Raw Redemption (Crossing the Line #4)(37)

I would never do anything that could result in you being hurt, baby. Can’t you see that?

Ailish ignore the pressure in her chest and jogged toward the Jeep. “I would love a ride.”

...

Henrik’s finger rested on the green call button of his cell phone. As soon as he pulled his thoughts together, he would call the captain—and it wasn’t going to be an easy conversation. Not by any stretch.

The faint, addictive taste of Ailish on his lips made Henrik eager to return to the cabin and replenish his intake of her. More. He wanted more. It was unbelievable how much he craved her with every breath. On his walk to the lake where he’d finally found cell phone reception, he’d wondered if the constant starvation for Ailish would ease a little once he’d been inside her body, but the theory had been laughable. His need would only increase—there was no way around it.

Stop thinking with your dick and focus.

Right. He was about to go all in—again—for Ailish, and he couldn’t give any quarter when the captain balked at his demands. If the conversation with Derek didn’t go the way he needed it to go, Henrik was prepared to take Ailish somewhere safe where she couldn’t be tracked. Just remembering the fear in her voice when she’d talked about going back to Chicago made him anxious, a little crazy even. There was only one way he would consider taking Ailish back to Chicago, and both Derek and Ailish needed to be on board.

Henrik hit call. He didn’t have to wait longer than one single ring before the captain answered, his tone brisk and distracted. “Derek Tyler.”

“Captain, it’s Henrik.”

A slight pause. “I hope you’re calling me from the road, with Ms. O’Kelly in your passenger seat.”

Right to the point, as usual. “Not yet, no.”

Another, longer pause wherein Henrik could hear a leather creak, signaling the captain leaning back in his chair. “All right. Why don’t we start with last night? Did you make contact with Caine O’Kelly?”

“I did.” Henrik willed the knot in his throat to shrink. “He offered me a job with his crew. But I need to prove I’m an asset first by tracking down his daughter and returning her home.”

Derek’s laughter rang hollow. “I’ve never been more sure there’s a leak in my department. O’Kelly wouldn’t assign you that specific task unless he knew you’d thrown yourself on the sword for his daughter. I hope you weren’t followed from Chicago.”

“You know damn well I made sure I wasn’t followed. And yeah, it’s possible someone clued him in. Although I didn’t get the impression he’d made the connection between his daughter being cleared and me losing my badge.” Just saying the words out loud caused an unpleasant tightening at the back of his neck. “He’s not the kind of man who plays games. He would’ve called me on it.”

A rapping noise in the background, like knuckles on wood. “I’m afraid to ask why you’re really calling.”

“You know why,” Henrik said. “I’m not sacrificing her to that son of a bitch.”

“Are you talking about me or O’Kelly?”

Henrik switched the phone to his other ear. “That remains to be seen.” A breeze from the lake blustered a pile of pine needles into a mini cyclone, a few feet from Henrik’s feet. “If you can offer her a deal, I might be able to convince her to provide information about Caine’s operation. But she better walk out of the station afterward. Without a police record.”

Henrik could sense the captain’s dissatisfaction. “What information does she have that I’d be interested in? I’d be a fool to agree to a deal without any knowledge beforehand.”

“You’ll have to take my word for it,” Henrik said. “I’ll go undercover with O’Kelly and do the dirty work. But I need her protected to my satisfaction while I’m inside. Caine has men looking for Ailish as we speak and I’m not convinced he wants her unharmed. But you need to find me something else of value to offer O’Kelly, because it’s sure as shit not going to be his daughter.”

“What if I don’t agree to that? Connor and Erin are a phone call away. They can bring Ailish in just as easy.”

“You’d put two of your squad members in danger like that?”

“In danger from you?” Derek blew a breath down the line. “You haven’t been thinking straight since this girl showed up. You might be doing yourself a favor bringing her back to dear old dad.”

Henrik’s hand tightened on the phone. “You don’t want to suggest that again.” Against his better judgment, Henrik gambled with a rumor he’d heard years ago about the captain, knowing it could be his trump card if true, even if guilt was already weighing down his shoulders. “Your own wife stole fifty grand from another version of O’Kelly once, didn’t she? Would you have returned your wife to that man just to create an opportunity to go undercover?”

“Don’t you ever speak about my wife again.” Derek’s voice vibrated down the line. “But while we’re on the subject, my wife didn’t have the ability to make an entire city safer the way Ailish does. You’re impeding an investigation, Vance, and in case you don’t realize it, you haven’t hit the bottom yet. I can make that happen. Or I can make the reverse happen.”