Chapter 26 #2
When I came back to the living room after getting ready, I found Tara with a laptop on her lap, Shadow lying beside her on the couch. The view was so fucking domestic, so unlike anything I’d ever seen in my life, a disturbing kind of fear took root in my gut.
What would I do if some other cop caught my little criminal?
How would I protect her if her identity were revealed to the world?
What if she got injured during one of her missions?
What if some asshole beat her in action?
The moral line I’d walked all my life—that I still planned to walk but in a slightly different manner—threatened to strangle me.
I looked at my beauty, the way she was cuddled up with her giant dog, a dark, dizzying innocence surrounded the air she breathed. I would cross every moral line, break every ethical boundary, kill every innocent person to protect this tiny tornado of a woman who owned my fucking soul.
“What’s your plan for the day? Any mission?” I asked, wearing my shoes at the entrance.
She shook her head. “Just some recon.”
My chest caved in relief. “Good. Let me know if you go on a mission. I’ll interrogate the Russian guy, Greg, I have in my custody for more information and bring everything I have on them back this evening.”
She gave me a nod and a little salute. “I’ll set up a meeting with everyone.”
“Don’t go crazy without me, little beauty,” I said in goodbye.
“Don’t forget to catch some criminals, Lieutenant.”
With a wave, I closed the door behind me, walking against the pull in my chest.
The day—and my anger at being away from my most dangerous obsession—went from bad to worse exponentially fast. We had three new homicide cases, four missing person reports, and two cases of robbery.
My detectives were struggling with the load, and I was tempted to call my hacker beauty to help them the fuck out.
But I couldn’t.
She was my trump card, one I would keep to myself. I could not let anybody know about her and the Wildcats.
The only thing that marginally calmed the raging beast inside my head was the interrogation with Greg. I knew the fucker knew more than he was letting on. It was only after I cut off the cameras in the interrogation room and ripped off three of his toenails that he started singing.
I now had enough information that would please my girl. It would’ve been humiliating if I’d gone back empty-handed after burning off three of the hideouts.
When I walked—slightly limped—into the Wildcats HQ in the evening, I had a little strut in my steps. The anticipation of seeing my beauty after eight long hours was wonderfully exhilarating.
The moment I entered her office, my steps faltered, my stomach swooped, and my heart skipped a little beat. I’d never felt the high of setting my eyes upon a woman with a tornado of feelings rushing through my entire body.
When she was present in the room, everyone else disappeared.
My feet led me to her side, and every pore of my body wanted to drag her onto my lap and taste her lips.
But I didn’t want to get shot in my other leg—or the same leg if she really wanted to punish me—so I gave her a nod and dropped into the chair beside her, placing the file and the pen drive I’d brought in front of her.
Her eyes twinkled with excitement, and I couldn’t help but stare at the wonderfully vivid dichotomy of her face.
It was when she handed the file to the person on her other side that I finally noticed the rest. Aside from Dominic and Samaira, the three other Wildcats sat with their masks on. Samaira had a ridiculous smile on her face as opposed to the scowl that Dominic was sporting.
While Tara worked the computer, pulling up all the files and maps on the six large monitors, the Lioness flipped through the pages of the file, with the Cheetah peeking in beside her. The Lioness turned to me and asked, “Would you like to brief us?”
I turned to Tara. “Did you update them about last evening, or am I briefing them on that too?”
The five other heads turned to my beauty.
I did not like that at all. I glared at the faces staring down at my girl and got up from the chair, pulling their focus on me.
When Tara shook her head at me, I gave her a nod and walked to the monitor wall.
“Alright. As you all may know, a few days ago, Tara and I had an altercation during one of the recon missions where we caught one of the kidnappers for the Russian mob who runs their women trafficking business.”
I looked at Tara and found her glaring at me, remembering that night.
“While Tara helped a woman get home after her attempted kidnapping, I got the sweeter end of the deal and nabbed the kidnapper. After some extensive interrogation, he revealed three locations of their hideouts from where they operate.”
Tara made a loud scoff at that. At my raised eyebrows, she flung her hands in anger. “And you just set them all on fire, alerting them that you were onto them. The only strategy here is to locate them all and then set them all on fire at the same time.”
