Undercover cop Dan Hudson is framed for blackmail and kicked off the NOPD force. Enraged about that, and the fact that his lover refuses to stand by him, Dan moves to Denver, where he becomes Dirk Steele. He finds a job working for the Powells, who are pawnbrokers ... and fences. When he proposes to them that he put together a team to steal on demand for the Powells’ less than legitimate clients, a deal is struck and the team is formed. The team consists of Maverick, a thief; Tripp, a street kid who shoplifts to survive; and Fey, another street kid who is an excellent pickpocket and petty thief. Now the question becomes, will the team succeed? And, equally important, will the attraction between Dirk, who has sworn off love, and Maverick -- whose credo is only down and dirty sex -- grow into something more? Or will they remain just 'friends with benefits'? Time will tell as the team takes on increasingly difficult jobs and a man from Dirk's past shows up who could possibly throw a monkey wrench into the works.

Wrong Side of the Law

“Pull up a seat,” Powell said, pointing to a stool beside a small floor safe. When Dirk brought it over and sat, Powell told him, “I figured if I was going to trust you to set up more security, I’d be an idiot not to let you back here.”


Dirk nodded, his first question being, “What’s behind that door?” He thumbed to the one behind them.


“Storage, a walk-in gun vault, though we use it for more than that, and a four-by-six jewelry safe.”


“Built-in. The one thing we splurged on after we bought the business.”


Powell frowned for a second before replying, “Ten years next month.”


“And the only upgrades you did were the safes?”


“Pretty much. The ones the guy had in here before? Two strong men could have picked them up and walked away through the back entrance.”


“You always been a pawnbroker?” Dirk asked while keeping an eye on two men who were looking long and hard at guns in the cases not too far from the cage.


Chapter 8