Page 164 of Bossy Hero

“Copy, Boss,” Tomer responds and disconnects the call.

I scan the wall of monitors, not seeing Alan or any others who are out doing surveillance this evening. Looks like they don’t have the body cam footage I’ve seen on the few other times I’ve watched them work. Maybe they do, but there’s not enough room on the bank of monitors. There’s a flurry of activity lighting up the screens.

Two monitors display sprawling maps with blinking dots, likely location trackers. A few other screens have four-way split views of security camera footage from various locations. Looks like an entrance to a bar, a gas station, a guard shack manning a gate somewhere, and another overlooking the interior of a small store. More of the same on the next monitor over.

My attention shifts back to Tomer as he hits the button on his microphone. “Shep, you read me?”

“Roger, T.”

“Be advised you’re clear to proceed. Body cams on. No fingerprints. You know the drill. Extreme caution. And don’t fuck this up, or Boss is gonna have all our asses.”

Instead of Shep answering, Sawyer replies in a mobster impression. “Piece a friggin’ cake, baby boy. You worry too much. We got this. In and out. It ain’t nothin’, yeah?”

Silly ass.

If he can joke, it must not be too serious. Then again...

Mia leans against her chair back, stretching her arms over her head. “Mmmcake. Great. Now I miss Cal.”

I’m torn between asking where Klein is and what the heck my third son is about to do with Shep that requiresextreme cautionandleavingno fingerprints.

Kri clearly has no such dilemma and easily focuses on the mission. “What are they doing?”

Tomer notices our presence for the first time. “Oh, hey. You’re here. Good.” He gestures to the table. “Have a seat if you want to watch. Boss is trailing the chief with Lionheart following a few blocks behind. Meanwhile, Shep and Sawyer are about to break into Yuri’s house.”

My eyebrows and jaw launch in opposite directions.“Whaaat?”

Kri echoes my shock. “Yeah, seriously. What?”

Tomer glances at Mia, tipping his head toward Kri and me. “Catch them up while I get everything online.”

Mia spins her chair to face us, clasping her hands in her lap. “Right, so here’s the deal. As you know, Shep and Sawyer have been staking out Yuri with the goal of planting bugs on him or in his house.” She scrunches up her nose and wags her index finger. “But he’s a rascally one, that Russian. Tonight, our guys have a chance to get inside, and Boss just gave them the green light.”

My fingertips twist around my necklace. “What’s different about tonight?”

“Yuri’s upped his personal security recently. Whether at his strip club or home, he’s surrounded by goons. Some of whom must be using blocking tech to keep us from getting into their devices. Making things more complicated for us, heneverleaves his home unguarded anymore. He has a minimum of three guys there at all times.” She cricks her head to the side, brows inching toward her hairline. “Until tonight.”

Kri finally lowers to the seat beside me. “What happened to his home security team?”

“Yuri called them away about five minutes ago. We don’t know why or how long they’ll be gone, so it’s now or never.”

Tomer addresses the guys through the comms. “Deploy Jack.”

Kri gives a little fist pump. “Let’s fucking go.”

Mia returns to her desk, leaving me without specifics on Alan and Leo’s situation. However, it sounds like Sawyer and Shep are in more danger, so I’ll save my worries for them.

“Who’s Jack?” I ask Kri in a near-whisper, taking care not to disturb the others.

“Tomer and Klein’s latest toy. It’s a portable device that jacks up specific types of signals in its radius. I’m assuming they’re gonna use it to disarm his security system.”

“Or attempt to,” Tomer interjects.

Nervously, I wrap my necklace tighter around my index finger. “What do you mean by that?”

“It means I’m unsure if it’s gonna work. We haven’t had much time to test Jack’s capabilities. And Yuri’s got nice tech on that place since he’s almost as paranoid as Kim Jong Un.”

Mia switches the view on the monitors, bringing up body cam footage for Sawyer and Shep. After jumping a fence, they stealthily dash toward the rear of a two-story home. When they reach the back corner, one of them slaps a small black contraption onto the outside of a gray power junction box.

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