“We could kidnap her, trade her for it, but I don’t see that ending well. And we don’t know where she is right now. She’s a ghost until she needs help and meds. Should be soon though.”
“He’d lie, get her back, then put us away with a copy of the recordings he didn’t give us.”
“Agreed. We have to play it another way.” Jase sits back in his seat, staring past us and at nothing in particular. “If things go wrong, we take her. As an insurance policy. But for now, we play it differently.”
“At least we know our next move, steps ahead.” Declan is the least tense of the three of us. “I’ll have the team keep eyes on her. Just in case.”
“Good.” Jase still doesn’t look at either of us. He’s thinking. The wheels spinning, all the possible moves playing out. I can see his thoughts clearly, easily reading him after all the years of getting to know him.
“What are you thinking?” I ask him when the tapping of his foot stops.
“We have two things on Marcus.”
I name the two, completing his thought. “A list of men who work for him that we’ve been following and journals of a woman he seems to have affection for. Although we don’t have her location. She goes off the grid, but always goes back to the Rockford Center eventually.”
“As well as the knowledge that she’s been seeing Marcus,” Declan adds and Jase nods, the two sharing a look. “The question is, which do we give to Walsh?”
“If Walsh wants something in exchange for the recordings, I say we don’t let on to the woman. Being in between the two of them is a risky move and she’s our fail-safe.”
Jase’s gaze drops and his nod is nearly imperceptible.
I continue, “We don’t want to get deeper into it. We just need the evidence he has on us to vanish.”
“You think he’ll really hand them over?” Declan asks.
“If he trusts us.” I explain, “I think trust would be easier to get if we keep the information about the woman and Marcus to us. Keep it business.”
“We give him a list of Marcus’s men that could lead him to Marcus. In return, he gives us the recordings,” Jase says as if he’s testing how he feels about the deal.
“It seems like a fair trade to me,” I respond and sit back in the seat, attempting to relax but every muscle in me is tight, knowing Marcus knows about Laura.
“I don’t trust him,” Declan pipes up.
“We don’t have a choice but to trust him.” Jase answers before I have to.
The sky darkens by the minute behind Jase.
“I’ll give him the list,” Jase decides. “I’ll leave it in his mailbox at the station. We keep the intel on her and eyes on her just in case Walsh wants to fuck us over, but this way he can find Marcus.”
Gripping the arms of the chair, I nod, letting go of the tension and uncertainty. It’s out of my control. All I can do is hope this is enough for Walsh and that he keeps his end of the deal. And that he finds Marcus. I want him—and everything he knows—out of the picture.
Just as I’m about to stand and leave, Jase asks, “Any other updates?”
I eye him questioningly, feeling my expression show my confusion. “On what front?” I ask him.
He cocks his brow and when I glance down at Declan, he’s smirking, pulling the stack of papers in front of him into his lap. He’s highlighted a few things, but most of them appear to be drawings. Locations where Marcus may be or go to often.
“Did you ask Laura about her dad?” Jase asks and coldness sweeps along my skin. Any confusion, any ease, vanishing in an instant. Dread is a prickly fucker, crawling along my skin.
“No. No updates.”
“We aren’t…” Declan clears his throat, his posture shifting and humor leaving at my response. “We’re not trying to piss you off.”
His explanation doesn’t mean shit to me. “I told you—”
“Yes, she’s yours,” Declan says, interrupting me. “Very possessive male of you.” Declan’s joke doesn’t help. All I can think about is what Laura would do if she knew the truth about her father. What she’d think…
“Just asking if everything on that front is all right?”
“Just fine,” I answer Jase. Standing, I fasten a single button on my jacket.
“I’d feel better about you seeing her if it didn’t turn you into a stone wall.”
Jase and Declan look up at me, both waiting. I debate on telling them something, anything. A protectiveness overwhelms me when it comes to Laura. The less anyone knows, the better.
Just like Delilah, Marcus and Walsh. Just the fact that we know anything at all about them, creates a weakness that anyone can exploit. I don’t want any more of that for Laura than there already is.