He hugged her.
“I love you, Emma Croft. I love so much about you. I only hope I can be the person you inspire me to be.”
He placed her hands under his shirt and on his skin. That touch was familiar and soothing. It wasn’t sexual, but that touch of someone who would understand.
“I love you, too, Dimitri. She’s a lucky woman. Anyone who got you would be. You are special beyond your own comprehension. I see it. I am glad you are finding your way. It’s all I wanted.”
“Thank you.”
He lifted her chin and gave her a soft kiss on the lips.
“Ya budu lyubit' tebya, poka ne umru.”
Emma offered it back to him. She would love him for her whole life too.
He simply held her to his body, his weaker arm wrapped around her body.
Emma let him have that moment. She could feel the thump of his heart.
“I’m happy for you, Dimitri,” she admitted. “I am really happy for you.”
He didn’t doubt that. The love she gave—it was pure and amazing.
Now he needed her help.
He needed to know.
“Do you think I should let her go in tonight? One of the reasons I’m so worried is Katerina has been out of the game almost a year. Can she handle it alone?”
Dimitri knew Emma wouldn’t lie to him. This was her family, and she would be honest.
“No, she can’t. I’m sorry, Dimitri, but I’m not comfortable with her doing both jobs. She needs help. She can’t do it alone. That’s a tough one. Every person she sees will be armed. That’s a lot of people. If they catch her there…”
He was aware.
“So, I am stuck between a rock and hard place. I have to let Poppy go.”
She held his hand as they leaned on the balcony that overlooked the city.
“Before you let her go, see if she has a well thought out plan. Listen, go with your gut, and if she even hesitates a second, don’t do it.”
He listened.
“You’re right.”
“She has better odds of doing it than Kat alone, but you have to be the boss. They are your team.”
He was aware.
“I can’t send Chris in. He’s not stealthy. He’s a big man, and everyone will notice him.”
She agreed.
“This was Natasha’s gift.”
He was aware.
“You can’t go,” he said before she could offer. “You’re well known. You will stand out like a sore thumb.”
Again, she was aware.
“The same is true of Greyson.”
“Yes, that’s true.”
“I’d go myself, but I don’t know the inside of that building like Poppy.”
Emma let him talk it out.
“This is a hard one,” he stated. “When you love someone, it makes it so much more difficult.”
Oh, she was aware.
“You’ll do the right thing,” she said, holding his hand. “You’re good at this kind of thing. Plan your operation, and the team will trust you.”
He gave her a kiss.
“Are you sure you don’t want to run away and marry me?” he teased. “We can rule the world.”
She snorted.
“I’ll miss you when Greyson kills you.”
He found that funny.
And very true.
“I’m hungry. Let’s go eat, and plan this operation,” Dimitri stated. “Together. I need your help. You and Greyson are my partners.”
Emma took his hand.
Yes, yes, they were.
This would be fine.
All they needed was a plan.
* * * G R E Y S O N C R O F T * * *
When dinner was finished being cooked, they all took their plates to the massive dining room table and took a seat. There was pasta, garlic bread, and salad.
They were going to do what they always did. It was time to run their businesses. They would dine as a family and plan a heist as criminals.
This was their world.
“What will go down?” Greyson asked Dimitri. This was his area, and he ran this arm of their empire.
Dimitri had worked it all out in his head. He was finally ready to reveal his plan.
“Chris is going to be the driver. He’s excellent on watching his surrounding area. He’ll recognize the cops coming and going, and he’ll be the most familiar with the faces.”
He saluted.
“Can do, Dimitri,” he stated.
The Russian continued, “His job is to make sure the outside stays clear. He’s going to be our first line of defense. Since he sat in that office, he’s going to know the easiest way in and out.”
It was true.
“There is security everywhere,” Chris stated. “We are talking cameras, and a main door alarm on the commissioner’s office.”
Dimitri was eating and making notes of what they’d need so he could get them the tech to cover their asses.
“Walk me through it, Chris,” Dimitri stated. “I’ve never been above the main floor.”
He could do that.
“There’s a private elevator. That would be the best way up, and down,” Chris stated. “It would take the person going into the commissioner’s office right there, and to the records department too.”
Dimitri scribbled down his notes as the rest of the family listened.
“The only problem is there’s a code on it, and I am sure they changed it after me. He’d want to ensure I couldn’t access it since I’m part of the family.”
Curtis raised his hand.
“I can get it. I just need to buy it. I’m willing to bet it’s available for sale.”
They all looked over.
“How?” Emma asked.
“Remember how Viktor bought our security intel on the dark web? They likely have that too. I need a tricked-out computer to do my dirty work and a shitload of money.”
Poppy listened.
It was fascinating.
This family was pulling out all the stops to get that file, and she appreciated it.
“I can help you with that,” Dimitri stated.
