58. Hendricks
HENDRICKS
“She’s right,” Luke says into the silence that’s fallen in the room.
I turn my head slowly toward him.
“Strategically.” He holds his hands up. “I meant strategically.”
Every muscle in my body locks and I struggle to maintain a calm tone instead of roaring like I want to. "No."
Mandy throws her hands up. "Will you fucking listen?"
"I listened.”
“Not close enough, apparently,” she retorts with a narrow look.
Luke clears his throat, but I glare at him and he has the good sense to shut up.
Mandy stands, her hands on her hips. "Think about it tactically."
She’s wearing her usual clothes: tactical pants and a fitted long-sleeved top. I liked her better in my shirt. "I am thinking tactically."
"No, you're thinking about it like the guy sleeping with me."
"This meeting got interesting," Luke mutters.
Harper elbows him.
Mandy plants herself in front of me. "If you show up without me, Ashford knows something's wrong."
"I'll handle it."
"If you disappear, he sends someone else."
The thought of Ashford sending someone else after Mandy makes something cold and lethal settle in my chest. "I won’t disappear, and I'll handle them too."
She arches her brow. "And the next person?"
“Them too.”
Mandy presses her hand to her forehead. “Jesus, Hendricks. You can’t murder your way through Ashford’s entire contact list.”
“I can make a respectable attempt.”
"That's my point. We can keep killing the people he sends, or we can make sure he doesn’t get to send anyone else." Her voice lowers, her expression solemn. "We can spend the rest of our lives waiting for him to make another move. Or we make one first."
I hate that she's right. I hate even more that everyone else in this room knows she's right.
Mandy looks around the table. "It's win-win. Hendricks completes the commission. Ashford thinks he won. I get close enough to put him down permanently."
"Assuming he doesn't kill you first," I say.
She lifts her damn stubborn chin. "He won't."
I cross my arms. "You don't know that."
"He wants something from me."
Then Luke says the worst possible thing. "She has a point."
I turn my head. Slowly.
Luke freezes with the donut halfway to his mouth. "What?"
"You want to reconsider that sentence?" I ask.
He lowers the donut. "No."
Of course he fucking doesn't.
"If Ashford believes you're still his guy," Luke continues, "that's access. Right now, it's the only access we have."
"You volunteering Harper?" I know it’s an unfair accusation even as I say it.
The room goes silent.
Luke tips his head and studies me. "Interesting. I get it."
"Do you?" I say coldly.
"Yeah, I do." His voice loses every trace of humor. He takes Harper’s hand and holds it against his chest. "And if Harper were in Mandy's position, I'd want to lock her in a bunker until this was over."
"Good."
He chuckles. "But she'd probably shoot me.”
"Definitely," Harper says.
"Which is why the plan wouldn't be whether she goes,” he continues. “It'd be how the hell I make sure she comes home."
That lands harder than I want it to.
Mandy's fingers curl around mine.
Jake finally speaks. "Nobody is delivering anybody to Ashford today."
Mandy opens her mouth.
Jake lifts a hand. "And nobody's dismissing the idea."
I look at him.
He meets my gaze without blinking.
"What I'm hearing," Jake says, "is that Mandy may be the bait."
My entire body rejects the word.
"But bait doesn't go into the water without a line attached," Jake says.
Mason nods. "Surveillance. Backup. Extraction routes."
"Multiple teams," Harper adds. "And we choose the location if we can."
"We don't even know what's in Turner's encrypted files yet," I say.
"Exactly," Jake says. "So we wait for your contact."
Mandy exhales beside me. “We can’t wait. Clara Whitlock is likely scheduled to be abducted within four days. She doesn’t have time for us to dilly-dally.”
“I’ve never dilly-dallied in my life.” Luke turns to Mason. “Have you?”
Mason shakes his head.
Jake looks at me. "The files confirm Ashford was part of Turner's network. I say we use the commission to draw him out."
Fuck. I run a hand over my head.
Mason leans back. "All of us help."
Luke reaches for the remaining half of his donut. "Preferably with snacks."
Mandy looks at Jake. “So we do it?”
Jake’s gaze settles on me. “We do it. Hendricks tells Ashford he has Mandy. We let Ashford tell us where he wants the delivery, and we control everything we can from there.”
“And everything we can’t,” Mason adds.
Harper nods. “We improvise.”
“Now we’re speaking my language,” Luke says, sticking the rest of his donut in his mouth.
I look at Mandy.
She gives me a small, satisfied smile.
I fucking hate this plan. I stand up. “Fine. We do it.”