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As I scan the room, Kri and I trade glances. She’s clearly suppressing a grin. Discreetly, she darts her line of sight from Val to Junior, then back to me. She adds a waggle of her brows to convey she sees it too.
It goes without saying there’s no chance of anything happening with them, given the age difference and Junior’s noble character, but it is a little sweet.
Recognizing that we’re about to get down to business, Shep ushers Val from the office and sits her at a cubicle nearby with her iPad to keep her company.
Such a good dad already. Although it’s a temporary foster placement, I hope they make it permanent.
Jonesy’s gaze falls on me, his eyes widening when he recognizes me from that night at the Sassy Parrot. “Holy shit.You’rethe new hire?”
He’s been out in the field these last few weeks. We’ve yet to be properly introduced.
“Nice to see you again,” I offer, masking my face to hide my embarrassment.
Another gush of realization hits him, and his head kicks back as if he was shot with a puff from an air cannon. Immediately, he diverts his attention to Klein and tosses his thumb over his shoulder at me. Jonesy whispers something to Cal, whose only reaction is to flip him the bird.
With all the operatives here, Tomer closes the door, thus inadvertently saving us from the awkwardness of Jonesy’s revelation.
Tomer stands in front of the group, flanked by the wall of monitors. “Okay, team. Quick briefing. Time isn’t on our side.”
Tomer spares me a glance. I nod to encourage him to take the lead. I could take this. After all, I’m the one who found out the majority of the intel. But this is his team. They trust him.
And I’m secretly hoping he’ll reveal something about his relationship with Lettie while he briefs the team.
The little devil inside me who thirsts for intel starts twerking her ass. I guess she’s proud of me.
Tomer clears his throat. “A twenty-five-year-old female was drugged and abducted on Friday night at approximately 23:15 from the Stumbling Sea Turtle dance club here in Clearwater. Her name is Violet Anastasia Holt. Goes by Lettie.”
A crinkle of unease invades his tone, and he takes a deep breath.
When he speaks again, his voice is emotionless. “Based on evidence Mia uncovered, we believe she’s been taken for trafficking. It’s unclear how long it’ll be until she’s moved out of the area to be sold.” He coughs into his fist and shakes his head. In a plot twist that no one saw coming, he’s so overtaken by emotion that his hands tremble and his eyes narrow to slits.
Holy fuck cakes.
His anguish over Lettie palpates my chest, breaking my heart for him.
As I scan the room, I’m met with similar expressions of disbelief and empathy.
To allow him a chance to damper his emotions, I take over. “Our mission objective is to locate and extricate her from her captors. We’ve identified three men who have been abducting women for more than a year out of the surrounding eight counties in the western Florida corridor— as far north as Citrus County, all the way down to Charlotte County. Tonight, you’ll find and subdue these three men. After you get the victim’s whereabouts out of them, you’ll immediately redirect there for anon-lethalextraction.”
Pausing, I hold their eye contact, aiming to convey that we don’t want them taking any lives tonight.
Unless absolutely necessary.
Once they’ve gotten the message, I continue, “From HQ, Tomer and I will flesh out what we can about the secondary location while you’re en route, but we don’t know what you’ll be walking into. Regardless of what happens, we need to get her out tonight.”
Aaron scratches the stubble on his chin, then waves his hand to get my attention. “Is she a Redleg client?”
“No, not officially,” Tomer interjects in a clipped tone. “This isn’t a Redleg op. If you aren’t on board, there’s the door.”
Some of them raise their brows, but no one leaves.
After striding to the grease board at the side of the room, I gesture toward the four photos taped there. “This is the asset you’ll be rescuing— Lettie Holt. And these are your tangos for the first leg of the mission.” I point at two of the photos. “Tango one and two abducted Lettie from the club. Tango three has abducted other girls in partnership with them, so it’s safe to assume any one of them will have the intel we need to find Lettie. As for how you get that intel from them, I think you know how that should go.”
Next, I point to each of the three pictures of the traffickers, giving the team their names and basic information, then open it up for questions.
“Rules of engagement?” Aaron asks.
Tomer snaps, “These guys are predators and traffickers. Make it painful but don’t get caught.”
