Chapter 20
TWENTY
“My God. I can’t tell the difference between the two of you.” Wren looked back and forth between Barbie and Gina.
“So long as I'm wearing colored contacts and these tinted glasses,” Gina said. “The eyes are always the hardest thing to fake, so we do our best to camouflage them as much as possible.”
Barbie had come to Denver from Aspen three days before. She came quietly and incognito after posting on her social media that she was going to make a big announcement in a few days, but that for now, she was kicking back in her California home.
Gina had contacted someone she called ‘one of my friends from my old life’ and asked her to come to Watchdog. Gina had referred to her old friend as a makeup artist. But looking between the two of them now, Wren realized Nettie was so much more.
The first thing Nettie had done was make a couple slip casts of Barbie's face, which she used to create latex prosthetics. Then she applied them to Gina’s face. Besides the eyes, the biggest difference between Barbie and Gina was the heavy makeup Nettie applied to help further hide the prosthetics. The real Barbie kept her face makeup-free when she wasn’t in public, like now. The only time she went without makeup in public was if she wanted to run out and grab a meal with a friend without getting recognized and mobbed.
While Nettie made the prosthetics, Gina practiced moving and walking like Barbie. Barbie was a smidge taller than Gina, but she fixed that by concealing lifts in her shoes. She even borrowed one of Barbie's outfits that she’d worn on her social media a couple weeks previously.
Now with the shoes, the clothes, the glasses, and the prosthetics in place, Gina stood beside Barbie in the safehouse’s living room and Wren was amazed. So were Elias, Shane, and Charlie as they looked back and forth between the two women.
“You did an incredible job,” Elias told Nettie as she fiddled just a little more with Gina’s wig.
“She always does,” Gina added.
“Thank you. I do love my job. There.” Satisfied, she stepped back and looked them over. “I think we’ve got it.”
“Perfect.” Gina picked up Barbie's trademark Birkin bag off the couch and slung it over her shoulder.
“Okay, I’m off to the airport. I’ll take some selfies and post them on your social, Barbie. Weisser’s subscribed to all your sites. What he’ll see is a woman he thinks is you coming into Denver to make her big announcement about the hospital donation. I’ll have the glasses on, and the photos will be from just enough of a distance that we can obscure my eyes a bit. Seeing photos of me in your most recent posts will help sell the deception once he sees me up close. Celebrities always look a little different in person, and he’s never met you before, so he doesn’t have a comparison.”
“Can’t you just stay here and drop in a fake background?” Barbie asked. “What if someone stops you thinking it’s me and asks for an autograph?”
Gina grinned, which looked so weird to Wren. She’d even learned to smile like Barbie.
“That’s actually what I’m hoping for. If there are videos of ‘you’ walking through the airport on other people’s pages, it lends that much more credibility. And, if I pass as you up close,” she patted her fake cheekbones, “it’ll confirm that this face works.”
“What if you don’t pass?”
“Don’t worry. I have a long track record of passing for other people.” Gina looked at Charlie who stood beside the front door, looking every inch like a total badass. “And that’s where Charlie comes in as my bodyguard. She’ll make sure nobody lingers too long and that we move through the airport at a good clip straight to the waiting SUV.”
“Driven by me,” Shane said, grinning. “Your courteous and professional local Watchdog bodyguard.”
Charlie cleared her throat as her eyebrows rose. “Ah- hem .”
“Sorry. I meant your other courteous and professional local Watchdog bodyguard.”
Charlie smiled. “That’s better.”
Gina crouched down to take Fleur’s face in her hands. She looked tenderly into the dog’s eyes.
“I have to go to work without you, sweet girl. You be good and behave yourself here while I’m gone.”
“Penny and Chuck are more likely to misbehave, but we’ll make sure they don’t get Fleur into too much trouble,” Elias said.
Penny, who was lying beside her new doggie bestie and intellectual match, looked appalled. Chuck snored in his doggie bed, completely oblivious.
