Page 65 of The Bait

“Which is what, exactly?”

Asher nodded to the GPS screen, to the address they were headed to, where apparently Yunho and Lucas were being held. “We’re about to waltz intotheirbase, Harry. Wewill be outnumbered and outgunned. Except now, in about an hour or so, there’s going to be backup arriving.”

Harry looked at him as if he were insane. “Cops who will not be on our side, Asher. Now there will be more guys pointing guns at us. Jesus Christ. Not to mention our faces will be splashed on every news channel, on TV, online, on every-fucking-thing. We’re supposed to fly under the radar, avoid detection—” The penny dropped as soon as he’d said it. Harry stared at him. “That was why you did it.”

Asher half smiled at him. “Agencies will be running facial recognition right now, and it’s gonna ping national security alarms. All while the media is running stories, digging for information the cops and governments are trying to bury. It’ll be a shitshow, and Radovic and Istomin now have more political shit to worry about than just us.”

Fucking hell.

“A lot more to worry about,” Harry grumbled. “Like kill teams, Asher. Guys like us, only younger and with all the guns and ammo they need.”

Asher made a face that said he was very well aware and that he didn’t exactly care.

“It ends today,” he said. “One way or another, it ends today.”

“Jesus fucking Christ, Asher,” Harry cried. “Is this a suicide mission? Because it’s starting to sound like you think we’re not getting out of this. We’re definitely not getting out of the country, that’s for damn fucking sure. Now that our faces are all over the media and we don’t have Yunho’s contacts for new passports.”

“I have his contact list, remember?”

Harry ran his hand through his hair, his mind racing, his blood pumping. He tried to take a few calming breaths,not that it did him much good. “Just tell me you won’t do anything stupid. This is not a suicide mission, Asher. Whatever you have planned for this meeting, we need an exit strategy. No exceptions. We must have a way out and a plan B and a rendezvous point should we get separated.”

“How can we have a plan B when we don’t even have a plan A?” Asher asked. “We’re walking into their web. They’re calling the shots. Our only plan is to walk into their territory and find out what the fuck’s going on.”

“And now you’ve put a timer on us because every government agency in this part of Europe has been put on high alert. You named two high-ranking political figureheads as corrupt, going back decades, and responsible for ultimately planning to overthrow their governments, and you gave them the location we’re heading to.”

He made a face. “Cops will be too busy in damage control right now. And anyway, the backup I expect to arrive first isn’t the police, Harry. Military, special forces, maybe even a swat team.”

Harry stared at Asher, only sparing quick glances at the road as he drove.

Christ, he was serious.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Asher. Thisisa suicide mission. Just this morning you said you wanted to go home, you couldn’t bear thinking about losing me or anything bad happening to me, and then you go and do this? What the actual fuck?”

“Nothing can happen to you,” Asher said, ever so fucking casually.

What the . . . ? What the fucking hell . . . ? How was . . . what the hell does he think is . . . ?

Oh no.

“No.” Harry shook his head. “Don’t even think about it. Absolutely not.”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely fucking not!” Harry roared. His grip on the steering wheel made it creak. “You are not going in there by yourself.”

“Harry, I?—”

“Absolutely not,” Harry growled. “There is no way I would let you go in there alone, and the fact you think I would?—”

“You don’t have a choice. He told me to come alone.”

“Hecan get fucked. Whoever the fuck he is.”

“His name is Radovic.”

“He’s a dead man, that’s who he is.”

Asher was quiet for a few moments. “Harry, it’ll be better if I go alone. You can leave. Our rendezvous point will be our house in Tallowwood. I’ll meet you there, and I’ll know you’re safe and?—”

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