Page 16 of Savage Little War

I narrow my eyes. “What do you mean?”

Cara shrugs. “Is Andrei around? If anyone can lure a woman out of her boyfriend’s apartment to spend her time elsewhere, it’s probably him.”

“You’re insinuating that my best friend is a manwhore,” I tell her, amusement flickering in my chest.

“If the shoe fits,” Cara replies as a smile teases at her lips.

“Alright, what if we split into teams?” I say as I address all my men and the Irish in the room. “If Andrei can lure the girlfriend away from the apartment while Aldo is out, one team can break into the apartment to grab his things, while the other team tracks down Aldo and captures him. We can meet and force him to give us access to the files. No civilians hurt. No bodies left. We get in, we get the devices, and we disappear.”

Sean nods after a moment and looks around at his men. “Any problem with that?”

His men shake their heads.

I glance at my own guys, who nod that they’re on board. “I’ll bring in my friend and catch him up to speed, while you guys track down Aldo to see where he’s at.”

“On it,” Owen says as he clasps his hands together eagerly before sitting down at the table to type away on his laptop.

“I didn’t realize how much it helps to have techy guys involved in operations like these,” Cara comments to me.

“You can find out just about anything online nowadays. Helps to have someone who knows the ins and outs of it,” I tell her before lifting my phone. “Let me see if I can bring Andrei in.”

Cara nods and drifts toward her father like she’s testing thin ice. She still seems stiff around him, but at least they’re talking. Deep down I know Sean cares about her, even if he hasn’t shown it.

I tap on Andrei’s contact before pressing my phone against my ear, listening to it ring a few times before he picks up.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I need your help with something today,” I tell him.

“Is it going to get me killed?”

“It shouldn’t,” I say, hearing him lightly chuckle. “I need you to charm a woman out of her boyfriend’s apartment for an hour.”

“Wait, what?”

“It’s a long story, but we need to break into her boyfriend’s apartment to grab some things when she’s not there,” I explain to him. “If you could lure her away so that she doesn’t get caught in the crossfire, that would be great.”

“What the hell, Dmitri?” Andrei laughs. “You couldn’t just give me a normal task like beating someone’s ass who owes you money?”

I grin at that. “This is what I need help with. Are you down or should I go find another handsome bastard?”

“Well, it doesn’t sound like you could handle this job,” Andrei says, making me roll my eyes. “Where should I meet you?”

“My office. Quickly,” I tell him before hanging up the phone.

We’re on a tight schedule.

After hours of tracking and waiting, our window finally opens.

Aldo leaves the building with his head down and his phone glued to his ear. Erica stays behind on the balcony with her ring light, taking photos.

We have maybe forty minutes. An hour if we’re lucky.

I decide to lead the team breaking into the apartment. Sean seems to have faith in Finn, one of his highly skilled men, to lead the team that’ll kidnap Aldo and take him to the antique shop, so I just have Isaak and Denis go with that team to assist.

We split up into three vehicles, two teams in two vans, and Andrei drives his own car to the apartment.

Since we probably won’t run into any danger and her father is with us too, I let Cara stick with me on my team. She should be part of this. I just want her to be safe.