Brazen (B-Squad 1)

“Fuck me,” he groaned as he drew her into his arms. “We’ll figure something out to keep Essie safe.”

Tamara looked up at him, her face a blotchy red mess, complete with running mascara, and gave him a shaky smile. “Thank you, Taz. I promise you won’t regret it.”

She lifted herself on her tiptoes and leaned toward him just as he turned his head. The kiss she’d no doubt meant for his cheek, ended up on his lips.

Right at that moment the curtain blocking the kitchenette from the rest of the cabin was flung open. Instinctively, he pushed Tamara back. Elisa stood there with a blonde woman who looked completely pissed off even though he had no clue who—oh hell.

Tamara was wrong. He was regretting it already.

Bianca

Fury smacking both of her cheeks red, Bianca whipped the curtain closed, turned on her stiletto-clad foot and marched down the cabin to the large television screen embedded in the wall. Elisa followed on her heels while the rest of the team avoided her gaze. Vivi was in the cockpit, piloting the jet, but the intercom was on so she could hear everything that her former boss said. DEA agent Clay Blackfish was already on the screen, scowling as usual. Good. That made them even on the shitty mood continuum.

“Where in the hell is Bianca?” the agent asked as he scanned the assembled B-Squad members, his gaze traveling past her in her Bethany getup.

“Right here,” she said and sat down in a chair situated in the middle of the table directly in front of the screen.

Clay’s dark eyes widened. “Well, fuck me.”

“No thank you.” She flipped open the folder that contained all of her mission notes. “Can we get down to business now?”

The agent chuckled. “Yep, it’s you alright.”

No one on her end of the camera let out even a squeak of a giggle—the amount of tension in the room didn’t allow for that.

“Holy crap.” Clay let out a low whistle. “Taz, if I didn’t already know the situation, I wouldn’t have picked you out of a lineup.”

Keeping her chin high and her shoulders straight, she refused to peek over

her shoulder at the man she could feel approaching. If she closed her eyes, all she’d see would be him and Tamara locked in an embrace, which was pretty much the last thing she needed if she wasn’t going to ruin the ten pounds of contouring makeup Elisa had used to alter her appearance.

“Blackfish.” Taz acknowledged the agent before sitting down at the table next to Bianca.

She stiffened. She couldn’t help it. Knowing he might be accidentally still married to a woman he hadn’t seen in years was one thing, seeing him kiss her quite another. The pencil in her hand snapped. With exacting care, she sat it to the side and got another from the cup on the table.

“After three days sitting bored off our asses on this boat in the middle of fucking nowhere in the Pacific, I was beginning to think this plan of Bianca’s didn’t have a one-legged dog’s chance of winning,” Clay said, interrupting her train of thought before she figured a way into the armory in the jet’s locked hull. “However, I have to say, seeing you two has upped my confidence significantly. I give this mission a solid thirty-eight percent chance of being a success.”

“As always, I’m overwhelmed by your support,” Bianca said, letting Clay’s snarky pessimism roll off her back.

It took twenty long minutes to go over the last-minute details with the DEA agent and the rest of the B-Squad. The latest rumors were that the newest formula of Genie’s Wish was its most powerful and was nearly ready for distribution. Every unsavory character with a power trip and a grudge was lining up for a piece of the action. Not surprisingly for those without any sort of ethics or conscience, having the chance to control your enemies by turning them into a walking zombie obsessed with sex, violence or risk was too good to pass up.

“One last thing, Bianca,” Clay said before she could hit the disconnect button. “I know your friend was spotted at the resort, but I can’t give you more than forty-eight hours before we go in. Period. No exceptions.”

She didn’t like it, but she didn’t expect anything less. The B-Squad’s relationship with the DEA was prickly at best and if it wasn’t for the fact that the feds hadn’t been able to get anyone anywhere near as close to the people in charge of the drug ring as Bianca and her team had, they wouldn’t have any relationship at all.

“Trust me,” she replied, her finger hovering over the end-call button as she glanced over at Taz. “The sooner we can end this charade, the better.” And that went for the mission too.

She pushed the button and the screen went blank.

No one said a word as she pushed her chair back and stood up, the balls of her feet protesting. The sky-high heels weren’t really her thing, but they were the perfect exclamation point to the Bethany look—and that’s all that mattered. Her pulse picked up when Taz stood behind her, close enough that the woodsy scent of his cologne wrapped around her. Fighting its siren call, she surveyed the rest of her team. As soon as the jet landed in a few minutes, she wouldn’t see them again until all of this was over and they had Gidget.

“Okay, it’s go time,” she said. “Remember to stick to the plan. You’ll wait for us to disembark and then take the private car to the marina. A chartered boat will take you to the Sutherland yacht anchored a few miles out to sea. Everything you’ll need is either in the bags we brought or already onboard the ship. If you’ve got any questions, comments or concerns, voice ’em now.”

Lexie, Keir, Elisa, Duke and Lash didn’t move. Tamara raised her hand—the one with the big-ass diamond wedding ring on it.

“I need to tell you something,” she said.

Bianca narrowed her eyes and gave the other woman a look that should have sent her running. “This isn’t the time.”