Page 34 of Deliverance

“We narrowed down the truck’s origins to three buildings. All three are old warehouses that look abandoned. Izzy thinks we should hit them all at once, or at least one after the other quickly so we don’t tip them off, but we don’t have the capacity for three full teams of the Archers, so your boyfriends may have to tag in.”

“And me,” I said sternly. I got that they wanted to protect me, but Kingfisher knew who I was. Staying away from this critical mission wasn’t going to change that.

Adrian and Alexander exchanged a glance.

“Okay,” Alexander said. “When do you want to move in on the buildings?”

“This evening is probably better. There’s not a ton of traffic, but being under the cover of darkness should help us out. We can sit on the buildings doing surveillance until then.”

“Surveillance only,” I reiterated my earlier orders. “I’ll call Izzy, but let’s plan for 9 p.m.”

“That works,” Danny agreed. “I’ll rally who we can spare, and we’ll meet you at the corner of West Bend and Sixth at 8:45 p.m.”

“Sounds good. I’ll text you in a bit,” I said, then hung up.

“That’s good news,” Alexander said, leaning forward as I slid into the seat next to Adrian.

“It is.” I sighed. “I just hate that we have to wait all day for answers.”

“We could always pass the time in more exciting ways.” Adrian winked at me, and my thighs clenched as memories from this morning flashed in my mind.

I wagged my finger at them. “No, none of that. I have work to do, and so do you.” I was tempted. So tempted. But there was so much to do today already, and now we had to get ready for tonight too.

Alexander smirked. “I already told you I’m fine with delegating.”

I rolled my eyes. I was sure he was. But we had work to do. “I’m assuming all of us will be going tonight. I’ll see how many on Danny’s and Grace’s team are available as well.”

“We also have the Echo team, since the Keenan contract was terminated,” Alexander reminded me.

“I know, but I think I prefer to keep the circle small for right now. Between the six of us, and at least five from their teams, we should be able to cover all three buildings.”

Adrian nodded. “Any bigger, and we’ll lose the element of surprise.”

“Okay,” Alexander agreed reluctantly. “But I’m keeping the Echo team on standby.”

“That’s fair,” Adrian said. “Just in case shit hits the fan.”

I hoped it wouldn’t, but given my luck lately, I wouldn’t be surprised if things went sideways.

“I’m going to finish up some stuff, then coordinate with Izzy.” I stood up.

“I’ll fill in Marcus, Sebastian, and Dominic,” Adrian said, rising from his seat as well. Dominic was down in R&D with Sebastian, and Marcus was working on the legal floor today.

He placed a hand on my lower back and walked me back to my desk. He kissed me sweetly, then headed into the elevator. I watched him go, blowing a breath out. Things needed to go well tonight.

“Everyone in position?”Liam asked over the comms.

“Alpha team in position.” Alexander’s voice crackled in my ear.

Alexander’s team, consisting of Dominic, Matt, and Jerome, was hitting the first building. It sat at the end of a dead-end street. Its loading dock doors were rusted shut, and its windows were blacked out—whether intentionally or from the build-up of grime, we couldn’t tell. Whatever it had been before, it had been abandoned long enough that the city stopped noticing it was there, which made it an ideal hideout for Kingfisher.

“Beta team in position,” I said, crouching behind some cars.

Adrian crouched next to me, and Marcus and Danny were behind the next car over. Our building was newer than the others. Its corrugated metal walls still held their shape despite the broken security lights hanging above each entrance. It looked like someone had tried to maintain it and then had abruptly stopped. But its structural integrity was sound enough for Kingfisher’s operations.

“Charlie team in position,” Sebastian said.

Sebastian had Jasper, Wilder, and Finn on his team. All three were members of Grace’s team and were used to doing this kind of work. All three were also overly cheerful and a little psychotic, so Sebastian fit well with them. Their building was the largest of the three, a hulking brick structure with a rusted fire escape clinging to its side like an afterthought. One of the loading doors on the east side sat slightly ajar, which was either an oversight when it was abandoned or a sign of recent activity.