Chapter 5 #2
Leandra arched a brow as she planted her hands on her hips, noticing that all the Sarich brothers had stopped talking and focused their attention on her. “All right, but if you think I’m sitting this one out, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“You’re a civilian, and this a federal operation.”
“Being headed by a private civilian team,” Nick said. “One you agreed to work with.”
Leandra appreciated him coming to her defense, but she didn’t need him to.
“I didn’t agree to working with a PI who has no background in law enforcement.” Fielding raised his chin.
“Yes, you did,” Nick said, but she stepped in front of him.
“I’m not going anywhere but in that warehouse as planned, so let’s just move forward, shall we?” she asked.
“Happy to, as soon as you leave.” Fielding pointed to the SUV she’d rode in.
Leandra opened her mouth, but Nick spoke before she could.
“She’s an integral part of our plan.” Nick stood next to her, his hand pressing against the small of her back.
He stared down at Fielding. “If I walk in there without her as my business partner in this deal, the entire plan falls apart, and we’ll have a shitstorm on our hands, and I’m not good with that.
We stick with the plan we presented you. ”
“Your plan, not ours, and we’ve made some changes.” Fielding rolled on his feet, as if to make himself taller .
“What kind of changes?” Leandra asked, fisting her hands.
“We’re not at liberty to share with you, so please, we need you to leave so we can discuss the new plans.”
“Like hell,” Nick said. “She’s—”
Leandra raised her hand, covering Nick’s mouth. “I’m the sole reason you’ve got anything on Ramos’ trafficking. I’m the one who brought these fine men and their teams in, so back the fuck up. I’m going in with Nick, and you can’t stop me.”
“Yes, I can,” Fielding said with a stupid grin. “I’ll arrest you.”
Dylan laughed. “Try it and I’ll have my boss call your boss, and I think we know how that will turn out.”
Nick tugged her hand from his mouth, dropping their entangled fingers to the side. She should pull away, but she wouldn’t.
Or maybe she couldn’t.
“Look, fellas,” Nick said, giving her hand a good squeeze. “We invited you into this sting, and you’re welcome to stay and play, but we’ve got operatives in the field, with a plan, ready to go.”
Fielding shook his head, shoving his fists in his pockets. “This one is a dangerous woman with a death wish, and our agent tells us she’s a loose cannon.”
“That’s bullshit,” Leandra said behind gritted teeth. “Whoever your agent is has only seen or known me for less forty-eight hours and doesn’t know dick about me. ”
“Who’s the agent?” Nick leaned forward, forcing Fielding to look up at him.
Leandra bit back a smile, enjoying that a little too much.
“I won’t compromise my agent’s cover.”
“You mean her cover,” Logan said as he took the five steps from the government car. “The one you had send all the intel we have right now to Leandra.”
“Alicia?” Leandra mentally went over every encounter she’d had with the woman, which wasn’t many.
Logan nodded. “Just heard back from Mia.” He pointed to Fielding. “Why would your agent send us intel from Nick’s alias and a bogus email?”
“That’s where you got the blueprints of the warehouse?” Fielding took a slight step back but still held his ground. “What makes you think we sent anyone an email?”
“Because my fiancé is the best ethical hacker in the world, so she knows her shit,” Logan said with a protective tone.
“Why the hell would you do that without telling us?” Nick shook his head.
Leandra’s mind turned over the events of the last forty-eight hours.
Alicia had been at the house when Leandra had arrived, and immediately Leandra had assumed she and Ramos were lovers.
Alicia had been nice enough, but she’d made it clear she didn’t like Leandra’s presence.
“Her demeanor changed toward me from last night to this morning. ”
“That’s because we told her who you were as soon as Nick contacted us,” Fielding said, scratching his head.
“How did she change?” Nick asked, tilting her chin toward him with his thumb.
“Standoffish to ‘I want to kill that bitch.’ I assumed it was because of how badly Ramos wanted up my skirt right in front of her.”
“Why would that bother my agent?” Fielding asked.
“It looked to me like they were fucking.” Leandra enjoyed the way Fielding’s eyes widened from her bluntness.
“I doubt that. Just playing her undercover part,” Fielding said, but he obviously took Leandra’s words to heart. “We never told her to send you anything. We have a secure method of communication.”
“Fuck,” Leandra said.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Nick asked, staring at her with knowing eyes.
“If you’re thinking that Alicia has been turned, then yeah.” She grabbed Nick by the arm, yanking him toward Dylan who stood next to the hood of a car where the blueprints had been laid out. “And either this is all bullshit information, and they’ve moved the merchandise or—”
“It’s an ambush,” Nick said.
“Well, you know what they say about that?” Dylan asked, smiling.
“You attack it head on,” both Logan and Nick said with a little more excitement than she would have thought appropriate.
“First off,” Fielding said as he stepped between Leandra and Dylan. “You’re not attacking anything, and second off, our agent hasn’t flipped.”
“You don’t know that,” Leandra said, her blood pumping through her body with a sense of urgency.
“Regardless, if our covers have been compromised, we need to get in there and fast, or all those young people are going to be lost forever.” Not to mention, she may never find out where Skyler had been sold to, breaking her promise to the young girl’s parents.
“And you don’t know she has.” Fielding puffed out his chest.
Dylan tapped his earpiece. “I need a visual on Ramos, and I also need an accounting of activity at the warehouse. And where the fuck are the blueprints from the city?”
“Stand down,” Fielding shouted. “I will have all of you arrested for interfering with an investigation.”
“Good luck with that,” Dylan said, rolling up the blueprints. “You’re either on board with us and do things our way, or you can sit back, watch, and maybe learn a thing or two.”
“You arrogant little prick,” Fielding said.
“That I am,” Dylan said. “Leandra, are you ready to roll?”
“I was born ready.”
“That’s my girl,” Nick said, looping his arms over her shoulders and kissing her cheek .
His warm lips burned her already flushed skin. She turned, giving him her best glare.
He just smiled and traced the hickey on her neck with his forefingers.
“All right, Boy Wonder, let’s go.” Leandra laughed as Nick’s expression turned from a smile to a frown.
“I’m Batman. Dylan over there is Boy Wonder,” Nick said.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fielding talking on his phone and waving his hands wildly while he tossed out a few curses. “He’s not going to let us walk out of here.”
“He’s not going to have a choice,” Logan said, holding up his phone.
“Our boss just got the FBI to hire the Aegis Network to run a search and rescue mission, and we’ve been authorized to bring in Dylan and his Delta Force team while they are on a few days leave.
Fielding’s hands are tied, though we’re going to have to work with him since he’s the one with the authority to bring Ramos in. ”
Fielding tapped his phone before shoving it in his pocket. “You better not fuck up this arrest for me.” He pointed to Leandra.
She smiled sweetly. “You stay out of my way; I’ll stay out of yours.”
“We’ll stick with the original plan, but…” Fielding planted his hands on his hips, pushing his suit coat out. “If things go bad, this is on you, not me.”
“Let’s get this party started,” Logan said.
“Ready, hon?” Nick tugged at her arm .
“I’m not your hon,” she said.
“I think that hickey says you are.” Dylan slapped her shoulder as he breezed by.
“Welcome to the family,” Logan said with a smile.
“You people are really weird,” she muttered before turning her attention to Nick, who stood beside her with his arm still looped over her shoulders. “Next time I’m going to cover your neck in hickeys and see how you like it.”
“Is that a promise?” He winked.
She jabbed his gut. “Let’s go, hon , we’ve got work to do.”