28. Chapter 27
I’m comfortable with morally gray.
“What is all this?” Bradford stopped in the living room, staring as Hope, Berlin, Hailey and Rowan all turned back to him as they finished taping up various printouts on the living room wall.
The others were all either on the couches or standing and looking at the giant wall of maps that they’d created. It was an oversized map of Hope’s land and all the surrounding lands, plus various satellite images linked to certain properties.
“The satellite images are new,” he murmured as he stepped forward.
After Hope had cried herself to sleep last night, he’d gotten a little sleep himself.
When he’d woken up, she’d been gone, but to his surprise she’d left a note telling him that she wasn’t running, but getting coffee and breakfast and hadn’t wanted to wake him.
He was surprised he hadn’t woken up, but he must have needed the sleep.
And it mattered that she’d left that note, even if she was just going downstairs.
“Got a text from my Lex around four this morning. He sent three of these. Not sure where he got them from. I think he felt bad about hanging up on me last night,” Hope murmured .
“I need the info of whoever he’s working with,” Berlin grumbled. “Because that’s NSA-level shit.”
“She’s just mad someone else found something she didn’t,” Adalyn whispered.
Which earned her a short-lived glare from Berlin.
Hope simply raised her eyebrows at Bradford, a grin pulling at her mouth before she turned back to the wall.
“This is incredible.” He still needed coffee, but he scanned all the farms, the layout of the properties, and more importantly, the satellite images.
Berlin continued. “Combined with what I found—”
Hailey cleared her throat.
“Oh my god, I was going to include you and Gage.” Berlin lifted a laser pointer that had a poop-face emoji as the red laser, and pointed at one of the images as if she was teaching a class.
“Like I was saying. Combined with the satellite images we found, land records, and a whole mess of other information, I’m pretty sure we’ve figured out where these guys are growing their product. ”
Bradford was starting to see that as he took in the wall.
“I’m guessing they store some stuff underground, considering that bunker we saw.
” And it had to be only one of many, considering how vast this expanse of land was.
“Your land is right smack dab in the middle of all his.” He’d known it, but seeing it like this created a vivid picture.
“It’s not like he gets my land if I die, but…he did say something about Hank having information. I know we can’t search the house now, but I think it’s worth another look once…Killeen isn’t a threat anymore.”
“We’re going to give him something else to worry about.” Adalyn’s tone was neutral, but there was a feral look in her eyes as she smiled.
“Oh, please tell me we’re doing what I think you’re suggesting.” Bradford tried to suppress his grin, but failed. This was what he’d been waiting for. It was time to start destroying shit.
“We’re doing it.”
“Wait, what’s happening here?” Hope asked, glancing between them.
“They’re going to blow shit up.” Magnolia, pregnant and glowing, didn’t look up from her book as she read on the couch. “Or that’s what I’m guessing.”
Bradford gently took Hope’s hands in his.
“We’re going to target their grow operations.
With these images from your PI friend, we’ll be able to pinpoint exactly where they’re growing.
If we take out enough of their product, they’re going to have a whole other problem on their hands and Killeen will forget about you.
You will be nothing to him. Or I’m assuming that’s the plan?
” He looked up at Adalyn, who confirmed with a sharp nod.
“Exactly,” Adalyn added. “We’re still going to keep you locked down until we’ve eliminated any and all threats, but we’re going to screw up this guy’s life so bad that he won’t know what hit him.
He’ll be scrambling to keep his cash flowing and find out who’s targeted him. He’s going to be very, very busy soon.”
“That’s…very dangerous.” Hope looked at Bradford, then the others, before looking back at him. “Can we talk in the kitchen?” she whispered.
“Of course.”
“This is too much,” Hope said once they were alone, her voice pitched low.
“Too much danger. I know you guys are trained, but I can figure something out. Go visit friends in Canada. Or I’ve been meaning to visit an old college friend in London for years.
