Page 15 of His Coveted Obsession

“I’m in,” I said out loud to Maverick and Layla, who’d been listening in.

“Are all targets eliminated?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Dante and Khai have eliminated everyone at the warehouse and ended up rescuing four women and three girls, all of whom were terrified. They called the local authorities to come claim the victims before they headed out of there.”

“I’m finished, right?” I asked Layla.

“Yes. Now it’s my turn. I’ll hit his computer to find anything we may have missed. Dalton wants all these people completely eliminated, along with confiscating their financials and weapons for us to use.”

I quickly wiped down doorknobs, the only thing I touched, since I didn’t wear gloves, needing to feel the knives in my hands. Then I made my way out of the house and off the property.

I climbed into my nondescript silver minivan, hating the thing, but I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. Then I drove to The District to report in.

The Maryland suburbs gave way to the city streets of DC. I drove past the coffee shop, suddenly thinking about my date with Thomas tomorrow night and having sex for the first time… consensually. My mother didn’t fucking count.

I pulled into the parking garage, parked, and headed up to the offices. Instead of going straight to the meeting room, I went into the locker room, where I kept a stash of clothes.

After stripping naked, I tossed the combat clothes into a bag to bring home to be washed later. Then I took a quick shower, cleaning all the blood off and scrubbing my fingernails until they were nearly raw. While blood didn’t bother me, I hated it drying and crusting around and under my nails.

Once I was dried off and dressed in a thermal shirt and joggers, I headed straight to the small meeting room. Dante, Khai, Maverick, Layla, and Dalton were already there, waiting for me. No one said a word when I entered and took a seat.

“Great, we’re all here,” Dalton said. “First, I’d like to point out that you all pulled off an amazing op tonight. Flawless. No witnesses, no one was injured, and all the bad guys were eliminated.”

While I wasn’t fazed by much, it still surprised me a little that this former FBI agent came to work with a bunch of killers, but he’d flourished here, able to do jobs without the hindrance ofbureaucratic red tape. Then again, our own government betrayed him. I would’ve done the same.

“And a special thanks to Dante and Khai for saving the lives of those women and girls. I can’t even imagine the fear they must have felt,” he continued.

Dante just shrugged, his straight, black bangs falling in his face. He fingered them back, exposing his intense, pale green eyes. He’d saved a sex slave over a year ago. He and Luca eventually became lovers. I didn’t understand the pairing, but I didn’t really care either. People could do what they wanted.

I also liked Dante well enough. He was Sid’s ally, so he was also mine.

Khai always had long hair until he finally chopped it off last year, showing off his dark almond-shaped eyes. He had escaped his Vietnamese gang years ago when they learned of his bisexuality. Why did people care so much about who you fucked? It was weird.

Dalton then turned his attention to Layla. “What did you find?”

She shoved her large glasses up her nose and tucked her short strands of dark brown hair behind her ears. “Nothing we didn’t already know. The only thing we learned was that they had no other warehouses or secret criminal cells. So, this mission was a success. No moreLos Inquebrantables.At least, here in the U.S. Back in Venezuela is another story.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Damn, it feels good to accomplish something like this. Root out the evil and eliminate them for good.”

“Don’t rest yet. One falls, another rises,” Khai said.

Dalton smiled. “And we will be there to stop them.”

He closed the file and clapped. “Excellent! I guess we’re finished here. Have a good night, everyone.”

I had to admit that I was impressed with Dalton’s leadership skills. He was too nice and friendly, but people listened to him easily. He adapted to our darker world. And I liked him because Sid loved him.

When I stood to leave, Dalton called out to me.

“Wait, East. Sid will be back in town on Saturday. Do you want to join us for dinner? We’ve missed having you around since you got your own place.”

“Why?”

He smirked and shook his head. “Why, what? Why have you over for dinner, or why do we miss you?”

“Why do you miss me?”

---