Unauthorized Affair (Unauthorized #1)(49)

The elevator dinged. Jen stared at it as it slid open, and a uniformed officer came out. “Someone’s here!” she yelled over her shoulder. She walked toward him with her hands up. “Listen to me for a second—” He cut her off.

“I’m here to replace you. I know what’s going on. They want you in there.”

Jen looked at him, shocked, convinced he was about to overpower her and rush in. Instead, he turned around and faced the doors she had been watching.

“There’s two women hiding in records. They can come out but don’t let them make any phone calls.”

“Got it.”

Jen pulled the door open and entered the office. Chief Carver sat on the floor, bleeding all over his pants. His face was set in rage. Hunter put a hand over his cell phone and told her, “Call Ivy and Ryker, tell them to come here quickly.”

Jen grabbed her phone off the desk and dialed Ivy’s number.

“Hello.”

“Ivy, you guys OK?”

“Yeah, we’re just driving around.”

“Come to the police station, up to the Chief’s office.”

“OK.”

Jen clicked off and watched Hunter and the Assistant Chief, who were both barking orders into their respective phones. A few minutes later the door pushed open behind her and four people filed in, three men and a woman, all dressed in business suits. Jen recognized the woman as the District Attorney.

Hunter came close and whispered. “Go outside and wait for Ivy and Ryker. We’re going to do simultaneous search warrants on the Chief’s house and each of Fiore Savoy’s houses within the next 2 hours. You, Ivy, and Ryker are with me if you want to go. You’ll have to wait in the cars, but you can observe.”

Jen nodded, her heart beating in anticipation. A search warrant. Did that mean they were arresting Coleton’s dad?



***



Six long hours later, Jen peeled off her gloves and climbed into the patrol car next to Ivy and Ryker. She hadn’t seen Hunter in more than three hours. She didn’t even know if he was still on site.


After the initial entry, they’d watched from the car as everyone in the house had been filed out in handcuffs. There’d been no shooting and no fighting. Savoy had apparently been too secure in his belief that the police would not try to touch him without him knowing, and he’d been caught totally unaware. One woman, five men, and two children had been brought out, the children eventually getting to leave in a car with the woman. Jen had tried to determine which one was Coleton’s dad. The oldest, meanest looking one, she finally decided. And she recognized one of the men from the pictures of the fences Hunter and Sgt. Sadler had handed them on the first day.

After some initial recovery, Hunter had come out and gotten them and put them to work emptying out three sheds behind the house. They found absolutely nothing of interest, until Ryker almost fell through the rotting floor in the last shed. Pulling up the floorboards revealed an underground cavern with tunnels reaching all the way to the house and beyond. Nobody had let the recruits down there, but Jen had heard the talk. Some people were speculating the tunnels reached downtown and had been dug when Fiore’s father had been in charge. Probably for quick escapes from robberies, or just eluding the police.

It had been heavy, dirty work, and Jen ached. Finally, they’d been told the next shift was coming in to continue the work and they were relieved of duty and would be given a ride back to the station. Jen asked after Hunter, but no one knew.

Back at the station, the three of them sat in the waiting room, discussing what to do now.

“I’ll text Hunter. We can’t go anywhere till we hear from him,” Jen said.

The door opened and Hunter walked in, carrying three big bags. Jen saw no signs of tiredness on his face. He motioned to them to follow him and strode confidently through the department to the briefing room. Hunter pushed the door open and plopped his bags on the long table. “You guys come in here and sign for your work today. Thanks for helping out.”

A shout of “Foley!” rang through the large room and cops sitting in chairs and milling around turned to see him. Several clapped. Three came up and shook his hand. Each time, Hunter turned and pointed out Jen, Ivy, and Ryker. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without these three recruits. They uncovered almost all of the evidence.” Jen had her hand shaken several times, and she was surprised to see actual respect in the officers’ eyes.

As the last officer, a tall skinny man with red hair, shook her hand, then Ryker’s, then Ivy’s, Hunter said, “By the way guys, this is your new boss, Sgt. Rice. He is in charge of the recruit class.”

Jen’s ears rang with the words new boss. “You’re not our boss anymore?” she asked Hunter, hope blooming in her chest. Hope that this man would finally be hers. That this night would finally be about them. That her life-affirming, naughty plans could finally be enacted.

“Nope, case is over with the arrests tonight. You three may have to testify at some point, but you can join the next recruit class which starts in two weeks.”

“We’re not in danger anymore?” Ivy asked.

“We’re going to keep you in a hotel for at least another few days— we have to assume all the safe house addresses have been compromised— but I have a feeling that once we finish rounding up the people who are being implicated by what we uncovered today, there will be no one left on the streets for you to be in danger from.”