23. Kiera
KIERA
Moving forward, eager to make my way into the bustling crowd on the dance floor, I kept my eyes locked on our target. “Let’s move.”
I watched him move through the crowd with ease, unbothered by using his shoulders to muscle other patrons out of his way.
Entitled prick.
All I could see was Grant’s face. How desperately he wanted to get that poor girl somewhere quiet. The fear on his face. The way his eyes went blank as his blood drained onto the warehouse floor.
He’d deserved it. And so do these assholes.
And as much as I wished I could deny it, I was hungry for more. My captors had corrupted me, shown me what real Justice looked like.
As I lurched forward, Spencer gently raised her arm to block my path. “Not tonight, Bunny. Strict orders, data collection.”
“Non-interference.” Leo growled.
My face scrunched up tight, my blood boiling at their words. “What the fuck? But won’t they just leave and hurt more women? Isn’t that supposed to be what we’re here to stop?”
Hoping to be the voice of reason, Spencer nodded. “I know, I hear you. But if we intervene now, we won’t get to the higher ups. You can only kill the hydra by cutting off every head.”
My eyes flicked back to the mark. He was settling into a seated area at the very center of the chaotic dance floor. There, he held court.
Of course I knew Spencer was right. She’d done this more than I had and knew how these kinds of operations worked. But I hated it. And more than anything, I didn’t know why the fuck The Oracle was the one to decide the fates of these women.
Who are they to make this call?
From what I’d seen, they were happy to let us do the grunt work.
It was only when Leo’s massive hand rested on my shoulder that I felt myself ease. “They promised us they’d watch for the girls. But this is our part for tonight.”
I met her gaze, searching her golden eyes — darkened by the dim lighting of the bar — for answers. And I knew what hid behind her words. Dissatisfaction. And duty.
If Major Callahan was willing to follow these orders, I knew I needed to.
Crossing my arms, I moved back toward my bar stool.
As I sat back down, I rested my tired legs.
All these heels were starting to hurt my knees and ankles.
But I knew if I mentioned it to my two angels, they would lift me up and carry me the rest of the night.
For now, the stool would have to be enough.
Leo and Spencer got back to fake chatting as they watched our mark. After a few minutes, a small crowd had grown within the roped off VIP area. Despite the ear-splittingly loud music, they carried on a hushed conversation.
A few girls had slipped into their circle, delirious and drunk.
Gritting my teeth, I watched the women closely. They weren’t just drunk. Their limbs were weak, hardly within their control.
Those fuckers drugged them already.
If they hadn’t been, they may have noticed the gaggle of suited up men passing around a dark duffel bag.
Our mark threw the bag on the table and reached inside.
“Here we go.” Leo pulled out a small black bag from her back pocket. From inside, she retrieved a sleek pair of binoculars. They were discrete, smaller than any kind I’d seen before.
Before she pulled them to her eyes, she grabbed my hips and pulled me closer. A moan slipped past my lips as she pressed me into her warm body.
“Cover me, Princess.” Leo growled as she lifted the binoculars to her eyes, using my body to cover most of her face.
Just as Leo looked down at the VIP section, I watched as the mark pulled out wads of cash from the black duffel.
Without moving the binoculars, Leo narrated what she was seeing. “Notes on top of the stacks. Town names from all over. Bloomburg, Cornwall, Lowland, Valemont.”
Shit.
“It really is organized.” Spencer scoffed from next to us, shaking her head as she watched the group of men below.
Swallowing hard, I came to terms with the fact that Grant, the man I’d killed , hadn’t lied to us. He was telling the truth. And if he was telling the truth about that, were his bosses really hunting me down?
A strange cocktail of fear and rage coursed through me as I tried to figure out how we could walk away from the poor woman dancing in the VIP section. Those men were dangerous, somehow more so than most.
I struggled to find the words, any words. But what did come out surprised me. “Why Valemont? Why here?”
Leo lowered the binoculars and shrugged.
Before she could answer, Spencer groaned and pulled out her ringing phone from her pocket. “Shit.”
Plugging her ear, Spence tried to escape to a quiet corner of the small area we’d been hiding in.
I couldn’t make out much, just small snippets.
“Yeah, got it. I’ll be there, ASAP. Love you.” Spencer lowered the phone, rubbing her forehead.
Without looking away from the mark, Major Callahan asked, “Kids?”
Sighing, Spencer nodded. “Yeah, Caleb’s in the hospital. They need his records but his fuckass father doesn’t remember where his last physical was. And it’s after hours.”
“Fuck.” I shook my head, my eyes jolting between the men at the center of the bar and Spencer’s concerned face.
“I’ve gotta go, now.” Spencer’s jaw tensed as she considered abandoning the mission.
What would happen to these men if we aborted now?