing costs for the child and mom until the kid turns eighteen.”
“This is all terribly fascinating, but—”
“Just hold on.” He sprang up off the floor and turned toward her. “The story is, Buck isn’t making Troy pay him anything for the house Bess and the kid live in.”
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