Chapter 2

Zane sat down opposite the woman.

“I need your biodata for the file. Write it on there for me please,” he said pushing the file over to her.

“Make me,” the woman replied.

Zane looked her in the eyes and she stared back at him. Second for second, unwavering, challenging, teasing even. Zane said nothing and waited for her to tire of her challenge.

She smiled. “You’re forgetting something. I’m the one going to prison here. I have no small amount of time to kill. So, we can sit here as long as you like and I’m guessing you’d like that considering how you were ogling me back at the warehouse.”

Zane felt his cheeks turn red and retorted, “Don’t flatter yourself.”

The woman pretended not to hear him. “You’re probably thinking how much you’d like my gorgeous lips around your cock right now.”

“You mentioned it so I guess that’s what’s on your mind,” Zane replied.

The woman sat forward resting her face in her hands. “Actually, I was wondering when you’re going to get your shit together and start doing your job. A girl needs her beauty sleep.”

Zane felt anger rising within him and almost made a comment he would later regret. He managed to stop himself. He pulled the file back over and turned it the right way up for him.

“Name?” he asked.

“Hope.”

“Hope what?”

Hope I suck you off?”

Zane waited, his pen poised over the file. When she said nothing else, he looked up. Straight into her eyes. Her lips were parted in a smile. A smile he could only describe as playful. Then she bit the left side of her lower lip while she maintained her smile and held his gaze. His resolve began to fail. He felt desire begin to stir in him.

Zane was lost. Lost for words. Lost his train of thought. Simply lost. In her. He wanted to take her then and make her his. In so many ways. Thoughts that no man, even less a police officer, or worse, Chief of Police should think, crashed through his mind. Like a bull in a china shop. A womanizer in a brothel.

Zane realized he was licking his lips, lost in his thoughts, and pulled himself back to reality.

“Hope who?” he asked firmly.

“Hope Ryder,” she finally answered. He looked at her again to see if she was fooling around. She wasn’t.

He went through the rest of the details and she answered. She was twenty-six years old. Sad he thought. Such a waste of a ...

He pushed his thoughts away again and began his questioning.

“Are the person responsible for setting up this operation?”

“What if I am?” she shrugged.

“Well, there was no-one else there who seemed to be capable of giving orders.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m in charge of the operation,” Hope replied.

“I’m guessing you were in charge today,” Zane fired back. “How does someone like you set up an operation like this? This hasn’t been set up overnight.”

“I couldn’t tell you that for free. Training costs money. If you want to learn the tools of my trade you have to pay me.”

“Do you have an answer for everything?”

“Makes life fun,” she smiled. He stared at her icily indicating that he found nothing funny about her attitude.

“God, you’re fucking boring. I thought you’d be more fun. I’ve had more fun with other cops than you. Maybe you prefer dick in the ass. That would explain it.”

Zane’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t care what other cops are like. I’ve got a job to do and I’m doing it.”

“Well, you can’t do it without me. Funny how cops need criminals to have a job. Even funnier is how you can do nothing unless criminals co-operate. See, you can’t do a thing to me. Not a thing. Or I’ll cry police brutality. And then you’re fucked. And not in the way you’d like.”

“Screw you, lady,” Zane said losing patience. “Just answer the damn questions.”

“Or what?”

Zane sighed, “What do you want?”

“The question is, what do you want? I’ll answer every question you ask. Just be honest about what you want. And when I give you what you want, you let me go.”

“You need to stop flattering yourself. I won’t let you go and you know that,” Zane replied.

“You want me. I see it in your eyes. I knew from the moment you first looked at me, you wanted me. So take me. Any way you want. Then I’ll tell you everything and then you let me go.”

Zane was speechless. Hope held his gaze shamelessly.

“Are you bribing me with sex?”

“I didn’t say that,” Hope smiled.

Zane paused a moment. “Okay. Let’s see just how honest you are. What I want is for you to tell me everything about the drug operations you’re setting up here in Hurstville. I want to know everything. Suppliers, dealers, connections, everything. There. I’ve told you what I want. I’ve been honest.”

Hope’s eyes narrowed. “You think you’re so clever. They warned me about you.”

The statement caught Zane off guard. Managing to keep a straight face he asked, “Who warned you about me?”

Hope said nothing as she studied Zane across the table. “I’ll tell you what. You’ve got enough information now to go and search your big police database. When you’ve done your research come back to me and then we can talk.”

Zane grabbed his file and left the room locking the door behind him. He found Brian waiting outside looking through the one-way mirror. He wondered how much Brian had heard.

“She’s a tough one,” Brian commented.

“Tell me about it,” Zane growled. “I’m going to check the database in the meantime. See if you can get anything out of her. How did it go with the other one?”

“I locked him up already. Don’t waste your time. He’s just another illegal immigrant who got roped into doing something criminal because he couldn’t get a job. We arrested him on the first day on the job. He says he wanted to leave when he realized what he’d be doing but he was scared for his life. Same old story.”