Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Kala stood beside her, staring down at the body. “What are you thinking?”
“That some dumbass thought Erin would be an easier target than TJ’s dad.” Lou turned to Erin. This was not a conversation she’d ever dreamed she would have. “I think someone has TJ, and they’re trying to get him to talk.”
Erin’s eyes went steely, and her stance became militaristic, shoulders going back and feet planted. “And what are we going to do about that?”
“We’re going to get him back.” A terrible plan hit her brain. Or a brilliant plan. “And I know exactly what to do.”
* * * *
“You want to do what?” Ian Taggart looked at Lou like she’d told him she was growing fairy wings or planned on becoming a street performer.
Both of those things ranked high on the Uncle Ian bad-life-decisions scale. She wasn’t joking. He had an actual scale and everything.
“I want to let this dude kidnap me. Not him, exactly, since he’s dead and I don’t think I have the energy to Weekend at Bernie’s this thing. But someone who looks a bit like him. Someone these guys will believe is a mercenary,” Lou explained.
“I told you she had a plan,” Kala said under her breath.
Kala’s father frowned her way. “You also told me this was about TJ’s unit.”
Kenzie shrugged. “Well, I was worried you would tell us to stand down if you found out about the texts. I needed to get you here so we could prove this isn’t TJ flaking out and disrupting your nap time.”
Kala nodded her twin’s way. “We all know this is your sacred napping time, so getting you here was crucial.”
The twins had run to their parents while Lou, Cooper, and Zach had spent the last two hours figuring out what the situation was. Apparently, they’d come up with a story to get Big Tag moving faster, and it had worked. And Erin had DoorDashed a burger and fries. Murder had not set her off her lunch plans.
In this case, Lou couldn’t blame the twins. After all, Ian and Charlotte Taggart were their day-to-day Agency bosses. While Drake and Taylor Radcliffe handled things directly with Langley, the Taggarts often went into the field. Lou’s team was still considered experimental, and there were a lot of eyes on them.
The Taggarts had strode in, and when she’d seen Ian and Charlotte and the twins followed by Tasha, something had eased inside her. Of all the team members, Lou spent the most time working with Tasha. They were the behind-the-scenes operatives, making sure everything moved smoothly.
This was her team. She trusted them. They would get through this. They would get TJ back.
Her plan would work.
“I don’t like it, and I know for a fact TJ would say no.” Cooper had made it plain what he thought of her rescue plans.
“Well, then TJ shouldn’t have gotten his ass kidnapped.” Kala was on her side at least.
Tasha had her laptop in front of her, staring at the documentation Lou had managed to put together. She sat beside her mom. “What TJ wants or doesn’t isn’t our problem. Getting him home is.”
Tasha had left her fiancé behind with her infant nephew and two well-trained dogs. It was good to know Dare supported his future wife’s career.
It hadn’t taken long to figure out that the man who’d thought Erin would be an easy target had been a mercenary connected to several mafia families. Lou had managed to use the information she’d found on his phone to link back to some groups on the Dark Web, including one that served as a sort of marketplace for all kinds of criminal services. A Craigslist for murder and kidnapping. They’d left out reviews, though, and that seemed like an oversight. She thought a couple of good ten out of tens, Great assassination customer reviews would liven up the site.
“I’ll go.” Theo Taggart had left his game behind and hauled ass up to the office when his wife had called. While Erin was cool as a cucumber, Theo was pacing like a caged tiger. “One of us can pose as a mercenary responding to the ad and turn me over. I’ll go with them, and I’ll get my son out.”
“It’s not that easy, Uncle Theo,” Kenzie said.
Zach’s head shook. “You weren’t on the list of targets.”
Lou had managed to break the dead guy’s codes and access his portfolio on the aforementioned criminal jobs’ site that someone somewhere should take down. She’d found the job and Dead Dude had been given three potential kidnapping options. Erin or Devon Taggart or one Louisa Ward. They’d put together crappy files on all three of them. All Erin’s had was her address, place of business, and age. Not once did it mention she was former Army intelligence and worked for a company that solved security problems across the globe.