Page 48 of Lure

The Rojas were a syndicate, smaller than most other Mexican and South American cartels. They produced high end product, and definitely illegal. The difference was they didn’t distribute directly over the border. They stayed on their side of the line. That meant they had to have a distributorhere.

“Security cleared. Continue. You should be good for the next five minutes. No lab staff on surveillance. Start timers now.” I've been monitoring security at this building for the past three nights, they never varied. But it didn't mean I was going to just trust three days of data.

I hit a button on the screen to start a timer going for me as well as the guys split up. Lunchbox headed straight for the primary lab. He would get in, get samples, and a solid look atwhat they were doing. He was also the best suited for that task. He would know what he was doing.

Bones headed to the computer room, long-term data storage and the terabytes of data kept there. Voodoo diverted to the upper levels and corporate offices maintained here. Bureaucracy took on all forms. Pharmaic’s Neurosin lab was all about research. That would totally explain the security. It might even offer some insight into the military-grade encryption.

Legitimate businesses didn’t generally hire mercenaries to eliminate drug labs in a different country to shore up the stock price. Their executives had been busy little boys. As soon as Bones made it inside the data room, he’d get my thumb drive into place. My worm would go to work and I’d have control ofallof their systems.

A whisper of motion behind me had me flicking a glance to the window in the upper left of my screen. We didn’t monitor everything in the house, but we had cameras installed for a “rainy day.” Currently, it seemed to be pouring, particularly with only me and Gracie in residence.

No one knew our location. We’d buried the deeds and bought up the surrounding land via separate LLCs. It was as secure as we could manage and as distant from who we were as possible. Base needed to be a place wecouldrelax.

Freshly showered, Grace studied me with quiet, intense eyes. The crisp freshness of her shampoo and soap touched my nostrils. Three smothered pops tugged my attention from her to the screen.

Ambush? I narrowed my eyes, but the captain studied the interior of a room not on the plans I acquired nor on the surveillance. “Secure, Cap?”

“Secure,” he answered. “Blind spot?”

“Looks like, I’ll dig deeper.” I didn’t like blind spots. “Sweeping ahead. Watch your sixes.” I also didn’t like leavingbodies behind but since we weren’t planning on leaving thebuildingbehind, I guess that would deal with that.

A grunt of acknowledgement came from Lunchbox and a snort of laughter from Voodoo. Yes, watching our own asses was also second nature.

Bones was already on the move. A glance back to the door showed Grace had gone. I spared a moment to twist and study Goblin. He snored away. Gracie hadn’tlookedupset but if she had been, he’d have reacted.

Trusting him, I refocused on the screen. Once they were clear, I’d go find her. We should've told her the guys were taking this mission. Guilt raked across my belly as if threatening to eviscerate me. Getting used to having Gracie there also meant we were taking her for granted.

We needed to do less of that and more of looking after her. We already had one discussion about revisiting our protocols. He wasn’t wrong. That said, I didn't actually have the time to do it right this moment. “I will,” I murmured as much as promising Goblin as myself.

Bones finally made it to their data room. “Going dark,” he said as he swiped a card and accessed the room. The signal cut once he was inside. I started another clock. If necessary, I could divert Lunchbox or Voodoo toward him.

For now, we were on schedule. We’d been hired by a small conglomerate of wealthy business owners based in and out of the States. They’d tried to root their businesses in Central America or make it look like that was where the contract came from.

Digging deeper had taken me through a series of shell companies that eventually led back to business interests State side. They’d deliberately set out to mislead us to eliminate an “illegal” enterprise choking out their “legal” one. While that might be partially true, the companies entangled in this little cabal were not clean.

If anything, they had their hands in a lot of shady shit. I didn’t like to be used.

With three seconds to spare, Bones was out of the data room and on surveillance again. “Locked and loaded.”

The programs were already waiting for the signal and I started the download. Over the next few minutes, I’d have every drop of data they had stored there. The backups were also on site. Normally, when a client attempted to fuck us over, it was about money.

I could go and get the money and take care of paying out what was owed. This was different. These so-called captains of industry were playing war games on a global level. That was no bueno.

The soft drag of a foot pulled my attention again and there she was, holding two large mugs of?—

I sniffed. Hot chocolate?

Fuck me, that sounded amazing. I cut a look from her to the screen then back. Right, she was here. I tugged a second chair over and patted it once then pressed a finger to my lips. She passed me one of the huge mugs and it smelled even better being this close.

She curled up into the chair, pulling her legs up. The back of my free hand brushed against her legs. Despite the sleepy eyes and flushed cheeks, her skin was freezing.

“Secondary lab coming up,” Lunchbox said. “It looks like there’s an ancillary data room here too. I take it you are going to want what’s in here?”

“Yes, please,” I answered. “The first round of data mining is still going.” But that was alotof data to pull out. We needed to streamline it. I pushed my chair to roll to the side where I could snag a blanket and then rolled back. “Let me work on this.”

“Got it.”

I draped the blanket over her legs and she blinked at me with those spectacular blue eyes. They were so much more intense than a bright sky over the bay. I had to make myself look away or risk missing more.

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