Page 24 of Avenging Jessie
Was it? Was he being over the top with this because he was so damned determined to keep her safe? He nodded once. “It’s how I work.”
She stared at the map, jaw tight, her energy coiling beneath the surface. Spence snapped the map shut and grabbed his phone.
Jessie raised a brow. “You calling your drone guy?”
He shook his head. “This is deeper. We’ll need gear that Langley won’t authorize. And I’m not filing a request through backchannels that Brewer’s spies might intercept. We don’t have time for it anyway.”
He scrolled through a string of burner numbers and hit one labeled only with a spade emoji.
“You trust this guy?” Jessie asked, skeptical.
“No,” Spence said, tone flat. “But I trust his prices.”
It rang once.
Twice.
Then a mechanical voice, disguising the real one, said, “It’s been a while, you mucker.”
Spence exhaled. Still alive. Still dealing. Code name Bellringer sounded like his usual self—cold, clipped, always three breaths from a threat. Their history went back to Bucharest, to a mission that ended with too many bodies and not enough truth. Spence still remembered the look in the man’s eyes when he realized who’d sold him out. He hadn’t forgotten. Spence doubted he ever would. They’d never exchanged real names, just burner numbers and blood-soaked favors.
Trust didn’t factor in.
But reliability? That, the bastard had in spades, hence the emoji. Spence kept his tone neutral. “Need eyes in the dark. Two-person op. Gear list incoming.”
A pause as if he was checking something—his watch, a calendar, his latest reality TV show? “Half an hour. Where the bells never ring.”
The line went dead.
Jessie folded her arms. “You want to tell me what the hell that means?”
He met her eyes. “It means keep your weapon close and don’t ask questions you don’t want answers to.”
She snorted. “You’re such a romantic.”
But her smirk didn’t last long. Spence started typing the list to Bellringer:NVGs, mini drones, encrypted comms, EMP scramblers, tactical vests, two .45s with suppressors, spare mags, untraceable SIM cards.
He hesitated. Then added:counter-surveillance gear.
Because if thiswasa trap, Brewer would already be watching. He couldn’t take chances. Couldn’t get caught with his bloody knickers down.
Jessie watched him quietly and apparently didn’t miss how his fingers hesitated over the keys. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Spence didn’t look up. “Don’t know what you mean, luv.”
“About all of this? You’re always overanalyzing and overpreparing, but this seems like something more. What is it? What’s eating you?”
Should he tell her? No. He used to believe in what he built. He used to think he could out-code the world’s problems. Now? That warehouse outside Görlitz was full of his ghosts. His biggest failure. “I’m focused on what we need to do, that’s all.”
Jessie went back to studying the map in silence. It was enough.
“Let’s go,” he said finally. “The meet’s across town, and I don’t want to miss our window.”
She grabbed her jacket. “You sure he’ll show?”
“He’s scared of me,” Spence said. “He’ll show.”
Outside, the streets were damp from an early drizzle, gray clouds hanging low and heavy. The city was waking up, but their world felt like it was closing in on them.
