Page 27 of Renegade (The Santini Assassins #2)

When Tank finished, Grey said to her, “You and me, we’re not done.” Then, he regarded his brother. “Tank’s the best when it comes to rooting out evil on the dark web.”

Tank acknowledged him with a nod.

“Today, we’re lookin’ for where the group could be livin’,” Grey said. “We find that, we find the goods.”

“There’s a chemical supply dealer in Springfield,” Tank said. “Owned by an Igor Stachko. He sold a shit-ton of chemicals to De Clerq. Once De Clerq had them, the trail went cold. My gut says he passed the supplies on to the Haqazziis. ”

“Based on what I know about the cell,” Caroline added, “it would be to the number two guy, Sajid, the leader’s cousin. Have we run his face through any recognition software?”

“Yeah.” Grey flashed the mug shots of the Haqazzii leadership on the far wall. “No hits.”

“The second-in-charge is the one with the scar next to his eye,” Caroline said to Tank.

“Gotcha,” Tank replied as he got busy on his laptop.

“I’m thinkin’ they live somewhere decent,” Grey said. “Not low end, not high rent either—they wanna blend in.”

“A group house would draw too much attention to them,” Caroline added.

“Same,” Greystone replied. “They’re payin’ rent in cash.”

“No paper trail,” Tank said, his attention glued to his laptop.

As they continued discussing possibilities, Caroline refocused her energies on work. If nothing else, it was a great distraction.

“What about a missile attack?” Tank asked.

“Unlikely,” Grey replied, “but I can make some calls.”

“Who do you know who would be up to speed on that?” Tank asked.

“Evelyn Baker, White House Chief of Staff,” Grey replied.

“Damn, brother, that’s a hella connection.”

“Could the tourist map of the buildings be a red herring?” Caroline asked.

Both men regarded her.

“Whoa,” Tank said.

“Maybe the targets aren’t the ones marked on the map?” She held up her hands, palm out, like a stop sign. “I know that’s extreme, but we can’t rule it out.”

Grey stroked his beard, shifting Caroline’s attention to his chiseled cheeks.

“That would be a cluster,” Tank mumbled. “Then, we’d have nothing at all to go on. ”

“Here’s another possibility.” She grabbed a hair tie from her handbag, pulled her hair into a ponytail.

“Got an extra one of those?” Tank asked.

As she scrounged through her bag, Grey pulled one from his backpack and tossed it to his brother.

“We’ve all got long hair,” Tank said.

“Yeah, we got that goin’ for us,” Grey said, the sarcasm in his voice making Caroline chuckle.

“I’m making myself crazy over this.” Caroline pushed out of the chair, stood there staring at the mug shots projected on the wall. “I’m going to make a few calls. Maybe my assets have heard something.”

“In Karakistan?” Grey asked.

She nodded. “We’ve got nothing, and it’s almost May.” She grabbed her phone. “I’ll be discreet.”

She left, shutting the door behind her.

GREYSTONE

Frustration coursed through Greystone. Caroline was right.

They had nothing. To make things worse, she’d gotten in her head about his cousin, Monroe.

Greystone needed to let her know he cared about her.

In the middle of their mission, there was one thing going their way…

and it was them. For the past three years, they’d worked as a team in the most hostile environments.

They should be able to work out their personal issues, no problem.

Several minutes later, she returned, shut the conference room door, and sighed. “I was only able to connect with one asset. He hadn’t heard about anyone from the Haqazzii cell leaving the country, so that’s another stellar dead end. ”

“How do you know he’s being truthful?” Teddy asked.

“I don’t,” she replied, “but I’ve learned to trust my gut. If something’s off, either the asset’s lying, or they were fed the wrong info.”

“How would you know something’s off?” Teddy pressed.

“Their tone,” Greystone replied. “They might avoid eye contact?—”

“Or stare at you too hard,” Caroline added. “They might talk too much?—”

“Or not enough,” Greystone said.

“You learn to sum up people fast, like in thirty seconds,” she said. “It doesn’t always work?—”

“But it’s somethin’,” Greystone said. “It’s a starting point.”

“Exactly,” she replied. “I’m going to look into the terrorist’s aliases. Maybe someone got a job at one of the agencies.”

“I’m not finding a damn thing in any of these chat groups,” Teddy said, “but it’s usually something in plain sight that’s been written in code, like, ‘the squirrel is eating a red balloon.’”

“What about you, Grey?” Caroline asked. “What are you doing?”

“I’m reachin’ out to someone I worked with overseas,” Greystone replied before sending a text.

Need your help

When no response came, he jumped online and started reading the ALPHA file a member of the research team had put together on the mastermind behind the Day of Destruction.