I’ll just disappear for a while, just go off-grid, but—”
“Hope. We’ve got this. I swear. We’ve taken out operations like this before.”
She leaned against the countertop and looked up at him.
Her eyes were slightly puffy from crying last night, but she was still gorgeous.
She’d pulled her dark hair up in a ponytail and her blue eyes popped with emotion as she shook her head.
“No. If something were to happen to you…” She trailed off in a whisper. “I couldn’t bear it.”
Ah, hell. He tugged her into his arms, even though it was clear she just wanted to argue about this.
Thankfully she buried her face against his chest with a groan. “I can’t say anything to stop you, can I?”
“Nope. Not where your safety is concerned. You might not agree, but you’re mine to protect, Hope,” he murmured.
She held him tighter. “So who protects you?”
“I’ve got my team and I swear we’re prepared for all this.”
Still holding on to him, she leaned back and looked up at him, her expression fierce. “I get to hear all of the plans. And if it sounds stupid, you’re not doing it.”
“Okay.”
She blinked, as if she’d expected him to argue. “Okay? Just like that?”
“The plan won’t be stupid. It never is. We’ve taken down one cartel, an Albanian criminal organization, multiple trafficking orgs, and disrupted the flow of cash to another cartel just because we wanted to screw with them. Just to name a few of our jobs.”
She blinked again as understanding set in. “Okay, then. Let’s hear this plan.”
Bradford kept his arm around Hope as they headed back into the living room.
“All right,” Adalyn said, as if she’d been waiting for them. Then she snagged Berlin’s poop-emoji laser pointer with a sigh and pointed at the first target.
He wasn’t surprised that she’d picked one with a water entrance.
Coming in via water would give them an easy escape (easy being a relative word).
They would also be hitting two more of the suspected growing operations at the same time, via drone strikes with some next-level tech that couldn’t be traced back to them.
Rowan strode up to the wall and stared at the various images as he said, “The message will be even stronger if we can infiltrate a couple of his bunkers, take out the current product he has as well as what he’s growing.”
“I know,” Adalyn agreed. “But that’s too much of a risk.”
“Not if we call in backup,” Bradford added. “Raven isn’t on a job right now.” Raven was code for Skye, one of their founders. He loved Hope, but wanted to keep that information to himself for now.
Adalyn was silent as she thought about this.
“I vote we ask her for backup,” Hailey said from the couch where she was shoving chips into her mouth.
“I’m not taking advice from the person eating Doritos for breakfast.” Adalyn’s tone was dry.
“Hey! These are the new tangy pickle ones,” she said with a sniff.
“Is that supposed to make it better?” Bradford asked, looking at her in slight horror.
She simply rolled her eyes at him as Adalyn took over again. Next to him, Hope smothered a laugh as she leaned into him, setting her head on his shoulder in a way that was heartbreakingly familiar, yet foreign.
He loved that she was holding on to him now, not pushing him away—literally or figuratively.
Something had shifted between them last night.
He’d felt it then and even more so now. She was clearly worried about him.
And she didn’t have that same look in her eyes as before.
He wasn’t even sure he could describe it, but the way she watched him now, there was something a lot like hope in her eyes.
And he was never going to let her down. He would fight for his Hope until his dying breath .
Though he really, really didn’t want that to happen for a hell of a long time. Because they deserved a future. It was their time, and he was going to grab it.
“I’ve already called her,” Adalyn finally said with a grin. “About three hours ago. She’s on her way and ready to blow shit up. She’s also bringing her own backup.”
Bradford knew it couldn’t be her husband, because Colt was on a job in Alaska. So if he was a betting man, he’d guess it was Skye’s best friend, Axel. Former Fed turned hitman turned “security expert.”
They all lived in shades of gray, something he was more than comfortable with. There was no black and white, not truly. Sure, some things were easy choices, but the world and the people living in it were complicated.
He just hoped that Hope could live with who he was and the path he’d chosen.