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I blinked several times, my chest moving on a slow breath. Was this what Aaron thought when he first met me all those years ago? He’d taken a chance on me and watched as my career soared. Maybe it was time I did the same thing for someone else.
“How fast can we get him in here?” I asked.
“Four hours tops.” Ryan moved to stand next to Aaron. “You want me to bring him in?”
“Depends,” Aaron said, tilting his head as he stared at me. “What are you thinking, Brody?”
“I’m thinking we offer him a new life to help us, but not just any new life.” I waited, leaving the rest unsaid, knowing he’d understand where my thoughts were.
Aaron stared at me for several seconds, and then finally gave the go-ahead to Ryan. The guys filed out of my office, and I sat down in my chair, wondering if I was making the right move. Would it backfire on me? Would he refuse what I wanted to offer him?
There was only one way to find out.
All too soon, Ford was walking into my office, Ryan on his heels. “Ford,” I greeted, standing up and offering my hand.
He raised a brow at it, his gaze flicking from my face to my hand several times. “Brody.” He placed his hand in mine, let go, and stepped bac
k. He widened his stance, and it was on the tip of my tongue to tell him to sit down, but I remembered what I’d felt like all those years ago when Aaron had proposed to me what I was about to offer Ford. I’d been wary, not sure if it was a setup, and with my stance widened just the way Ford’s was, I felt like I had at least a little control.
“Why am I back here?” Ford’s deep voice asked. “We had a deal—”
“Hut made bail.” I moved around to the front of my desk, pushed my hands into the pockets of my slacks, and leaned against it.
“He what?” Ford’s eyes widened. “Fuck!”
“Yep.” I nodded, already knowing what was going through his mind. “I want to offer you a new deal.”
“Wha—”
“Hut doesn’t know you’re our CI. All he knows is that you’ve been AWOL for two weeks.” I shrugged, getting straight to the point. “We want you to go back in.”
“No.” Ford backed up a step, his muscles tensing. “I’m not going back—”
“Let me finish.” I stood. “I was just like you. I grew up on the streets. I did everything and anything to survive. I dealt drugs, I beat people up, I slept in empty houses that weren’t mine.” I paused and cleared my throat. “Everything I told you of my past is true, what I left out was the man who helped me get out of there.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Ford’s eyes narrowed, his nostrils flaring, and I understood. I wasn’t making much sense right now, but I would.
“A man came to me with an offer of a new life. One where I could use the skills I’d gained on the streets and put them to good use. To be one of the good guys instead of another spoke in the wheel of the bad guys.”
“Are you saying you want me to become a fuckin' cop?” Ford growled, and however much his voice denied it, the hope in his eyes couldn’t be covered up.
“If you want.” I tilted my head to the side. “I’m saying you’re only twenty-two, and you could become anything you wanted. I could help you with that if you go back in.”
Ford was silent for several minutes, his gaze not moving off my face. I knew that look. It was the one that said he couldn’t believe someone was offering him this and that he shouldn’t trust me, but a part of him wanted to.
“And if I say no?”
“Then Hut is still free...for now.” I inhaled a breath. “He got out on bail, and we have no idea how the trial is gonna go down. We need more. We need to know what he’s doing and catch him breaching his bail conditions. It’s the only way to get him back off the streets.”
Ford’s shoulders slumped, his hand swiping over his face. “And if I do this, you’ll help me become anything I want?”
“Yeah.”
Ford tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling. “Fuck it.” He looked back at me. “I always wanted to be one of the good guys. I was always the cop when we played cops and robbers as kids.” His lips pulled up on one side. “I do this, and you help me become one of you. Deal?” He pushed his hand out.
I raised a brow and inhaled a breath. I wasn’t sure how this was going to go down, but I’d listened to my instincts. Instincts that had told me the Ford from the crew wasn’t the Ford he’d ever wanted to be.
“Deal.”
