Expired Getaway (Last Chance County #7) - Lisa Phillips Page 0,50
it implies I’d allow myself to get caught.”
Eric laughed, his body jerking. The sound quickly dissolved to a groan, and Millie leaned down. “You might want to consider letting someone else take point on this.”
“I’m okay. It just caught me by surprise is all.”
Bridget waved a hand. “I get that the FBI wants Capeira, but this isn’t about him. It’s about Clarke and the potential of our client list getting out. If he gets the password, the fallout will be bigger than all the harm Capeira could do in his lifetime.”
Millie sat on the edge of the desk. “She’s right. It could be.”
“Will be and could be are two very different things.”
“But neither is what we want, right?” Aiden glanced between them. “So maybe we can use Clarke to reel in Caperia and snatch up both in one fell swoop. Everybody wins.”
No one spoke. The others were deep in thought. Millie ran through half a dozen scenarios that might work before she realized they’d all drifted into brainstorming mode. “We need Sasha here as well.”
Bridget nodded. “Agreed. Once the three of us sit down, we can hash out a plan.”
Ted held up a finger. “You’d have to get Capeira to Last Chance. From the last few messages between him and this Clarke guy, I’d say he’s aware Bridget is alive but doesn’t know about her ties to this town.”
“Right.” Millie nodded. “He may not know where to look. Especially considering Clarke is the one who told him about the accountant’s office, and when Bridget would be there.”
Bridget shifted in her seat.
Millie eyed her. “You had no idea he was setting you up.”
Eric turned his head to his wife. “Neither did you. So if Bridget can’t blame herself, then…”
She couldn’t either. “There’s no time for guilt anyway. We have work to do.”
The door flung open and Jess strode in like a tornado. “You guys didn’t start yet, did you? What did I miss?” She moved right to Ted and flopped down beside him. “Hi, babe.”
Ted gave her a quick kiss. “We need a plan to draw him—them—out.”
“I’m blonde again. I could be the bait if I borrowed some of Bridget’s clothes.” She barely paused. “Hi, Bridget. I’m Jess.”
Bridget just blinked. Aiden said, “Jess is a cop, like me.”
Jess grinned. “Aiden and I go way back.”
“Probably not as far as Aiden and I do.” Before anyone could react to Bridget’s statement, she coughed. “I mean, no one is going to pretend to be me. If I need to draw out Clarke, then I’ll do it myself.” She glared at Aiden. “I thought I said we weren’t going to put anyone else in danger.”
Bridget shifted. To Millie, it looked like she was trying to hold back the urge to run from the room.
Millie dipped her head. “I agree. This is our problem, and we’re going to be there when it gets taken care of.”
“We’re cops.” Aiden probably figured that should be an asset. “We’re in danger every day, and we’re trained to face down guys like this.”
Eric tapped the desktop. “This is a federal case. If Clarke is selling out former spies, that’s a national security problem.”
Millie shifted. “Maybe, but it’s my business. The one I built from the ground up and put my heart and soul into. You can’t just dismantle it for a case. Especially when all parties involved signed non-disclosure agreements. No one is going to tell you anything. And we definitely won’t be handing over access to our computer system, I’ll be out of business.”
He shot her a look. Millie paced away from the desk, not wanting to see his real thoughts about her future career plans. Maybe most of it was about the pain he was in. But he had to know shutting her down wasn’t what she wanted.
Jess was the one who spoke then. “I thought taking down this Clarke guy was the point. Arresting him with enough evidence he spends the rest of his life in jail.”
Millie glanced at Bridget. Her friend shrugged, just barely enough she saw it. They were in agreement. “If it comes to that, it’s one thing.” Millie leaned against a file cabinet. “But you’re banking on the fact a jury would convict him, the judge will issue a decent sentence, and nothing else gets screwed up in the process.”
She didn’t have all that much faith in the government or the judicial system. Even though her husband represented both. That was just how she’d been trained—to work alone for survival.