Without a Net (19 page)

Ollie didn’t answer. After pulling on Travis’s pants, Ollie sat on the toilet and tried to think things through. He knew how hard it was to set up an undercover operation. Hell, he’d gone along with Greyson because he believed the case was worth the danger, and that had been when he thought Huda and a few of his cronies were discriminating against gays. Now the case was much larger. These cops were dealing sun. That shit screwed with people’s brains—made them aggressive and paranoid. The addictive nature of the shit was unmatched by anything that came before. It made crack look like a walk in the park. And cops were dealing it. How many had died in overdoses? How many innocent people had been robbed and killed because an addict would do anything for another hit?

Ollie jammed his arms through the T-shirt and pulled it over his head. He was a cop. And yeah, he would need serious therapy later, but he’d taken a vow to protect the public. Huda and Greyson and Kemboi might not take that promise seriously, but Ollie did.

He opened the door to find Travis standing there. “We’re going along with Milan’s plan,” Ollie said.

Shock. The expression on Travis’s face was pure disbelief and astonishment. It took Travis a good thirty seconds to recover. “If you remember, I told Milan that I wouldn’t do this even before I found out about the kidnapping.”

“I’m a cop, and I’m damn good at undercover work, so I say we take advantage of the situation. And if you don’t agree, I can call the FBI field office and find your boss. I’ll ask them if they’re ready to walk away from the best opportunity we have to bring Greyson down.” When it looked like Travis might argue, Ollie added, “I may be submissive, but don’t think I’m a pushover.”

“Most shade subs aren’t,” Travis said. “I’d forgotten how overbearing some of them can get, but then that’s why they have trouble finding submission. That’s why they need a stronger hand.”

Ollie wanted to argue that he wasn’t a shade sub, that he preferred the safety of control clubs and negotiated contracts, but self-deception had never been one of his talents. He liked that first Milan and now Travis referred to him as strong, and he liked being pushed. And when this was all over, he could try to figure out how much of that was part of his character and how much came from Milan’s manipulation. But right now, he had a job to do.

“I worked with these guys. I was trying to stop the criminals, and they sat at the next desk and ran the damn operation. I want in on this, and I want to bring down Greyson. That’s who you’re going after, right? I’m guessing you have evidence against the lower-level cops, the ones doing the work on the streets, but you’re after Greyson.”

After a second, Travis nodded. “The conversation he had with you in your apartment will raise a lot of doubt. He can claim he was trying to string Huda along until he made a mistake. Greyson could come out of this looking like a hero if we’re not careful.”

Ollie put on his most determined expression. “Then we work together to take him down.”

“Greyson wants proof. He wants to see you humiliated,” Travis said. “You aren’t in any shape to go undercover right now, not after what Milan did.”

“So, you’re like him? You think I’m too weak to do my job?”

“What?” Travis took a quick step back. “I didn’t say that. But Greyson… Guys like that want to wallow in their power. He’ll try to rape you, and you aren’t in the head space to handle that right now.” Travis turned pale just bringing up the idea of rape.

“And you’re not in a mental space to make the call on this,” Ollie said. “If he rapes me, then I’ll think about how much pleasure I will take in testifying against him in court, and I’ll survive.”

“I’m not in a good mental state?” Travis demanded. “Are you even listening to yourself? You don’t have to prove anything, Detective.”

“No, but I want to do my job. So you call your director, and let’s run this past someone who isn’t too twisted up to make a good decision.”

Travis crossed his arms. “And if she says this is a stupid idea?” he asked.

Ollie took a deep breath. That was entirely possible, because Ollie knew he wasn’t in the best space right now. “Then I step back and find a therapist with a lot of open hours.”

That took the wind out of Travis’s sails. He frowned and looked away. “She’s going to kill me for getting in this deep with Milan. You’ll be in therapy, and I’ll be in a cell.”

“I’ll testify for you,” Ollie said, and he meant that. Travis didn’t have any intent to cause harm, and crime required intent.

Travis glanced over at him. “When she strips the skin off your backside for even suggesting this crazy plan, I’m going to say ‘I told you so’ a lot.”

“Okay,” Ollie agreed.

