East Bound by Nana Malone (big ebook reader txt) 📕

I watched as his jaw ticked. "Fucking hell. Fine, since it's all been decided."

Nyla watched us back and forth. "Right. I'm so glad we're in agreement. So maybe now is the time to remind everyone what we've already said. No cowboy antics. No fucking around. No doing things that we don't need to do right now. Get in, get into the server, get the information we need, and pull out."

The love of my life looked pointedly at me, and I threw up my hands. "One time I go off-book, and you never let me live it down."

Everyone laughed. "One time?"

I grumbled. "Fine."

They had a point. Sometimes I was the one who strayed from the playbook, but it was always to ensure the safety of everyone around me. “Fine, I won’t go off-book.”

Nyla continued. "I mean it. That goes for you too, Bridge. If Emma seems like she's in danger, know that she's not. Besides, Bryna will be there, and she can help out if needed."

Bryna smiled and pulled out what looked like a tube of lipstick but was really a switchblade. "I gave Emma one of these as a present."

Bridge's brows lifted. "Okay, Lucas. I see you have your hands full."

Lucas laughed. "Yup, I sure do. She's my future wife."

Bryna grinned. "One hundred percent."

Emma crossed her arms. "All right with you now, Dad? I can tag along on this little adventure?"

Bridge swore under his breath. "I swear to God, I will tan your behind so fast."

With a chuckle, Nyla stepped forward. "Hey, what you two get up to in your spare time is nobody else's business. But everyone remember… At the party, Amelia and I will be outside, and no matter what, from the moment you step foot in there, we’ll be watching and have your back."

We all nodded. Our lives were on the line, and everything relied on our plan going off without a hitch. But I trusted this whole team with my life. I knew that by the end of this we were going to be the last ones standing or we were going to be in jail. And I was definitely too cute for jail.

Nyla

My palms were sweating. Everything hinged on this going exactly right.

As Amelia and I were led into the Jameson mansion, she gave me a tight, reassuring smile and a nod. Unfortunately, we had four of our other team members tagging along as well. Because of who Lord Jameson was, Interpol was making a show, which meant lots of faces. But Amelia had it handled. "Okay, Kyle and Jacinda, I want you going over security footage. Lord Jameson, if you can let your security team know to cooperate with them, that would be helpful."

"Why do you need to look at security footage? Nothing has happened yet.”

“Well, yes, but history shows us that people don't usually approach a place cold. They prefer to work a place that they're at least somewhat familiar with. So we want to see if anyone who looked like maintenance men, meter readers, electricians, or any workmen whatsoever have been on the property recently."

"But I wasn't warned of this in advance. I don't need anyone going through my security footage."

Amelia could have backed down, but she wasn't buying his shit. "Sir, if you want us to do our job to the fullest, it’s imperative. So it's your call. If you don't agree, we can go now and return when there's been an actual crime reported."

Finally, he nodded. "Fine."

"Thank you, sir." She gave Tony and Ayalla their marching orders as well and instructed them to check all the exterior access points of the estate. Then she turned back to Lord Jameson. "Agent Kincade and I will check the vaults with your most valuable pieces just to make sure they’re a hundred percent secure."

He nodded, and I wondered why he wasn't more concerned with us wanting to see his vaults.

Because you are trustworthy. After all, you are Interpol. 

That was true. We were the trustworthy ones, yet we planned to copy the security settings of the very high-tech vaults which I would then give to East, who was going to break in later. Completely fine.

"This is it," Lord Jameson said proudly.

After a trip down a lift and a long temperature-controlled hallway, we stood in front of the vault. He waved his hand as if he was showing off something impressive. Inside my pocket, my hand clamped around the device East had given me. I knew that once we were close enough, all I had to do was press a button, and it would check the frequencies of the locking system. Then magically, East would have what he needed to break in later.

"Um, sir, you're going to have to let us in."

He frowned at that. "Why?"

Amelia sighed as if she was much beleaguered by his questions. "Well, because we need to verify what's inside. We would hate to discover later that this room was actually empty and that you’d wasted Interpol's time. And that you’d used this as an alibi for what will later be an attempt at insurance fraud."

His brows lifted. "I would never."

"Well, sir, sorry to say, it has happened before. So if you can let us in, we’ll check things out and take a few photographs of what's in here. Then later, a team will need to get in here and verify the full inventory, just as a precaution."

"No one said I would have to do this."

Amelia’s back remained straight, and she gave him what appeared to be a beatific smile. But I recognized it as her Are you kidding me, arsehole? face. "Sir, when you called Interpol and said that you had a threat against you and your property, and you insisted that Interpol, not Scotland Yard, be the ones to investigate, calling in favors as you did, what did you think was going to happen? Did you think we wouldn’t look around and visit your mansion? You have a perfectly accomplished security team, I'm sure. So what