“I’m reading the dossier on De Clerq again,” Greystone said. “There’s gotta be something here that helps break the damn case. ”

BY LATE AFTERNOON, Greystone had gone from frustrated to downright pissed.

De Clerq had been living two lives. He’d been a Director at ATF with a great rep.

But his alias, Dante, had been obsessed with inflicting pain on the masses by blowing up large buildings, preferably with people in them.

This monster had started something Greystone and his team couldn’t seem to stop.

For a man who needed control, and lived to hunt down evil, Greystone had nothing. There were no next steps, no discovery that led to the next.

Teddy packed up. “I know you wanted to make progress, but it’s a slow road to hell.”

Caroline chuckled. “Exactly.”

“Are you goin’ to the restaurant?” Greystone asked.

“Yeah, I gotta take care of something first, but I’ll be there. You?”

Their cousin, Willie Boy, was starting that evening, so Greystone had planned on meeting him there. “I hired someone to work a few nights a week so I could put in more time here. I’m headed there now.”

Teddy opened the conference room door. “We gotta keep the vibes positive. If not, these monsters will take us under with them.” He left, leaving the conference room door open.

Greystone shut it, sat beside Caroline. Ignoring him, she continued working.

“You ready to finish our convo?” he asked.

“I’m good, really,” she replied.

“You care about me.”

She flicked her gaze to him. A flicker of vulnerability shone in her eyes before she blinked it away. “I was your handler for three years. I cared about everyone I was protecting. It was my job.”

He spun her chair toward him. “I crossed a line when I agreed to give you a birthday present. I coulda said no. Why do you think I said yes?”

“You were horny? Curious? Maybe you didn’t want to tell my sister no.”

He chuffed out a laugh. “Yeah, like I give a damn what someone thinks of me.” Then, he held her gaze for several seconds while the space between them sizzled. “Feel that?”

“I don’t feel anything.”

He flashed her a smile and a pinkish hue covered her cheeks.

“You do, Austin. I’m not into drama, no games either.

I’ve had a thing for you for a while now.

Ask around, I don’t sleep with people I work with.

I had sex with you because I’m crazy attracted to you.

I told you that, so what’s going on with you? ”

“I got jealous.”

“So you do care?”

She peered at him. “Yeah, I’m into you. Happy?”

“Happy? No. I’m frustrated as hell, but I give you props for bein’ honest. The woman who stopped by last night is my cousin Monroe. Her work brought her into town, but she’s gone.”

“How do I know that’s the truth?”

He placed his hands on her chair, sandwiching her in, and raised his eyebrows.

“I trusted you with my life. I respect the hell out of you. You’re drop-dead gorgeous and sexy as hell.

You get what you see with me. I’m not gonna complicate things up.

Life does that without me havin’ to add my own spin. ”

“We aren’t exclusive, so I just figured?—”

“Only you.”

She held his gaze. “Same.”

“There you go.”

She shot him a smarmy smile.

“Next time you don’t like somethin’, tell me, or ask me straight up what’s goin’ on. I like you… a lot. I’m not gonna fuck this up. My mom and dad were all kinds of messed up. I don’t need that drama.” He kissed her cheek. “We got this.”

She swallowed, hard. “I want to be completely transparent… I followed you home last night. It was immature, and I’m sorry.”

He studied her for an extra beat. “Thanks for being honest.”

“It won’t happen again.” She shot him a sheepish smile.

“I could rip your clothes off and take you on this table,” he murmured. “That’s how badly I want you.”

A moan ripped from her. “Ohgod, that’s sexy.”

“Right now, I gotta check on a new hire at the restaurant. Have dinner at Santini’s with me before the Dungeon.”

“I’ll meet you there. I need to change for tonight.”

“You look great.” She was wearing a tailored black suit.

She acknowledged his comment with a little smile. “I need to go for a run or work out.” After packing up, she stood. “Since we’re being totally honest, I’m concerned. We’re not making any progress.”

“Worst case scenario, we can’t find the terror cell,” he said. “Bomb dogs search the buildings. If we run out of time, the buildings get evacuated?—”

“The employees can’t work from home forever.”

“This isn’t gonna take forever, Austin.” He packed up, shouldered his laptop bag. “I’ll pick you up at seven.”

“I can meet you.”

Dakota had already left, and they had the building to themselves.

As they made their way toward the hangar, a rush of energy had him pulling her into his arms. They came together in a torrent of need.

Her kisses tasted like more, her soft lips had him groaning.

She pressed into him, but she slowed the kiss until she was dropping light ones on his cheek.

“Thank you for being straight with me,” she murmured. “I think we should keep whatever this is between us.”