Page 39 of Elite Metal: Warriors

“This early in the morning, it’s always a good idea to bring sustenance.” He handed over her phone. “Check your messages. Morrow’s been getting antsy.”

Roni did, quickly flicking through the increasingly demanding texts. The last one read: Where the fuck are you? She set the phone down and set her focus on Steele, though it was difficult when Sterling slid onto the sofa beside her. He was warm and hard and smelled wonderful. “What-what do you want me to do?”

For some reason, Steele glanced at Sterling. “He wants you to come in.”

She flinched. Sterling’s hold on her tightened. “Okay.”

“We, ah, were thinking you and Ant would go in together. We thought you could tell Morrow the reason you disappeared was, ahem, you met a guy.”

Sterling bristled, and Roni nibbled at her smile. She had. She had met a guy. But… “Ant?”

“He’s our best tech guy. He can fit the clone into Morrow’s laptop in minutes. All you need to do is get Morrow out of the room. Give Ant some time with the laptop.”

“How do I do that?”

“Morrow has a soundproofed conference room, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure, judging from those texts, he’s going to want to talk to you in private. If not, you can tell him you have a juicy story for him. We can feed you something from our files. Something to get him hooked. Keep him in the conference room for a minimum of three minutes. By then, Ant will have worked his magic and the two of you bail.”

“What about my sister?”

“We’re working on that. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry? Was he fucking insane? That was all she ever did. It was all she had ever done, since Mom died and Annabelle ended up in a wheelchair. In Marcus’ clutches. The fucker wouldn’t even get her the surgery she needed to repair the damage to her spine.

Her recalcitrance must have been plain on her face, because Steele firmed his jaw. “We have a very high-powered lawyer on it.”

“How high-powered?”

“Very. He’s never lost a case. Trust us, Roni. We’ll get her back. But in the meantime, you need to let Morrow believe you’re still on the team. We need you to feed him stories for us.”

She liked that, that conciliatory tone. They needed her. She glanced at Sterling and smiled. “Do you need me?” she quipped.

His hold on her tightened. His nostrils flared. “Baby,” he growled. “You have no idea.”

* * *

All the way to LA, Sterling’s gut was in a wad. The thought of Roni going in, being exposed, being vulnerable, ate at him. He’d insisted on coming. Insisted on being a spotter for this mission. Although Steele hadn’t agreed to let him have a rifle.

Probably too worried Sterling might give in to the urge to pop Morrow if he started behaving like an ass or something. Or Ant, if he got too friendly. Which he well might.

The jet landed at the Burbank airport and rolled into a private hangar. As they all collected their gear and moved into the van, they went over the plan again. And again.

Roni and Ant would visit the office of the Snoop together, both wired for sound with full covert coms. Steele and Sterling would be stationed in a building across the street with a clear line of sight into Morrow’s office. They’d be able to see and hear everything, and chirp into Ant’s and Roni’s earpieces if necessary. Chrome would monitor everything from the mobile unit in the van. If the mission went sideways, he’d be the closest. And he was, without a doubt, the best.

She was as safe as she could be. Protected.

Still, Sterling was in a wad. It was up to Ant to drop the clone and then get Roni the hell out of there. If any shit went down, the rest of the team would be too far away to intervene. Sterling would have preferred a more reliable plan. Like him going in too, but Steele insisted Roni having two new boyfriends stretched the credibility of their backstory a little too far.

Sterling tried to maintain a confident façade though, because he didn’t want to worry Roni. This was her first live op, and hopefully her last. They’d prepped her as best they could and she was damn competent.

But, yeah. He was in a wad.

“Are you ready?” he asked as the van pulled up next to the Snoop’s office building. It was hardly as impressive as one would think. Four stories with a wall of windows. They’d be camped out in the insurance building across the street.

Roni glanced up at him, chin wobbling, but she nodded.