Page 122 of Rival Hero

My heart thrums excitedly as I wheel my chair closer to Tomer’s workstation. “Talk to me, Goose.”

“She found them. There.” He points at the pair of queef cookies. They’re a few spots down the bar from Kri.

She’s positioned her body so her cam keeps them in view. “I love this song,” she says to the man beside her, but she’s actually seeking permission to proceed from Tomer.

Tomer studies his other screen, looking for any signs of trouble in front or behind the bar. With nothing of note, he gives her the go-ahead to continue the mission. “Copy, Kri. Charlie Mike.”

With a ginger ale in her hand, she slides off the bar stool and saunters over to the tangos. My pulse shoots through the roof.

She can handle herself, but she’s not yet at full strength. And those men are dangerous.

“Kri has located the tangos and is on approach,” I tell Shep and Aaron via their comms.

Since Yuri is making them wait, I might as well keep them informed.

I’m expecting a confirmation answer, but instead, Shep replies, “Pete’s here. Let’s go see him.”

I curse under my breath, hating that my attention will be split. The nosy bitch inside me who’s always clamoring for intel doesnotapprove.

But I trust Tomer to run alpha team’s mission.

On my primary screen, the man who drugged Lettie waves Shep and Aaron toward Yuri’s office. Disgust unfurls in my chest, putting a sour taste in my mouth.

How many girls have they harmed? How many lives ruined?

Tomer and I put our headsets on since we can’t effectively listen to both conversations at once. Plus, Kri’s microphone has a lot of background noise that’s hard to tune out.

I focus all my attention on bravo team. Shep walks down the hallway, trailing behindPete, a.k.a. Yev.

Assuming Yev follows the typical routine, he’ll take him into Yuri’s office, then search them for weapons and wires. Normally, Shep leaves his weapons and comms in the car, but tonight is not a normal night.

The second Shep and Aaron enter Yuri’s office with the door closed, they fly into action. With swift movements, Shep catches the guard by surprise and quickly takes him down to his knees with a boot to one kneecap. As the big guy falls to the ground, Shep follows it with a forceful knee to the underside of his chin. Too stunned to fight, he’s instantly subdued, flat on his stomach. Shep wraps his bicep around his neck, pulling his head off the ground and cutting off his airflow.

He places his KA-BAR blade to his throat with his free hand and rests his knee on the shitbag’s spine. “Don’t make a sound, or I’ll slit your throat like the pig you are,” Shep seethes.

Aaron moves to the other side of the downed guard, expeditiously binding his wrists and ankles with thick zip ties. Other than that, he didn’t have to lift a finger. With the brute secured, Aaron shifts position to guard the door, facing the scene on the ground and giving us the perfect view.

“Command, are we clear to proceed?” Aaron calls out.

“Roger. Charlie Mike,” I respond in a clipped tone.

Since Yuri loves his grand entrances, he’s not in there; it’s only the three of them so far. And because he’s paranoid, he doesn’t have surveillance in his office. He’s too scared it would be used against him. In this case, it serves us well.

Shep snarls at the guard, low and menacing, “Listen up, fucker. We know you’ve been working with your friends to drug and abduct girls. If you want to live to see daylight, tell me where you took the girl you grabbed from the Turtle club on Friday night.”

“Ya tvoy rot yibal,” he spits, cursing out Shep in his native Russian tongue.

He jabs the knife deeper into his flesh, drawing blood from the tip of the blade. Yev hisses in pain.

Shep nods at Aaron, who throws a hard punch into his bulbous nose.

“Again,” Shep orders, and again, Aaron hits him.

While the guard curses and spits blood onto the floor, Aaron returns to the door, having only been away from his post for a few seconds.

“Talk. The girl from Friday. Where?”

“If I tell you, I’m dead.”

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