Free Promise Renewed by Mitzi Pool Bridges Page B

squad. Someone does the honors whenever a newbie shows up.ˮ
    “There’s another problem.”
    “Oh?”
    “Money. We’ll need lots of it to make this work.”
    “Struck down before we begin,” he said. “Where the hell would we get our hands on so much cash?”
    The dejected look on his face had her gathering her things. “Leave it to me.”
    “Are you kidding? What are you, an heiress or something?”
    “Rich uncle.” She winked.
    She said a hasty goodbye and left through the back door.
    This crazy plan wouldn’t be easy to carry out. It would be challenging and dangerous. Still, she was sure it could be done. After all, she’d gone undercover many times. But Darin? He was a Texas cop who wore boots and a Stetson, had a drawl as wide as the Rio Grande, and probably didn’t know the first thing about going undercover.
    If she went along with this she could put herself in more danger than she’d counted on. The hardest part of her job might be to keep Darin Callahan from going rogue on her.
    Nobody had seen this coming when she came to Houston.
    ****
    Darin ran through the rain to his truck and started the motor. Traffic had dwindled down to a few hearty souls.
    When he left the parking lot he wondered two things. Was Gina as good as she seemed? Her ideas were good ones, her instincts even better. He didn’t want to put her in danger, but now that he’d talked to her he didn’t see a way to do this alone. Second, was he being followed?
    He looked in his rearview. The street behind him was clear.
    Darin was inclined to think his imagination had gotten the better of him.
    Still, as he drove home, he glanced every so often into his rearview. Just in case, he took a circuitous route back home.
    Having Gina Carlson in his corner somewhat lightened the load he’d carried around since the night his partner was shot.
    It wasn’t enough. He wanted the killer behind bars. ASAP.

Chapter Six
    Gina’s mind churned in a hundred different directions as she drove back to her sister’s. Every instinct she’d honed over the years told her Darin was on the up and up. More important, she trusted him—and he trusted her. Her job called for her to be cautious. Which she would—had to be. Darin was determined to go undercover, if so she’d go with him. She had no choice. They would be surrounding themselves with the biggest drug dealer or dealers in the area. That in itself made her nervous. But Darin could blow the sting wide open if he went off the reservation or acted an amateur. He could get them both killed.
    The thought made her insides shakier than the man himself did. It was unlike her to be attracted. It was another danger she didn’t like. She gripped the steering wheel tighter to still the flutter. With good reason she’d had little to do with the opposite sex over the years. In college, one of the football jocks had asked her out. Her sister urged her to go with him to the movies. It had been a disaster. He’d started pawing her in the theater, became more aggressive when they got in the car.
    For a while she thought she was going to be raped. Fighting her way out of the car, she lost it, screamed her head off, and ran to a small café on the corner. From there she called a cab to take her home.
    She hadn’t trusted another date until she was in the police academy. They’d been assigned partners for one of their classes. Hers was John Adams, a tall, good-looking guy with a sharp wit and a ready smile.
    One day he asked her out. They ended up at a small Italian place for dinner. Though she spent the entire evening tense and suspicious, Adams had been a nice date.
    So they went out again. By the fourth date, they had kissed. Though she still had reservations she found his easy style comforting.
    It took ten dates for him to get her in bed. She was glad to get it over with, but couldn’t figure out what the girls at school were so excited about. John didn’t tilt her world, and she sure as hell didn’t fall