Page 145 of Bossy Hero

This morning, he replied to our recent email asking which of Lenkov’s crime rings we should focus on next. With so many columns still on our whiteboard, we were hoping he’d guide us into a specific area in the interest of efficiency.

His reply makes me want to kick him in the taint with freshly sharpened blades strapped to the toe of my boot.

Of course, we’ve been careful to use the code names he gave us through his friend Yuri’s Greek Mythology story. In our earlier email, we referred to the bratva as the labyrinth and Lenkov as King Minos. In our past dealings with him, he avoided communicating in plain language, which leads us to believe he doesn’t fully trust that his communications are secure.

From what we can tell, he’s systematically working to remove himself from the bratva one arm at a time so he doesn’t go down with the ship. Once he’s freed of a particular part of the organization, he’ll provide intel to help us along the way. We assume there’s only so much he can feed us without drawing notice.

Klein flops his hands on the table in defeat. “Will you read me Alexei’s message again?”

“Ask nicely,” Mia taunts.

“Please, tiger. It’s the least you could do since you’re bogarting the shared email account we’re using to communicate with this fuckface.”

Without further snark, she clears her throat and complies with his request. “Greetings, friends. I hear congratulations are in order, especially to one of you in particular. Exterminating vermin like that was a great service to the community. Not only are they repulsive, but they carry diseases that can harm the most vulnerable among us, such as mothers-to-be and our own children. And aren’t they the most precious to us all? Imagine something harming the ones we hold so dear. If it happened to me, I’d be hard-pressed to forget it. It seems I’m not alone in that regard, judging by your recent activities. I’ll endeavor to free myself of my current obligations so I may be of assistance to you as you continue cleaning the city we love so dearly.”

Mia pauses and glides her gaze around the table. “Keep going?”

A few of us nod. The message was so lengthy this time it’s hard to keep it all straight. Again, my boot craves fresh taint meat.

“Okay, so the next paragraph seems to divert to a new topic.” With a shrug, she continues. “Have you read anything interesting lately? I’m always on the hunt for new literature. In my day, books were made of paper and ink. Now, they’re often read on devices. I find it better to hold the paper in my hands. The weight of the words is more profound, and doing so allows me to see things in a new light.”

“And no closing signature this time,” Tomer adds.

Shep drags his palm over his head roughly. “Are we sure this isn’t Yuri fucking with us? This shit has his name written all over it. The theatrics. The riddles. The nonanswers. It’s straight out of his fucking playbook.”

I crick my neck and throw an arched brow at him. “Weren’t you the one who spoke with Yuri about Alexei?”

He nods slowly, sticking his open palm out in front of him. “I know. I know. But you have to admit how similar to his MO this all is. Right?”

“No lies detected,” Klein utters.

Tomer waves his hand in an awkwardlook-at-megesture. “I know I’m gonna sound like a broken record, but I think focusing on Alexei is the wrong priority. We need to find out more about Katia.”

Shep rolls his shoulders and his eyes in an equal flourish. “Tomer and his hard-on for busting Katia strike again.”

“You’re right, T,” I start, intentionally being unclear.

Tomer dips his chin toward his chest. “Thank you.”

“You didn’t let me finish. You’re right in that you do, in fact, sound like a broken record.”

Mia chuffs out a quiet laugh. “Boss has jokes today.”

“He seems happier too,” Klein muses.

“Of course he’s happier. He’s got his entire family under one roof.” Shep points to the ceiling. “This one.”

Speaking of my family...

Lettie intentionally clears her throat from the doorway to capture our attention. “Hey, y’all.”

Tomer waves her into the conference room. “Hey, sugar. What’s up?”

A vibrant grin dances from one side of her face to the next. She flings her thumb over her shoulder toward her desk. “I have Detective Salgado on the line. She asked for whoever was available the soonest.”

“Transfer the call in here.” Remembering Maddie’s advice, I tack on some manners. “Please.”

She nods and does a half curtsy. Adorable. “I shall jolly well endeavor to do that, Boss Dad.” As she turns to leave, she adds, “Assuming I can figure out how.”

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