54. GRAYSON
54
GRAYSON
“We could stay here while you meet with the CIA,” Hunter suggested.
After phone calls had been made to set up a meeting with the agency, we’d returned to his office to debate the best location for everyone else to lay low while I worked with the CIA to take my former mentor down.
I eyed my brother, an unspoken question about a secret location he’d kept in his past. But he shook his head, silently confirming what I thought—it was closed off.
“Leaving you here last time didn’t work out so well,” I said a little harsher than I intended. “We probably shouldn’t even be here right now.”
Hunter’s jaw clenched. “Last time, they took us by surprise. This time, my security team has the place surrounded. Besides, you’re the one walking into the CIA nest, not us.”
“No,” I said. “If they breached the security one time, they could breach it a second.”
“What about a boat?” Jace suggested. “On the open water, it would be virtually impossible to track us down.”
“But not impossible. If they found you, you’d get hypothermic in Lake Michigan water before help could arrive.”
“We could take the private jet,” Bryson offered. “To South America or Europe.”
“We don’t have time for that. The head of the CIA wants me to be there within the hour, and I can’t go unless I know you guys are safe.” I pinched the bridge of my nose and softened my tone. “I’m sorry. And I’m so sorry I put you all in danger. Daniel…he’s already hurt so many people. I can’t let him hurt you too.”
Silence fell over the room, like dread itself infected the oxygen.
“This isn’t your fault, Grayson,” Hunter assured. “And for all we know, Daniel might never come after us. But I like the better-safe-than-sorry approach.”
We debated and shot down a bunch of other options, including my penthouse, a cabin, splitting up to different locations, and a safe house, until, finally, Ivy’s soft voice appeared in the doorway.
“How about a police station?”
My brothers and I all turned to look at her.
“The minute we step foot in a government building, Daniel might be tipped off,” I said.
“The police station is full of armed men,” she replied.
“He’ll wait for you to leave, and he or his men will follow you.”
“So, what if we let him?” Hunter suggested.
I blinked, digesting what he was saying.
“You mean, lead him into a trap,” I clarified.
He nodded.
I shook my head. “First of all, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t kill you guys right there in the parking lot, and second, that’s way too dangerous.”
“I’ll have security there,” Hunter said.
“No!”
“A shit ton of security. We can have a preplanned route from the police station to wherever we want to set a trap for this guy. Best-case scenario, we corner him.”
“Worst-case scenario, you guys all die.”
“I have bad news for you,” Hunter said. “You’re not going to find the scenario that’s bulletproof, Grayson. So long as this guy is out there, we’re all in danger, so the sooner we take him down, the faster we can all move on with our lives.”
I clenched my jaw. “Daniel is often one step ahead. If we think we have everything in place, he’ll find some hole to poke at, a blind spot we haven’t thought about, and he will leverage that to win.”
“We have to do something to flush him out of hiding.”
He was right. No matter what we did, no matter where we ran or how fast we ran, Daniel would be right on our heels. I had no idea how many men he might have working underneath him right now, trying to hunt us down. Hopefully few. Either way, our best shot at survival was for this to end as quickly as possible.
I paced the room as we kicked around other ideas, until finally settling on what felt like the best plan.
I would attend the emergency meeting with the CIA and walk them through the evidence. If it all went according to plan, they’d unleash the full weight of the CIA to find Daniel and take him in before he could get to one of us. Meanwhile, my brothers, Ivy, and Luna would retreat to a public location where, in theory, it would be harder to get to them.
O’Hare airport. It was busy with constant activity, had a lot of security, and if anything went sideways, they could be on an international flight rather quickly.
But two important questions nagged at me: How would the CIA react to all this? And could they get to Daniel before it was too late?