Cease and Desist (The IMA Book 4) by Nenia Campbell Read Free Book Online

than shut down a single, tiny branch. And if we did manage to implicate Adrian, that could stop him for good. We could lead the FBI right to his door.”
    Michael nodded, so imperceptibly that I'm not sure anyone else noticed. I did, and my heart fluttered a little under the warm glow of his regard.
    “How?” he asked.
    The way he looked at me, it was as if we were the only two people in the room. He is testing me .
    But there was only one possible solution.
    “Go undercover.”
    The slight hitch in my voice made Suraya narrow her eyes. “You mean … prostitution?” Her voice was accusatory, but unsurprised.
    “Not exactly. The men in this industry are very paranoid, and very trigger-happy. If we were going to do this, it would have to look authentic.”
    He leaned back, throwing his eyes into shadow.
    “One of us would have to sell another. One of us would have to be trafficked to Adrian Callaghan's men.”
     
    Michael
    Reconnaissance. It was the tactic of the desperate, like folding at a game of cards. But we were out of options, and the IMA was growing more powerful.
    I knew the exact moment Christina had reached the same conclusion that I had. Her soft, sweet face was incapable of deception. And yet in spite of her naivete, or maybe because of it, she could be very quick to put two and two together.
    Whether she wanted to be or not, Christina was a survivalist. She would call the term too cold-blooded and callous, but few women — or men — could have gone through what that girl had, and survived.
    No, she had been pulled into my world against her will; and rather than allowing it to crush her she had bent to it, molding, adapting. Becoming stronger. More durable. But also more remote.
    I hoped being around a group of mercenaries — being around me — wouldn't extinguish that brave little flame of raw goodness inside her. Even when her ramblings about God and compassion drove me up the wall, I knew deep down that she was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and lately I had noticed that where I had once been able to see through her as clear as glass, there was now a wall.
    If Christina Parker can become embittered, the rest of the world hasn't got a goddamn hope.
    Silence bored through the room with the subtlety of a high-powered drill. The lights hummed angrily, like a wasps' nest, and I resolved right then and there to get the damn things replaced as soon as possible.
    “Does your silence mean tacit approval?” I looked each member in the eyes, challenging them to voice their dissent. To stop sitting there looking at me like children who'd been told recess was canceled. “Should I take that as permission to proceed?”
    “That might be difficult.” Cliff spoke carefully. “There will be many obstacles going that route.”
    “What route?” I wanted him to say it.
    He grimaced. “Human trafficking.”
    I maintained eye contact just long enough to make him want to shift in his seat. The muscles in his arms tensed as he checked the impulse.
    I was actually interested in hearing his feedback, but I couldn't afford to look too accommodating, either. I needed these men and women to listen to me without questioning my orders. They would not grant that to a passive man.
    “All right,” I said. “Elaborate.”
    “We don't exactly fade into the woodwork. The IMA is a stealth organization. They specialize in military and paramilitary ops.”
    “So do we.”
    He made an impatient gesture. “We don't have his resources. And you can assume Callaghan has trained his men to know you — us — on sight. There's no way in hell we can just waltz in there.”
    So he didn't oppose the solution, just what he perceived as poor execution. Good to know. I'd expected as much from him. Working with Callaghan as long as he had, he would be well acquainted with missions far more unpalatable than this.
    Cliff also raised a very good point. The IMA was intimately acquainted with us. We were the dregs of the various