“A whole lot.”

Ollie gestured toward the phone sitting on the desk. With a sigh, Travis headed in that direction.

Chapter Sixteen

Ollie watched as the assistant director’s image appeared on Milan’s holograph wall. Travis had sent her a report, and from her pinched expression, she hadn’t liked what she read. Assistant Director Sewell struck Ollie as a serious woman with deep wrinkles like parentheses around her mouth and hair so dark he was sure she dyed it. Add in her current appearance, and she came across as a formidable woman.

“Detective Robertson, it’s nice to see you are still among the living.”

“Yes, ma’am. Sorry about sending you guys on a wild-goose chase.”

Director Sewell frowned, and her gaze flickered over toward Travis. “Not a problem, Detective. From Special Agent Goode’s report, I assume you didn’t have much choice in the matter.”

“He didn’t,” Travis said.

“Considering you’re not calling from an official communication station, I assume your arrest of Milan Crosica didn’t go all that well.”

“Not that you’d notice,” Travis said with a wry look. “He seems to think we should focus on Captain Greyson and his crew.”

“And I agree,” Ollie said before he could get relegated to the background. Feds didn’t have a great reputation when it came to respecting the opinion of local cops, but Ollie had too much invested to let himself get sidelined.

“You do.” Director Sewell leaned back in her seat, which made the hologram distort the top of her head so it elongated. “I have to admit, Detective, I thought you would be more focused on Crosica or even Special Agent Goode. I read what happened to you, and you have every right to press charges against both of them.”

“No offense, ma’am, but that seems like a bad move. I would rather see Greyson and Huda in prison, and Milan is right that we have a good setup here to get them to incriminate themselves.”

“And you want to be part of the cover.” Sewell sat up, and her head regained its correct proportions.

“Yes, ma’am. Milan did a lot to get me into position, and I think I can help you get Greyson. And since it sounds like he was planning to murder me in order to set up an innocent man and further his crime empire, I would like to be part of taking him down.”

Sewell glanced toward Travis again. “I’m not sure you can call Crosica innocent. What he did to you is a crime. The same goes for Special Agent Goode’s actions. If you work on this case, assuming I allow it, that could compromise any prosecution against either of those men. Think carefully about that, Detective Robertson.”

Ollie raised his chin and hoped he was giving off the right nonverbal signals to convince her. “I have thought about it. Special Agent Goode did nothing wrong, and while Milan’s actions were illegal and cruel, he put me at risk to protect the innocent from Greyson’s illegal criminal activities. As a cop, it’s my job to stand between criminals and the public. I can forgive him if it means I take down Greyson.”

“And can you forgive Special Agent Goode? If we do take advantage of your placement inside Crosica’s organization, we can send another agent to handle the case. No one expects you to work with Goode.” She looked at Travis. “No offense, Agent.”

“None taken, ma’am. I would arrest myself if I could.” Travis clearly wasn’t joking about that.

“I don’t have a lot of trust for law enforcement right now, and that has nothing to do with Agent Goode,” Ollie said. “So if it’s all the same to you, I’d rather work with him. I trust him, and I know he can pull off the part of one of Milan’s workers.”

That didn’t seem to reassure Sewell. “Travis, you’re not exactly low profile. These are police officers. We can’t ignore the danger that they’ll know you or have access to a nonstandard facial-recognition database. Just because it’s illegal to keep biometrics on federal agents doesn’t mean police departments follow the law.”

“I thought about that,” Travis said. “I’m still not one hundred percent convinced it’s a good idea to put Detective Robertson in the line of fire after what he’s gone—”

Ollie cut him off. “Worry about your own state of mind and your own guilt. I know how to do my job and get therapy later.”

Sewell brought her hand up, probably to hide a grin. “At least you’re willing to get therapy without being ordered into it. Our psychologists will be shocked into speechlessness.”

Travis’s expression made him look like he’d bitten into a bug. “If we’re going after Greyson, I’d rather take care of business first, and I think I should go under as myself.”

“Excuse me?” Sewell leaned forward.

“I was one of Milan’s students twenty years ago, so let’s use that. We can tell Greyson that I never stopped working for Milan and my work with the FBI has been at his request.”

