Hard as You Can by Laura Kaye Read Free Book Online

as much as I hate to say it, I think you’re right. Whatever’s going on with those women, it doesn’t sound like our battle,” Nick said, heaving a troubled sigh.
    Pulling himself from his thoughts, Shane’s gaze whipped toward his former superior. “What?” Nick’s expression was grim. Blood pounded behind Shane’s ears in a thunderous rush, and he surveyed the group until he was sure his words would be calm, measured. “You think we should just leave them there?”
    “I don’t think we should. I think we have to, and I resent the hell out of that fact. But we are outmanned, outgunned, and operating around way the hell too many blank spots—”
    “Jesus, Nick. De oppresso liber, ” Shane spat the Special Forces motto like an accusation, unable to restrain his inner asshole where this topic was concerned. But they’d devoted their lives to freedom for the oppressed, and he had no intention of giving that up because his uniform had been stripped from him.
    A storm rolled in behind Rixey’s gaze. “Damnit, Shane. Don’t think for a minute I don’t burn to free anyone those scum might be holding. But there are only five of us. We don’t have the men or resources to take on the world, no matter how righteous those battles might be.”
    Beckett sat forward. “Let’s say it is human trafficking. Who are they trading the women to and for what? Plenty of trafficking in Afghanistan. Maybe they’re using the girls to buy off the warlords or grease the wheels with Afghani customs officials. I don’t know. But it might be worth learning more about whatever this delivery is on Wednesday night. How to get the women to safety, if there even are any, is a problem for another day.”
    Shane studied Nick’s expression while Beckett laid out his argument and saw the words hitting home. If Shane had come at Nick with logic instead of emotion, maybe the room wouldn’t be so tense right now.
    Nick nodded. “Fair point. We’ll add the who, what, when, where, why of that delivery to the list.”
    His teammates all nodded, and damn if the regretful expressions they sent his way weren’t a smack in the ass. The guys knew each other’s weaknesses. They had to. So, they knew about Molly, knew Shane had a mile-wide need to save women in trouble, knew it was Shane’s biggest exposed nerve. Which he’d just proven by attacking Nick when he hadn’t deserved an ounce of the grief. Shit.
    Shane gave a tight nod. “Then we have to get back inside Confessions. That waitress could be our key,” he said, looking at Nick and thinking about Crystal. Would she know anything about those girls? Christ, was she a victim of trafficking herself? The thought nearly had the food he’d just eaten burning a hole in his gut. “She didn’t give us away, so maybe she’d be willing to help us.”
    “You have to go back in?” Becca asked Nick, her fair skin paling to a shade just this side of death.
    Nick opened his mouth to respond, but Shane beat him to the punch. “No, not Nick. Me.”
    “Shouldn’t be either of you. Not Easy, either,” Beckett said. “You’ve been in there. You could’ve been made. Me or Marz can go,” he said.
    Shane pushed up from the table. “No. You know damn well I know how to disguise myself. For whatever reason, she helped me. Twice. Might mean a whole lotta nothing. But she was skittish as hell. If for some reason she saw something in me she could trust, I need to be the one to talk to her again. ASAP.” And not just because Shane was worried about the woman. But if she knew something about this delivery, and Beckett’s argument was right, she could very well lead them to intel that would help them regain their good names and their stolen honor.
    “Let him go,” Marz said, shooting a look at Beckett. “He could be right. It’s worth a try. I’ll wire you up, and you can take in more hardware while you’re at it. The devices we planted aren’t doing shit for us. Maybe she could even plant some