Page 125 of Jonas

“Fuck. We’re on our way.”

“I need you to send me a picture of Natalie and one of Derrika if we have one.”

Fucking Christ! I didn’t even have a picture of her.

“I’ll do that now. Do not leave there without backup.”

I hung up thinking, Derrika would give me shit for not saying goodbye.

Cash and Lore were the first two to arrive.

I didn’t know if that was because they were closer or because of Cash’s driving. Not that it mattered, but I vowed right then and there in the alley of a pub never to bitch about Cash’s driving again.

“I talked to the manager and server. Natalie told them she was an undercover cop and she was there to meet with a woman who was selling narcotics. She explained, they’d not only be doing her a favor but keeping the other patrons safe if she was allowed to walk the suspect out through the kitchen.”

“They bought that shit?” Cash seethed.

“Natalie showed them a badge.”

“Cameras?” Lore rotated her finger in the area, motioning toward the restaurant.

“They were taken offline about five minutes before Natalie showed.” I held out Derrika’s phone. “Found it beside the dumpster. She tried to text me. But the cell signal was jammed. Something the server said he noticed around the time Derrika walked in—he was texting his girlfriend, and his texts stopped delivering.”

“Smith said you called him and told him to stay on the house,” Cash said.

“Keith Mitchell was in the pub. That’s the text I didn’t get from her.”

Keith Mitchell is here. Need exfil. Now.

Need exfil.

Now.

I scrubbed my hand over my beard and tried to fill my lungs.

“I was a hundred yards away⁠—”

“Stop,” Lore barked. “Nothing good comes from that shit, and you know it. Smith and Theo are sitting on the house where the Merc was last seen going to. Now that we know Natalie’s a fucking twat, Kira’s digging through the woman’s life. You know her better than I do, so you know she’s a beast behind a keyboard, and she’s got the genius cybersecurity chick there. They’ll get us some action intel soon.”

Soon.

Bad shit happened in the blink of an eye.

Soon might be too fucking late.

“Zane and Easton are on their way, and he called Nixon Swagger and asked him to pull out of whatever assignment he’s on. The whole Gemini Group is converging on the farm now. They’ll stay there to look after Kira and Penny until we have a location.”

That was good news but still didn’t help.

“Wait,” Lore started then stopped and tipped her head back to the sky but closed her eyes. “The house in McLean was rented by a woman. A Cherry, Cherri…”

“Cherri Jackson,” I supplied.

“Yeah. Her. Since we know Natalie’s team traitor and was with Keith Mitchell, I’d bet she rented the house under a fake name.”

“Fuck, you’re smart,” Cash muttered and pulled out his phone.

“I have my moments.” Lore righted her head and opened her eyes.