Page 76 of Unhinged Cravings
“Where are your other men?” Brinks asked, stepping in front of Riley.
“She seems like she can defend herself, Brinks. And I’m sure if I made a move, Grey would break my hand and then I’d break his neck, of course.”
He sneered, and I evaluated him, seeing the striking similarities to his sister. They looked more alike than Greyson and I did.
“My men are around.”
Donelli’s daughter screamed as Pack stepped from a corner.
“Like I said, they’re around. Stand down Raines, if you shoot my second, I’ll have to kill you to even the odds.”
“Angie, get over here,” he scolded, and I could see the relief as he tucked his gun back in his pants.
“It’s like gathering children for story-time,” Greyson muttered. I could see the reflexive twitch in Riley’s arm like she wanted to elbow him, but she stayed in control. This was still a serious situation, one that could erupt at any second.
“There’s so much testosterone in this room it’s smothering.” I surveyed a mop of curls that bounced as a curvy petite woman walked around the room, her eyes fixed on the computer and map set up in the center.
“And you are?” I asked. She was the only one I didn’t know, although I vaguely remembered seeing her in intel pictures on the Donelli’s. Something about her being Donelli’s accountant nudged the back of my mind, but I couldn’t place her name.
“My sister,” Raines said.
“Casey,” she said, hopping over to Mason, who threw his arm around her shoulder.
That piece of information I didn’t know, other than hearing her name from Ava, but then, my intel had been off since this debacle began. I looked between the two men. “Bet that went over well,” I muttered.
“Oh, he’s so like you, Grey,” Riley said, and my sight flew to her. I had never heard anyone call him Grey except me.
“We’re nothing alike,” he grumbled.
“Keep telling yourself that,” she said, giving me a smile.
I suddenly sensed the loss of Ava’s presence even heavier than I had and my mood dropped further.
“We’re losing time,” I said, my words terse. “The imposters are using a warehouse as a front for their business. I have men scouting it and the residence of their leader, Henley.” I walked over to the map we had spread out on the table. “He’s the one who was running the trafficking business under my nose. We flushed him out, but he went underground, and we only just found him again. We haven’t figured out how they're getting the girls in or out but suspect it's some kind of tunnel system below the warehouse.”
“How many men does he have?” Brinks asked, coming closer to the map, his eyes sharp as they flicked over it.
“The estimate is fifty, spread between the two locations, based on what our operative has reported,” Pack said, coming over to the table.
“This is Pack. He’s my second.”
Nods around, then focuses returned to the map.
“Fifty is a lot more than we have,” Raines said.
“And more than I have left. With the team here, I have eleven. The rest of my men are at my second safe house and they only make up another ten.”
“You don’t have them here because you don’t trust them.” Greyson met my sight.
“Correct. Their crew all have a tattoo of a snakeon them in different spots on their bodies. Damn copycats trying to replicate what I’ve built.” Crimson slashed my vision, and I fisted my hand. “We checked all our guys and only found one, which we eliminated, but the rest of my team is new, replacements brought in to cover the losses and I won’t risk one of them betraying me while I’m trying to get to Ava.”
“So that makes twenty with our men, not counting the three of us,” Brinks said.
“Numbers that could work.” It was Casey who spoke this time. “If you play it right and time it right. They’ll have their guard up, especially if this is a trap to lure you in.” She sat on the corner of a chair, pulling her curls into a knot on her head as she talked. “Ava is a valuable commodity and if they’re smart enough to pull off all the shit they pulled in Armina and at home, they’ll have double the security.”
“But they messed up in Armina,” Angie said.
“Who runs your family, Brinks? You or your women?”
