Page 20 of Lethal Vengeance

She nods gratefully and places them on her body. “I can’t tell if Armando’s just paranoid or if he’s using the tunnels for transport.” She rolls her neck. “Overall, the rest of the recon went well. The timing is good. Whether we use the tunnels to get there or not, we have solid intel for the mission. Two or three more days, and we should be a go.”

“Dress those cuts and get a shower,” I order Sterling. “What about you?” I eye Quinn’s apparel, noting the wet areas of her jacket. “Is that your blood or someone else’s?”

She grimaces. “Probably a bit of both. It’s fine,” she replies with a wave of her hand. “I’m going to grab a shower and some hot food.” She turns toward the door, her movements slow and stiff.

I frown. “Get a shower but come back here. Cruz and Raider will return soon. We’ll order some food and regroup.”

Her eyes narrow on me, but I keep my face locked in a scowl.

“Did Raider complete a shift?” she asks, her eyebrow raised high.

I fight the urge to smile. “He did. I guess that means you’re buying.”

She pulls out a credit card. “Do you need a list of good places, too?”

I snort. “I’ll figure it out. For fifteen years, I’ve been leading men and not one of them has died of starvation.”

Now both her eyebrows are up. “Fifteen years? How old are you?”

Sterling laughs.

My scowl becomes real. “Old enough. Do you want food or not?”

Her fingers lift to her lips to mimic a zipper closing. With a wink, she slowly turns and makes her way out the door.

Sterling and I watch her on the monitors until she safely reaches her apartment.

Once she’s inside, I swivel to him. “How many?”

He lifts a shoulder. “Five. Big and mean. Gang fighters. If we hadn’t had more extensive training, it would have gone down differently.”

I lean back and rub the scruff on my chin, hating the fact I didn’t shave today. “How much training?”

“Hard to tell. Formal training. Her fight techniques are a mix of training and street,” he admits. “Have you noticed the changes in her language? I can’t tell if she’s a chameleon like Raider, picking up our vocabulary, or if her background is showing. My bet is the latter.”

“I agree. Did you get anything back on her prints?”

Sterling stands and stretches. “They were too smudged. Maybe she’s sanding them or wearing an extra layer. I didn’t feel anything when I held her hand today, but I’m not sure I could tell, especially if she paid for the premium covers.”

My eyebrows lower. “You held her hand?”

A devilish light gleams in his eyes. “Was it before I kissed her or after? Oh, wait, she kissed me. That’s right. It was before our kiss. To be fair, she held my hand first, but I did hold hers when I guided her through a dark tunnel with enemies on our ass.” His mouth lifts in a half smirk.

I snort. “You’re a grown man, I get it. Still, two out of four is unusual for our group. Although, I seem to recall both you and Cruz drooling over a pink-haired woman not too long ago.” Bending down, I yank open the mini fridge and grab a beer.

“Bold, unique women are always interesting,” Sterling replies with a shrug. His serious green eyes meet mine. “Quinn’s kiss. Her taste. The sharp edges glazed with passion. It’s… more than I expected.” He strolls out the door without another word, but his expression tells me he’s in deep thought.

I sigh, wondering where all this is going to go. There’s not an ounce of me that doesn’t see Quinn’s appeal. Young and beautiful, with dark hair and green eyes and a trim, athletic figure; a man would be a fool not to want her. But every time I look at her, I see the cold determination reflected in her eyes. She’s only working with us to achieve a goal. We can’t lose sight of that fact.

* * *

After getting a few bites down,Sterling recaps their findings. “We may be able to use the tunnels for an emergency escape, but it won’t work as our way in. The good news is we can use the spot on the hill to survey the facility first. Then we can easily move to the annex. Shouldn’t take us long, right Quinn?”

Quinn grabs the container of pad kee mao and dumps some on her plate. “Four minutes, forty-six seconds. Buffer of twenty to twenty-five seconds. I forwarded Zane some pictures of good ground cover on the route. Did you get a chance to time the rest?” she questions Raider.

Raider tilts his head to the side, eyes darting to mine with a silent message. “If guards are down ahead of time, two minutes, sixteen seconds. Four minutes, if we need to take them out.”

“There’s a lot of chatter about something big happening in a week. We need to rescue the girls and evacuate before that happens,” Cruz informs us, his eyes never leaving Quinn.