“Oh. Well, let’s scrap that idea, then,” Franks said. “I’m not willing to die for the cause just yet, you know what I mean?”
“And even if you’re by yourself, they’re gonna assume we’re nearby, watching,” Jacobs said.
“That’s why you won’t be watching,” Tiffany said.
“Say what?”
“Look, that’s obviously what they’d think, right?”
“Yeah?”
“So let’s be smart. Instead of watching from the road, hook me up with stuff. Trackers, GPS, cameras, I dunno, whatever you guys think would work. That way you have eyes on me at all times and know where I am at all times.”
“That might work,” Franks said.
Thrower was largely silent, thinking about it all, running it through in his mind.
“There’s so many things that can go wrong with this,” Jacobs said. “And the week isn’t up yet, by the way.”
“But this could be the opportunity we’ve been waiting for,” Tiffany said. “We might not get a better one than this. Especially right now. We could end this tomorrow if we do it right.”
Jacobs put his hands over his face and rubbed it. It was tempting to think it could be over in another day. But there were still so many risks. Risks he wasn’t sure he wanted to take. Not with Tiffany. If it were him, or Thrower, he might’ve been more receptive to it. Maybe he was too close to it, though. Maybe he needed someone who was more neutral, who hadn’t been through the same things he had. Someone who could think more objectively.
“What do you think about it, Nate?” Jacobs asked.
Thrower hesitated before answering, still going over everything in his mind. “I think it could work under certain conditions.”
“What conditions?” Tiffany asked.
“For one, Brett’s gotta get him mad enough that Mallette wants to act immediately and lash out at the first person he can.”
“I’m sure I could do that,” Jacobs replied.
“Then, we gotta make sure that Mallette picking Tiffany up is an option, that he doesn’t feel like it’s a trap. That means you’d have to say something to make him believe that she’s going to be unprotected tomorrow. But you’ll have to be subtle about it or else he’ll feel like you’re intentionally trying to get him there.”
“Unfortunately, I can probably do that too.”
“Is that it?” Tiffany asked. “You’re making my point.”
“Not yet,” Thrower said. “The last point is the most important. We need to make sure you’re protected at all times, and that we know where you are exactly.”
“Can’t we do that?”
“Probably need to get Hack in here to help with that,” Jacobs said.
“I’m thinking we need to put a tracker on the car,” Thrower said. “But also on Tiffany personally, that way if they take her out, which I assume they would, we still have a beat on her.”
Jacobs seemed more resigned to letting this thing happen, though he still had concerns. “You really believe they’d just grab her? You don’t think there’s any chance they’d just kill her and move on?”
Thrower thought about it. “Doesn’t really make sense to just kill her.”
“Mallette’s not always a rational man, you know.”
Thrower shook his head. “Killing her doesn’t really help him. It would get you angrier. So what? You already are. I think that bridge has been crossed by now, don’t you? It’s all about killing you now. Getting you in front of him again. Killing her doesn’t help him get that. You’d still be out there. I don’t see any way in which he’d want to knock her off. I do think he’d try to use her to draw you in. Again.”
Jacobs nodded. It was still against his better judgment, but everyone else seemed to be for it, so maybe it was the better play. He just didn’t want to see it. He looked over at Franks.
“You got anything we can use for this?”
“Oh yeah,” Franks replied. “I got just the stuff.”
Jacobs sighed. “Fine. But if we do this, I wanna have backups, and then backups on the backups.”
“Sounds like a done deal to me, man.”
Tiffany agreed. “Yeah. Definitely.”
“Seems like the only thing left to do now is make the call.”
Jacobs looked around at the others to make sure they were all in complete agreement. They were. Jacobs got on the phone and dialed the number listed for RM. It kept ringing with no answer. After six rings, it stopped, but it didn’t go to voicemail. It just seemed to go dead.
“Try again, man,” Franks said.
Jacobs did. It was the same result. That wasn’t going to stop him, though. He kept trying.
“Hopefully, he hasn’t already gotten wind of what happened,” Thrower said. “Then he knows what this is.”
“Yeah, that’d be a real kick in the gonads,” Franks replied. “That’d make this whole thing all for naught.”
Jacobs was still undeterred and kept trying. About ten minutes went by. He was beginning to think they were wasting their time. Maybe Mallette did find out already. In a way, it would have been a relief, as that would mean they wouldn’t follow through with Tiffany’s plan, which meant she wouldn’t have to put herself in danger. He still wasn’t thrilled about it.
Jacobs put the phone down for a bit, then dialed again after another twenty minutes. He was expecting more of the same. He was surprised, then, when someone finally answered. It wasn’t Mallette, though. He’d recognize Mallette’s voice anywhere.
“I need to speak with him,” Jacobs said.
“Who is this? You’re not Lee.”
“No, I’m not. But he’ll wanna talk to me. Get him. Now.”
“Not until I know who this is.”
“Just give him the phone. He’ll know who this is.”
After a few seconds, another voice got on the line. There was no doubt about who this person was. Jacobs recognized the voice immediately.
“I guess I don’t need an introduction, do I?” Mallette said.
“Shouldn’t.”
“So what do I owe the honor and pleasure of this conversation?”
“Well, as I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, Lee is no longer working for you.”
“What did you do?”
Jacobs laughed.
