Page 19 of Coup De Grâce
“Lock is the right choice.”
“I knew I should have gone with IRIS.”
I barked out a laugh at that. “Trust me, this company does not need any more explosives.”
“Yeah, alright,” Fox grumbled. “But we’d definitely be having more fun. Do you have any idea how boring it is to protect some damsel in distress on the run?”
“You mean like me?” I asked, quirking an eyebrow at him.
His eyes widened and he shook his head. “No! I mean, you weren’t a damsel, and…well, you were fun.”
“Uh-huh. Nice save.”
He literally sagged in relief. Like I could actually be mad at Fox. He was probably the closest thing I had to family around here. Even closer than Izzy. I’d just known him longer. He understood me in a way that no one besides Cash did.
“Well, I guess since The Kamau isn’t taking over, that means you’re heading home soon?”
My gaze flicked to Knight’s, but I hid the questions, not wanting to give away the fact that I knew what Knight was really up to.
“Yeah, I’ll be heading out soon.”
“Cool. Well, you have my number. I’ll just be hanging around, twiddling my thumbs as I await your call.”
“You’re first on my speed dial.”
Fox’s eyes grew impossibly big, and I was pretty sure I saw a tear in there. “Seriously?”
“No.”
6
CASH
I walked into the meet,ready for whatever they were going to throw at me. What I didn’t expect was to see my father waiting amongst the group of people. I gave a tight nod and then directed my attention to the others— Sloop, Iron, and Poker.
I didn’t have the names of any of them, but I memorized their faces and gave descriptions to Knight when I could. He was the only hacker, other than Rae, that I knew could run a search without getting caught.
“There’s a new job. Bullseye and Hound will run this one down,” my father spoke. “Iron and Sloop will cover, and Poker, you’ll be on secondary.”
They all watched my father intently, listening to him like he was in charge. That was odd. But this was my first meeting where he was involved. Maybe they just deferred to him because of his time in the organization.
“This is your target,” he said, handing over an image to me. I recognized the man instantly. “Al-ahmar. He’s a known terrorist and is currently in the Middle East at a peace conference, which is ironic enough. He’ll be meeting with President Codi. We don’t anticipate these talks going well, and there’s intel that he intendsto meet with President Codi in order to use the opportunity to have him killed. Let’s end this before it goes sideways.”
President Codi was one of the few European leaders who was greatly respected for his unwavering stance on terrorism, among many other heated foreign issues. He didn’t hesitate to get involved and put a stop to whatever may cross his border, or those he protected. He was gaining power by the minute, but there wasn’t a single European leader who didn’t respect him.
Other than Al-ahmar.
These peace talks were simply a way for him to gain a foothold in Europe before he finalized his plans. Which were most likely to tear down the EU and invade, starting World War III.
“You have thirty-six hours to get over there and scope out the location. Once the target is removed, you’ll have approximately half an hour to get out before the borders will be locked down. If you stay any longer, you’ll be trapped.”
Great, so I would need to pull the trigger and get out before I was taken out by a terrorist group. Easy peasy.
“Sloop and Iron will handle transport and Poker, you’ll cover security on the border.”
I nodded, but again, I couldn’t help but wonder why my father was leading this meeting.
“And you?” I asked, assuming he would be there for such a big job.
