Burns studied me.
“Why keep me away? You think I’m going to steal the dagger from you?” I laughed. “I stole it once, I can steal it again. It doesn’t matter if I’m there or not.”
“She has a point,” my dad said, slapping me on the shoulder. “I taught her everything she knows.”
I did everything in my power not to roll my eyes.
Burns frowned. “Fine. We leave in an hour.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
HAYES
We had more eyes and ears on Megan than we had on the insurgent leaders in Afghanistan. Ford called his contact at the FBI, and they’d been more than interested in what we knew about the dagger. After Straight had contacted the authorities, the FBI themselves had gotten involved. To have an open and shut case and nab Burns in the process?
Their dicks were hard at the opportunity.
Yet I was the only one who had skin in this game. It was my woman who was in there with those assholes. It wasn’t a Boy Scout pack meeting she’d dropped in on. They were dangerous thugs, and I didn’t like her anywhere near them. I had a feeling she’d be the only one in the place without a weapon.
But she dealt with the wrong side of the law at work, so it wasn’t as if she was a soccer mom not up for the challenge. Megan Hager would do this and do it fucking well. I was proud of her. I wanted to hug her and fuck her and wrap her in bubble wrap.
“She’s doing just fine,” Kennedy said.
We were in my truck a block away. One of the things Alpha Mountain didn’t have was a fancy van like on TV shows. We didn’t do surveillance, at least not at this low level. And usually not in the US. Kennedy had his powerful computer opened on his lap, and the speaker was turned up, so we could hear everything around Megan.
Her dad was there. Burns was there. The meet was going to happen soon.
“Everyone’s on standby,” Kennedy said.
I knew this. All of it. I wasn’t an idiot, and he wasn’t being patronizing.
But I was squeezing the steering wheel in a stranglehold, so he couldn’t miss my tension. And worry.
“Yeah,” I muttered.
“I’m going to find a woman who’s a preschool teacher,” Taft said. “So, the only exciting thing she has going on in her life is that she likes to bake cookies and play with puppies.”
That had me laughing and looking at my friend. “Sounds boring as fuck.”
“Sure does, but at least she won’t be in the center of danger every fucking day.”
I frowned.
“Ready, Meg? It’s like old times, isn’t it? You and me? Robbing the world?” Colin Hager laughed.
I growled. “I hate that fucker.”
MEGAN
I knew the plan. Knew Hayes was out there. So was the FBI, and they didn’t take too kindly to fellow law enforcement officers going to the Dark Side. They threw the book at bad cops.
That was me. The bad cop.
In the room was Burns with the evidence that I’d stolen the dagger. The dagger itself. A buyer for the dagger. Money in exchange for the stolen goods. It was an open and shut scenario where I ended up doing five to ten in federal prison.
I would be punished, and it wasn’t the good kind Hayes doled out. There was no pleasure in what could happen to me.
But I trusted Hayes. I did. I loved him and believed him when he said he had a plan. And a team for support.
So, I walked into a meet in the penthouse suite of a Spokane hotel with a wire and a fuck-ton of faith.
The buyer–I’d yet to learn his name–turned out to be a guy in his sixties with two goons who could be related to Burns’ based on looks and demeanor. He was upbeat, completely relaxed and practically drooling for the stupid dagger.
It was me, my father and Burns. His hooligan duo waited outside in the hall.
Burns pulled the dagger from the inner pocket of his coat. “Money, please.”
The buyer nodded, and one of his men went to the bedroom and returned with a briefcase. He set it on the dining table and opened it. My dad went to it and lifted a wrapped bundle.
The case was filled to the brim with cash, which I assumed totaled five million dollars.
“This the one who stole it?” The man looked to me.
“My daughter. Beautiful and talented,” my father said, his words full of pride.
The man looked me over in a way I didn’t like. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“I may have other jobs with your… skill set.” He flicked his brows.
“She works for me. You want something to add to your collection, you let me know,” Burns told him.
Great. Burns wanted to pimp me out. What an ass. As a woman, I hated that he’d have to get his cut on something I did all the hard work for.