Chapter 26 #3
I nodded. “Precisely. Greg said that once he finds the buyer for a woman, it’s a death sentence for the woman. He’s the Charon who always delivers them to their doom. That once he picks them up from the hideouts, those women are never found again.”
“Are these their real names?” asked Lena.
I gave her a look. “They’re the names that Greg knows.”
Tara’s fingers flew over the keyboard as she started to work on searching them out. I took my seat beside her, watching her do her magic. While she worked, the Lioness turned to me. “What are you, the cops, planning to do with this information? What are your captain’s orders?”
My skin bristled at the way she asked me the question.
As if she doubted my intentions. I was a man of honor.
My words held weight. It was only Tara’s attention on me, the trust in her eyes, that had me turning to her to answer the Lioness’s question.
“I got all this from Greg this afternoon. I haven’t updated the captain yet.
I have nine detectives under me, who I trust. Two of them were a part of the interrogation.
I’ve asked them to hold the information while I work out the next steps.
I am planning to use Greg, maybe plant him back under the employ of Vadim, as a mole and my informant. He can lead us to the first leader.”
Tara looked at the Lioness. “That’s not a bad idea.”
“High compliments,” I teased.
She gave me a smirk. “Trust me, they are.”
The Cheetah’s face bounced between us, her excitement threatening to swallow the room whole.
The Lioness cleared her throat. “It’s a good idea to introduce a mole into their mix. But do you trust this Greg? What’s to say he wouldn’t flip sides? If this Vadim is as dangerous as he claims, the chances of Greg switching sides to get in his good graces are pretty fucking high.”
“The chances of Greg not being tortured to death for betraying me are even higher.” My words were a promise. If I told him to be a mole and become my informant, he would do that. I looked at the Lioness. “He’s not the first criminal I’ve turned into my informant.”
“Fuck.” Tara slammed her fist on the table, glaring daggers at the monitor screen.
My eyes snapped to hers. The fury radiating off her burned deliciously along my skin.
“What is it?” asked the Jaguar.
Her lips twisted in a snarl. “I can’t find anything on these three fuckers. Not a single digital footprint. No facial recognition. They’re fucking ghosts.”
The Cheetah straightened in her chair at that, a sudden stillness and seriousness overtaking her entire demeanor. “We get in the field. We infiltrate their operation.”
Tara’s spine straightened. “Whatever you’re thinking, no. I’ll find a way. I’ll find something.”
The Cheetah shook her head. “This is my job.” Her masked face turned to me. “I will infiltrate the operation along with Greg. I can keep an eye on him.”
My mind raced at her words. Was she implying…
“You cannot get yourself kidnapped, you bitch,” Samaira snarled. “This is not the kind of mission where you go undercover. If you get kidnapped, you get sent to the sadistic cunt. I will not let you be drugged or tortured or ra…” She banged on the table, her eyes shining with tears. “Fuck no.”
Dominic rubbed Samaira’s back and whispered something in her ear, calming her down.
The Lioness stayed silent.
The Cheetah made a frustrated sound and pulled off her mask. “Fuck, I can’t do this with the fucking mask,” she said, giving me a small smile and a nod. “Hey, Lieutenant, I’m Sloane. Don’t rat me out now that you’ve seen my face and know my name. Or else, Tara will kill you.”
“That’s right.” My beauty gave a fist bump to the Cheetah, er, Sloane.
“You’re safe from me,” I confirmed, giving her a nod in return.
“Fuck it.” The Jaguar followed, looking at me with fierce, dark-brown eyes. “I’m Naomi.”
The Lioness shook her head and sighed, pulling off her mask as well, and glared at me with her golden-brown eyes. “Lena. You betray me, I’ll kill you.”
Tara shifted uncomfortably beside me and said, “He won’t.”
Did my little criminal just stand up for me? I looked at my girl and then turned to Lena. “I won’t.”
With that settled, all eyes turned to Sloane.
Her lips were pursed in determination, arms crossed across her chest. “This is the best idea. I get kidnapped. This Greg dude can bring me in as a way to get back in the game. This will lead us to the first leader. You guys can tail us when the first leader passes me along to the second leader. Now, I know, this is a slightly tricky part.”
Tara gave her a deadpanned look. “We don’t know how long you’d have to stay under Maxim’s captivity.”
Sloane raised her finger. “Now, this actually helps us. It gives us more time to follow Maxim and his goons as they make rounds to different hideouts and operation locations. You all follow every person who comes and goes from the hideouts. You locate every single operation location, or as many as you can, and plan out a strategy to blow them all up at once.”
Every one of us was riveted as Sloane got more and more excited. “We lure out the third leader, Ruslan, with an offer or an incentive he can’t ignore. We get this motherfucker when he tries to sell me. We intercept all three leaders at the same time and take them all out.”
All of us were silent. If she were one of my detectives who came up with this idea, I’d give her a fat fucking bonus.
Lena dropped her face into her hands and shook her head. “Fuck,” she yelled.
Sloane’s face dropped. “Not good?”
Lena groaned. “Fucking genius, actually.” She drummed her fingers on the desk, looking visibly frustrated. With a low voice, she said, “It just means I have to put you under a huge risk.”
Samaira growled.
Naomi rubbed her fingers along her chin, shaking her head.
Tara was dead silent beside me before she turned to Sloane.
“We’ve never taken up a dangerous long-term mission like this before.
Usually, it’s about extracting targets out of a crowded space, tracking them and following them undercover, or pretending to date them.
This. Getting kidnapped by a mob? You could be raped.
Tortured. Abused. This is not an easy decision. ”
Sloane gave her a sad smile. “There are hundreds, if not thousands, of women trapped and killed and abused by this operation. This is the easiest decision, Tara. Any of us would do this in a heartbeat. Tell me I’m wrong.”
“Fine,” Lena sighed. She, then, turned and looked at every single one of us.
“Let’s get to work then. I want every single detail planned to a T.
We organize the kidnapping perfectly. Who is going to follow who?
Timings. Locations. Vehicles. Weapons. Teams. We plan it all.
Not a single thing left to chance, you hear me?
We get those three motherfuckers and burn everything to the ground. ”
“Fuck yeah,” all the women yelled, pounding their fists on the desk.
Lena turned to Sloane. “I will only agree to this if you promise me to get out when things get too much.”
Sloane nodded. “I promise.”
Tara turned to Sloane and clutched her hand. “I will be with you, in your ears, the entire time. I won’t leave you alone. I’ll find a way to make that happen.”
Sloane rushed Tara in a hug, placing a kiss on her cheek. “I love you.”
Tara squeezed her tighter, her voice choked up. “Love you too.”
“I’ll get my men and Greg in place as well. Let’s take two weeks to plan, and then, we take action.”