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“He watched the house for a bit,” Zach said, “but he didn’t speak to us.”
“We saw him on the phone with someone before he left for good,” Gabe jumped in, bad mood momentarily forgotten. “Whoever was on the other line must have been pissed because he actually looked scared.”
“Hayes is getting desperate,” I said, thinking of the attack at Nate’s rental in Tupelo. It was a clear escalation from the men who’d tried to snatch Nataliya from the diner. They hadn’t been looking to hurt her then, but the ones who came after us in Mississippi had been packed for violence.
“But why now?” Nataliya asked, finally addressing me directly. “What’s changed?”
“From Anton’s messages, he’s paranoid,” I said. “It makes sense that he wants to tie up anything that feels like a loose end, and we’re being very persistent in not letting ourselves get tied up.”
She let out an aggravated sigh. “I want this over with,” she said.
I couldn’t agree more. “Let’s get down to business then,” I said.
Nataliya
“Are you out of your mind?” I demanded, arms crossed over my chest. “You want to go in there alone!?”
Adrian mimicked my movement, crossing his arms as well. “We need to do some recon before we attempt to hack into anything.” I gestured at the building schematic we had spread across the bed. “This is all well and good, but we won’t actually know what we’re getting into until we see it. We need a sense of where they have cameras, where they have guards in fixed stations, where they have guards on patrol, how often those patrols pass a given point—and about a dozen other things that floorplans on their own can’t tell us.”
Take a breath, I told myself. It wouldn’t help anything to swear at him. At least, I doubted it would. Adrian could be a stubborn man, nearly as stubborn as me. “Why does doing recon mean going alone?” I asked. “Didn’t I tell you not to put yourself in front of guns anymore?”
Gabe snickered, and Adrian glared at him. “What are you laughing at?” he demanded.
“Sorry, man,” he said, holding up his hands.
“But she’s got you dead to rights,” Zach added.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Gabe shared a look with Zach. “You’ve always been the type to lead from the front,” he said, “and that’s definitely not a bad thing, but?—”
“But it means you’ve always taken the brunt of the damage,” Zach went on for him. “Like, somehow, you getting hurt is more acceptable than that happening to anyone else.”
Adrian looked confused. “You think I have some kind of death wish?” he asked, defensive. “I don’t.”
“We don’t think you’re suicidal, Adrian,” Zach assured, but to me, he didn’t sound entirely certain. “You’re just…reckless sometimes.”
“You have families,” Adrian said. “You have people who will miss you.”
His words struck me straight in the chest. “So, what?” I asked, sounding far angrier than I wanted to, “Do you not see yourself as important? Don’t you realize that your teammates would be devastated to lose you?” I gestured to the room around us. “Look at what you’re all doing for Cuddy and Roger. Would you rather they be doing this for you?”
Adrian was angry. That was perfectly clear on his face. “Nobody should have died on that mission,” he all but spat at me. “Someone fucked over my team, and someone we cared about died. Someone you cared about died. That’s why I’m doing this, not because I’m reckless or suicidal.”
“Okay,” I conceded. “Okay, I get it, but could you listen to your team? Please? They don’t want you going in alone.”
“She’s right, Adrian,” Gabe said. “I agree that we need to do some recon, but we know that it’ll be dangerous. Hayes isn’t afraid to tell his guys to strike out with everything they’ve got. We need to be careful.”
I saw the moment Adrian gave in, and I relaxed. At least he’ll listen to his team, I thought. Even if he won’t listen to me. “So, should we all be a part of the recon?” I asked.
Adrian shook his head, barely looking in my direction. “Absolutely not,” he said, practically biting out the words. “Until we have a plan to get you near the Hayes headquarters safely, you’re not going.”
“But—”
He looked at me, face flat. “You’re brilliant with a computer,” he said, “but you were never a SEAL.”
Aggravation boiled in my gut. “I think I’ve done just fine against Hayes’s men so far.”
“They weren’t trying to kill you then,” he argued. “Now, I wouldn’t be so sure, so you’ll stay here until I say so. End of discussion.”
