Page 24 of Breaking Conviction
Wes sighed, knowing what she was getting at. Nora had been roped into being a part of their current mission to infiltrate the Ashland Elite Scholarship Fundraiser, an annual party that was always kept a secret until only a few weeks before.
“Yeah, I think they’re gonna go through with it. The bastards have been radio silent for the last year, which makes me believe they might have help in high places. I’d bet money that the traffickers are the reason why the fundraiser is Ashland County’s best-kept secret.”
Too bad for them. Not only did Wes love a challenge, he now had the master list of guests, donors, and eligible recipients, thanks to Naomi.
He winced inwardly. He’d hated lying by omission to Naomi to get the list. What he’d said hadn’t been untrue. Ellie had met people at the party the year before and because she was drugged, she had no recollection of anyone.
Nora scoffed and propped her boots up on the desk before crossing her arms and leaning back. “More like best-kept scandal. Honestly, Superman, I’m not stoked about being a makeshift agent. I’ll be Nora,Nora the Explorerin a freakin’ James Bond movie. Although, Hawkwouldbe a sexy AF Black Bond.”
Wes didn’t knock her boots down this time. A note in her voice told him what he already knew. She was terrified. And who could blame her?
Last year, Ellie and her friend were kidnapped from the party. Her friend had been murdered, and during recon, a BlackStone team member, Draco, was shot and Nora was kidnapped too. Both Nora and Ellie were almost fuckingsold.
“We have a month until the party this time. Last year, we were scrambling after the fact and had less than seventy-two hours to come to the rescue. No one should notice you since you don’t have that purple hair anymore.” He tugged at a faded black lock, like he used to do with his sister, and Nora swatted his hand while sticking out her tongue. “I miss the fun colors, by the way.”
Nora’s expression dimmed and she cleared her throat. “Yeah, well… ever since Draco…” She swallowed as she mentioned Wes’s teammate, who was still in a coma after trying to save Nora. “I just haven’t been in the mood for anything ‘fun’ lately.”
Fuck, he hated seeing that look of guilt stain her face. Desperate to get his annoying ‘kid sister’ back, Wes knocked her shoes off the table again and grinned at her scowl. “On the plus side,AgentNora, having a woman on the team makes a group of guys look way less suspect. You’ll basically be there as Phoenix’s arm candy if that makes you feel any better.”
Nora smiled before pretending to gag. “Ga-ross. I’ve heard some… shall we say…bigthings about our good pal Phoenix from the strip club Jules represents. But let’s also just say I’ve heard those compliments alotfrom alotof different women. The man seems to be there all night every night, so yeah… that’ll be a big hard pass for me. Thanks.”
Wes laughed until an idea hit him. He turned toward his computer screens again and navigated the BlackStone Security program he’d created, opening files and reworking code until he finally found the answer.
“Ah-HA! You used Phoenix’s code to get in! Wait… how?”
Nora smiled her mischievous grin. “You gotta talk to your dude, Superman. Phoenix isalwayson his phone and lousy as balls at hiding his screen when he enters the code to get into the compound.”
“Fucking Phoenix.” He took off his glasses and massaged his eyes. “That man’s gonna be the death of me.”
When he put his glasses back on, Nora was watching him thoughtfully.
“What’s the beef with you two, anyway? Were you guys like this in MF7?”
He kept from flinching at a civilian mentioning their former paramilitary unit. Before they were the private security firm, his team at BlackStone was part of a project so classified, most of the US government didn’t even know about it. Secrecy was the only way to make sure no one infiltrated or sabotaged their mission to rescue trafficked victims and takedown rings in hot zones throughout the world.
Instead, he rolled his eyes and turned back to the computer, pulling up the guest list Naomi had given him the week before. “Who knows? I think he’s still got damage from that last mission with all of us. Somehow it was fucked from the start, and he blames me for the comms going down even though IknowI triple-checked headsets, drones, and intel beforehand. They went down before the firestorm and I wasn’t able to warn them that they were walking into a trap.”
The ‘last mission’ the BlackStone men had together, nearly two years ago, was when they comprised the MF7. They’d been charged with saving trafficking victims, and their last mission in Yemen had failed miserably. No victims were saved, and they’d lost their team lead, Eagle.
Nora’s brows furrowed. “So he’s angsty about your walkie-talkies not working?”
Wes huffed out a breath. “That’s one way to put it. It’s a little more involved than that, but it works I guess.”
Nora stuck her nose back in her phone before nonchalantly balancing her boots on his desk again. “Seems petty AF if ya asked me. Sounds like all of you guys were boned. I don’t see why blaming one dude helps anyone.”
Wes tightened his lips and didn’t respond. He’d thought that a million times before himself. He sighed and shook his head before pointing to the list and various other programs on the screens.
“So you ready to do some digging and find out which assholes are dumb enough to try to pull the same stunt they did last year?”
“Uh…” Nora looked up from her phone and studied the large computer screens before smiling her evil little pixie smile. “Almost.”
Wes followed her gaze to see a gray Nissan Murano pull up to the BlackStone Security gate.
“You calledNaomi?”
The request for entry alerted on the screen, but Wes was too stunned to move. He’d been pissed when her name was brought up in the meeting and didn’t agree with Hawk that she should be involved with their mission with the Ashland Elite. Wes hadn’t any intention of actually asking Naomi for her help and had instead spent the remainder of the meeting brainstorming excuses as to why they couldn’t use her.
Still frozen at his keyboard, his mind on the fritz and trying to figure out his next course of action, Nora chuckled and dropped her feet from the desk. She pushed his rolly chair out of the way to press the buttons that opened the gates and allowed Naomi inside the building before sitting back down.
