Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(12)
“Sit,” he told her, pointing out the chair across from his desk. He sank into his own long-abused chair and opened her file. “Miss Mansko, you are here today because you are being considered for undercover work.” He watched her closely as he said the last two words, wanting to note her reaction. She blinked, but otherwise kept a poker face.
“What this means is, if you pass my tests today, you could start working as a police officer as soon as tomorrow. We would swear you in, give you firearms training, a bit of self-defense training, run over the penal code, and by the end of the week have you working on the street in a secret capacity.” She nodded slightly, her face still a blank mask. Hunter felt surprised. After that polygraph test, he thought for sure this one wore her heart on her sleeve. “Are you interested in working undercover?”
He saw her swallow hard, then watched a few emotions flit past, deep in her eyes. They didn’t show up on her face though. Most people would have missed them completely, but he saw slight fear, a pushing aside of that fear, and a desire to know more. Fascinating.
“Yes, I’m interested,” she said simply. He nodded, impressed at her self-control. She was going to wait for him to lay out the terms.
So he did, reciting the spiel he knew by heart, he’d said it so often. “Undercover work is inherently dangerous. More dangerous than working as a patrol officer. We pick people before they make it to the recruit class because they aren’t recognizable as police officers by any of the criminal element. But that makes them more dangerous still. Because they’re green. And they’re unsure of themselves. If you pass all my tests and you decide you want to do this we will do our best to keep you safe. And we haven’t lost an undercover officer since I’ve been in charge of this unit. But you will have to listen carefully to every word I say, and follow my instructions to the letter. That gives you the best chance of making it to your recruit class unhurt.”
Her eyes widened slightly at this speech, but again she gave that little nod. “The two main disadvantages of working undercover are the danger, and the fact that your recruit class date is pushed back. But there are several advantages too. The first one is you get the standard salary plus $500 hazard pay a month. The second is that undercover work will always give you a promotional advantage over an officer who has never done undercover work. The third one is simple prestige. When you finally make it to your recruit class you will be given a leadership role, and possibly even a rank of Corporal to back it up, depending on how long you worked undercover and what kind of work you did.” He watched her closely. Here was where the leaders were always separated from the followers. As soon as he said leadership role, about a third of the applicants he interviewed sank down in their seats and let their eyes glaze over. These were the skaters, the pretenders, the ones who wanted the money but didn’t want to work for it, and certainly didn’t want to be in the spotlight. When that happened, he normally tried to make sure they never got an opportunity to be cops, much less undercover cops. The last thing the department needed was more work dodgers.
Jennifer Mansko did no such thing though. She sat up straighter and her eyes shined. He could see her trying on those Corporal stripes in her mind already. A wayward thought, as improper as a burp or a fart would have been, shot through his mind. We would have some ambitious … and beautiful children. Horrified, he stopped talking and shook his head slightly. He watched her face pinch in concern as she assessed him. Hoping what he had just thought wasn’t written all over his face, he pushed on.
“As for how long you will be undercover, the job I am considering you for could take as little as three months or as long as a year. There is one more test that I will have to administer to you to help determine if you would qualify for this assignment. Assuming you pass it, how many days would you need to come back to me with an yes or no answer about whether you would take the job or not?”
She never hesitated. “None. I don’t need to think about it. I’ll take it.” Her eyes met his forcefully and he saw she meant it. Danger be damned.
He nodded. “Let’s get started, then.”
Chapter 6
Jen looked around the little room for the 20th time, wondering when the test would start. At first her nerves rattled her, but now she was just bored. She wondered what Sgt. Foley’s first name was. She wondered how old he was. She wondered what kind of an assignment he was going to put her on, assuming she passed whatever this ‘test’ was. He’d put her in here, given her a handful of cash, and told her someone was going to come in the room shortly and she was supposed to buy whatever he was selling, no matter what. She had already counted the cash out three times. It was an assortment of hundreds, twenties, tens, fives, and ones, and it totaled $1000 even. She had put it on the shelf under her side of the counter, not wanting it in her pocket for some reason.
He'd said they would be evaluating her demeanor under pressure and her ability to think on her feet. She thought about that now. How do you evaluate demeanor under pressure? And ability to think on someone’s feet? If I get nervous am I canned? If I stutter, does that mean I can’t think on my feet?
She stood behind a type of counter that almost looked like a bar to her. The room had no windows and only one door. The walls were painted a dull, ugly brown. There was no chair. Nothing to look at. Nothing to do. Her stomach growled, reminding her it was well past noon and she hadn’t had anything to eat or drink since she got here. I’ll bet that’s part of the test. They want to see if I’m going to complain. Not me. I want this job too much.