He headed out for a couple of minutes and returned with his baby. Lovingly, he handed it to him.
“I love that computer more than anything,” Curtis admitted, as he hugged it to his body.
Kat laughed.
“Ah, the truth comes out.”
Dimitri kissed his sister on the top of the head.
“I’ll kill him after the operation for making that statement,” he admitted.
Curtis sputtered.
“Thanks, Dad,” Kat stated, smiling at her husband.
“Geez, no one values good tech anymore,” he stated.
Dimitri tossed him the encryption key, and Curtis got to work. He sent the screen to the monitor in the corner so they could all watch.
His fingers flew.
He went into the layers of encryption, finding the hidden access to the web where normal people couldn’t go.
Only the wicked went there, and for damn good reason. You didn’t want to get involved in most of the deals there.
Curtis did his thing, and he searched.
It didn’t take long.
“I have it.”
He sent the amount to the screen.
Chris whistled.
“Holy shit, that’s a lot of money for something we can’t guarantee is going to work,” he stated.
“I’ll pay it,” Dimitri stated. “If it means making sure the team is safe, I’ll suck it up.”
Poppy was horrified that he had access to that much money.
Curtis did the deal.
“Which account do you want it to come out of?” he asked, contacting the seller.
He gave him the numbers for an account he’d buried under about one hundred shell companies. No one had been able to find him from it. It belonged to both him and Greyson, and they used it for the less legal of their ventures.
They both glanced over at Emma.
“Do it. I want that file, and I want Commissioner Raye to hang.”
That was good enough for them.
The family watched as the money transferred from the account on the screen to the seller.
There was a beep.
“The code is two, two, nine, two, two.”
Kat wrote it on her arm in prep for later. She wouldn’t be able to pull out paper and do it that way. This was easier in case she needed her hands free.
“Got it.”
“Poppy, tell us about the records room,” Dimitri stated. They could ask Emma, but it wouldn't be as updated.
She put down her fork.
“If she’s going in through the elevator, she’s got a problem. It opens right in front of the records clerk. He faces it behind the glass. There is someone on duty there round the clock.”
“I can go in from the floor above. I still have the schematics from when I rescued Chris and Emma. I can use the ductwork,” Poppy stated.
“Will you fit?” Dimitri asked.
She stared at him.
“Mom, he just called me fat,” she said, ratting her own brother out to Emma.
Dimitri sputtered like a tea kettle.
“I did not!”
“Then you had better explain,” Emma teased.
He waved his good hand in front of his own chest. “I meant them!”
Kat laughed.
“I love watching him get flustered. That’s half the fun. I knew what you meant,” she teased.
Dimitri stared at her.
“You are not allowed to play with Emma anymore. She made you vicious.”
Emma laughed.
So did Kat.
“I’ll get it done,” Kat said, letting her brother off the hook. “I’ll get in.”
“SILENTLY.”
She laughed.
“Yes, Mom.”
He pointed at her and it made them all laugh.
“Poppy, continue,” he stated.
She did.
“Once she gets to the records room, there’s a secondary door that has a lock. It’s not tied to the security. It’s a punch code. Very few people know that code.”
He wasn’t worried.
“I have a device that will crack it,” Dimitri stated. “It’s small, and once she attaches it, it will unscramble and give her the code.”
That took care of that issue.
“Well, once she gets through there, she’s going to have security cameras.”
“I can scramble and loop them,” Curtis stated. “If I go with Chris, I can jam them from the car.”
Dimitri was good with that.
“It looks like Chris has a partner on this one. Our tech guy is going to have to go mobile,” Greyson stated.
Curtis didn’t mind. If it meant watching his wife’s ass, he was all about that.
“I’ll handle it,” he promised.
The whole time they were discussing this, Dimitri didn’t look at Poppy.
He couldn’t.
Dimitri was still trying to measure if she could do it. He wouldn't risk a team member, and he certainly wouldn’t risk her for a file.
“What’s next?” Kat asked. “Walk me through it.”
Poppy did just that. She gave her the file number, and Kat scribbled it on her other forearm.
“It’s a white box, and on the front, it says ‘Wayne’. It was on the third shelf, but they could have moved it.”
“Got it.”
“Inside should be anything that can be tested for DNA. It may be degraded by now. It may be stuff we can’t use.”
“I’ll grab anything that will help us. I’ll be good,” she reassured. “This isn’t the first time I’ve had to lift something from a police office.”
Yeah, but Dimitri knew that this would be a million times harder since their faces were all over the news. She wouldn’t blend, and she wouldn’t be invisible.
She was a Croft.
“Then you have to get out because the records clerk does a walk-through to the vending machine on the other side. That’s where the coffee pot and snacks are.”
She made note of it. Kat would have to keep her eyes on that area for anyone who headed there.
“I can do it. That’s an easy one.”
Dimitri hoped so.