My spitfire of a girl was unafraid of my cold, hard stare. All six of them waited for my response. “Yes, that would have been the ideal scenario. As you know, my little criminal—”
“Aw, he gave her a nickname.” The Cheetah swooned on the desk, almost making me chuckle.
The Jaguar, on the other hand, leaned over the Lioness to look at the Cheetah. “He literally called her a criminal.”
“Shh.” The Cheetah waved her hand at the Jaguar. “The lieutenant is talking.”
“Can I?” I asked, giving her my deadpan stare that had my detectives quaking in their boots.
I had no idea what the Cheetah’s face looked like, but the way she waved her hand at me to continue was a pretty clear indication that these women were slightly mad.
I turned back to Tara. “As you know, Tara, we have deadlines to meet, targets to cover, and people to answer to. We need proof of action to get more funding. Unlike your team, which has the freedom to strategize.”
When she gave an understanding nod, I continued, “When I burned down the hideouts, it alerted the Russians that I was onto them. I guess they didn’t like what I did and wanted to issue a warning or maybe take me out.
So when Tara and I went to collect my stuff from my place, they were waiting for us. ”
The ladies went into an uproar, the four of them now standing over the desk.
I crossed my arms, waiting for them to calm down, while Tara clutched the bridge of her nose. She shook her head and met their eyes. “Let the man fucking speak, people. I’m alright and completely unharmed, as you can see. It was nothing.”
I looked at her in disbelief. “It wasn’t nothing. We were attacked by six Russians, each with a machine gun.”
“What?” the Lioness shrieked. “When exactly were you planning on telling us about this?”
Tara cringed. “Umm…now?”
Before the Lioness could scold my girl, I cleared my throat.
“Now, we both had guns. We took care of all of them. I got my detectives to clear everything up without involving her. But it’s clear the Russians have taken notice of the cops.
They will go underground. They might keep changing up their hideouts.
So I had to get a little creative, but you’d be happy to know, I have some names. ”
Genuine excitement lit up Tara’s face.
I turned to the document that she had pulled up on the monitor. “The person we’ve got in our custody is a lackey. One of the many kidnappers and operatives who work the streets for a day-to-day paycheck. It took some unpleasant methods—”
A devious glint shone in my girl’s eyes.
“But I have names of three people. Three leaders who run the entire trafficking operation in New York City. We take out these three, and we break their entire operation. By the time the Russian mob tries to replace the three, we burn down all the locations at once.” I turned to Tara and said, “Just the way you planned.”
Tara straightened in her chair, her fingers ready on the keyboard, right as the Lioness said, “The names, Lieutenant."
I looked back at the document on the monitor.
“Vadim Grigorievich Orlov. The lackey pissed himself when he said his name. He procures women. Kidnapping them from dark alleys. Buying them from underground black market dealings or from foster homes. He’s got lackeys all across the city.
Pays them a hefty amount for each kidnapping.
Kills off the guys who rat him out. Once he procures the women, he hands them all to the second leader. Maxim Orlov.”
“Both of them are Orlovs? Siblings?” asked Samaira.
I nodded. “Yes. Now, Maxim Orlov. The cruelest and the most sadistic son of a bitch of the entire operation. You, women, would love to torture this motherfucker.”
Every single woman straightened in her seat.
I looked at the predatory gaze glinting in Tara’s eyes, and I had to think of my mom’s lectures from my childhood to keep my fucking arousal at bay.
“He handles women. He essentially runs these hideouts where they hide the kidnapped women. He keeps them until they find the buyers. What he does with them while they’re under his charge is exactly what you are imagining.
Most of them are kept in a drugged-up state.
Some are raped. Some are punished. Beaten. Tortured. Depends on the woman.”
“Dibs on him,” Samaira uttered in a deathly tone that gave me pause. I looked at her, and for the first time, I saw the wrath of a tiger in her eyes.
“You can have him.” The Lioness nodded.
The Jaguar was quick to interrupt. “I’ll join in. Let’s keep him drugged up and skin him alive.”
My eyes met Dominic’s, and an understanding passed between us. I could see why he was protective of these girls, why he looked at his girl with an idiotic smile on his face. Maybe he found a similar expression reflected on mine, but he gave me a nod.
“Third leader. Ruslan Karpov. They call him the Charon.”
“The Greek god who ferries the souls to the Underworld,” said the Cheetah.