Page 18 of Lure

Sending all of their people in, no matter how abrupt, created a logistical nightmare. It didn’t help that they had sweeper teams on the move.

“Second issue occurred when a sweeper team uncovered Lunchbox’s position. It didn’t leave us with a lot of options.” Particularly because the men weren’t welcoming in the slightest.

“It was fast elimination,” Lunchbox said with a shrug after he finished his bite. “While they might have been former military, they weren’t that trained or in for that long.”

I didn’t laugh but the level of insult in Lunchbox’s voice was amusing.

“Once they were down, we were on a clock.” I motioned to him to keep eating and then glanced at Bones. Because this was when we’d had to make calls.

“If they tracked us—they had to have picked us up near one of the locations.” Bones kept it clinical and detached. “We never took the same route to the safe house twice. We’re always careful. Lunchbox handled the majority of the driving.”

“I avoided tails,” he said like it was a fact carved into stone. I didn’t argue with him. We’d all been looking… “I don’t know how they found the house.” That was a source of serious irritation.

Not only had our security been compromised, but Grace had been hurt. Neither were acceptable outcomes.

“It could have nothing to do with any of us or the job,” Alphabet said. “I’m far from done with my investigation, but the man who attacked her in the barn doesn’t appear to be linked to this particular cartel or any of the other gangs in the area.”

The silence that struck after that hit like a sledgehammer.

Bones frowned. “It was bad luck that the man picked that house and that barn?”

“Bad luck, shitty security—whatever you want to call it.” Alphabet stared at Bones steadily. “She got hurt, on my watch. If I hadn’t gone out there when I did…”

“We don’t need to fight over speculation. There’s no point in the what-if game,” Bones said, waving off all the words Alphabet hadn’t said. She could have died and he’d have been in the house and utterly unaware until the mission ended or Goblin alerted.

Goblinhadn’talerted. So maybe the guy had been hiding in the barn? Too many questions, not enough answers.

“Well, if she’d been in the house instead of walking off some prick’s comments, she wouldn’t have been in that situation,” Alphabet said, ice slicing over the words. “So let’s fight over that.”

“No,” Bones said as he rose and Lunchbox hit his feet not even a split-second later. While he didn’t crowd the captain, he put himself firmly between Bones and the door. “We’re not doing this,” Bones continued, ignoring Lunchbox’s choice apparently. “All three of you are compromised where she is concerned. The last place she needed to be was on a call where we were freely discussing the possible elimination of several noncombatants.”

“We can’t just pretend she isn’t present.” A logical argument on Lunchbox’s part. Calm and cool even. “If we take her on missions, she’s involved.”

“I can assure you, we won’t be taking her on any future assignments.”

I didn’t roll my eyes, but that dismissive tone he’d adopted wasn’t doing him any favors. “Guys,” I said before Lunchbox swung with the fist he currently clenched. “Table this part for tomorrow. I only have one question, then Bones and I need to talk.”

That snared all of their attention. Fine. I could take the heat. Their silence was as good as agreement so I went with it.

“Why was Grace on that hill with you and why was she a part of the targeting?” We’d heard all of it. I thought Lunchbox was going to explode at her soft voice reciting the numbers. All expression erased from Bones’ already chilly demeanor as he switched his attention from me to Alphabet.

“I made a call,” Alphabet said, an element of remorse in his tone. “Maybe not the best one, but the only one I could in that moment.”

“Why?” I repeated the question, because he had clearly made a call. What I wanted to know was what prompted it.

“Because when I tried to leave her in the van, she said it wasn’t safe in the car…”

Something she’d learned with me and Bones.

“She was afraid,” Alphabet continued. “She was alsotiredof being afraid. If she needed some control and I could give it to her? Then fuck it. I was giving it to her. Especially after everything that went down.”

He practically dared us to disagree with him. Frankly, I couldn’t tell if he really wanted us to point out the flaws or offer him some absolution for doing it in the first place.

Maybe both.

I nodded once, then rose. “Get some sleep. Both of you and yes, it is an order. We’ll revisit the chain of command after someserious rack time. I will keep watch over Grace tonight so take something if you need it.”

I took my coffee and motioned for Bones to lead the way. The rest of this conversation could be handled by us—for now. Despite me expecting an argument from them, Lunchbox and Alphabet surprised me by saying nothing and not preventing our exit.

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