Page 45 of Covert Vengeance

“Making sure we get Stanislav,” she responded, mimicking Ty’s posture as she faced Trinity and the others. Then she shot Ty a dark look of her own. “You ratted me out to him? Seriously?”

“Yep. I take your life and wellbeing that seriously.”

She made a disparaging noise and looked back at Marcus. “I’m going to pose as Amber in a different location when the meet up happens, so we’ll have double the bait and twice the chance of nailing him.”

Jesse glanced at Amber to see her reaction. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to argue but Megan cut her off with a warning look and a pointed finger. “You’re not doing this alone, so just shut up. I’m fully capable of pulling this off, and we look enough alike that it might throw off anyone hunting you. This way we can divide and conquer, and take advantage of Stanislav’s confusion.”

Silence greeted her announcement.

“Marcus, talk some sense into her, for God’s sake,” Ty growled.

Marcus merely watched Megan. “A bait and switch.”

She shot Ty a triumphant smile, then nodded at Marcus. “Exactly.” She turned to Trinity. “Well? What do you think?”

Trinity considered it for a moment. “It could work.”

Ty’s jaw tensed, his detest for the plan written all over his face. Jesse understood exactly how he felt. And while they would both prefer to deal with Stanislav without staking the women out in the open like sacrificial goats, the sooner they dealt with the asshole, the safer everyone would be—including Amber and Megan.

“We’ll arrange for the exchange to happen somewhere in London,” Megan continued. “Tons of people around, insane CCTV footage, lots of eyes on him. More confusion and risk for him.”

“And how do we set this up?” Trinity asked.

“Jesse demands Stanislav pay the full three million now, or he’ll put me up for auction on the Dark Net,” Amber said.

Jesse watched her, once again taken aback by the way her quick and devious mind worked. But he could see it. Could see it all happening step by step. “You’d have to make it look totally legit. You’d have to use an existing auction site and have it be set up through a middle man with a trusted, rock-solid rep, or Stanislav will know it’s a trap.”

Amber lifted a haughty brow at him. “Yeah, and?”

He smothered a chuckle, her innate confidence in her ability and who she was a huge turn-on. “And I guess we’d better get to work.”

****

Yury slathered his second piece of toast with more jam. A full English breakfast was one of the only good things about this country, but getting it down his throat was harder than he’d expected.

Zoya had introduced him to it on their first weekend away together. They’d flown to London and stayed in an upscale flat he’d rented, then walked down to this same restaurant for breakfast. At this same table they’d laughed, talked, made plans for their future together.

The toast seemed to stick partway down his throat when he swallowed it, his memories of her overwhelming.

Everything seemed to remind him of her. Didn’t matter where he was or what he was doing, some tiny thing would trigger a memory of her that would make it feel as though there were steel cables bound around his ribcage.

He washed the toast down with his fourth cup of English Breakfast tea. It wasn’t anywhere near as good as Russian tea, but better than the various forms of chai he’d been forced to endure throughout south Asia and the Middle East. Those all reminded him of her too.

There was no escaping it, or the pain he was constantly in. The simple act of breathing hurt.

His phone rang, dragging him from his morose thoughts, and he answered in flawless English. “Hello.”

“It’s me,” his hacker said. “He’s posted another message.”

He grunted. Cordova. What had the prick done now? “Is it important?”

“I’d say so, yes.”

The hacker wasn’t a trained operative or hitter, he was a geek who lived most of his life in his single bedroom flat with the blinds and curtains drawn, all alone with his computers. But he was good at what he did, and he knew enough not to talk openly about sensitive matters over the phone. Exactly what Yury needed at the moment.

“I’ll check it out and be in touch.” He disconnected and dropped some cash on the table, then walked back to the building he was staying in.

In his room he stood and bent over the desk to access the forum. But as soon as he read the message awaiting him, he jerked out the chair and sat, leaning forward intently.

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