Page 34 of Fatal Temptation

“I fucking called it, man,” Addie exclaimed. “I wanna be a bridesmaid at your wedding. Blue, I’ll wear blue. I’d totally rock a blue maid of honor dress.”

“I don’t know about wedding. We’re kinda just figuring things out right now but Icanpromise you that if we ever do get married you can wear whatever dress you want.”

“And that is why you’re my favorite brother.”

“I’m your only brother.”

Her cackle had him laughing, too, and for a moment he felt like everything might just turn out alright.

Lucas

He met his team just a few streets from the ring’s building. He wasn’t surprised to see Edmunds arrive along with Sanchez and the team. Gemma gave him a curious look but didn’t ask any questions. He would have to catch her up on…a lotof things.

He’d sent the pictures he’d taken to Tahir, and they had a warrant because of it.

“The woman’s name is Olivia Toole. She’s been missing for eight months,” Tahir said, a pinched look on his face. “The man is Zachary Kobi. He’s already got a warrant out for his arrest in a domestic violence case.”

“He’s the one I saw at the last op, too.”

He pointed to the map of the area Tahir had pulled up. “This is the building they entered but they have underground access to some of the surrounding buildings, too.”

“And how did you come by all this information?” Sanchez asked, a cautious tone to his voice.

“A CI.”

Edmunds gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I don’t think you understand what ‘vacation’ means.”

He grinned at Edmunds and shrugged.

“Don’t tell me you’re complaining?”

Edmunds’ lips tilted up and he said, “Not in the least.”

They planned their entry strategy while they waited for FBI SWAT to arrive and once SWAT was informed and ready, they split up into teams. Mo and Evan were with him along with two SWAT officers and their sergeant, while Gemma and Tahir joined two officers, Sanchez going with the last two officers.

“Let’s go,” Sanchez barked.

They moved out, Lucas’ team heading down the street to the front of the ring’s building. They would be breaching the front door while the two other teams entered from the back and the building next door.

The second they got the green light from Edmunds, the SWAT officers were slamming the battering ram against the door. It took two hits before the lock broke, and they could throw the door open.

They moved into the building, guns raised as they moved fluidly together. The place looked and smelled as disgusting as he’d imagined. It was early enough in the day that the place wasn’t crawling with Johns, but they still ran across a few coming from deeper inside the building.

They checked each room, putting people in handcuffs and leaving them with a SWAT officer before moving on.

So far, there had only been yelling and no shooting, but he was prepared when those gunshots sounded. They all dropped against the wall, and he imagined the others’ hearts were beating as frantically as his was.

He took a breath and followed when the sergeant motioned for them to continue down the hallway. The shots had come from outside and it was only a few seconds later when he heard in his earpiece that two men in a blue pickup had tried to escape, shooting at the agents waiting by the back entrance, but they were now detained. He could take a good guess as to who was in that pickup.

They had cleared the front of the building when they neared a closed door and the only warning they got before bullets tore through the door was the click of a rifle loading.

They all flattened themselves against the walls and he threw a quick glance around at his fellow agents and SWAT officers to ensure that no one had been hit. They were all thankfully still standing.

He let SWAT take care of their entry into the room and followed, dropping behind a wide couch while SWAT laid down cover fire. Evan crouched next to him, his face set in a grim expression.

The room was in an L-shape with an open kitchen to his right in that nook of the L, covered windows along the left wall facing the back streets. Mo and the SWAT officers were trapped at a bad angle to take out the shooters.

Lucas crawled to the edge of the couch to get a look at their assailants. He counted two men. They were quite exposed as they shot at them, barely anything for them to hide behind aside from a bookcase they’d dropped on the side. He would’ve thought it a strange choice of cover if it wasn’t for the closed door right behind them. They were trying to keep them from whatever was behind that door. He already knew what it would be. They all did. Which was why they were very careful not to have any shots go through that door or wall. It made the job that much harder, but it didn’t matter.

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