The Recruit(69)

Ryan rubbed his hands down his jeans. ‘Jaz, I won’t lie to you. There have been a few, like Chris. But if you knew or could see all the people Chris had saved, you’d be amazed. And Chris knew what he was doing. He loved that he could get the bad guys off the streets.’ Over the road in the park, Ryan was watching a mother with her little girl running around. ‘He’d saved a boat load of girls, younger than you, from becoming prostitutes. They would have been treated badly but he saved them and that’s what kept him going. It’s what keeps me going. I’m looking after my country and its people. There is no greater job in my eyes.’

Jaz was watching Ryan as he spoke, the passion and fight in his eyes was alluring. Right then, she would have followed him to the ends of the earth.

‘What made you say yes?’ she asked.

He pressed his lips together before taking a breath. ‘Back in school my best mate brought some drugs to try out, it ended up killing him. So I jumped at the chance to stop these people who were trying to sell to kids. I guess I want to make the world a safer place.’

Jaz tried to imagine losing Tay or Anna the same way and she knew she’d be just like Ryan. She’d have said ‘yes’ to joining already.

‘Come on, I better get you back to school.’ He started his car and drove away from the park.

Outside the school walls, Ryan stopped. ‘I didn’t really thank you for getting my message for me either. You were amazing.’ He turned to smile at her. ‘You’d be brilliant on our team.’

Jaz wanted to bring up their kiss. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it, but what did it mean to Ryan. Had he wished it had never happened?

‘About that night in the club,’ she said slowly.

‘It’s okay, Jaz. It’s just the adrenaline rush, I understand. It happens in our job.’

Damn it, no he didn’t, she wanted to say. Jaz was sure it was more than that. She knew it wasn’t just adrenaline. If anything, the adrenaline had just given her the courage to do what she’d been thinking about for a while now. Did Ryan’s reply mean he had forgotten it already?

‘Oh, okay,’ she mumbled as she grappled for the door handle. ‘See you later, I guess.’ With her parting words, she shut the door and watched him leave. Why did it feel like he’d driven away with her heart squished in the door?





Chapter 26


Okay, so technically, getting out of the school was easier then getting back in. She’d had to convince the guard at the front doors that her mum had just dropped her off after a dentist’s appointment. Jaz even went to the extent of showing him her teeth. You gotta do what you gotta do!

None the less he’d let her go and now she was in her last class of the day. They were supposed to be reading the next chapter of text in Human Biology but Jaz had no interest in reading it. Her book sat open to the right page but inside it was the magazine Ryan had given her. She had his number but she didn’t know really what to text him and in the end thought the code would work best.

So she’d gone about finding the words through the magazine, which was a little harder than she thought. At first she wanted to say I want to talk more but she’d just about read the whole magazine without finding the word talk. She found information on the third page and decided to use that instead.

18-4-3 / 28-11-7 / 22-4-5 / 3-8-2

I need more information

Jaz didn’t bother texting her name, he had her number after all.

The siren went and Jaz sent the text and packed up. She met up with Anna just outside the main doors.

‘Hey, how did the lunch go? What can you report?’

Jaz put on a smile and tried to hide her anxiousness at wanting to hear from Ryan. ‘Yeah it was good. Had a chat and he told me much the same as Pax did. Just a few family problems at the moment but we are still friends. So what are you doing now?’

‘Whoa up, just friends?’ Anna queried as she studied Jaz through slit eyes. ‘You’re changing the subject, are you trying to hide some juicy goss? Did you kiss again?’

‘Of course we didn’t do anything like that. Actually I get the impression he doesn’t want to kiss me ever again. In fact I think he wants to pretend the first one didn’t happen.’ Jaz found the words hard to admit.

‘Oh, no. Really? That sucks,’ said Anna with a frown. ‘But I do think you like him more than Taylor, am I right?’ she said pointing her finger.

Jaz opened her mouth but no reply came. Anna was right, she did like Ryan. It was different to how she felt about Taylor. She would always love Taylor, they’d been best friends for ages, but did she want to date him? Not anymore. But Ryan, well he was a whole different ball game.