Page 4 of Altered By Lead (Undercover Sinners 2)
They might.
I stand up, too, and follow after. If one of the Blackbirch Company assholes tries to kill Natalia ... I'm not sure what I'll do. Will I stand there and watch them put a bullet in an innocent girl's head? Is that the kind of man I want to be? Maybe not so much an innocent girl, right? But one you like anyway ...
My hand ends up at my waistband, hovering over my Smith & Wesson. Hawke notices right away.
"Get your fucking hand off that gun if you want to live through this meeting," he snaps at me, gray eyes darkening. Hawke and I exchange a long, testing sort of look, but we both know the reality of the situation: he's the boss, and I'm not. Never been the leader type anyway. "If you want to keep Natalia safe, you'll behave yourself."
My jaw clenches, but I keep my smart-mouthed retort to myself, following Hawke down the hallway to where Natalia's standing. We're in an underground bunker beneath one of the organization's safe houses, so there are no windows, but even a wall of them couldn't make this office look cozy.
There's a woman behind the desk, some chick named Janet Greenburg, that's been trying to fuck Hawke for years. Pretty sure he softens up at the sight of her now. I mean, she's pretty, but she's fucking ruthless. I've kinda got the idea that the higher-ups treat her like shit for being female, so she has to overcompensate a bit. Still, doesn't exactly make her pleasant to be around.
"So," Janet says, shuffling some papers around her desk, and then pulling her iPad into her lap. She studies it for a moment before glancing up at us. "You've had Konstantin Petrov's daughter in your custody for ... how long now? A week?" Hawke purses his lips, but doesn't bother to answer the question. It was rhetorical anyway. "And you didn't think to inform us about that. Instead," she pauses here to scroll down on her iPad, probably reading a stupidly ridiculous report that Hawke's managed to type up in record time. "You chose to take on a large portion of his forces in an undisclosed location, and nearly got yourselves killed." Janet sets her iPad on the desk and glances at Natalia. The two women exchange a look, taking each other's mettle. Janet must like what she sees because she turns to Hawke with a fatigued, rather than an angry, expression on her face. "You want her on your team?"
"Yes, ma'am," Hawke replies, and when Natalia whips her gaze over to him in shock, he pointedly turns away. "She's proven to be quite useful. She'll need training, of course, but there's promise there."
"You want us to take on the daughter of a mark because she has promise?" Janet repeats, her dark hair slicked back into a bun, a sea of weapons stashed on her tall, lithe form. She glances back at Natalia, studying her full, ripe curves, and smooth hands. Janet knows as well as we do that this girl is a Russian princess. To turn her into a soldier would be a hell of a task.
And yet ... I find myself looking forward to the idea of it.
"My father tried to kill me today," Natalia says, probably not realizing that an entire day has passed since. Time runs in strange ways when you're in a crisis. "He'd have let his men rape me until I was broken, and then he'd finish me off with a bullet to the head. That, or he'd cage me for the rest of my life, make me into a plaything for his favorite soldiers." She steps forward and puts her palms on the table. "All I want is a chance. If I can't cut it, kill me."
"Jesus, Natalia," I start, but Janet seems pleased. She's watching the girl with a sharp expression, like she's remembering herself when she first started with Blackbirch.
"You're the daughter of one of our marks. Our client isn’t going to be pleased with that."
"Natalia wasn't part of the deal," Hawke insists, stepping forward. I've never seen him stand up to the higher-ups quite like this before, and my brow goes up. He literally just said he wanted to get rid of Natalia, so why the change of heart?
I suspect almost losing her lit some sort of fire under his ass.
"The deal was," he continues, glancing briefly over at her. “To kill Konstantin Petrov, and disassemble the Petrov Crime Syndicate. By taking Natalia and using her against them, I'd say we're doing exactly what the client asked for."
He pauses, a rivulet of blood sliding down the side of his face. Natalia steps forward, almost like she's not thinking, and swipes it away with her thumb
Janet notices their interaction and raises a dark brow.
