Total pages in book: 165
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 154925 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 516(@300wpm)
A pause came over the line. “Did you call him?”
“I needed for him to hear my voice, to know I’m serious.” She was sure John hated the fact that she’d called Kyle, but he simply had to deal with it. She wasn’t about to tell him that Kyle had let his whore talk for him. “Are they all at McKay-Taggart?”
“Yes.” John was watching Kyle’s office for her. The Consortium had rented out an apartment across from the building where they could watch who came in and out. After the McKay-Taggart firm had gotten involved in their cases one too many times, the board had decided to allow her to monitor the group. “She and Kyle are up there, and I suspect she’s not spending the evening alone. Your brother and Taylor have been there since this morning.”
“Who else is in the building?” She didn’t think they could get through actual building security, but she had a plant in the garage. She would have preferred to place her own man there, a Consortium-trained agent, but she’d had no luck getting through the hiring process. So she’d improvised. One of the long-term parking garage attendants had a little boy with cancer, and wouldn’t you know it? She could get him in a clinical trial. But only if he played ball. As far as she knew Timmy was still a living cancer warrior, and it was time for his pops to pay up.
“They’ve shut down for the day, but Greg Hutchins and his wife and Brian Ward showed up a couple of hours ago. Since then Deke and Maddie Murphy also joined them. So they’re surrounded by well-trained agents. I don’t think we’re getting close tonight.”
Oh, he of little faith. “You never know. They think they’re safe while they’re in the building. I think everyone who comes in after hours is required to sign in. Let’s see if I can tempt one of the rabbits to come downstairs. If I can do that, you can use the rabbit to get MaeBe to come down. I want her taken into custody, and then we’ll open negotiations with my brother and Kyle. Drake will know where to look. I haven’t been able to figure it out at all.”
“And what am I supposed to do with the rabbit?”
She would prefer killing whichever woman she managed to catch. Noelle Hutchins and Maddie Murphy had caused her no end of trouble, but their dead bodies would likely cause more. Still, Kyle would take the threat to MaeBe more seriously if there was a dead body. The question was how much did she honestly believe Taggart and his people would care about a woman who was merely an employee? There was also the fact that she still had a card to play with Kyle. If Taggart truly loved his sister-in-law’s son, he would back off once he realized the power she had over him.
She’d played nice up until now. It was all MaeBe’s fault that one of her friends was about to die.
“Kill her and take MaeBe to the safe house. I’ll meet you once we know where my brother thinks we should go,” she said, her decision made.
She hung up and grabbed her laptop. The intelligence she’d gathered on the people around Kyle was there. All it would take was the right temptation and her trap would be set.
* * * *
MaeBe took a swig of her beer and sat back, feeling more relaxed than she had in forever. She glanced over at the opposite end of the conference table where Kyle was playing Wingspan with Deke, Hutch, and Drake. Boomer had chosen to join the ladies. She, Taylor, Maddie, and Noelle had decided on Dead of Winter. Surviving a zombie attack with friends was exactly what she needed.
It made her feel almost like she could survive whatever attack Julia Ennis came up with next—because there would absolutely be a next. She’d tried to give the woman something to think about, but she didn’t doubt that Julia would come back and likely hard.
“It doesn’t look like the guys are close to being done.” Noelle yawned and stretched before reaching for her cane. She’d been in an accident as a teen and relied on the cane. “I think I could use some tea.”
Boomer stood, pushing his chair back. “I think I’ll see what’s left in the fridge. I could eat.”
Boomer could always eat. Luckily he’d turned out to also be a good cook. She’d liked living with Boomer and was so happy to see him settled down with his new wife and stepdaughter.
Maddie chuckled. “I brought some sandwiches in case we ran late. See. I know what to do when I’m on Boomer duty. Come on. I think there’s some hot chocolate in the break room, too.”
Noelle was already on her feet, and she walked over to where her husband sat, leaning over to kiss the top of his head. “You want some hot chocolate? I know. It’s a silly question.”