Page 117 of Bossy Hero

And that’s a bad sign. He’s hiding something.

Decision made, I bark out, “Nope. I don’t want you on that.”

My gaze shifts to Klein. “You’re taking over as the primary point for the detectives until further notice.”

Klein’s face goes slack, and his eyes dart around aimlessly. He doesn’t respond. And in my peripheral, I see why. He’s looking at his butt-hurt teammate to see how he’ll react.

Tomer’s eyes burn into the side of my cheek.

“You’re too emotionally involved to speak for Redleg right now. Let Klein take it.” I flick my wrist dismissively between the two of them. “He’ll keep you informed.”

Giving them no chance to object, I continue firing assignments. “Mia, feel out your contacts at the bureau to see how receptive they are to contracted help from us. Tread carefully on how much you divulge about our plans until you know whether they’re open to it. Last thing we need is them throwing roadblocks at us before we even get out of the gate.”

She worries her lips to one side. “Should I mention Lenkov specifically or keep it more general?”

“What’s your gut say?”

Her face morphs into a sly grin. “They’ll be more receptive if they know we’re gunning for the family they’ve been trying to take down for decades.”

I nod. “Agree. Do it.”

For the next half hour, we divvy the remaining categories until all the adrenaline and irritation no longer keep me focused. I need some fucking sleep before I collapse. I’m getting too damn old for this shit.

Shep’s gonna need to visit his long-time informant, local shitbag Yuri Zaytsev. That’ll go over like a lead shit balloon.

Lionheart will assemble a small team focusing on Lenkov’s drug and gun trafficking activities.

Aside from the law enforcement and political shit, I’ll be point for our WITSEC contact and diving into Lenkov’s financial dealings with Mia assisting me from a tech standpoint.

We’ve done everything we can for tonight. From here, we just need to dig in. The faster, the better because we’re about to start hemorrhaging money. I’ll need to work on my LEO contacts to expand some of our paid contract agreements. Money doesn’t grow on palm trees.

In addition to placing a moratorium on new clients, I’ll complete a risk assessment of our current cases. There’s a chance we’ll need to step back from some of them, which could mean we’d lose their business forever. Fortunately, we have a large number of home security clients who only require our remote monitoring services and in-home tech. They should be safe from Lenkov’s reach, assuming we keep our servers tight so their information doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

After putting my tablet in sleep mode, I slap my palm on the table. “Well, kids. That’s it. I’m calling it for tonight. For those of you not staying at HQ, follow procedures without exception. Continue check-ins and all that shit.”

Klein’s the first to jump up, likely in a hurry to get home to his elderly mother. Mia’s on his heels.

Tomer hasn’t spoken since I denied his suggestion. Not even in response to Leo’s pleasantries as we exit the lair.

I hate how quickly my resentment of him is festering.

I’m usually better at boxing my feelings. Not this time.

Tomer’s betrayal is too significant to set aside. And it’s a fresh, deep-as-hell wound.

Despite priding myself in reading people, I really missed the fucking boat with him. There’s only been one other person who duped me. And my brother paid the price.

Maybe once I’ve had more sleep, I can unass this shit. But I won’t hold my breath. This is more than some rack time can fix.

Chapter19

White on rice

Big Al

“Want to talk about it?” Maddie asks, voice like smooth silk.

A morose chuckle gets stuck in the back of my throat. Do Iwantto talk about it?

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