“Telling you, brother,” Shane said. “Take advantage while you’re here and bring your pups up to the kennels. Alex will have them trained in no time.”
Gina gave Shane a smile that wasn’t hers but Barbie’s.
“That is so uncanny,” Wren said. She turned to Barbie. “How do you feel? You must be more weirded out than I am.”
She nodded. “I’ve had body doubles before, but not like this.”
“All right,” Gina said. “This is the fun part.” She looked almost giddy.
Charlie put on her sunglasses and opened the front door for Gina, Winnie, and Shane.
“I’ll give you a lift over to Kyle and Arden’s, Winnie,” Shane said.
“Thanks.”
Through the front window, Wren watched Gina and Charlie get into a nondescript car while Shane and Winnie took one of Watchdog’s SUVs.
Barbie laid her hand on Wren’s shoulder. “Are you ready for tomorrow, Wrenbird?”
“I am.” As long as I ignore the fluttering in my gut , she thought.
Elias crossed the room. “I’m ready for it to be over.” He put his arm around Wren’s shoulder and she leaned into him, loving how warm and solid he felt.
Barbie smiled at them. “You guys are too adorable.” She stretched. “If you need me, I’ll be in the shower, then my bedroom.” She turned and walked toward the hall. “But I don’t think you’ll need me.”
Wren didn’t want to go over every last detail of tomorrow’s plan for the thousandth time with Elias so she cut him off before he could even start.
“Barbie approves of you.”
“I’m glad, or this house would feel really small right now. Well, small- er .” He pulled her in close, smiled and nodded when the sound of water came from the bathroom, then slid his hand up her side until his fingers found her nipple, which hardened immediately under his touch.
And that’s not all that’s hard . It took no imagination whatsoever to figure out what the waist-level bulge suddenly pressing against her could be.
“ Finally alone,” Elias murmured.
Wren laughed. “Do you know how many men would kill fluffy baby ducks to be in your position right now?”
“I’d have to kill them ,” he growled. “You’re mine. That, and baby ducks are cute. Those sick assholes.”
Wren laughed again. “I’m not talking about me , you goof. They’d kill to be sharing a house with Barbie Gillis.”
“Well, not me.” Elias tipped her chin up and kissed her until she melted. “You are the only woman who exists in my world, Wren.”
“I know.” She tried to sound flippant.
“No, baby, I’m being serious now. I mean it. There will never be another woman, Wren. Never. I met you and you took my walls down.”
“No.” She shook her head. “I didn’t take them down, because I never even saw them after that first day. And the walls were there only because you were trying to be a professional while I was playing for laughs. I wanted to see you smile, see those gorgeous blues of yours light up. Because of me.”
She watched his blue eyes flash, then fill with desire.
“Tell me again why Barbie is staying here?” he growled.
“Because someone else is hiding out in the other safehouse, and the third house is undergoing renovations. And, Barbie doesn’t want to be a bother so she’s not staying with Kyle and Arden like Winnie is.”
“I thought you were going to say she’s staying with us because she wants to keep an eye on you .”
“Right, that’s what I just said.” She let a slow smile spread across her face. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn to speak the BFF language.”
Elias looked toward the direction of the bathroom. “Does she take long showers or short ones?”
“It depends on the situation.” Wren ran her hand over his jeans and felt his cock jump. “She’s my bestie and she approves of you. So today? Pretty sure she’ll take a long one and then go for a long walk.”
Elias wasted no time in carrying Wren to the bedroom.
Shane drove the SUV slowly through the expensive neighborhood past fake Italian villas and houses that could have doubled for a huge ski lodges. Somewhere behind him drove an unmarked car that would be joined by several marked SUVs after Gina and Wren were in place. In addition to sending Kyla all the evidence, Gina had contacted the police and filled them in. What Wren was learning about her new friend was that Gina knew all the right people to get shit done fast. At the precinct with the lead detective, Wren signed about eight thousand consent forms and then learned more than she ever thought she’d know about sting operations.
