Page 20 of Risky Obsession

Frowning, I pulled myself up on the bed. “I don’t think so. Why?”

“Did you watch the documentary about the Nazi gold that my team and I found?”

“Yes. It was terrible what you and your team went through.”

She heaved a sigh. “Do you remember in the documentary how they described the gold being divided into three portions at the end of the war?”

“Yes. Three hundred bars went onto a submarine. One hundred went onto a train, and one hundred bars went onto a truck, which is the one you found in the frozen lake.” I frowned, searching my recall, and trying to work out where she was going with this questioning. “Some of those gold bars were stolen from you by someone on your team. Is that right?”

“Correct. Cooper Apollo. His callsign was Jet. He stole fifty-two bars of gold, our truck, and left us stranded in those frozen mountains.”

“That’s right. What does this have to do with me?”

A nurse entered the room, and as she checked my blood pressure, Aria halted our conversation by stepping back from the bed and studying her phone.

The nurse left and Aria moved forward again.

“Kane Devlin came to see me yesterday. He thinks he has clues aboutthe missing gold bars. How would you feel about working with Kane to investigate his findings?”

“Oh. Um, I guess so.” Anything to keep me busy was a good thing.

“But there’s a catch.”

I frowned.

“I don’t want Kane knowing you’re working for me, or that you’re a cop.”

“I’ve done undercover work before.”

“I know. That’s one reason why I’m making this offer. I doubt he would share anything with a cop.”

“Okay, and what’s the other reason?”

“I think he’d be less suspicious of a woman.”

I waited, sensing there was more.

“He says he doesn’t need the money and that he wants to find the gold for some quest for his grandfather. Yet I couldn’t find any records showing where his income comes from. And there was a court case a few years ago that showed a greedy side to him. As you know, we have no idea who’s been working with Chui, and we’ve been caught out a few times. I’m not ready to trust Kane. Anyway . . .” She swept her hand like she was casting aside the comment. “What do you think?”

Her offer was like a balm to the chaos crashing through my mind. Ever since I’d joined the force, my mantra had been to keep moving forward. Taking time out was not part of that equation and Aria had just thrown me a lifeline that I couldn’t resist. “I’m interested, but why would Kane let me join him to search for the gold?”

Aria grinned. “You’re going to pretend you’re a treasure hunter.”

I laughed and then cried out at the pain in my ribs. Then I studied her. “You’re serious.”

“Yes. You can start with a couple of days recuperating at Cobra and Yasmin’s place. Yasmin’s father was an expert on this gold, and he has dozens of journals with information about it. I want you to study those journals and pick Yasmin’s brain about it. That should give you enough information to pull this off. Then I’m going to put you and Kane together.”

“Won’t he be suspicious?”

She shook her head. “Since that documentary went live, dozens of so-called treasure hunters have tried to get in on these missing gold bars. I’ll tellhim that you had some specific information that proved you were legitimate.”

Compared to the last undercover job I’d had, this one was going to be a breeze. “Sounds like fun. I’m in, provided I’m still kept up to date with the investigations back here.”

Aria’s eyes darkened. “This gold has attracted some of the worst scum of the earth. Dozens of deaths can be directly attributed to this Nazi treasure, including my teammate, Kai. So, you’ll need to watch your back.”

“Always.” Ever since I turned on the motorcycle gang I’d been involved in, I had always felt the need to watch my back.

“Good. After your couple of days at Yasmin’s place you’ll be heading to Europe.”