Now they played twenty questions.
Dev took a smaller bite of his sandwich, coming up with nothing. The threat could literally be from many different directions.
“What do you know?” he finally asked.
“Tell Fox to get his connections in the feds to sniff around.” Grisby hooked his thumbs into the shoulder straps of his bulletproof vest as he eyed Keyes. “Does he have to stand that way?”
“I don’t know,” Dev said and turned to Keyes. “You have to stand that way?”
Keyes’s intimidating gaze stayed leveled on the cop, but he didn’t otherwise respond.
“Seems so,” Dev answered and reached for the bag of chips. “He’s an animal who hates cops. I think that’s the best you’re gonna get.”
Keyes grumbled. Man, he and Keyes had this good cop, bad cop thing down. The joke was so funny in Dev’s head that a chuckle burst out of his mouth.
Officer Grisby looked between the two of them. His hand lowered again to the butt of his revolver. “Tell your old man what I said. I don’t like having to track you down. You should have answered the phone. Then to have this big oaf trying to intimidate me. It’s bullshit and not part of our deal.”
Dev glanced at Keyes then met Grisby’s gaze. “Don’t think he’s actually tryin’…yet.”
The cop huffed out a breath. “I’m gonna assume this is a show to protect the balance since we’re in public, but I don’t like it.”
“I’ll mark that down in the minutes. Get gone, cop.”
Grisby pivoted around and left the pavilion, grumbling under his breath. Dev let it go. Keyes tracked every step the cop made all the way to his cruiser.
“Come finish your food,” Dev said, letting Grisby’s ominous tip go for now. He’d relay the message but had all he could deal with today. Tomorrow he’d worry about the federal concern. Whatever. They were already under federal investigation and that had turned up squat. Let the bastards come. Not the first time, wouldn’t be the last.
When the police cruiser pulled away, Keyes finally rolled his shoulders and took his seat again. “Fuckin’ cops. What did that even mean?”
“Who knows,” Dev replied. “Did I tell you Tena’s a fuckin’ cunt?”
Keyes chuckled and started back on his sandwich. “I’ve heard that before.”
Chapter 4
Cash lifted his gaze to the rafters adorning the halls of Methodist Hospital in Dallas, Texas, as he strode in silence to the predetermined meeting location. Well, not in complete silence. His high-dollar loafers gave the slightest clicking noises as he walked down the dull vinyl-covered hallway.
Funny how much money he spent on his wardrobe when he’d been raised with a handful of T-shirts and athletic shorts from thrift stores. Cheap children’s clothing had a way of stretching. His smalls became larges and grew with him over the years. According to his dad, those had been his mom’s jackpot finds.
Stop. No more trips down memory lane. Those were coming too frequently since he’d landed on Dallas soil. He needed to focus. Find his inner A-game. Concentration and observation were critical at this point.
Cash truly walked the line.
How he’d ended up in an oversight department within the Exempt Operations Division of the United States Attorney General’s office, going undercover to root out corruption among his fellow federal agents, was a long sordid tale.
All right, it wasn’t that long.
About five years ago, the AG’s office had approached him with the offer. He’d been a fresh-faced undercover agent within the DEA and had quickly made a name for himself after being assigned a years’ old case that he’d managed to close within a few months.
It hadn’t been hard. The well-connected, seasoned special agent in the field had financed a very lucrative off-duty lifestyle for himself by being on the take for years.
At the time, Cash wore the values his parents had instilled in him like a cloak of justice. He hadn’t thought twice about turning the agent in and closing the case. Right was right. So taking the position with the AGEOs had seemed like the perfect opportunity. He continued working for the DEA and took on secret special assignments for AGEOs as they arose.
And while he’d lost his rose-colored glasses, he’d still closed three additional cases for the AGEOs, all involving rogue agents. He’d gained quite the reputation with his superiors while somehow keeping his “secret undercover identity” under wraps. That was also unheard of in his current line of work.
Only he and three other people in the AG’s office had any idea that when he was assigned to a case, he also sought crooked federal law enforcement officers. He’d wondered how he kept that secret so private except that his lack of friendships or other meaningful relationships screamed the answer to that query.
His entire adult life was chock full of undercover assignments and not much else.