Charlie rode shotgun. Wren and Gina sat behind them, with Elias and Lachlan in the back, behind tinted windows. Wren was dressed in business casual. Gina had borrowed one of Barbie's more provocative dresses. She hoped it would provide enough distraction to keep Weisser’s attention on her body rather than on her face.
Wren didn't think that would be much of a problem.
“Almost there,” Shane said from the driver's seat. “Are you two ready?”
“Ready as I'll ever be,” Wren said as she adjusted her dark wig then wiped her damp palms on her black linen skirt. She patted her satchel. In a follow-up phone call, Weisser told her to deliver one-point-five million dollars in bearer bonds—untraceable and way more portable than stacks of hundreds. After that, she was to come up with an excuse to leave “Barbie” alone with him for the rest of the night.
Of course that’s not what’s going to happen .
“I’m sorry you have to wear those shoes again.” Gina nodded her chin at the toe-murdering stilettos.
“I’m the one who has to record him taking the bribe.” Wren shrugged, trying to make the gesture look nonchalant, as if she dressed up and played super spy once a day and twice on Sundays. “You’re not supposed to know I’m cheating you out of millions, Barbie.”
“I’ll try and give you the opportunity to be alone with him as quickly as I can without looking suspicious.” She tapped her ear, where a tiny comm hid. Wren wore one as well, as did the rest of the team tonight. “I’ll be able to hear every word. If there is the smallest hint that things are about to go sideways, I’ll be right there, even ahead of the police.”
Elias growled from behind her, then laid his hand on Wren’s shoulder. She tried to entwine her fingers with his, but he covered her hand with his instead and squeezed. He ran his finger over the band of her engagement ring. She still couldn’t get over the craftsmanship. Her ring was similar to Ellie’s and Rochelle’s rings—Ben had made theirs as well as Gabe and Bear’s wedding bands. Only instead of mountains like Rochelle’s or stars like Ellie’s, Ben had covered her ring with flames, symbolizing the fire that had brought Elias into her life.
And one carefully carved scrubs top.
“I’ll be all right,” she told him.
“Any sign that you’re in trouble, I don’t care. I’m charging in.”
“Elias,” Wren warned. “You can’t do that ahead of the police. It breaks every protocol and this will be for nothing.” She looked at Gina for support but it was Lachlan who spoke instead.
“Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in this position, hoping Gina comes back to me unharmed. This sting is nothing compared to what she and I have faced before. Does that make it easier to watch her walk up Weisser’s driveway and into a situation that I can’t control? Of course not. But every mission I’ve seen her on was one meant to save lives. Tonight is no different. I have to stand ready to protect her, but also stand back and let her work for the greater good. She’s had to do the same with me.”
“It’s not the same,” Elias argued. “We’re military and Gina is also a professional. Wren is not.”
“But I’m surrounded by amazing people, Elias. I trust Gina. I trust Shane and Lachlan and Charlie. And I trust you the most. I’ll be safe. I’ve got this, baby. We’ve got this. I can’t live with myself if someone loses their home because I sat on the sidelines. You know that.”
He took a deep breath and blew it out, hard. “I know.” He squeezed her hand again. “Just come back to me safe.”
“We’re here.” Shane turned up a long driveway and parked in front of a particularly ostentatious house. Charlie got out first to open “Barbie’s” door.
“Ready?” Gina asked Wren. She had already shifted into the voice she’d use for the night. Not only did she look like Barbie, but she sounded like her right after a bad coughing fit, or recovering from a cold. The rasp was meant to work just like the lightly tinted glasses and obscure what little bit Gina couldn’t mimic perfectly.
“I’m ready,” Wren answered. “Let’s go nail the bastard’s balls to the wall.”
“Proud of you, baby. Love you,” Elias said as he gave her hand one last squeeze before letting go.
