Chapter 62
Later that night, after they’d cleaned the kitchen and themselves and discussed everything she could remember about Richard Drews, she brought up her idea again.
Miles was tracking down who Drews really was. He was very smart and good at what he did so she knew he’d figure it out.
But she was kind of scared of what he’d find.
“You are not being used as bait,” Jared said firmly as he stripped off.
She was already in bed. North was missing. He’d disappeared a few hours ago and hadn’t returned.
That worried her.
Where was he?
“But how will we stop him? We don’t know what he’ll do next. Jared, what if he kills someone else? I don’t think I can live with that.” He gave her a tense look, his jaw clenching.
“That won’t be your fault,” North said as he walked into the room.
“Where have you been?” she cried.
He raised an eyebrow. “I’ve been doing some things.”
“What things?” she demanded. “I was worried about you. When you leave, you’re supposed to tell me where you are going and when you will be back.”
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“Why is that?” he asked.
“Because I love you and I was scared that something had happened to you.”
North blinked and then nodded. “I apologize. Next time, I will tell you that I’m leaving. But I might not be able to tell you where I am going or how long I will be.”
“All right. I just need to know you’ll be back.” The knot in her stomach was starting to unravel.
Thank God, he was back.
North came over and sat facing her as she sat up slowly. “You cannot blame yourself for what this person does. He wants to bring you out into the open so he can grab you. Using you as bait would be giving him what he wants.”
“You think he’s obsessed with her?” Jared asked as his phone beeped.
“I think he could be. But I’m going to find him and then he will no longer be a threat,” North vowed.
“How? Without me?” she asked.
“Miles messaged,” Jared said. “He said this guy is a ghost. He doesn’t know who he is.”
She drew in a deep breath and let it out. “Will you think about letting me be bait? You could all be there. You’d keep me safe. Zander and his guys would.”
“No,” Jared told her. “It is absolutely not happening. And I do not want to hear another word about it.”
“We may need to use Angie as bait,” Zander said as they spoke with him via video call.
A third body had been found. And the police had identified the other two bodies as two of the missing women.
She felt extremely guilty. So Zander’s words were a welcome relief.
“Yes! See, Zander agrees that I need to be bait,” she said.
Both Jared and North were scowling.
“Not happening,” North said.
“We are not putting Angie at risk,” Jared added.
“Of course not!” Zander said. “Who said we were going to?”
“Um, you kind of did,” Keira pointed out.
“What? No. I didn’t mean that. Angie has no experience with this sort of thing. We’re going to have to use someone as bait who looks a bit like Angie. To trick him.”
“I get to go undercover!” Honey said, pumping her fist into the air. “Yes! I am going to kick ass. Literally!”
She noticed that Webb was frowning and glaring at Honey. He didn’t seem pleased.
Neither was she.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said hastily. “Honey could get hurt. And she doesn’t really look like me.”
“She will if we do a bit of work on her,” Zander said. “And we’ll make sure that he can only see small glimpses of her. She’ll arrive at the house in the dark and wear a large hat and sunglasses when she goes out. If we have someone visit her and call her Angie it might make it more believable.”
“Wait, you’re going to have me move back to the house in Stugley?” she asked. “Well, fake-me?”
“Yeah,” Zander said. “We can control the narrative more here. But it does mean you need to stage leaving Chicago in case he’s there watching you. That part is risky.”
“I don’t like it,” North said.
“Maybe you can hire an actress to leave the house. And you can escort her to a plane?” Zander offered.
“That’s a better idea,” Jared said slowly. “Then North can fly there and help you.”
“I want to go too,” she said. “Instead of using a decoy, you can fly me there. You’ll all be with me. I’ll be safe. I want to be close by. And I want to see Keira.”
Jared and North shared a look.
“I could pretend to be escorting her home. Make it look like we’re throwing her out. But we’ll need to have guards hidden everywhere. And you’d have to fly out separately,” North told Jared.
“I don’t know,” Jared said with a scowl.
“Somewhere we’d need to swap out Angie with Honey. Are they a similar height?” North asked.
“Honey is shorter,” Zander said. “But we’ve figured that out and we’ve managed to find a wig for her. We’ll have to do identical hair styles. And clothes. But I think this is our best bet.”
Jared was quiet and they all turned to look at him.
“We’re setting up a safehouse across the street from the house. Don’t worry, we’re being quiet,” Ammo said. “But we figure this guy is in Chicago at the moment anyway.”
Eli and Ammo had checked out the address she’d been given by Drews for the interview.
The house had been abandoned, but it looked like someone had lived there recently.
Food had been left in the cupboards. And an interesting symbol had been found carved into a closet door.
But that symbol could be meaningless. No one knew if it was put there by the people that were last there or not.
So they had to do something to draw this guy out.
She’d prefer they just use her because she didn’t like the idea of Honey being in danger.
But this could work.
“You’ll protect Honey?” she asked worriedly.
“Babe, I can protect myself. I’m one badass MF,” Honey replied.
“We’ll keep her safe. Are we all agreed?” Zander asked.
North looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t say anything.
“We’re in agreement,” Jared said. “But nothing better happen to Angie or Honey. Nothing.”