Rogue Alliance Read Online Free Page B

San Diego, doing business. But his base i s there now. And wherever he is, trouble will follow. Th e Redding Police Department has no clue what they’re dealing with. They’re going to need you.”
                  Shit. Redding fucking California. Her home town. She hated that place. Now in order to score the case of a lifetime, she had to move back. The offer was both intriguing and repulsive. What the hell type of sick and twisted fate was this?
                  “You okay, Ericson? I thought you’d be happy about this.”
                  She was. Kind of. It was just that she hadn’t ever thought she’d step foot back in that town.
                  “Um, yeah. I am. What’s the Redding force think about me coming down there?”
                  “Are you kidding me? People down there are getting antsy now that they’re aware who their newest resident is. Redding PD is stoked to have one of us on the case. A little territorial maybe but that’s to be expected. Besides, they don’t have much of a choice. And with you being born and raised there, you already have an in. You’re one of them. It’s exactly why I knew you were perfect for the job . They’ll be a lot more likel y to accept a native .”
                  “I wouldn’t b e so sure of that, ” Shyla said, cringing at the idea of what the town’s response would really be.
                  Straton met her wary eyes.
                  “Hey. I k now you had a tough childhood, b ut no one holds that against you. You’ve come a long way. They need you up there in Shasta County and they know it. They’ll cooperate. And Champlain doesn’t know you - y ou’re fresh meat. You can go in under cover. Get in from the inside. You’ve done plenty of successful under cover jobs. You can handle this.”
                  “How in the hell am I going to pu ll off under cover when half the town knows me?”
                  Straton gave a devilish smile.
                  “Easy. You’re going in as an administrative assistant to the Chief. You’re moving back home. Lots of people do. ”
                  “You m ean I’m going to be a secretary,” Shyla scoffed, “ Filing. Gett ing coffee. Pulling my hair out. ”
                  Straton ignored her sarcasm and rifled throu gh the stack of paperwork on his desk. He handed her a file.
                  “You’re going in as the Chief’s assistant so t hat you can be close to headquarters without it looking suspicious. Everyone knows that the assistant knows more than anyone else in a police department. You haven’t talked with anyone in the town in years, right ? No one knows you are a detective ?”
                  “Not a chance. ”
                  That was the one thing she had going for her. The Captain said that he knew she’d had a rough childhood, but he had no idea how rough. No one outside of Redding did. The first thing she’d done to step away from that life was change her last name . A t age eighteen she went from Shyla Strauss to Shyla Ericson and had her juvenile records sealed.
                  “Good,” he said, “ I seriously doubt most will even remember you. Fifteen years is a long time. Now the only people who will know your position will be your team and the chief. Even the rest of their agency won’t have a clue. Got it? You will head an interagency task force made up of about three. That’s including you.”
                  “Three, huh? So much for sleeping and eating,” Shyla quipped. Not much of a task force, she thought.
                  “Hey, budget’s tight. We’ll still have a team here, keeping an eye on his minions and their activi ties here. You still work for F.A.N.C . , but you’ll mostly be answering to H al Jorgenson, Chief of Police in