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“Anthony,” she repeated, letting the name filter through all the other information about Tank she knew. “Thank you for being my friend.”
Tank nodded and then turned away, going back to work with the rest of the team.
Her eyes were drawn back to Will through the sliding door. She hoped Tank was right.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
With Joey’sdeep dive of information, they had everything they needed to take down Yuri Kuznetsov, aka Darkshade.
Once they had one of his identities, it wasn’t hard to find the others—two of which were in their pool of thirty-one. Old photos and some strategically placed prosthetics had made the photos harder to match.
“Kuznetsov traveled to the US on the 4th. He left the afternoon of the assassination, before returning under a different alias, Ryan Volkov. He’s currently staying at the Sunset Terrace Hotel.”
“Talk about balls of steel,” Jackson commented. “He’s staying at the same freaking hotel where he killed the president?”
“It would seem so,” Will said. It did seem rather brazen, but the man clearly thought he was invincible. He was entirely convinced that there was no way to connect him to the assassination if Hannah were out of the picture.
But they had him now, and Will wasn’t going to let him get away.
“What’s our play?” Ryder asked.
“We’ll need some surveillance on the hotel.”
“He’s going to be on high alert.” Ryder’s voice held a note of warning that Will appreciated but didn’t need.
To say that they couldn’t underestimate this guy was an understatement. Will had been studying the previous killings that he suspected Yuri had perpetrated, and it was ugly. It was probably only the tip of the iceberg.
Will looked at Ryder. “There’s a chance he spotted me at the Screaming Peach, so how do you feel about leading recon?”
“Can I take Pierce?”
Will raised an eyebrow. “Really?” Pierce was in the bedroom, so Will didn’t worry about offending him.
Ryder nodded. “I think we’ll be a good team. Plus, he’s surprisingly good at sneaking under the radar.”
Tank chimed in. “You’re too hard on Pierce. We can trust him.”
“It’s not that I don’t trust him. He’s just so… immature,” Will said finally.
Tank shook his head. “So is Jackson, but you don’t treat him the same way.”
“Hey!” Jackson’s objection came from across the room.
Will shook his head. “Yeah, but Jackson’s been around longer.”
Tank shrugged. “I’m just saying, you’re a little slow to warm up, Will.”
Will considered the insight. Maybe they were right. He’d assumed his thoughts about Pierce were because of the soldier’s joking demeanor and relative youth compared to the rest of them. But maybe it was really all about how long he’d been on the team.
Will shrugged. “Maybe so. Ryder, you can take him in, but you’re in charge. I’ll send Jackson to sweet talk the front desk for room information.” The man could charm a bird out of its feathers.
Ryder smirked. “Good plan.”
“Which leaves Tank to work on the security system, and I’ll run point from the van.” Will studied the hotel floorplan, satisfied with the way things were coming together. A team of five held many advantages over a team of three. Four was a standard strike team for a small target, but with a large hotel, more was better, as long as they didn’t draw too much attention.
“What about me?” Hannah’s question made him tense up. She didn’t sound nervous or scared.
“What about you?” he countered. “You’ll stay here.” The hotel was just outside Orlando, a little over an hour away from where they’d holed up.
