Smitten || DeAndre Jordan {Crush Sequel}

Chapter Four

DeAndre

"We need you to go undercover again," my police chief said, folding his arms across his broad chest as he leaned against the window in the interrogation room he'd pulled us into.

I gave a long drawn out sigh. "When?"

"Right now," he replied seriously.

"No. Not a chance. I'm busy. Get Johnson or somebody to cover it," I said referring to the other young cop my age on the force.

"That's why we need you. This is Johnson's case. He's been working on infiltrating a group of suspects and was supposed to make contact tonight. He's in the hospital with acute appendicitis. We can't mess this up and wait for him to get better. It'll look to suspicious. We have to send someone in."

I wanted to bang my head against the table thinking about Cami waiting for me at home. "I don't know anything about this case. I'd be walking in blind."

"Another reason we called you in. We're going to prep you for the next three hours on the particulars and get you ready to go out and meet your new girlfriend."

"Excuse me?" I said leaning forward to rest my arms against the table. "I like the girlfriend I have. She's currently sitting in my house waiting for me to finish the romantic evening we had planned."

Chief Rivers had the decency to look apologetic. "I'm sorry to spring this on you, Hyland, but we need you. You've already been undercover, so you know the drill, and you match the look we're going for. We've been trying to get a lead on this case for a long time, and now we have an insider feeding us information."

Chris interrupted. "He's only now been cleared after getting shot. Do you think this is good timing for him?"

"We think it will lend credibility to his story, actually. We can fabricate something about him being involved in a shootout perhaps. It'll make him look like he's already been in with a rough crowd."

I knew the department had been really careful to keep my name and pictures out of the news when things had gone down with James. There was no reason for anyone in Arizona to know who I was, and I could see they weren't going to let me out of this."

"What's the case?" I asked with a defeated sigh.

"It's actually a missing person's case; Manny Perez is the name. He worked for a local garage as a mechanic and tow truck guy. His partner on the job was Jason Derulo. Jason's sister came forward and asked for help. She believes her brother Jason may have killed Manny. They allegedly had a heated argument at work, and no one has seen him since."

My first reaction was suspicion. "And why would she want to turn in her brother?"

"Manny was her boyfriend. She wants to find his killer."

"And now I'm supposed to be her new boyfriend? Wouldn't that seem a bit callous of her?"

"Manny's been missing for almost a year. There were no leads during the previous search for him, and foul play was suspected because all of his belongings were still at home. He simply disappeared. Johnson's been building a relationship with her. They text regularly and have met a couple times, but he hasn't been introduced to her brother yet. We want you to step in and take over where he left off."