I clear my throat, keep my tone even. “What are you getting at?”
“We want the same thing, Decker. The Sinners gone. Or better yet, dead. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that. I can tell you are too. We can help each other.”
Ah. I get it now. He thinks I tried to kill Donovan that day. And maybe he thinks I’ll try again.
The influence and authority that come with this job are a lot to shoulder. Most of us are here to make things better, to protect. Some are here for the other thing—the power of the badge. That kind of power can be dangerous as fuck. Even more so than thepowerI keep holstered at my side. And this guy? He’s all about control and power. I can smell it on him. This will not end well for the Soldiers of Sin. Or for me.
“What exactly do you want from me?” I ask.
“I want you to keep doing what you’ve been doing. Working to take out the trash. Only now you’ll have the resources to do it. And while we’re at it, we’ll get the piece of shit helping the Sinners stay afloat. One thing I hate more than an outlaw is a dirty cop.”
Yeah. Dirty cops are… definitely the worst.
“Well?” he says. “You in this with me or what?”
I force a smile. “Whatever it takes.”
“That’s what I like to hear. We’re gonna be fast friends, Decker.” He slips his phone out of his pocket and glances at it. “I ride with you tonight. I want everything you got on the Sinners and a tour of your town so I can get familiar with the area. Seven thirty good?”
Jaw tight, I nod. “Patrol car will be out front.”
When he leaves the room and I’m alone, I lean back against the wall, knock my head against the brick, and expel a big breath.
The OPP presence is a problem. But Allen? He’s a lot more dangerous than some run-of-the-mill ladder-climbing bureaucratic moron looking for a couple easy arrests. He thinks we’re after the same thing: Donovan dead and the cop in his pocket strung up right along with him.
But I got no interest in being besties with the guy looking to sniff out the rat in the South Bay PD.
Because the dirty cop he’s looking for is me.
So I need to wrap this shit up and get the OPP far the fuck away from South Bay. Otherwise, I’ll be the one in handcuffs. Or dead.
3
Ridingwith Sergeant Allen is about as fun as I thought it would be. By the halfway point of my shift, I’m seriously considering biting the barrel of my gun and pulling the trigger.
We’ve done the main loop around town four times, and we’ve cruised by every Sinner hangout. Then we circled their clubhouse for almost an hour. Rolling down every street in South Bay like we have wouldn’t be all that bad if Allen wasn’t the most irritating, obnoxious prick on the planet.
The guy also doesn’t fucking eat. I missed my eleven o’clock sandwich at Frank’s Deli because Allen said it would be a “waste of time.”
I twist my hands on the steering wheel and let out a sigh as I check the time. It’s like salt in a wound when the clock on the centre console changes to twelve. Frank’s closes at midnight. No sandwich for me.
“I can respect the hustle, Allen, but I’m starving. And I have to hit my route at least once tonight.” I turn my key in the ignition.
The snake-wrapped skull decorating the black door of the Sinner clubhouse is visible from our spot on the street. There area couple Harleys lined up against the side of the building, but other than the odd biker popping out for a smoke, the place is dead.
“I’m gonna hit up Timmie’s for coffee and whatever stale donuts they got left, and then I’ll take you on my usual route. All right?”
Rather than respond, he stares me down.
He’s been doing this all night. I don’t answer a question the way he wants? Stare down. I don’t laugh at his crack about female cops? Stare down. I tell him we’re gonna stop and get sandwiches? Stare down. I’ve mostly ignored it, but my missed late-night snack has got me on edge. I’m losing patience with the alpha-dominance-bullshit game the guy’s trying to win.
I stare back, donning an uninterested expression. It isn’t difficult. Not a thing has happened all night. No calls, no disturbances, no teenagers tossing bottles off the Willow Creek bridge. It’s quiet. I won’t jinx it by saying it out loud, but there’s a chance tonight will be entirely uneventful.
After a moment, Allen chuckles and breaks our staring contest. “You don’t intimidate, do you, Decker?”
I shift into drive and start down the road. “Guess not.”
“I like that. Need a guy on my team who doesn’t take any shit. So long as you can follow orders.”
