Page 57 of Bound By Valor

“As the North American division of Alpha Program, we only have the jurisdiction to take down Garret and his son, Jerome. They’ve been…” Zarek paused, searching for the right word.

“Troublesome? Relentless? Stupid?” I chimed in, attempting to lighten the mood. A ghost of a smileflickered across Zarek’s lips.

“Leora Mateez,” Sebastian said, turning his attention to me with a lopsided smile.

“So you’ve heard of me.”

“Indeed, the famous damsel in distress,” he replied with a teasing tone.

Okay, yeah. I despise this man.

“Am I, though? Maybe your intel is outdated, Mr. Blackthorn, but I recently savedmyselffrom Casteel’s attack.”

His smile widened and he threw his one free hand up, “Yep, it’s official. I like this one.”

Sebastian closed the distance between us, took my hand in his and kissed my knuckles.

Zarek got up and growled, “Hands off, Blackthorn. She’s mine.”

Sebastian immediately dropped my hand and raised his brows in a question.

I nodded with confirmation, “Tell us, Mr. Blackthorn. Why haven’t you stopped Garret if you knew all this was going down?”

“Asking the right questions is a skill, Ms. Mateez. One you possess,” Sebastian sounded amused, “I didn’t stop Garret because he may be the one pulling the strings, but the strings are rather hard to track down. We don’t know his motive and his son, Jerome, has been handling the shipments. We can take Jerome down tomorrow, but we both know Garret will have a backup ready. Legally, I can’t touch him.”

“And illegally?” I asked.

He lowered his head to meet my eyes, his face inches away, “Illegally, I can gut him, and strangle him with his own intestines until he is blue and dead.”

“That’s rather extreme for someone who is justimporting technology products. Or maybe that’s not all he does?” I pressed further.

He then turned to the whole squad, “Human trafficking, illegal drug trade in major North American cities, and slavery. Yep, slavery.”

The whole squad shifted a bit. Zarek was frowning and Logan’s eyes went dark.

Sebastian’s nostrils flared and I saw anger, raw anger emanating from him. Perhaps, he was a noble man, after all.

TWENTY-SEVEN

Zarek

“Help us take Garret down and we might be able to collaborate for Gao Ling takedown. I can ask Callahan if we can bypass Interpol,” I said. “By the way, why isn’t Interpol on this?”

Sebastian shrugged, “They’re probably busy with the Russians. But that’s a conversation for another year.”

“What do you need from the squad?” I asked.

“I need you to operate from New York. I have intel that their next shipments are landing in Florida, New York and Nova Scotia in two weeks. They know you can’t target all. New York is the biggest one and it won’t just be the tiny little Crazon. If we can locate their holding warehouse, we can find and use Jerome to get to Garret.”

“We have confirmation that Jerome is in New York. How many operatives can you spare?” Kabir asked.

“It’ll be me, Delara Booth and Zane Cruiser. We’re locked in for this assignment. What about you?”

I saw Leora shift nervously.

Nodding at Sebastian I replied, “The whole squad and a trainee. Leora will be a part of this. I can’t leave her here and I can’t spare personnel for protection.”

“I have bodyguards that can look after her, if you want,” Sebastian raised a brow.

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