In Pursuit of Justice by Radclyffe Read Free Book Online Page B

maybe we can work around it.” He walked back behind his desk, took a thick blue folder off a pile by his right hand, and opened it in front of him. “This just came in. The brass wants us to be part of a task force the feds are setting up—”
    “Uh-uh. No way. Not a combined jurisdictional deal. That’s a dead-end job. Making nice with assho—”
    “Sergeant.”
    She clamped her jaws closed so hard she was certain Henry could hear them snap. She’d expected some kind of repercussions after what had happened with Blake. The press might have made her out to be a hero, but that didn’t make it true. Henry had every right to be pissed off about the way she’d skirted the chain of command, but she didn’t figure he’d bury her in some back room, pushing paper with the feds. Okay, fine, she’d crawl if it meant street duty.
    “Captain, please…”
    “Hear me out, Frye.” His tone was surprisingly conciliatory. Continuing to scan the memo, he read, “Justice, Customs, and the Philadelphia PD are to set up a multilevel task force aimed at identifying and apprehending those individuals and/or organizations responsible for the production and distribution of child pornography, including the procurement of subjects.”
    Rebecca blinked. “What does that mean? Some kind of sting operation?”
    “I’m not entirely sure,” Henry admitted. In fact, the way the entire thing had been dumped on him was odd. He’d gotten a call from his boss and been told to put a team player on it, and that’s all he’d been told. Well, it was his squad and he’d assign whom he liked. “The thing is in the formative stages from what I can see. But it’s been blue-lined—top priority. Since Special Crimes has the best working knowledge of the street side of things—child prostitution, kiddie porn, the whole ugly mess—we’ve been fingered to provide the local manpower.”
    “For how long?” Rebecca asked suspiciously. It might be an entrée back to the streets, at least she could parlay it into one, but she didn’t want to be stuck in bureaucratic limbo indefinitely. There might be another important perk involved, too. While she worked the child prostitution angle, she could do a little digging into what Jimmy Hogan had gotten himself into while undercover, what he had wanted to tell her partner, and what he knew that had gotten both of them killed. “Weeks, months?”
    “Couldn’t say.” He shrugged. “I can’t imagine it will move all that quickly, but who knows. For the time being, it’s the closest thing to street duty you’re going to see.”
    He closed the folder and fixed her with a steady stare. “You’ve got a few choices, Sergeant. The commissioner would love to promote you—they like good press, and a hero cop is good press. Accept the lieutenant’s bars, make the department look good, and you could probably transfer to some nice administrative position downtown.”
    “Behind a desk.”
    “Yes.”
    “Or?” Rebecca queried, although she already knew the answer.
    “Go through channels and get your psych clearance, take this assignment, and when I think you’re ready, I’ll move you back to catching active cases.”
    There wasn’t much to think about. She stood, her expression nearly blank. “Who do I contact?”
    He opened the folder, jotted down a name and number, and handed it to her. “Avery Clark, Department of Justice. That’s the local number. You can have one of our people for legwork, and we’ll pull a uniform to handle the paperwork from our end. Organized Crime probably has people undercover working the prostitution angle, and you’ll have to be careful to preserve their cover. I don’t have to tell you that whenever we’ve got people in that position, any move that might expose them can be risky.”
    She thought about Jimmy Hogan and Jeff Cruz. Two dead cops. “No, sir. You don’t.”
    “And this is an administrative position, Frye. Advise, coordinate, provide background. You