High Stakes Gamble

Chapter Sixteen

Disgruntled, Kai drove his rental aimlessly. He’d just paid an official courtesy visit to the FBI guys to debrief them on the Angeli case and their connections in Nevada, more specifically in Las Vegas. Now he wanted to talk to some ‘real’ people.

Alan Haynes, the head of the unit where he’d been told to report, could give lessons on how to piss off a colleague. The man had about as much personality as a screwdriver. Having met men like him before, Kai figured that Haynes probably worked hard at being an a*shole to compensate for his short, skinny body.

A blaring from a disgruntled taxi dispelled his distraction and he made up his mind. Hell with it! He’d go and see Cory, and if he should just happen to run into Aurora, she’d have to deal with it. Damned if he’d slink around with his tail tucked between his legs for the rest of his life. Not only was it frigging uncomfortable, it didn’t suit him at all. If he needed to take a licking from her friends, then so be it.

Wouldn’t be the only time he’d had to take a beating. Visions of the violence he’d recently lived through rose but he squashed them. Must have been the talk about the investigation with Haynes that made his mind wander back to the recent hell he’d barely escaped.

***

Thick with tension, the dead silence in the squad room as he headed toward Cory’s office could be chewed. Kai stopped when he approached Ham’s desk. God he hoped Ham didn’t beat him too badly. His recovery had kicked in and he’d begun to feel like a new man. Another round with a pair of fists would set him back, could even put him in the hospital again.

The big Irishman rose and wiggled his shoulders as if to relax.

Good, thought Kai. Hell, if it would help, he’d offer him a full body massage.

Ham loomed a few inches over Kai, who didn’t move. Took all his perseverance to allow someone else this impudence, but he suspected he deserved whatever Aurora’s Irish guardian angel wanted to dish out.

“It’s been a while.” The edge of Ham’s voice could saw a steel rod in two.

Kai nodded, put his hands over his suit pockets reaching for his hips and then changed his mind. Instead he braced himself, feet apart and waited. “Yeah! I missed you.”

Whether Ham read the sincerity in Kai’s unflinching stare or he’d heard the truth from Cory, he nodded back. “Figured my girl would shoot your sorry ass if you ever had the nerve to show that ugly mug here again.”

“Guess I caught her in a good mood. She only used her gun to threaten my ahh… Seriously scared the bejesus outta me.”

A slight grin broke through Ham’s concrete façade. “You’re lucky. I figured you for a dead man.”

“You gonna do her dirty work for her?” Kai didn’t break eye contact. Neither did Ham.

“Nah! You ain’t worth doing time for.”

“Nasty! She said the same thing.”

“That’s my girl. You want something?”

“Okay if I go check with the boss.”

“Sure. No skin off my balls you wanna die.”

“Actually, we’ve discussed that already and he’s giving me a reprieve.”

“More’n you deserve.”

“My sentiments exactly.” Kai went around the desk and then moved slowly toward Cory’s office. After a few steps, the office noise resumed but the muttering increased. Guess his chances of winning a popularity contest were pretty well nil. It pissed him off because he’d always enjoyed the camaraderie in the place.

He relaxed his shoulders, took a deep breath and knocked. Cory boomed, his voice full of fury. “Enter at your own peril.”

Kai hesitated. Now what? Leave or stay…

He slowly opened the door and leaned into the room. “I’ll go if you want—”

Cory slammed down the phone receiver so hard Kai wondered why it hadn’t broken. “Get your ass in here. We have big trouble.”