“Love you.” Then she was out of the car and meeting Gina around the front. Charlie escorted them up the driveway toward the huge wooden double-doors under a portico.
“Scrubs, Soup. Acknowledge, over,” she heard Lachlan “Soup” Campbell call her by her brand new nickname over the comm.
“Scrubs, Roger, Soup,” she breathed, knowing she’d botched the prowords. Fuck it . “I hear you loud and clear, over.”
“Acknowledged, over.”
She listened to everyone else verifying that their comms worked as she walked beside Gina and Charlie up to the front doors.
Before Wren could ring the bell, one of the doors opened and Weisser popped out like a demented Jack-in-the-box. One doused in heavy cologne.
This is it. Either he’ll fall for Gina’s disguise or we’re DOA .
Wren held her breath as Weisser’s gaze skipped over her like a rock skipping over a pond and landed squarely on Gina. He gave her body the same quick appraisal he’d given Wren when she’d first walked into his office.
Come on. It’s Barbie, it’s Barbie, it’s Barbie, you gullible ass .
Then he smiled so broadly every single one of his teeth went on display as he laughed through them. His lips, his mouth, didn’t move, and his laughter was a staccato series of ha-ha-ha-ha-ha’s .
Asshole’s got a laugh like the world’s creepiest uncle .
“Ladies! Lovely, lovely. Welcome. Come inside. The bottle of Cristal champagne is at the perfect temperature.”
Wow. Feels like he hired us for the night. Oh, wait, he did hire Barbie for the night.
Weisser frowned at Charlie, then looked past her at the SUV still sitting in his driveway. He shot Wren a murderous look and she could practically read his thoughts— I said, bring Barbie Gillis alone .
Gina touched his arm, immediately reclaiming his full attention. “Oh, don’t worry about them, Don,” she said in her raspy-Barbie voice. “Charlie, I told you, in this neighborhood, we’ll be fine. Honestly. Just go wait in the car with the driver, please.”
Charlie nodded. “Yes, ma’am.” She turned without another word and walked back to the SUV.
Gina smirked. “There. They know I might bring them a doggie bag if they behave.”
“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Gah! Abort mission! His laugh is killing me!
Unless his cologne gets me first. Gag. Just under the cologne, she could smell the bourbon on Weisser’s breath. She hoped he’d had two big belts of it right before they showed up. That would help.
Wren stepped inside first, followed by Gina, Weisser’s hand gripping her upper arm.
“What’s wrong with your voice?” he asked, stopping Wren’s heart in the process.
Gina cleared her throat but continued the rasp. “Oh, you know. I pick up some sort of airport crud every time I travel. I’m fine though, Donny! Can I call you Donny? I can’t wait for that champagne.”
“I know just what you mean.” Weisser closed the door, cutting Wren and Gina off from the rest of the team. Wren’s heartbeat, already clipping along at a fast pace, decided it was competing in a sprint.
“Follow me, ladies. It’s a beautiful night, so I thought we’d sit out on the back patio.”
Weisser looked to be a trophy hunter, judging by the inordinate number of antlered elks, bucks, and big game heads mounted on the great room’s walls and the— yikes! —lion-skin rug in front of the fireplace. Wren recalled her comment to Elias the day before.
I wonder where he’s hiding all the dead baby ducks he killed to spend the evening with Barbie .
The aroma of meat cooking on a grill wafted in through the open doors leading out to the backyard.
Oh, maybe that’s what’s for dinner .
“What a beautiful home!” Gina gushed. “Who is your decorator?”
“Just me, ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”
Seriously. It’s like being strafed every time he laughs .
The intimidating man sitting in his high tower lording over his hospital had been reduced to an awkward teenaged boy in front of his crush.
We’ve got this Wren told herself. So you can quit with the sprints anytime now, heart .
They stepped out onto a wide patio overlooking a yard manicured to within an inch of its life. His patio furniture looked like it belonged inside. And Wren was mistaken—it wasn’t a backyard grill she smelled but a full-on outdoor kitchen.
