Hostile Ground (The Arsenal #7) - Cara Carnes Page 0,43
We’ll take whatever intel Edge comes up with, but no more.”
“They’ll dig deep. Edge will likely find what you hid from them—the why behind it all.”
“They’ll be long gone before that happens. This war will come to a head before they land at The Arsenal.” Kristof wished putting a bullet in his Father’s brain would be the solution, but the bastard’s syndicate was diseased.
His empire would thrive even after his death unless Kristof took it down as well. Two decades of work had perhaps done more damage than he’d realized, but that didn’t mean they were at an advantage. Too many pawns remained on the board in the wrong position. Even more hadn’t chosen a side.
“Now’s the time to walk away if you wish. You’ve done more than I’d ever imagined possible for me, Maksim. I wouldn’t fault that choice.”
“My only place is beside you. To the end.” Maksim clasped his face and squeezed. “He’ll pay. One way or another, we will win.”
10
Addy glared at the crowd milling about in small clusters within the makeshift auction site. The abandoned mansion in the middle of nowhere was an optimal location and a strategic nightmare. Its massive size, when combined with the unexpectedly large turnout, stretched The Arsenal’s perimeter surveillance and left one—her team—to cover the breach once missiles were on location.
The fact Yesim had not brought them at the start of the auction surprised Addy. He was either a naturally brilliant planner or someone was helping him with tonight’s event. Her gut said it was the latter with a splash of the former, but it didn’t matter. They would have the missiles by the end of the night.
“You’re too tense,” Kristof whispered in her ear as he roped his good arm around her. “People are watching.”
“Pfft. They’re watching my legs and tits.” She crossed her left leg over her right knee and quirked an eyebrow as a man three feet in front of her offered a rotted-teeth grin. “Your constant attention on me doesn’t help.”
“I wouldn’t ignore such beauty sitting beside me,” he said as his fingers ran down her bare arm. “The red suits you.”
Tingles beaded beneath the light stroke along her upper arm. The tight, red dress pressed her breasts upward, leaving a generous swell and deep cleavage in full view, while the hem ended at her upper thigh and left the weapon strapped to her outer thigh visible.
“We have movement from the southwest via the dirt road,” Cracker said in the com. “A cargo truck.”
The music from the speakers mounted along the second floor quieted. Wall sconces within the area flashed off, then on again—signaling the start of the final phase of tonight’s auction. Yesim took the stage once again, a smug grin on his face as everyone returned to their seats in the open area just inside the mansion.
“Need visual confirmation that our package has arrived,” Jesse said in the com.
“Dispatching surveillance drone,” Zoey said.
Jesse, Cord, and Mary were all in the Operations center at The Arsenal. The fact all four were present eased some of Addy’s worries. Even though their boots-on-the-ground teams were stretched thin, there was nothing those four couldn’t do. They’d activated enough drones to down a third-world army.
“Visual confirmation of three packages unloading from near a southwest entry,” Nolan said.
The initial plan was to fill the auction area with sleeping gas and steal the weapons before they entered the building, but that wouldn’t work because of the massive holes and broken windows throughout the target area.
Which meant Plan B was now in play—buy the weapons and take Yesim and his crew down after the auction ended and the crowd dispersed. While it wasn’t optimal, it got the missiles back and ensured the splinter cell would be taken down.
“Wait,” Rhea said. “This isn’t good. There are only three.”
Addy tensed and focused on the conversation in her ear rather than Yesim’s chatter via the microphone. Rhea was on vacation with Fallon, which meant she’d been conferenced in for tonight’s takedown.
“There should be more—at least six based on all the Cuba data,” Rhea said. “Did they break them up into two groupings? Maybe?”
Addy leaned into Kristof and ran her fingers through his air. His musky cologne filled her nostrils as she leaned in and whispered against his ear. “Our package is light, half what we expected.”
Kristof smiled as he caressed her face. “There was either a private purchase or our friends broke up the sale. Everyone I expected to see is in attendance.”