Page 161 of Bossy Hero

“First up. Tomer.” I catch his eyes. “Get everyone on the same page regarding the work your team has been doing with the list.”

He nods crisply, turning to look down the length of the table. “As most of you know, we recently followed the instructions provided to us by the man we refer to as the architect to meet with a source. She passed us a jump drive containing a list of seventy-two names. Secondary to this, Mia found ahiddenfile on the drive with cargo ship routes that run through Miami. We’ll discuss that at a later time. Today, we’re focusing on the seventy-two.”

He pauses for a quick breath, then barrels on. “We’ve been researching the hell out of these individuals. While we’ve found some interesting things, we need more personal intel. That’s where you come in.”

Tomer sails a stack of papers across the table. “Everybody take one. This is a summary of key findings I want to talk through before we divvy it up.”

While everyone grabs from the stack, I add, “The list on the jump drive also contained a hidden message. According to that, we’re supposed to expose the people on this list. The problem is that we don’t know what we’re exposing. We have reason to believe some of them may have visited the trafficking prep houses as customers.” I pause to forcibly unclench my jaw. “It’s unclear if all of them did this or not. That’s one of the key things I want to find out with surveillance. Additionally, since some of these are power players, it’s possible they’re the ones helping Lenkov operate. With that in mind, we need intel onanythingpertaining to the Russians, drugs, weapons, crime, gambling, taking bribes, and so on. Anything at all. So we’ve really got our work cut out for us.”

I glance down the table, seeing all eyes on mine except Mia’s. Instead, her gaze is focused on Lettie, compassion flowing to my daughter. Likely in response to my mention of those despicable humans ascustomers. As if it were some above-board service they procured.

Disgusting.

I whisper to Lettie, “You okay?”

The corners of her mouth curve with a slight smile. “I’m fine. Keep going.”

Lowering my face, I reduce my volume to avoid calling attention to our conversation. “I don’t think it’ll come up again. But feel free to step out if you need to.”

Her smile reaches her eyes. “Message received, Boss Dad. Thanks for caring. But I’m good.”

I’m unsure if her comfort level with this topic is genuine or a front. Rather than looking deeper, I let it go for now. Throughout this ordeal, she’s favored being involved in seeking justice. It’d be easy to curl up in a ball, letting others handle this. But she’s not built that way.

I shift my line of sight to Tomer. “You’re up, T.”

He jumps in without missing a beat. “For research on the seventy-two, we dove into the usual things, going as deep as we could virtually—employment, family, political, finances, criminal records, military backgrounds, and shit like that. We cross-referenced our findings to look for connections. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any single commonality threading them all together. However, about half of the people on the list have an intersection with at least two others on the list. That information is detailed in the summary.”

He pauses, eyes scanning the table. With no questions arising, he continues. “From there, we ranked them by importance. We ended up with sixteen individuals we want to perform surveillance on.”

As he runs through the list, highlighting connections and answering questions, my mind wanders to various topics.

To Lettie and her indomitable strength. Despite her recent suffering, she’s a beacon of hope and light.

And to the justice she deserves. Even if she wasn’t my daughter, I would’ve sought justice on her behalf. But knowing her better and seeing so many of my traits shining in her has made the sting far more abrasive than I ever could have predicted.

Then my eyes fall to Maddie and Sammy trading secrets in the corner. The confidence and comfort Maddie’s shown about our relationship recently has fulfilled me in ways I never thought possible. For years, I’ve wanted more while accepting she might not ever be able to give it. After all, she was emotionally and physically abused for more than two decades, not to mention her childhood. It’s no wonder she doesn’t trust easily or want to give up her independence.

I can’t fault her for that.

But now she’s giving me so much.

And after last night, it seems she loved me all along.

Despite the heightening threat, I need to find a way to keep her safe without trapping her in a cage.

My vision pans across the room, and my thoughts keep spinning.

All of our lives have been put on hold. Even those who aren’t sleeping here each night are dealing with heightened security precautions. Everyone deserves to live without this blanket of fear covering them. Sadly, we have months until that January date the architect gave us. Can we go on like this until then? They need a break. Hell,Ineed a break.

I’ll need to come up with a way to give them that. A rotation schedule or something. We can’t stop living.

My stray thoughts return to the present when Tomer says, “That’s it. Any questions?”

Shep raises his hand, which tracks with my expectations. Especially since he was assigned to trail Yuri. He’s bound to have an objection or ten. If it hadn’t been Shep, Sawyer would have been the first to speak since he can’t shut up.

I point at Shep with my chin. “What?”

“I’m sure you’re expecting me to bitch about my assignment, but I’m about to blow your mind by asking something unrelated.” He pauses, widening his eyes and tilting his head like he’s waiting for a round of applause. Instead, he’s met withget-to-the-pointlooks. “I know we have significant doubts about Katia’s role in this shit storm and her allegiances. With that in mind, why hasn’t anyone been assigned to trail her?”

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