The cuban, p.30
The Cuban, page 30
“It won’t do any good without proof,” she said. “You know that.”
“I’ll get the proof Charlie needs,” he said grimly.
“So you’re saying it’s not just one person doing all of this?” Michael asked. “It’s a group?”
“More of an organization,” Damon told him. “They’ve been around for years, manipulating stock markets, governments, health providers; you name it. They’ve even recently gotten into the arms market,” he added with a cold smile. “And that is where they made their mistake.”
“Well, that and not killing you outright when they had you,” Alina said. “If they’d put a bullet in your head, it would have been months before I picked up your trail, if I ever did.”
Michael looked at her with a frown.
“What do you mean? How are you involved in all of this?”
She smiled at him in genuine amusement.
“Really? You haven’t figured it out yet?”
Michael scowled at her.
“I’m still processing the fact that your husband is The Cuban!”
“You’d have thought that the training would have taught him to think faster on his feet,” Damon murmured, glancing at Alina. “Yet he doesn’t seem to have improved in that regard. Are we inordinately good, or is he just slow?”
She bit back a laugh at the look on Michael’s face.
“In his defense, his training stopped before ours did,” she said. “He’s a spook, not an asset. I don’t think that he had to go through the last three weeks.”
Damon raised his eyebrows and looked at Michael.
“You lucky bastard.”
“Thank you. Now will you please clue me into what my slow ass missed?”
Alina burst out laughing and got off the bed, going for her coffee again.
“Hawk is the bait,” she said over her shoulder. “The Cuban will draw them out and reveal their identity, or in this case, their identities. I’m the tip of the sword.”
The confusion on Michael’s face cleared.
“You’re the one who will eliminate them. But what if he’d been killed in that prison?”
“Then I would become both the bait and the sword.”
Michael shook his head, looking from one to the other in bemusement.
“You two really do love to get embroiled in shit shows, don’t you?” he asked.
“Well, we did try retirement,” Damon pointed out. “It just wasn’t for us.”
“And now I’m embroiled in it as well.”
Alina’s lips tightened.
“I tried to warn you, gunny,” she said softly. “You don’t belong here.”
His jaw clenched and he looked up, his eyes narrowing.
“Well, I’m here now, whether you like it or not.”
“Mm. I suppose I can thank Charlie for that. I can’t wait to discuss it with him,” she added, her voice hardening.
“That’s not all you’ll have to discuss with him,” Michael said, finishing his coffee. He looked at Damon. “You have to tell him about Sophia Morozov. He needs to know what she is. He thinks that she’s a target, and one of the good guys.”
“Why do you think that?” Damon asked, raising an eyebrow.
Michael frowned.
“Because he’s got her under protective surveillance,” he said. “He obviously thinks...”
His voice trailed off at the looks on both their faces, and he sucked in his breath as Viper smiled that cold and deadly smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.
“It’s not protective surveillance, gunny,” she said softly.
Michael exhaled. “He already knows.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Alina and she saw the resignation in his eyes.
“And you?”
Her face softened for a moment as her eyes met his, then the mask that Viper wore so well slid into place.
“I have a plane to catch.”
Epilogue
Nice, France
Three days later
Viper watched as the small boat sped towards the dock, then shifted her gaze to the yacht anchored just outside the bay. She considered it thoughtfully for a moment, remembering another yacht similar in size and expense. She’d blown that one to pieces in the Atlantic Ocean. This one she wasn’t permitted to touch. Not yet.
She moved her attention back to the speedboat and lowered her eye to her rifle scope, zooming in on the woman sitting next to a handsome Frenchman. She was holding a wide-brimmed hat onto her head with one hand while the other was tucked into the crook of his arm. There were two others in the boat with them, security by the looks of them, but Viper wasn’t concerned with them. They weren’t her target.
The Frenchman’s name was Pierre Marne, and he was a diamond broker for one of the larger jewelers in France. She could see why the woman on his arm was so enthralled with him. He was very good-looking, and as rich as any woman could want. He was also twice divorced, currently single, and owned a nice little chateau on an island in the Mediterranean. He was the perfect catch.
