“You have the detective’s number just in case?” I ask, heart hammering.
“Programmed into my phone.” Maeve smiles widely. She didn’t miss a thing and she knows it.
I let go of her face, and she grabs mine, pulling me down. “Lincoln,” she whispers.
“Yeah?” I grin, knowing where she’s going.
“Ditto,” Maeve whispers, pecking my lips urgently.
My throat works to swallow the larger than life emotion down. “Ditto,” I return.
Turning, I leave before I explode like a burning man. I unlock the door and walk to my truck, trying to put my family from my mind so I can focus on work. No one told me how difficult a task can be when your whole world resides in one place. Under one roof. What I stand to lose just multiplied by a million.
“Stupidest fucking idea I’ve ever heard,” I call back to Isaac who is cleaning his gun in the back of the range. I’m on the other side, assembling my gun. The first day of training was going seamlessly, till the moment Isaac and Tommy, another Teammate, came up with this not-so-grand master plan.
“Wouldn’t you sleep better tonight if you knew the sick fucks are stalking you here and not there with the two people you love the most?” Isaac says.
There’s no point arguing with that logic, and he knows it. He’s fucking with my mind by playing on my weaknesses. An easy thing because he has the same weaknesses. For the first time in my life, I get it. I fucking fully get it. They have a theory that the stalker is actually following me. That they could be here now. They’ve concocted a farfetched plan to prove their theory. One that makes my skin crawl for more than one reason.
I swallow hard. “Shut up. You know that answer,” I sling. “What I don’t understand is why I can’t tell Maeve about this dumb fuck plan.”
We’ve been doing a little undercover sleuthing unbeknownst to Maeve, trying to piece together everything. We think it might be more than one person.
“We need her real reaction. If someone is on her, they’ll know if she doesn’t react properly.” A chill zings up my spine at the mention of someone watching her at all times. There’s really no way around admitting that, though. Someone got into our rooms at the ranch. They know more than any person has any right to know. My stomach flips. “It’s testing the boundaries. They’ve been quiet for a while, but do you really think they dropped off the map completely? Or is the more likely scenario that they’re pulling back to watch and wait?”
I check the chamber of my gun to make sure it’s unloaded. After the click, I say, “Someone should be there with them. Who is back at the Teams that can stand watch?”
Tommy throws out a couple names, but the men I’m close with and who would be willing to stake out my girlfriend’s house without question are with me right now. I shake my head. “I should be there myself.” This is my life though, and Maeve is right. I will always have trips like this and need the autonomy to come and go frequently to do my job well.
Isaac moves next to me to work on his gun. We’re so practiced at this we could do it in our sleep. It’s autopilot. “Maybe they did drop off the map, dude. It very well could be over. They saw the cameras and decided whatever perverted juice they got wasn’t worth the squeeze and moved the fuck on. The cops have found nada. You can’t ignore evidence or lack thereof.”
Rena’s face comes to mind, but I cast it away. She may be a lot of things, but vindictive isn’t something she’s ever been. The stalking that’s happened is more than vindictive, it’s callous, evil, and calculating. I shake my head once again. There’s no way. “This plan would just lure the sickos out if they are there to be lured.” A murderous rage washes over me, and my pulse ricochets in my ear.
Tommy clears his throat. “We planned to get drunk at the local dive bar downtown tonight anyway. All we’re suggesting is that we add in a prostitute and take away your girlfriend for the night. See if any stalker activity happens at the hotel tonight when they think you’re with another woman. We’ll take a photo of you doing something incriminating, send the photo to Maeve, let her react to it, and see what happens next.” Tommy winces when he sees my reaction. “If she has someone on her too, they’ll notice anything amiss, and it will be easier to catch them in the act if they’re detailing her more than usual.”
“Hurting the woman I love, and/or pissing off the person who is watching my son doesn’t sound like any sort of plan I can be on board with.”
“It doesn’t have to be real,” Isaac offers. “The photo. We can be… creative. I know how hard this will be for you and I can’t pretend to understand the position you’re in, but I can tell you if an opportunity presented itself to end this, and Tasha was on the receiving end, I know she’d forgive me eventually and if you can loop these bastards up and get them out of the population, that’s an even bigger bonus. No more