“Here we are. Make yourself comfortable. Barbie, why don’t you sit on the loveseat?” Weisser made a beeline for a bucket full of ice holding the bottle of Cristal upside-down, like it was mooning everyone.
Gina shot Wren a look that said Are you all right?
She gave her a quick thumbs up right before Weisser turned back around, the bottle in his left hand.
In his right, he held a saber.
Oh, Mother of Mercy, you’re kidding me .
“Stand back,” he said, despite the fact that Gina was sitting on the loveseat as requested and Wren was in an armchair.
“Oooo!” Gina clapped her hands and bounced—something that the real Barbie would never actually do if faced with this spectacle—but it kept old Donny fired up and distracted.
Which was a good thing because Lachlan’s voice came over the comm just then.
“Soup, Spooky, over.”
Weisser was looking straight at Gina.
She hunched her shoulders, tucked her chin, put her palms together like she was praying and lifted them until they blocked most of her wide, excited smile.
“Go ahead, over.” Wren heard Gina’s voice whisper over the comm. The visible corners of her lips never wavered from that smile.
“Police are in place on standby, over.”
“Acknowledged, over.”
Okay. I’ve got to get him alone, ASAP .
Weisser brandished his saber and readied the champagne bottle for its dramatic uncorking.
Here we go. Champagne and broken glass everywhere, in ? —
“Three, two, one!” Weisser shouted, then swept the blade down the bottle and Pop!
Wow. He actually did it .
Weisser set the saber aside, thank God, and quickly poured the foaming champagne into two flute glasses waiting beside the bucket. He picked the flutes up and carried them over to Gina. Weisser handed her one, then sat down next to her and clinked his glass against hers and drank.
“I guess none for me.”
“Oh.” Weisser acknowledged Wren for the first time since the front door.
“It’s all right, I’m doing a dry summer anyway.” Wren patted the satchel full of fake bearer bonds. “Actually, if I could use your restroom?” She grimaced. “I’m not feeling well all of a sudden.”
“Oh dear,” Gina said. “I hope you haven’t caught my cold.”
“Maybe that’s it.” She patted the satchel again, hoping Weisser would catch her drift.
“I’ll show you to the restroom, otherwise you might get lost.” Weisser set his champagne aside. He grabbed Gina’s hand and kissed the back of it. “Be right back, my dear. Drink up, drink up! We’re celebrating here.”
“Oh, I will.” She lifted her untouched champagne glass and took a big sip. “Mmm,” she said through a closed-lip smile.
Satisfied, Weisser stood up, as did Wren, clutching the satchel’s handle.
“After you,” she said. As she followed Weisser inside, she glanced back and saw Gina spitting the champagne back into her glass as she stood up, preparing to follow them in at a discreet distance.
Then she listened as Gina told the team to prepare because Scrubs was about to deliver the goods.
Weisser didn’t lead Wren to the bathroom but to his office instead. He closed the door and Wren’s heart beat triple-time as claustrophobia kicked in. One more barrier between her and help. Then there was Weisser standing between her and the door. His face was bright red with fury.
She heard Gina update the team, telling them which room Weisser had taken her to.
They have a set of this godawful house’s blueprints and know right where I am. To calm herself further, Wren pictured Gina silently hurrying down the hall and stationing herself right outside the door. Wren walked backward until her butt hit his desk.
Weisser lunged forward, grabbed two handfuls of her silk blouse, and pulled it up. His eyes roamed her body. Thank God she and Gina had rehearsed this possibility.
“What are you doing?” she shrieked as she whacked his side with the satchel. She listened to Lachlan alert the team over her comm. The police were surrounding the house, getting ready.
He let go of the blouse and shushed her. “Looking for a wire.”
“Yeah, right. I’m recording us right now just so you know, because I really want to go to jail. Asshole.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm as she mentally did a victory dance.
Now it’s on the record that I told him he’s being recorded .
