Hostile Ground (The Arsenal #7) - Cara Carnes Page 0,66
it into HERA and combine it with what she’s retrieving. We’d get a better visual of where your plan succeeded or failed.”
“And then what?” Beast asked.
“Then we strategize how we can use this for our current mission,” Jesse said.
“So his war is now ours,” Johnny said.
“It is,” Addy answered. She looked over at her teammate. “You have a problem with that?”
“I’m honestly not sure,” the man said. “Fuck if I know what I’m thinking right now. This was all a lot to take in.”
No shit. Try living it. Kristof focused on Addy. “None of you were supposed to ever know about this. We didn’t expect to be within strike range until a few months from now.”
“Clearly you either did a better job than you realized or something else you didn’t know about happened,” Marshall said. “How long before we get some data from HERA on all this, Mary?”
“That’ll depend on how much there is to scan in.”
“I’ll start immediately,” Zoey said. “Do you have it here?”
“We have access to it,” Maksim said. “There’s a laptop. I’ll get it for you.”
She looked down. Guilt punched Kristof harder than he expected. He’d been prepared to kick everyone’s ass for cornering her about whatever shit they’d mounted, and he’d just done worse. Son of a bitch.
“We’ll need a recon team to surveille Kostya’s compound,” Jesse said. “Gage, we’ll send your team.”
“Maksim can forward the schematics we’ve created based on my recent visits. My access is extremely limited, but I’ve obtained enough intel from a few friendlies within my father’s operation.”
“Do you trust them?” Edge asked.
“Honestly? I did before the carjacking. Now? I have no idea.”
“Dima was a surprise to us both,” Maksim said.
“Where is he?”
“I have him secured,” the man said.
“Good. He’ll need to be questioned. Ivan’s murder surprised us. He was Father’s trusted right-hand man, one he forced on me after Olaf’s attempt. We’d tolerated his existence and kept what we were doing from him. We hadn’t expected him to be killed.”
“Dima would’ve been a smart replacement since we trusted him,” Maksim said. “This means your Father knows our plan.”
“He likely does,” Kristof admitted. “We’ll need to find out what Dima shared with him. His knowledge of what we did was limited.”
“When was the last time you were at this compound?” Nolan asked. “Did you see any additional personnel?”
“The place is large,” Kristof said. “It’s hard to describe how large. I didn’t see anything, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there. I was always escorted directly to where Olaf was kept. It was never the same location.”
“He last went five weeks ago,” Maksim said. “The visits were typically once a month.”
“He offered another visit after the first attempt,” Kristof said. “Perhaps I should contact him, feign ignorance of his involvement.”
“Let’s see what HERA finds out first. That’s a risky move,” Edge said.
“It’s a risk I’m willing to take. I want those missiles located so you all can return home.”
“And you want your father taken down,” Marshall said.
“One doesn’t necessarily translate to the other,” Kristof said. “I’ve shared what I’ve kept from you out of necessity. If you’re hitting that compound, I need Olaf to be safe.”
“He will be,” Nolan said. “Let’s let Edge and HERA do their thing, then we can go from there. In the meantime, you and Addy need to get some rest. We all do.”
15
Addy didn’t bother closing the door to her room. She’d sensed his silent prowl behind her down the hallway as soon as the meeting disbanded. She was scraped raw emotionally, but so was Kristof. Or so she assumed.
She removed the com from her ear and turned it off. It thudded onto the dresser as she toed off her boots she hadn’t bothered to lace up. Kristof entered, then stood in the doorway a moment. His graze tracked to the com. His eyebrows lifted.
“They’re giving me eight hours off it every night.” She shrugged. “I guess it’s night.” Even though early morning light splayed into the room. “You coming in or not?”
Kristof entered and shut the door. He leaned against it. Cracker had assured her none of his injuries were serious. Or had it been Shep? Fuck if she remembered.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t want you hearing it, not like that.”
“Or ever.” She looked down at the carpet, then back up at him. “You should’ve told me back then. Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to forget.”
Yeah, she understood that. She’d wanted to forget a lot of what’d happened