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)
“You better hope he’s in there somewhere,” she said, venom in her tone. “For you. For that kid you’re trying so hard to protect.”
She turned and walked out of the plane.
“Come on. It’s time to go.” The pilot pointed a gun his way.
He prayed MaeBe would work quickly. He was afraid their time was running out.
* * * *
“Let me see if I understand what you’re saying.” Ian Taggart looked older this morning. It was clear the man hadn’t slept at all the night before. He’d barely been home long enough to shower and talk to the kids and make sure they moved over to Alex and Eve’s for the time being.
MaeBe sat at the other end of the big conference table, her heart aching for this entire family she’d come to love so much.
After Julia’s call, they’d all come back to the office where it would be easier to gather the intelligence they needed. Derek Brighton had shown up along with a friend of his from Dallas’s FBI office. They’d gone downstairs to the Miles-Dean, Weston, and Murdoch offices once Adam had assembled his team.
While Ian had talked to Adam’s team, she’d huddled in with hers. Drake and Taylor and Hutch. Noelle had shown up with Deke and Maddie, bringing them all much needed coffee and snacks. She’d forced herself to eat the sandwich her friends had brought her despite the fact that her stomach was in knots.
By morning, she’d known her plan could work. But she had to make Ian and Charlotte and the rest of the crew comfortable with what she was proposing.
“She’s asking the right questions and coming to proper conclusions. If we wait until we actually find the data, it could be weeks. I can’t let that happen.” Charlotte couldn’t seem to sit still. She paced the length of the conference room in her bare feet, a coffee mug in one hand. “Does Julia know what’s in her father’s files?”
“I would bet my life that she doesn’t,” Drake replied. “If she did, she would have used the information. My father was a deeply selfish man. If this intel exists—and I believe it does—he didn’t share it with anyone. It would have been far too dangerous. That intel my father gathered on The Consortium was only to be used if he needed a safety net. Consider it mutually assured destruction. If The Consortium ever decided to terminate him, he would use it as a shield. He wouldn’t have shared that with my sister because he knew damn well she would use it in a different way. For all that he trained her, I don’t believe he truly trusted her.”
“She’ll want to take power,” Taylor continued. “Has everyone read the profile I gathered on her? It’s a compilation of Agency information on her over the years and Eve McKay’s updated profile.”
Ian tapped the folder in front of him. “Yes, I’ve gone over it again. It’s pretty much my personal nightmare. I’m going to be honest, she’s not who I would have selected had I been given a choice in which criminal kidnapped my daughter.”
“I’ll be honest, it gave me some hope.” Charlotte set her mug down. “She’s ruthless but she’s got some hard lines she hasn’t crossed yet. She could have killed MaeBe. She didn’t.”
“I don’t think she kills for pleasure. She’s angry with me, but she views most people as sad sheep who need her leadership,” MaeBe replied. “Some of her advice to me was actually helpful. I’m not saying she’s not a monster. She is. But I don’t think she’ll torture Kala. I think she’ll happily trade her back for the intel and keep her real prize. Her greatest flaw is she thinks she’s way smarter than she really is. She believes if she hands over Kala unharmed, you’ll be so happy to have your daughter back, you won’t come after her.”
“In my sister’s mind, there’s no reason for you to come after her. She will view this as a transaction,” Drake stated. “We have something she wants. She has something you want. Once the deal is done, she won’t understand why you would be angry.”
“I’ll explain it to her in thorough detail,” Charlotte promised.
She couldn’t imagine how hard these hours had been on Charlotte. It was one of the reasons she’d come up with her plan. “Julia believes she’s the smartest person in every room. She’s a true malignant narcissist, and we can use that arrogance against her. If Julia has never seen the intel in her father’s files, why shouldn’t we make it all up?”
That was the plan that had come to her. They thought they knew where the data was, but until they got into the bank, there was no way to be sure. They could be running across the US and parts of Europe chasing after this intel, and she wasn’t willing to leave Kala or Kyle in Julia’s tender care for any longer than necessary.