Weisser just glared. “I thought I told you to bring her alone , Brooke.”
“Without her security team? Oh, yeah, right. That wouldn’t look suspicious at all. She always keeps them outside anyway.”
“Fine. But here’s how it’s going to go. You’re going to tell Barbie you aren’t feeling well and need to leave and then you’re going outside and getting rid of her security team. I don’t care how you do it, just get them out of here.” He looked at her satchel. “The money’s in your bag, correct?”
“Yes.”
He grabbed it and dumped the bound stacks of fake bearer bonds onto the desk. “This doesn’t look like all of it.”
“It’s not. It’s only a down payment.” Wren moved until Weisser was no longer between her and the door as she listened to the team coordinate with the police. Then she tuned it out to focus on her job.
“That wasn’t the agreement,” he snarled.
“Neither was feeling me up for a wire. You think I’m going to give you everything you want without a guarantee that you’re going to let me in on the deal you made with the lenders?” She folded her arms. “Actually, I want more. I want six percent of every loan.”
He gawked at her. “Are you fucking crazy? That’s a percentage point over what they’re giving me.”
“You’re getting five percent from every single loan you direct to them when all you did was put a link to their company on Milestone’s website.” Then she went straight for his oversized ego. “An untrained monkey could have done that.”
His eyes grew big as saucers as his face turned white, mottled with red blotches.
“Bitch, you think that’s all I did? I did way more than put up a link on the website ,” he said, mocking her voice. “This was my brainchild.” He ticked off on his fingers. “I gave them the idea. I structured the payment plan to make sure patients would miss payments and accrue interest.” His chest puffed up. “I helped a goddamned senator draft those bills. I set the whole thing up. Now get me the rest of my money or…”
“Or what?”
He gave her a feral smile. “Or I tell Barbie what you’re doing.”
Oh my God, this guy’s insane .
“Tell Barbie what exactly?”
“That you’re taking money out of her donation to bribe me.”
“She won’t believe you.”
Weisser gestured at the stacks of bearer bonds. “She will when I show her the goddamned bribe sitting right here on my desk.”
This is it. Please .
“A bribe that you don’t seem to want to take. I want six percent,” Wren said coolly, despite the fear sweat dripping down her back.
Weisser snorted. He picked up one of the stacks and brandished it at her. “Oh, I will take this money, and then I will take the rest of it from you, and you will get nothing.”
“Soup, now, over.” she said calmly. Then she stepped out of the stilettos.
“What’s now over?” Weisser asked. “Besides you?”
“Scrubs, Lion, hit the floor and roll to the wall, over!”
Wren dropped like a stone and rolled.
Weisser’s look of triumph turned to confusion.
“What are you?—”
The door burst open. Uniformed officers flooded the room, guns drawn.
“Police! Step away from her! Hands where I can see them!”
Wren watched as Weisser froze. The stack of worthless paper slipped from his fingers as his face drained of color. An officer grabbed him and turned him around to handcuff him.
Then Elias was there, sweeping her up and carrying her out the office and into the hall where she caught a glimpse of Gina standing right outside the door, where she’d had Wren’s back the whole time. Elias sprinted as he carried her down the hall, through the great room, and back out into fresh air as the police took over. He didn’t set her back on her feet until they were at the Watchdog SUV, now parked down the street and out of the way.
Elias cupped her face in his hands, his eyes searching for any injuries.
“I’m fine, Lion. I’m not hurt. I’m okay. You kept me safe.”
He shook his head, dismissing his part. “My God, baby. That was fucking brilliant in there.”
“Told you she was a natural.” Gina, looking like Gina now that she’d removed the prosthetics, seemed to appear out of nowhere.
Must be why they call her Spooky .
“And great teamwork, Lion. Pleasure working with you.” She looked around until she spotted Lachlan, then left them to themselves.
Elias didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the situation. He cupped her face again, and proceeded to kiss her down to her soul.