Hostile Ground (The Arsenal #7) - Cara Carnes Page 0,17
to vet her.”
“Backgrounds can be made up,” Zoey said. “Though, just saying…Iriana is one seriously bad-ass bitch. Like a female Jud.”
Everyone laughed.
“The women are at a house on the other side of the city,” Marshall said. “My team is watching the perimeter, but there’s been no movement so far.”
Addy flashed the man an appreciative grin. He continued forcing the conversation forward, away from her.
“Do we have a lead on who has them?” Thunder asked.
“Not yet.” Zoey glanced at her screen. “HERA’s running all the faces from that location, but we aren’t finding anyone in the systems so far.”
“You won’t,” Addy said. “If it’s one of the largest syndicates, they’ll have someone on the payroll to keep their people out of any systems.”
“Some use low-level grunts for specific tasks, too,” Shep added. “They don’t have run-ins with law enforcement and stay away from the operations to avoid being tagged.”
“When are we extracting them?” Nolan asked.
“He wanted seventy-two hours,” Addy said.
“We’ll give him half that time,” Marshall said.
Addy nodded. Zoey and Marshall continued the debrief of what they’d learned over the past twenty-four hours, which wasn’t much. So far, Yesim and his splinter cell had remained hidden except for the location in the complex across the street and the handful they’d picked up at the underground fights.
No sign of the weapons.
“Someone has to be helping them,” she said.
“I agree,” Gage replied.
“Yesim was the second-in-command before he broke away from his syndicate,” Johnny added. “Maybe it’s time we see what the local law folks know.”
“Too risky,” Addy said. “So far we’ve stayed under radar. We’re too close to auction day to risk it.”
“And if that goes sideways?” The man looked at her.
“Then we deal like we always do. We aren’t leaving without those missiles.”
“What do we know about the Gavriil Kristof mentioned?” Marshall asked.
“Gavriil Kozlov, current head of the Kozlov syndicate. He took over shortly after his father died a couple years ago,” Zoey said. “HERA is digging, but so far there’s no recent chatter. They’re mainly into drugs and prostitution rings. Weapons. Gavriil actually started growing the legitimate side of the business when he took over.”
“Kristof texted. We’re meeting up with Gavriil tonight.” Addy forwarded the info to Zoey. “Hopefully we’ll learn more from that conversation.”
“He’s given us more visibility into his work than I expected,” Thunder said.
“We’ve learned more about the inner workings of the syndicates in the past two weeks than anyone’s figured out in years,” Zoey said. “HERA’s chewing through it all to fill in the gaps.”
“Are we taking him down after this is over?” Addy asked.
“Should we?” Marshall shot back.
“No.” She swallowed, letting the answer settle a moment. “I don’t like any of the shit he does, but we’re getting the missiles back because of him.”
“We would’ve gotten them back either way,” Nolan countered.
“With a lot more bloodshed,” Beast said. “Red’s right. We should walk away this one time. Save what we know for the next time he’s in our crosshairs.”
“Agreed,” Marshall said. “As long as he doesn’t cross us or hurt Addy.”
“I’m taking him down. Maybe not now, but it’s going to happen,” Zoey said. “He’s gotten off too many times by being helpful.”
The few hours of sleep Addy managed after the debrief had worked wonders. She’d chosen a dark blue corset and snug leather shorts with laces along the thighs. She looked more like one of the dancers at the strip club than an enforcer. Sometimes the best way to blend in was to stand out.
Ivan and three of Kristof’s minions broke off from their entourage and sat at a table in front of the stage. Awareness beaded along her skin as Kristof settled his hand at her waist.
“In case I forget to mention it later, you look beautiful this evening, Iriana,” Kristof said. “Though, I’m more partial to red. The blonde doesn’t suit you.”
“Funny, I was thinking the same about you earlier. The dark doesn’t do you justice.” Why had he changed his dark blond hair?
Amusement glinted in his gray eyes. “Careful. I could almost take that as a compliment.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
“You remember,” he whispered in her ear. “That’s all the encouragement a man like me needs.”
Her pulse quickened. She remembered too much. Music boomed from speakers set about the small club. Women in assorted stages of nudity danced on three stages. A few wandered about the side booths.
“You’d have better luck with one of them.” She motioned to the strippers as she scanned their surroundings.