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I stare at the monitor, my chest tight as I watch Avery prepare to go dark.
“Avery,” I say. “It’s almost over. Stay strong. I’m right behind you.”
She can’t respond, but she touches her left arm, giving me her signal that she’s all right. The tension coiling my body releases just a bit, then I watch her stealthily remove the earbud and tuck it between the cushions of the couch before she follows Carson toward the elevator.
As we suspected, the masked men begin an inspection of the buyers, making sure they’re clear of any weapons and recording devices, like phones. Carson and Avery pass inspection, but that means they’re going into the next stage blind.
We all are. I no longer have a link to Avery.
“Jefferson, stay here and keep on that signal,” I say. “Just in case—”
He confirms before I complete my thought. Just in case we lose them. That isn’t an option. We all know at any point, the Alpha could change gears, have the buy
ers toss the cards, switch course. But we just need to be headed in the right direction…
“We’re ready.” Sadie’s gaze captures mine, a hint of a question there.
“Ready,” I answer.
We’re ready to go in and pull off the biggest bust I’ve ever been a part of with only three officers of the law and one civilian.
But it’s what’s on the line that assures we will succeed.
Carson and Avery are traveling to the pick-up destination with Judge Ramos and the CEO of a software company. And their chauffeur, one of the masked cronies.
I drive while Sadie tracks their movement through the outskirts of Arlington on her tablet.
“They’re slowing,” she says, and I pull back. “Just keep at a steady speed until I confirm they’ve turned.”
After a few tense moments, she directs me onto a road leading toward an abandoned warehouse. My hands slick against the steering wheel, my adrenaline climbs.
“We get Avery out before—”
“We will,” Sadie assures. “Don’t worry, Quinn. Carson knows the drill. He’ll have her out of harms way first.”
A flashback of the mission to rescue Avery from the sailboat barrels to the front of my mind. The waiting, my insides sick with anxiety every torturous second that passed. The pressure building right before we went in. The fear of not finding her alive…
I drive the thoughts away. She’s not a hostage. She’s a part of the mission, and she’s strong. She was strong then, and she’s even stronger now.
And then there’s no more time for reflection as I glimpse a blacked out warehouse up ahead. No one talks. We’ve gone over the plan—over and over. We all know the drill.
There’s only one aspect of this operation that remains undecided.
Whether it will be me or Sadie that pulls the trigger to take out the Alpha.
I have a feeling she’s going to move first. Some kind of vigilante bullshit where she presumes she’ll be protecting me—keeping me from committing an act that will haunt me for years to come.
I’ve wrestled with this very thing. If there’s no imminent threat—can I kill in cold blood?
Avery’s picture is virtually burned into my retinas, I’ve stared at it so long. I need to see that carefree woman once again. I want to be the one who makes her safe.
Imminent threat: I guess that’s defined by the person who’s being threatened.
Avery will never be safe if the Alpha lives.
His connections run too deep, his reach extends too far. We’re operating below the department’s radar because we don’t even know how far that reach goes. How high up.
I’ve made my choice. I made it the first night I held Avery’s hand in the hospital.