“Tell me about the file upstairs,” she said. “What do I have to do?”
“You’re going to have to get back into the elevator,” Chris stated. “You’ll have to take it up to the commissioner’s floor. The elevator has security, and Curtis will have to re-loop it. If security on the ground floor looks at the screen, and then the floor numbers, they will notice it’s not in sync. The numbers light up at the desk.”
Dimitri was nervous.
That was the way you got caught.
He silently ate. When Emma’s hand touched his thigh, he placed his over hers. Right at that moment, he needed the reassurance that it would be okay.
This was three days past dangerous.
“The good news is the security, at that time of the day, will be running thin. We might get lucky.”
Oh, they could only hope.
Dimitri focused on Petra as she ate pasta from her chair. It was all over her. He hoped Emma didn’t mind cleaning her up. He was going to have to get the team’s gear together.
As if reading his mind, she wiped the little girl's face and cooed to her.
Dimitri couldn’t love her more.
“I have a uniform,” Poppy stated. “Kat might fit into it. If she uses that, she can walk up the stairwell from the records room. The cameras are overheard. They will see hair and a hat. No one will question a cop going up and down the stairs.”
That was a better option.
“I can’t do it,” she stated. “I have to carry gear. If I get caught, I need the basics to get out. I’d be carrying a bag. I need to go in under the radar.”
Dimitri thought about it.
The risk of this with one person doing the job outweighed the reward of getting that file’s information.
Before he could say anything, Emma said it for him.
“We may have to leave the file behind,” Emma stated. “We can’t risk Kat. How long will it take to get the DNA?”
“Thirty minutes. I have to get it done in that time frame. Anything longer, and I risk being compromised. Quick operations are the safest.”
Dimitri agreed.
“How much longer will it take to do part B?” Emma asked.
“Another thirty minutes.”
Even Greyson didn’t like that. He whistled.
“That’s an hour inside the police station, Kat. I don’t like that at all. Thirty minutes isn’t too bad, but double it…”
Dimitri leaned back in his chair.
He was right.
An hour was like an eternity when you were creeping into a police building.
“We need a second person,” Chris said. “I can do it. I would be the next best option. I might not be noticed. I have my dress blues.”
“I can go,” Sam offered. “I’m a kid no one will notice me,” he said, as he slurped his pasta.
“Yeah, no,” Dimitri stated. “That is definitely not even an option at this point. What’s next? Do you want a gun too?” he asked.
He pointed at Sam before he could say anything.
“NO!”
“But, Dad! I’m sneaky.”
“And you got caught by Viktor,” Emma stated. “You managed to elude Dante and Steele, but not the bad guy. The commissioner is the bad guy,” Emma stated.
Dimitri smiled at him.
He knew his son wanted in badly.
“You will be helping us one day. I promise. Right now, Sam, we need you to be here and help us.”
“Doing what?” he asked. “Babysitting?”
“You can sit beside me as I keep in communication with Chris and Curtis. You’ll help me.”
That made him happy.
“Well, that still doesn’t give you
the fourth person,” he stated.
Oh, he was aware.
Dimitri had expected Poppy to say something, but she didn’t. True to her word, she was trying.
“Poppy, if you were going to do this, what would you do to get to the office?”
“I would take the elevator to the floor below the commissioner’s office. Then I would get into the stairwell, block the cameras, and go in that way. The elevator right to the top will be suspicious. He leaves by six. They would recall that he’d already left the building, and still the elevator went to that floor. There would be minimal people on the administration floor at that time of night.”
She had a point.
“I would put the person in the uniform, and then have them take the stairwell. Jam the cameras and access the office.”
He listened.
“There’s a camera right outside his door, but none inside. Thus, how he was easily able to kill Thomas Christ.”
“How long do you think it would take?” he asked.
“In uniform, twenty minutes. The hardest part is if he hid the file in his office. You’d have to search. He knows I saw it, so he will want it locked down.”
He thought about it.
“Kat, you are going to do your part of it. Chris, you are the getaway driver, Curtis, you are going to have to clear the way for them. Poppy is going in to retrieve the file.”
They ALL looked at him.
“Really?” she asked.
“Really. We go in at seven. I don’t want it to be too late. There won’t be enough cops there. It’ll be suspicious. We need the security at the desk to be busy.”
“I can help,” Emma stated.
They all looked at her, including her husband. The look on his face said it all.
If she even suggested going, he was going to have a stroke.
There.
Now.
And it would be a big one.
“How?”
“We can keep them on the phones. We have to have enough burner phones to keep making calls. If the guy is on the phone, he’s not watching security as closely as he should be.”
Dimitri smiled.
“We have burner phones and we have our plan. Eat up, get ready to head out, and we shall get this done.”
The team went back to eating.
It looked like they were going to break into the LVPD building, during work hours, with a newbie and a woman who had just given birth.
Mob Justice Page 47
