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)
“Honey, I had them throw out your cell a long time ago.” Julia shrugged. “You’ll have to beg to use someone else’s. I know that’s hard, but I believe in you. Unless you want to hang out here.”
“She does not.” He wasn’t going to give that idea a chance.
“The kid wants to be a spy. Her dad won’t train her. I could.”
“She is not staying here, and it’s insane of you to even suggest it. Her father will find you,” Kyle warned.
“I think I should probably finish high school first,” Kala said quietly.
“Your loss.” Julia sighed as she looked Kyle over. “Be ready to move. We’re going to leave the country for a while, you and I. After we get the intel we need and ditch the kid, I think we’ll go somewhere nice and tropical. It can be the honeymoon we never had, or I can kill you there. It’s up to you. Be ready.”
She turned and walked away.
“You used to have terrible taste in women,” Kala said with a shake of her head.
He had absolutely no answer for that.
* * * *
“I have her. I can verify that Kala is in Winchester.” MaeBe smiled for the first time in days. “Tell Ten he’s got the go-ahead. She’s there.”
Charlotte stood, her eyes hopeful. “How can you be sure? Were you able to trace yesterday’s video call?”
She’d had no luck with that. “No. I told you I didn’t have time. This is going to sound weird, and I hope you can believe me, but I’ve been monitoring pizza places around the town.”
Now she had Ian’s attention. He’d been staring at the computer screen where he’d been monitoring Taylor and Drake at the bank. It was all performative. They already had the information they were going to give to Julia, but they’d decided if they showed up without all the bells and whistles, Julia would get suspicious. “Pizza? Are you hungry?”
They were ensconced in the top floor of a posh DC hotel. They’d turned the series of suites into a mobile base camp. Big Tag and Charlotte were monitoring Drake and Taylor as they moved into the bank, though it was Hutch who was in Drake’s ear.
That was because MaeBe thought she was onto something that would allow the Taggarts to move earlier than they’d hoped. Julia had proven troublesome. She was demanding that they turn over the data and then she would verify the intel and give them instructions on where they could pick up their daughter.
Charlotte seemed almost certain if they passed over the fake intel, they would be picking up a corpse. Of course, she was fairly certain it didn’t matter if they turned over all the real intel in the world. Julia couldn’t be trusted.
So she’d come up with a better plan, one that involved finding proof that Kala was exactly where they thought she was. “Pizza is the easiest way to feed a big group of people. It’s cheap and fast, and you can eat it hot or cold. No one questions a big pizza order, and you can have very little contact with anyone.”
“All right, I can agree with that,” Ian said slowly, as though trying to work his mind around the problem. “But how does pizza fit into this? This is the DC area. There have to be hundreds of places to order from.”
“But not in Winchester. There are three, and only one of them recently delivered a pizza without sauce, double anchovies.”
Ian stood up so fast she thought he might turn the desk over. “That’s Kala.”
Charlotte wrapped her arms around her husband. “She’s still alive. MaeBe, that is brilliant.”
“It was delivered to the same house?” Ian asked.
MaeBe nodded. “Yes. Around an hour ago, and then I took control of the traffic cam that’s pointed at the road that leads to DC. The pics are grainy, but I think Adam might be able to tell us who’s in that car. I think she’s on the way here to get the intel. She obviously knows Drake and Taylor met with the senator earlier today.”
Ian kissed the top of his wife’s head. “Okay. If we’re sure, then Ten’s ready to go into those tunnels. We can be in Winchester in thirty minutes. The helicopter is standing by. Ten made that happen, too. My brothers and Erin are waiting for a go.”
“What if she’s not in that car?” Charlotte asked.
“Baby, if you want to wait, then we wait, but my gut is telling me the longer we leave her there, the worse it’s going to be. That woman isn’t stable. If she thinks for a second she can get something out of killing Kala, she’ll do it.”
They’d been agonizing over this for days now. When did they move? Did they wait until they got Kala out? Until the exchange was made?