Page 84 of Edge of Desperation

“Go on.”

“Turns out, she was taking that knowledge and storing it, Sir.” I pause. “I got a phone call one night, asking for help. She sent an address, and we left to get her, having no idea what we were walking into. Aurora was in Richmond the night of the fundraiser dinner, the same one you and Vera were at. She stalked the senator and followed him to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town.”

“Why would she do that?”

“He bought her, Sir.”

General Parks stiffens. He sits without moving for several moments, and just as I’m about to ask if he’s okay, the general balls up his fist and starts pummeling the dashboard until his knuckles are bloody. “That goddamn son of a bitch!” he yells over and over with every punch he lands. Eventually, he tires out, although my dashboard needs replaced. “Carver said the Senator and Potts?”

“I’m not going to sugarcoat it, General. Aurora has a kill list.”

“How many, Rivers?”

“Five total,” I admit. “She’s killed three.”

We sit in silence for ten minutes. I glance over at the general every few minutes to make sure he’s still with us and look back at Hudson who simply shrugs and pets Lykos as if we didn’t break Aurora’s trust.

“What I don’t understand is why she called you after she killed the senator. No one would’ve known her secret.”

“According to her, we never went over how to dispose of a dead body in our training,” I deadpan.

General Parks chuckles, and it turns into a full-blown belly laugh. “Sounds like my daughter.”

Since he’s laughing, I decide I might as well go all in. “The team decided it was in Aurora’s best interest for us to help, not only to keep her safe but also to make sure she didn’t get caught. We were already going after traffickers, so the punishment fits the crime,” I justify. “It was personal for Aurora; I couldn’t tell her no.”

“I wish she would’ve told me herself,” he says sadly. “I’d do anything for her, including hunting down the monsters who terrorized her. Obviously, you and your team feel the same.”

“I’m in love with your daughter,” I blurt.

Hudson cackles from the backseat. “Smooth, brother, smooth.”

I flip him off. “I mean, Aurora and I have been seeing each other… Wait… well…No, I love he?—”

General Parks places his hand on my shoulder. “You’re the reason my daughter has a smile on her face again and doesn’t jump at every noise she hears. You keep doing that, and you and I will never have an issue.”

“Roger that.”

Ring. Ring.

“Rivers, you were right,” Bennett announces when I answer.

I sit up straighter behind the wheel. “What did you find out?”

“Lace Krukov, daughter of Dmitri Krukov, next in line for the Bratva throne, so to speak. The night we killed Dmitri was her initiation ceremony into the Bratva. There’s even a marriage contract signed by Dmitri for her to marry Vladimir Pavlov next month.”

“Vladimir Pavlov?” I ask. “Isn’t he th?—”

“Largest arms dealer in Russia, yeah he is,” Bennett finishes.

“She fucking played us,” I growl.

“Something doesn’t seem right,” Thomas pipes in. “This information is a little too convenient, isn’t it?”

“How do you figure?” Hudson asks.

“We searched for these assholes for over six months with no leads on who Dmitri was or how to find him, and now all of a sudden, all this information is falling at our feet?” Thomas points out. “Doesn’t make sense.”

When he puts it that way, it really fucking doesn’t. Is someone setting Lace up to take the fall?

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