Page 35 of Unexpected Redemption

I freeze two feet inside the doorway. “What?”

“Hi, T,” Mia chirps, immediately leaving the group and cowering to her computer. Her cheeks flame as red as her hair.

The guys mumble unintelligibly, both turning from me to face the whiteboard.

Fucking hell.

“Whatever. As long as you aren’t keeping crap about the case from me or talking shit about Lettie, I don’t care what you were gossiping about.”

Never have. Never will.

Klein placates, “Easy, buddy. Shep was just regaling us with a tale of how cuddly you and Lettie were out in the hallway just now. That’s all.”

Mia perks up. “I didn’t want to embarrass you, but since we’re on the topic, I’m thrilled for you two. Lettie’s the absolute sweetest human on the planet.” She glances at Klein. “No offense, Cal. You’re sweet too. Especially your cake.”

Not sure what that’s about. Not curious enough to ask either.

With a roll of his eyes and a flush spreading across his cheeks, Klein claps his hands and rubs them together like Mr. Miyagi about to fix the Karate Kid’s leg. “Let’s get to work. We may have figured something out about Yuri and Yev’s relationship.”

“What did he say?” I ask him.

“Rather than what he said, it was what hedidn’tsay that got us thinking.”

Plunking onto my chair in a huff, I smack my palms on my thighs. “I still don’t even know what the highlights of the discussion were.”

Mia picks up my dejected tone, her eyes warming. “Tomer, we’re not hiding things from you. We’re all running in a million different directions. I know you’re used to being at the center of everything, but it’s impossible with this many irons in the fire. We’reallgetting up to speed now.”

She’s right. Plus, I’ve been splitting my attention between work and Lettie.

I flick my wrist, rolling it in a slow circle. “Fine. Feathers unruffled. Someone, talk.”

Shep steps up to the whiteboard, uncapping a marker. “Yev was Yuri’s link to Lenkov, potentially implanted there to keep Yuri informed.” He scribbles on the board.“Now that he’s fled, Yuri’s in the dark.”

My head kicks back. “That doesn’t sound like something Yuri would admit with all the vodka in Russia.”

“He didn’t,” Klein explains. “Mia and I were talking about it and realized all the info he revealed was based on knowledgefrombeforeLettie’s rescue, which coincides with when Yev went AWOL.”

Shep nods in agreement. “And when I mentioned the hit on Boss, shock flickered across his ugly face. Try as he may to hide it, I saw it.”

“Damn.” My jaw clenches. “Guess he won’t be much help in our search for Yev. Let’s hope he knows enough about Lenkov’s past crimes to help us take him down.” I glance at Shep. “What did you manage to extract from him?”

“As you’d expect, one of his bullshit riddles before he clammed up and told us to kill him or let him go because he was done solving everything for us.” The look on Shep’s face lodges a chuckle in my throat, a blend ofgive me a fucking breakandI almost took him up on the offer to end him. “Let us listen to Yuri’s fun-filled tale, and hopefully, we can figure it out.”

He tips his chin toward Mia, and she clicks a button. The recording from last night plays through the main speakers.

Shep’s voice is the first one I recognize, harsh and a hair shy of shouting. “I don’t have patience for your bullshit tonight, Yuri. They fucking took a hit out on Boss. And shot an innocent woman in the process. We caught your best fucking guy on video abducting another woman in a bar for trafficking. I’m done being your buddy, Yuri. If Yev is in that deep with Lenkov, you clearly are too. Start fucking talking.”

In his thick Russian accent, Yuri responds, “Shepherd, Shepherd, you get heart attack if you stay angry this way.” He tuts, sounding entirely unfazed.

Not sure what Shep was doing to him to get him to talk, but it clearly wasn’t painful enough.

“Last chance, Yuri, or I’ll turn my friend loose on you,” Shep warns.

“Bah.Dante Jones doesn’t frighten me. A cup of coffee in the hospital defeated him before.”

Yuri’s husky laugh cuts through the speakers, crawling over my skin.It’s quickly silenced by a slamming sound, followed by rustling and a pained wail.

That would have been nice to see.

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