Chapter 2: Preparations
A few hours later, Hailey rounded a corner in the staircase on her way to the tech room. She had changed into her outfit for the night and wore a short, black dress that showed off a decent amount of cleavage and her legs, matching heels, gold earrings, and dark red lipstick.
Gripping the handrail tightly to steady herself, she descended the last steps and walked through the garage.
Jay was crouched down in front of a shelf in the tech room, going through the microphone and camera equipment. "I think the entire precinct heard you coming down those stairs, Hailey," he joked as he stood up and turned around, his movement halting slightly when he saw her.
His reaction didn't go unnoticed by her and neither did the way he looked in the tailored, black suit he was wearing.
"Shut up," she chuckled and walked over to him. "I still haven't figured out how to quietly and elegantly walk down stairs in heels. Not sure if I ever will."
"Well, you look very nice in them. In all of this," Jay said motioning up and down her body, then quickly held up the gadgets in his hands. "Which one do you want?"
"The necklace should be good," Hailey decided and took the gold necklace with a blue, crystal pendant from him.
"Okay, I'll take the phone to have additional audio and a tracker. I think the one camera in your necklace should suffice," he reckoned and returned the other objects to their places on the shelf.
"What's your take on Hansen?" Hailey asked as she put on the necklace. "It's not easy to get a good read on him from his file. In his early criminal career, he appears to have been pretty reckless and impulsive. He made careless and dumb mistakes which got him caught. The recent robberies, however, needed precise planning to go off the way they did."
"Maybe he just got older and wiser. Or it might be the influence and doing of the fourth unidentified offender," Jay mused and moved over to a table to take a seat on its edge. "Since we're meeting at Hansen's club, we'll probably be dealing with him, though. But even if we're meeting with someone else, I'd still assume that it will be relatively easy to get them to sell to us. They'd make a lot of money off us after all."
"Yeah, we'll see," Hailey agreed. "I'm guessing since they wrote that they want to do introductions at the club, they won't be ready to sell to us today, though."
"Probably not. That is if they're smart and careful. Today, we'll just put on a good performance, get whomever we're meeting with to like us and show them that we aren't law-abiding citizens," he shrugged with an amused half-smile on his lips. "It'll be easier for them to trust us if they think we run in similar circles."
"Should be fun," Hailey chuckled, and Jay's smile widened in return.
They tested the sound quality and GPS tracking of the phone Jay had picked first before moving on to the necklace. Hailey stood in front of Jay who held a tablet computer in his hands which he used to set up the video feed. She studied his face as he did so. His brows were pulled together, and his lips were slightly parted in a concentrated manner. She swallowed when her eyes lingered on his lips for a moment too long and moved her gaze up to his eyes just in time to meet them when he looked up from the screen.
"I'm not happy with the feed," he sighed and set the tablet down on the table next to him, then reached out for the necklace.
When he picked it up, his fingers brushed against Hailey's chest, causing her breath to hitch.
"Sorry," Jay murmured with a coy smile.
"That's alright," Hailey whispered as her cheeks heated up and looked down to watch Jay open the necklace and slide the tiny switch inside off and on again before closing the lid and letting go of the necklace.
"Okay, the image is good now," he noted contently and turned the screen around, so Hailey could have a look.
She took it and moved back and forth to get a feel for the camera angle and range, then handed the tablet back to Jay who had put on a set of headphones.
"Talk to me for a bit for the audio," he instructed Hailey and tapped a few buttons on the screen.
Hailey nodded. "Alright, I'll go over our story one more time. We met a little over half a year ago when you came into the club I was dancing at..."
Jay held one side of the headphones against one ear and watched her as she rattled off all the details of their undercover personas and relationship they had agreed upon. His eyes were drawn in by the warm, brick-red colour on her full lips and followed their every movement as she talked. He realised that he was staring and moved his gaze to her eyes which were intently focused on his. Their intense blue was simultaneously icy cold, yet also warm and inviting.
Hailey came to the end of her recapitulation, her voice fading out and becoming quieter as she uttered the last words. The room became quiet, but neither of them moved. Silently, they held their eye contact, and their breathing became shallow as the air between them seemed to hum with static energy.
Sometimes, when they were caught up in one of those moments and Jay looked at her like that, Hailey would briefly let herself hope that he was thinking and feeling the same as her.
The rattling of the opening garage door and the roar of a powerful car motor broke their trance.
"Audio is good," Jay said, then cleared his throat and nodded towards their Sergeant who'd just entered the room with Kim and Vanessa.
"Ready to go?" Voight asked in his deep, husky voice.
"Yes, we're ready," Hailey confirmed, picked up her small bag off the table next to Jay, and walked out into the garage.
Jay handed the screen and headset over to Kim and followed her.
Hailey had stopped in front of a silver Audi R8 and watched Adam climb out of the car as Kevin took a lap around it, his eyes shining almost as brightly as the vehicle's polished rims.
"Nice!" Hailey exclaimed, drawing out the word and grinning widely.
Adam came to stand next to her. "I know, right!" he gushed, "I couldn't believe it when I spotted this beauty in the lot for seized cars. M'lady, your ride for tonight."
He did a small butler's bow and handed Hailey the keys. She took them from him but glared down at her strappy, black sandals with stiletto heels which would make driving impossible.
"You don't seem like the type of guy who would let his girlfriend drive anyway," she sighed and passed the keys on to Jay who stood on her other side.
At first, confusion flashed across his face, but then he understood and got into character with a smirk on his lips. "Why would you want to drive? Just sit back, relax, and let me be your chauffeur, babe," he told Hailey in a sugary, yet condescending tone then looked past her at Adam. "We both know that she couldn't handle a car like that and would put a scratch in it right away."
"What a gentleman!" Hailey chuckled and turned around to look for Vanessa.
When she spotted her, she waved the young woman over.
"Could you do me a favour and get my boots out of my locker? I can't pass on the opportunity to drive this later," she whispered to Vanessa who agreed and headed for the stairs.
She returned a minute later just as the unit gathered in front of the hood of the car to summarise everyone's tasks for the night.
Voight ended the round by saying, "Okay. Remember, we don't need Hansen or his accomplices to admit to any criminal behaviour. Don't mention the robberies or anything that might spook them. The only objectives for tonight are to gain their trust and get IDs on everyone in Hansen's circle and everyone he talks to. Nothing more. Hopefully, by the end of the night, we'll have a date and time to do the buy. Got it?"
Hailey and Jay nodded, and Voigt slapped Jay on the shoulder.
"Good, let's go," the sergeant announced and headed towards the parking lot exit with Kim, Vanessa, Kevin, and Adam following close behind.
Hailey and Jay got into their car, and Hailey stashed her shoes in the legroom space in front of the passenger seat. She enjoyed Jay's childlike excitement as he inspected the car's interior and let his hands run over various surfaces. When he started the car's engine and the car came to life, they exchanged quick, delighted grins. Then Jay backed out of the garage carefully but skilfully before shifting the lever into the first gear and accelerating down the street. The momentum sent a tingling feeling through Hailey's stomach, and a thrilled laugh escaped her throat.