Page 12 of Lines Drawn (Crimson Bonds #5)
“ W hy can’t they just die?” I snarl.
“They’re like cockroaches,” Cecily agrees.
I glare at her. “It was your job to make sure this went off without a hitch. What happened?”
She shrugs a shoulder, unbothered by my ire. “Fire is unpredictable. From what I heard, one of them was severely injured. If we’re lucky, they won’t make it.”
I shake my head and slam a fist onto the desk. “Not good enough. We’ve come too far to run on hopes that one of them will die.”
“And we’ve come this far because we’ve been careful. I argued that the fire was a risk.”
“It worked for them,” I point out.
She rolls her eyes. “They got lucky. Chaos knew which targets to hit, and did them well. He was able to get closer to them than our guys could. Their security was too tight, and we lost a good deal of men…” She purses her lips. “Kieran is still grumbling about that.”
“Your brother can continue bitching all he wants. The sacrifices we make today will be worth it in the end; when we’re the only ones who matter, not just in this city, but this side of the country.”
She nods. “I pointed that out to him, but you know Kieran. He is too…idealistic and na?ve to see the bigger picture.”
Which is why he’s kept out of most of this. I won’t deny that the boy is…useful when I need men and resources, but his view on the world isn’t one that translates into the hardened criminal I need for this task.
The irony of Cecily being the better Second in Charge of this operation is that she’s supposed to be on the other side of the law…
“What is your next move? They won’t succumb to the same trick again, not so soon. Neither would a raid work, after what happened at De Luca’s. Though if you’re patient enough, you can take the fact they’re in one place to your advantage… There’s nowhere else for them to run.”
Shaking my head, I push away from the desk and cross the room to the small bar off to the side. Pouring a drink, I mull over our options before turning back to her.
“I need you to set one more fire. They think they’re safe?” I grin and take a sip of my drink. “They may have moved from one location to another…but not everyone Cristian considers family did. Nothing and no one is safe, they should have learned that when I burned down their clinic…”
“He is probably with them at the Martellis’…if the rumors of one of them being hurt are true.”
“Yes,” I agree. “But not everyone in his family will be… De Luca was a casualty of war, and so will be ‘Doc’s’ family.”