Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(23)
Jen thought. “Um, something about the lips are quiet and the heart has a thousand tongues”
“Where the lips are silent the heart has a thousand tongues,” Ryker intoned from the middle of the room. Jen and Ivy turned to stare at him. He shrugged. It’s Rumi. And then he stared at the bat phone like he expected it to ring at any second.
***
Hunter hung up the phone. Laid it gently in its cradle so that he didn’t rip it out of the wall and fly it across the room like he wanted to. Jen was on her way over, and when she got here, he was going to tell her what the Police Chief said. And what would she choose? She was young, eager to please, and eager to achieve. Would that make her choose something that could be very, very bad for her? Dangerous for her?
When he’d given her the speech before he’d hired her, he’d told her the truth. That they hadn’t lost an undercover officer since he’d been in charge of the unit. And that was true. But he’d left something out. That 12 years ago, before he’d been in charge, the department had lost an undercover officer. Officer Bainbridge had been recruited just like Jen had, and then sent in to try to infiltrate Fiore Savoy’s operation. One day, Officer Bainbridge hadn’t reported in. And he’d never been seen again. No one knew how or why it happened. A neighbor had seen him return home the night before, and that was the last known time he’d existed. His mother had filed a missing persons report. And that had been that. Eventually the department dismissed him. The official reason given was that he deserted his job. No one ever turned up any evidence to the contrary.
The only reason that Hunter even knew this was because his predecessor, Sgt. Poole, a large man on the verge of retirement, with weeping, red eyes, had taken him out for a beer one night. Hunter remembered him sitting on his bar stool, wiping his eyes, and looking around like they were being spied on. He’d spilled the story in little more than a whisper, saying he’d been forbidden to share it by the Chief (who was not the same Chief they had now) but he felt duty-bound to do so anyway. To save Hunter the heartache that he’d been through. And to keep anyone else from dying. Poole said he never felt worse than when young Bainbridge didn’t report in. Said he’d known right away that something had happened to him. Said probably Bainbridge was cemented under some building downtown right now, and his body wouldn’t be found for another 100 years, if ever. Said don’t ever send anyone in to Savoy’s operation. The man’s too smart. And too dangerous. And too well protected by his huge family and his history and yes, even by his moles in the department. Like some giant rat you just can’t find or outsmart.
And yesterday, when he and Sadler had both taken their case to the current Chief, the Chief had agreed with Sadler. The Chief thought it was a great idea to send Jen in to date the younger Savoy. Hunter had paced the room like an animal, barely able to contain his rage. He’d brought up Officer Bainbridge and what Poole had told him. The Chief had laughed - actually laughed — and said nonsense! That young officer just took off. He couldn’t take the heat so he got out of the kitchen. Vamoosed. And besides, Coleton Savoy wasn’t Fiore Savoy. And she probably would never end up face to face with the elder Savoy anyway. She maybe could just get a little insight on whether or not the younger Savoy was involved in any crimes. And if not, maybe he would spill some dirt on his dad. And Sadler and Foley would be right there, two steps behind her every step of the way. It wasn’t like the old days anymore, where an undercover officer was on his own most of the time. These days, with the technology they had, they could always know what was going on with her.
His teeth gritted against his anger, Hunter had pointed out that Bainbridge had disappeared from his own house. The Chief had nodded as if that had proved his point. Hunter knew what was going on here. Knew that Chief Carval was under a lot of pressure from the public to produce some good results this year. The Chief of Police in Westwood Harbor was elected every 4 years, and reelection was coming up next year. And last year, there’d been a scandal involving one of Westwood Harbor’s police officers. Norman Foster. He and a few of his buddies had been taking bribes, running drugs and guns, and actually killing people. Foster was dead now, but Hunter knew the Chief was desperate for something big to happen between now and election time. Something that would make people forget all about Norman Foster. Give the people faith in their Chief of Police again.
Hunter raged and raved. Said he’d quit if they did this. He even come close to overturning a table in the Chief’s office. He’d held his anger in check, but just barely. And in the end, he’d given in. Because the Chief told him to go on and quit. Sadler could run the operation. Hunter shuddered at the thought of Jen in Sadler’s hands. Sadler who didn’t even seem to like Jen. Who seemed to have it out for all of their three undercover officers.
In the end, he’d had to walk out with his tail between his legs, after having promised the Chief two things. One, he would present the undercover operation to Jen, and if she said she would do it, that he would run it, wholeheartedly. And two, that he would not tell anyone about Bainbridge. That he would never breathe the name Bainbridge again. That he would accept that it had nothing to do with Savoy.
“Bullshit,” he whispered to the phone. Jen would be here soon. And even though he’d sworn he wouldn’t tell her, and even though he knew he couldn't in front of Sadler, he would tell her. As soon as he got her alone. She had to know. That is, if she said she’d do it. He was still holding out hope that she wouldn’t.