Viper’s lips twisted humorlessly. He should really be more selective about whose company he kept.
The boat pulled up to the dock and there was a moment for the driver to secure the ropes before the party began to disembark. The two security guards went first, serious and intimidating as they scanned the dock slowly before turning and nodding to the couple in the boat. Pierre climbed out, then turned and held his hand out for the woman.
Sophia Morozov.
As she made a slight adjustment and zoomed in on her face, Viper felt a hot wave of anger go through her. That woman was the reason Hawk had endured brutal beatings and torture at the hands of a Russian interrogator. If not for Marcel, Viper would never have got to him before they broke his body, if not his will.
It was also that woman who had caused Michael to get dragged into a situation that had always had the potential to become a suicide mission. Alina saved his life four years ago only to have him sucked into another one of her impossible operations, and all thanks to a woman whom she’d never even heard of until last week.
The target stepped out of the boat, smiling up at Pierre as she held his hand for support. Viper squeezed the trigger, exhaling as the recoil pushed her rifle against her shoulder. A second later, the smile froze on Sophia Morozov’s face and a hole appeared on her forehead. Her pupils dilated suddenly in response to the trauma ripping through her brain, and everything seemed to freeze for a second.
Then all hell let loose as she fell backwards into the boat, dead.
The security guards turned and pulled their weapons, looking around frantically. Realizing that the shot wasn’t made from the dock, they lifted their eyes, searching for a glint of sunlight to give away the position of a shooter.
But there was nothing.
The bathroom window of the beach front hotel was empty, and Viper was gone.
About the Author
CW Browning was writing before she could spell. Making up stories with her childhood best friend in the backyard in Olathe, Kansas, imagination ran wild from the very beginning. At the age of eight, she printed out her first full-length novel on a dot-matrix printer. All eighteen chapters of it. Through the years, the writing took a backseat to the mechanics of life as she explored other avenues of interest. Those mechanics, however, have a great way of underlining what genuinely lifts a spirit and makes the soul sing. After attending Rutgers University and studying History, her love for writing was rekindled. It became apparent where her heart truly lay. Picking up an old manuscript, she dusted it off and went back to what made her whole. CW still makes up stories in her backyard, but now she crafts them for her readers to enjoy. She makes her home in Southern New Jersey, where she loves to grill steak and sip red wine on the patio.
CW loves to hear from readers! She is always willing to answer questions and hear your stories. You can find her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
If social media isn’t your thing, she can also be reached by email at cwbrowning12@gmail.com and on her website at www.cwbrowning.com.
Want to know when new releases are coming? Sign up for the CW Browning email list! Don’t worry. You won’t be bombarded with emails every week. Updates are sent once a month. Sign up here and be the first to know when something new is on its way!
Note from Author:
Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed The Cuban, please take a moment to leave an honest review. Reviews are invaluable to authors, and it would be greatly appreciated!
Copyright © 2022 by Clare Wroblewski
All rights reserved.
Cover design by Dissect Designs / www.dissectdesigns.com
Book design by Clare Wroblewski
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or events is entirely coincidental.
CW Browning
Visit my website at www.cwbrowning.com
First Printing: 2023
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Also by CW Browning
After the Exit
The Cuban
Kai Corbyn Series
Games of Deceit
Close Target
Shadows of War
The Courier
The Oslo Affair
Night Falls on Norway
The Iron Storm
Into the Iron Shadows
When Wolves Gather
The Shadows of War Series Books 1-3
The Exit Series
Next Exit, Three Miles
Next Exit, Pay Toll
Next Exit, Dead Ahead
Next Exit, Quarter Mile
Next Exit, Use Caution
Next Exit, One Way
Next Exit, No Outlet
The Exit Series Box Set #1: Books 1-3
The Exit Series Books 4-6
Watch for more at CW Browning’s site.
CW Browning, The Cuban
