Page 24 of Iron Willed Warrior

She shrugged one shoulder. “Sorry. You made it look so tempting.”

“I don’t mind sharing.”

“Also, I might be just atinybit drunk.”

Laughter burst from my chest, surprising me. “Glad I’m not the only one.”

I was already feeling loose and comfortable after the whiskey. Then seeing her lips where mine had just been…

Don’t get ideas, I told myself. Good thing she didn’t like me. Because this woman would be very hard to resist.

Brynn took the cig from her mouth and held it up. I parted my lips, and she placed it between them. She was careful to keep her fingers from brushing me.

“Let’s take a walk,” she said. “I’ll tell you more about the op.”

“Sounds good.” The cigarette bobbed as I spoke.

This was the calm before the storm. So much had built up to this moment, and like an idiot, I’d nearly let my temper interfere. If I wanted the head of Stillwater, I had to find a way to connect with Brynn.Partners.

That was the only way for us to go into the upcoming mission and come out of it alive.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Cole

“Why only one a day?”Brynn asked.

We’d been walking for several minutes down a side street. The noise and neon of Main Street still drifted toward us, but over here, it was dark with only a few scattered streetlights. Yet the moon painted Brynn’s black hair with a silvery glow. I could make out the shape of her beside me.

The end of my cigarette burned orange-red.

“My habit used to be a pack a day,” I said. “In the hospital after I was wounded, docs told me I should quit. This is what I settled on.” I didn’t want to get into the rest of that story. My wife leaving. How the bitterness fueled me. It wasn’t that kind of story time.

“You were going to tell me more about the op,” I reminded her.

She nodded. “So, less than a month ago, the task force learned who’s really in charge of Stillwater. The mastermind behind the entire enterprise. His name is Garon Westwick. A businessman and investor who’s secretly building an empire as a criminal kingpin.”

I let that name percolate in my brain.Westwick. The man responsible for so much chaos and suffering.

“Never heard of him.”

“I hadn’t either. Immediately, the task force started putting together a profile on him. Planning possible cover stories for approaching him.”

“You mentioned new intel from a day or two ago.”

“That’s right. We’d already learned that Westwick has attended a wellness resort in Arizona the last few years. Just recently, he scheduled this year’s trip. He’ll be teaching an exclusive business seminar at the resort to a group of entrepreneurs. And we’ve got two tickets.”

“Aren’t those swanky kinds of events usually booked months in advance?”

“Sure, but Westwick decided to set this one up spur of the moment, apparently. The seminar booked up fast. It’ll be a group of about twenty small business owners. Perfect chance for us to get close to him.”

And do what? I wanted to know, but we’d get to that. Practical considerations had to come first. I took another drag, exhaling smoke through my nose. “You’ve got your cover in place? What about mine?”

“The moment the Protectors gave us your name, the task force got to work on it. I’ve got ID papers for you and me. Social media presence, passport, driver’s licenses. We had to go through back channels, so the ID documents aren’t quite good enough to fool an official scanner. ”

Few fake IDs on the black market were that good. “Then I assume we won’t be flying?”

“Nope. It’s drivable.”

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