Sewell smiled. “So you play the part of the double agent. And Greyson likely believes Crosica has broken any number of laws, so it makes sense that he would place people in positions to cover up his crimes. It’s a smart move, but if he knows you’re a fed, he’ll keep a close eye on you.”

“Let him,” Travis said with a growl. A shiver went up Ollie’s spine.

Sewell fell silent. She struck Ollie as a careful woman, but he had trouble trusting his judgment on that, because he’d believed Captain Greyson’s lies about wanting dirty cops out of the department. When had Ollie’s ability to assess threats gone to shit? Ollie looked to see how Travis was reacting to her.

Travis watched the screen without the barely hidden impatience a lot of cops had when they were stuck waiting for their boss to make up his or her mind. If anything, he was calmer now, but considering he was busy calling himself a rapist, “calm” was more a relative term. The energy and danger still lurked behind his eyes.

Sewell looked at Ollie before speaking. “Detective Robertson, Crosica created your cover, and it will likely require very unpleasant duties. I hesitate to put you in that position.”

“You’re not. I’m choosing to put myself in that position,” Ollie said. “I worked with these men. I trusted them to back me up in the field and to uphold the law. I won’t sit this one out when my presence is the one thing that will convince them they have leverage over Milan.”

“And they likely have equally strong feelings about you, Detective Robertson,” Sewell shot right back at him. “You’re the cop who didn’t turn, and your very existence reminds them of the oaths they’ve broken. They no doubt hate you, and that hate will turn into sexual or physical violence.”

“Milan and I will not allow him to be hurt,” Travis said, and despite the number of people who had lied to Ollie in the past month, he tended to believe the man.

Ollie smiled at Travis, but then he turned his attention to Sewell. “I’m a cop, Director. We have to balance potential danger against the potential harm to the community, and I think the risk is worth it. I won’t have dirty cops running some untouchable criminal organization.”

“Oh, they’re not untouchable,” Director Sewell said, and her smile was as cold as any that Ollie had ever seen. “They’re about to find out how seriously the federal government takes corruption within the law-enforcement community. But as much as I think this plan is our best shot, I will not sign off without both of you doing interviews with field psych and without consulting with legal. Special Agent Goode, you are on legal’s very short shit list, and you’re about to move to the top.”

“Yes, ma’am. If it helps, tell Hassen that I won’t protest any reprimands he files on this case.”

“But I will,” Ollie said. “I’m not looking for blood, and if I were, Travis would not be on my list, although Milan might be.”

Travis turned toward Ollie. “You say that now, but after some time, some distance, and some therapy, you’ll probably change your mind. Right now you’re focused on the case, but later you’ll think about how my actions were out of line.” When Ollie opened his mouth, Travis held up a hand to stop him. “And I’m not saying that out of guilt, although I have plenty. I’m saying that as an officer of the law. I did not have affirmative consent, and lack of protest is not the same as affirmative consent.”

“If you’d hurt me, I wouldn’t give a shit about time or distance; I would want your blood now. You didn’t, and I won’t change my mind later. Having this same conversation a half dozen times is keeping us from getting the job done.” Ollie stomped down on all the little parts of him that urged him to drop his gaze to the floor, and he glared at Travis.

The corner of Travis’s mouth twitched. “Okay. I can get behind that, so no more talking about what happened between us, and more focus on putting Greyson behind bars. I can endorse that.”

Sewell cleared her throat, and when Ollie looked at her hologram, she was smirking. “It looks like you found someone to stand up to you. Do you want to meet your partner at the apartments, or should I have her come to you?”

“Send Darla here. We don’t know when Greyson’s people will show, so it’s best if we stay close to Milan’s house,” Travis said.

Sewell nodded. “Stay close to the hologram booth. Legal and psych services will be calling, and don’t expect pleasantries. Well, they may be cordial with you, Detective Robertson, but Travis, you will be buying doughnuts for a month before most of those two departments will even speak to you again.”

“Understood, ma’am,” Travis agreed.

Without any warning, Sewell disconnected the hologram. The lights flared, and then the projectors all went dark.

“So, that’s your boss,” Ollie said. “Is she good?”