I stare back at him belligerently. “You’ll have to hog-tie and sedate me to keep me back, Harris. I’m not leaving Rin’s side for anything.”
She leans against me. “It’s okay, baby.” She gazes up at me. “I’ll be safe.”
I shake my head, and I know my eyes spark with anger at the mere suggestion. “I know that. I will not sit idly by while everyone else assumes the risk. Spaulding ismyenemy. This ismyproblem.” I indicate my wounded arm. “I’ve made it this far with the damn thing. I will not let it slow me down now.”
Harris pinches the bridge of his nose. “Figured as much, but I had to try. At least let Lucas check you out, huh?”
I shrug. “Fine. I wouldn’t mind some local anesthetic, or at least some aspirin.”
Harris whistles again. “Lucas!”
A middle-aged man strides over—salt-and-pepper goatee, a trim, tight figure, eyes that have seen the worst the world has to offer. “Sir.”
Harris waves at me. “This is Apollo. Fix him up the best you can and give him something to take the edge off the pain without compromising his focus.”
“Certainly, sir.” Lucas gestures for me to follow him. “This way, sir.”
Fifteen minutes later, my wound has been cleaned with professional-grade antiseptic and bandaged more thoroughly, and a field sling applied to keep my arm immobilized against my chest. I take some NSAIDs and am given a small packet to carry with me if I need more—I’ve become so accustomed to the constant throb and pulse of pain since I was shot that when the NSAIDs kick in and the pain dulls, it’s a bizarre, almost disorienting relief.
As I’m being treated, a helicopter lifts off and tilts across the water, flying almost recklessly low and fast. Rin sits beside me, gestures at the departing helo. “Anselm and Dyani. I guess there’s a jet waiting for them in Malta, which will take them to an airfield outside Tehran, and from there, another helicopter to the insertion point.”
“And the rest of us?” I ask.
She indicates the cargo plane. “That’s us. We take off in a few hours.”
I indicate the activity around us. “So then what’s all this?”
She shrugs. “I had thought they wereunloading, but I guess it’s the opposite. The cargo plane was empty when it got here, flown by Uncle Harry with only the Original Six on board. The rest of the men and the gear arrived separately—this was the rendezvous point not just for us to hook up with Dad and the guys, but for Uncle Harry’s various ‘assets’ around the world to connect in as well, both men and gear. A cargo plane full of military gear landing on the coast of Africa might attract unwanted attention, should they be spotted or searched by local authorities. But an empty cargo plane, with just some people on board? Less suspicious, easier to pay someone to look the other way than what could be construed as threatening. So now that everyone has rendezvoused, they’re loading up and we’re heading out. I guess the plan was to connect all the various players, load up, and be gone as quickly as possible, before anyone notices. So far, so good.”
I watch, and realize like Rin, I’d mistaken the direction of the activity—crates and goods were goingonto the plane, notoff. I’d been so relieved simply to have gotten Corinna to something like safety that I’d not really noticed. I also notice that the camouflage everyone is wearing is forest-type, not desert—they knew ahead of time we were going to Iran and the forest, rather than staying here.
She leans against me, and I wrap my arm around her, tucking her head against my shoulder. “I’ve got to get mean again,” she murmurs. “It’s too easy to feel all soft and gooey and safe, being with Dad and the uncles. But it’s not over.”
“Almost, my love,” I say. “One more phase of the whole thing and then it’s over.”
“You think he’s really, like, dug in, up there?”
I nod. “Yeah, it’s probably safest to assume he is. The few times I did business with him, I was aware he was always operating on several levels at once. He’d be working a deal with me, but he’d have something else going on somewhere else, something totally different. When I worked with him, he presented himself as being primarily into running guns and drugs. His big thing was facilitating the movement of high-value goods. He didn’t procure the drugs or guns, or distribute them—he specialized in moving them. But I guess all that was a front for his real focus, the girls. But being a movement specialist means he has contacts and resources all over the world, and I know he especially was infamous even in that circle of people for being able to get footholds in places most Westerners couldn’t—Georgia, Turkmenistan, Iran, places like that.” I watch as the last few stacks of crates vanish into the cargo hold. “He may be on the ropes and nearly broke, but I would put good money on the fact that he’s always had this hideout in Iran ready as backup, in case things really went to shit for him. He’ll have men there, guns, ammunition, supplies. This will not be an easy assault. Not like the fortress. He wasn’t ready for that. He’ll be ready for this.”
Rin gestures at the cargo plane. “I don’t see how he can be ready for that. This isn’t a single security firm with a handful of wannabe badasses. Harris has my dad’s wealth behind him, plus his own, and for this, he’s also got RMI on his side. And RMI can field a hell of a lot of firepower. I would guess that the twelve guys Raze sent was just the tip of the spear. This isn’t going to be some half-ass attempt to shoot ’em up and hope they surrender. This is going to be a precisely executed military-style operation meant to take Spaulding down—and they’re not going to leave so much as two stones left standing.” She indicates the planning table, where her father, Harris, and the others are still conferring. “For every plan and contingency they discuss there, I guarantee Uncle Harry has half a dozen more backups and alternates and just-in-case scenarios ready as well that he won’t even tell you about.”
“So, Spaulding won’t get away, is what you’re saying.”
She shakes her head against my shoulder. “Not a chance.”
“He won’t go down easy,” I say.
She smirks up at me. “Maybe not, but I do.”
I snicker under my breath. “You’re going to tease me like that when we won’t have anything like privacy for who knows how long?”
She just shrugs. “You never know. Maybe we can sneak something in.”
I laugh. “Dirty girl.”
She nuzzles against me again, her voice dropped so low I can barely hear her. “I just…I don’t want to go back to being that version of me from the cellblocks. I’d rather snuggle up to you and think about having your big, hard cock in my mouth.”
I groan and shift as her words take effect. “Fuck, Rin.”
