Page 20 of Strip Search

“Sorry boss, they insisted they had a meeting with youandthe little lady. Kammie said it was okay.”

“I’ll take it from here.” Dallas moves to the side and two very pissed off Davenport brothers step into the room.

“He’s a fucking cop!” Cole barks as soon as the door shuts behind them.

My eyes widen as I look between the three of them.

“And you’re interfering with a federal case,” Dallas snarls. “I’ll admit, sending Molly inside to infiltrate was smart. But not smart enough. Next time, you may want to send someone with more experience.”

“Fuck you,” Cody, Cole, and I all say at the same time.

“How do we know you haven’t gone rogue?” Cody speaks up. “Maybe this is all a ploy to get us off your ass.”

“If I was, you would not have gotten a call from my superior and I sure as shit wouldn’t be wasting my time right now. If I was rogue, Molly would already be up on that stage stripping every night,” Dallas confesses. “And, I wouldn’t be about to ask you for your full help and cooperation.”

“What?” Cole asks in disbelief.

“I won’t say it again. And I’m not giving you any more information unless I have your word that you’re willing to work with me on this. Cole, you know that the Feds aren’t going to call in some civilian off the streets to help us out. Your service history and your track record with your private sector shit have caught my boss’ eye. He thinks you can be trusted, an asset to the team.” Dallas crosses his arms over his chest again. “I, on the other hand, will take some convincing.”

I can’t believe this. We’ve all been played. What’s even more shocking is when Cole and Cody shake Dallas’ hand and take a seat on the couch. They immediately start hashing out details and reviewing what they all know.

My head is spinning as I try to keep up. Cole’s firm has been under surveillance since about a year ago. Knowing that Feds have been following all of us, watching all our moves, is creepy as hell. Alarm bells went off when Cole really started sniffing around. They felt him out and even hired him for a few contractor jobs to test us all. From the sounds of it, we passed.

“Okay,” I finally speak up. “This is all well and good but what happens now? What’s my role in all of this?”

“You strip,” Dallas says far too nonchalantly for Cole’s liking.

Spitting out the water he was attempting to drink from the bottle Dallas offered everyone previously, Cole bellows, “Fuck, no! This stops now.”

Rubbing the back of his neck Dallas hisses, “Then we stage her death, and she goes into Wit-Sec.”

“NO!” I protest. “Fuck THAT.”

Cody is smirking at me and shaking his head. I already know what Cole’s thinking.

“Kill her,” Cole affirms.

“It’s not going to happen.” I’m adamant. Cole really needs to get over his self. “I’ll strip.”

“Listen.” Dallas holds up one hand. “I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I think Molly’s right. She’ll make a better pawn if we kept her in the loop. There’s a client that’s been watching her for a while now, and I think he may be one of our guys. And some of the ladies have already started whispering about favorites and shit. I can potentially buy her a little more time as a waitress, but it will be tough. If we fake her death, it may draw unwanted attention. Let her get to know the ladies more. I could use her on the inside. I have a feeling two of the girls are part of this scheme that these guys are running, if Molly can befriend them, we may be able to get more details,” he sighs. “I’ve been trying for a long fucking time to get closer to them, but I’ve yet to earn their trust.”

“Again, likely because you come off as intimidating as fuck,” I blurt out before my internal filter has a chance to kick in.

Dallas looks at Cole and Cody with a smirk. “You have your hands full with her, don’t you?”

Cole let’s out a huff. “More than you know.”

His comment earns him a one finger salute from me and a laugh from Cody.

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