Free Hot SEALs: Her Special Alpha (Kindle Worlds) (X-OPS 3.5) by Paige Tyler Page B

Ali. It wasn’t until he left that Travis realized Jon hadn’t mentioned the job offer. Good thing, too, because Travis wasn’t sure what he would have said to him.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Eden and Travis sat in his rental car a couple blocks down from the sports bar in Norfolk Kendra had told her about that morning. On the outside, it looked reputable enough with its classy sign and promise of more than a dozen giant TVs for fans to watch their favorite games, but Kendra said this was where Tim did most of his betting. Even though the place wasn’t open yet, there were a lot of people going in and out, and they didn’t look like they were there for take-out.
    “The guy who runs the place is named Sammy Spillane,” Eden said. “The bar and grill is a legitimate business, but all the real money comes from his bookmaking. Kendra told me he does almost everything through member-only chat rooms and websites on the net, which is all very clean and hard to track. He’s probably pulling in at least a quarter million dollars a month. Organized crime figures from New York, Washington, and Chicago have tried to move in on his business several times over the years, but he’s fended them all off. He has a reputation for being prone to violence.”
    “Shocking.” Travis eyed two men who just walked out of the bar, then glanced at her. “So, what’s the plan?”
    “Nothing complicated,” she assured him. “We go in, introduce ourselves to this Sammy guy, make a little small talk, then ask him what he knows about Tim and his little gambling problem.”
    Travis’s mouth quirked. “I take it you’re kind of new to this planning thing, huh?”
    That was actually true. When she worked personal security details with the other members of her DCO team, she mostly let her instincts lead the way. Of course, Travis couldn’t know that, which was why she didn’t stick her tongue out at him.
    “Very funny.” Eden reached behind the seat and pulled out her purse, opening it up to dig out the small frame Glock 9mm she’d carried with her since starting at the DCO. “I don’t need a plan. I’m simply going to politely ask him to leave Brandon and my sister completely out of any beef he has with Tim.”
    “And if he isn’t interested in chatting?” Travis asked.
    She smiled. “I’m sure I’ll have no problem convincing him to talk. I can be very persuasive.”
    Travis chuckled. “I have no doubt.”
    Eden glanced at the bar again. She was guessing the people going in and out must be involved with the betting operation, but she didn’t know enough about how the criminal enterprise worked to say in what capacity. Hopefully, they were just runners or something like that. If she was lucky, most of them would bail the second things started getting tense.
    If not, this could be an interesting morning.
    Eden handed Travis her weapon. He immediately dropped the clip, then checked for a round in the chamber. His hands moved so fast and efficiently she could barely follow them as he slid the clip in and tucked the weapon behind his back.
    “What about you?” he asked.
    She held up her right hand and let a single long, curved claw extend from her index finger. “I’m good.”
    Eden wasn’t sure what to expect when they walked into the sports bar, but no one paid any attention to them at first. Probably because everyone assumed she and Travis were there to grab an early lunch. But when they stopped and scanned the bar, the tone in the room abruptly changed. Every one of the guys who’d been casually leaning back in their chairs watching baseball sat up straighter, eyeing her and Travis suspiciously. The only person who wasn’t looking their way was a big guy in a loud Hawaiian-style shirt sitting in a booth near in the back watching five different TVs at once.
    “We’re closed,” an older man behind the bar said.
    Eden ignored him. Instead, she walked toward the guy in the Hawaiian shirt.