Uncovered Undercover

The Buy

Chapter 5: The Buy

Hailey usually wasn't someone to have vivid dreams and rarely ever remembered them in the morning, but that day's events brought forth a variety of dreams during the night which felt very real.

She was back at the club with Hansen, sitting next to Jay, but they weren't on an undercover mission. In the dream, Hailey wasn't a cop, and Jay wasn't her colleague and partner. Her name was Riley, Ryan was her boyfriend, and they were looking to buy her a luxury bag and him an expensive watch. Their cover story was her real life.

She heard the two men talking to each other but didn't care to listen in on the conversation. Her attention lay exclusively on the man sitting next to her, whose body she was pressed up against. As she stared up at his profile and let her fingertips run circles over his thigh, she turned her focus inward to the way she was feeling in that moment. Her insides were enveloped in warm and tranquil happiness. She felt light and carefree, secure and comfortable in Ryan's embrace with his arm draped over her shoulder. He noticed her watching him and turned his head to look at her. The emotion she found in his green eyes made her heart flutter. His gaze resting on her face was mild and affectionate, loving. Ryan reached out for her and let his fingertips trail down her temple to her cheek and along her jaw. When he reached her chin, he gently held it between his thumb and index finger and began leaning in closer. The anticipation halted Riley's breathing, butterflies stirred in her stomach, and she closed her eyes, waiting, yearning for the touch.

The deafening buzzing of her alarm clock pulled Hailey out of the dream. She slammed her hand down on top of it, ending the noise and dropped her head back onto her pillow. A wave of disappointment flooded over her and washed away the serene happiness she'd felt in her dream. It hadn't been real. She lay in bed motionlessly, taking a moment to deal with the disenchantment of the reality she lived in.

Her initial fear had become true. The case was blurring emotional lines that she'd worked hard to establish and maintain. As she forced herself to get out of bed and head to her shower, she reminded herself that she would only have to slip into her undercover persona with Jay one more time, and then the case would be over, and she could begin to redraw and rebuild the lines.

She showered longer than usual, taking her time to think, and when she stepped out of the shower and into the cool air in her bathroom, she had expelled every last remnant of the dream from her body and emerged as her usual confident and professional self.

Later that day, Jay and Hailey sat in the Audi again and were on their way to meet up with Hansen. He had texted them a time and the address of a parking lot a few hours prior.

The team had spent the first part of the day preparing for the meeting and had done research on the men that had been at the club with Hansen. Apart from Hansen's brother and cousin, there had been four other men. Two weren't in the system, and the other two only had minor offences on their resumes.

After Jay had made the last turn, he drove onto the parking lot and shot a glance at Hailey. Both had changed into their persona's clothes again, and Hailey was wearing another short and tight dress, similar to the one from the night before, with a different pair of heels. The video and audio from the necklace and phone had been good, so they'd decided to use them again.

Even though it had been late when Jay had arrived home the night before, he hadn't been able to fall asleep for a long time. Images of the way Hailey had looked at him and memories of how her hand had felt on his leg, how soft her skin had been under his fingertips had kept him awake. He'd enjoyed the undercover show they had put on at the club and had decided to make the most of their last moments of playing a couple.