Raiden (The Kent Brothers #2) - A.M. Hargrove Page 0,67

I could call it now. None of us were sure if we’d ever have a home again.

After our return to Colorado, they informed us how everyone had been moving from one hotel or rental home to the next.

Gemini and I commented that we’d been doing the same. Some of us assembled in the conference room of the current hotel where many of us were staying. It was perfect for a meeting. Drex, Gemini, Huff, Raiden, Cruze, Isla, Acer, and I were present.

“We came up with a plan while we were in Paris,” Gem said.

“It’s a show-stealer too,” I added.

She began explaining about the staged scene where we’d threaten the little girl and the mother would beg Aiden to do something.

It didn’t convince Drex. “How will we get the kid to cooperate?”

“We don’t. We hire an actress, finding someone who matches the kid’s characteristics,” I replied. “We can advertise it as an audition for an upcoming movie to cover our tracks and then say we scrapped it.”

Huff thrummed his fingers on the table while Drex was silent.

“All we would need is to show the scene to the mother and film her watching it. Then send that to Aiden, having her beg him to give everything up. We’d cover the kid in fake blood from some kind of knife wounds. We’d need to work that part out.”

Finally, Drex said something. “What about the accent?”

“We’d find someone, even if they’d have to film this in Ireland.”

“No, absolutely not. We can’t under any circumstances go to Ireland. Word would get out,” Drex protested.

“Fine,” Gem answered, “but I’m sure we could find someone in LA. The kid wouldn’t even have to talk. We could gag her.”

Then an idea struck. “What if we use the real kid, fake blood, gag her, and put makeup on her for bruises? If she had a gag on and couldn’t talk, maybe they’d think she was crying out for help. We could put drops in her eyes to make them red and watery.”

Raiden grinned. “That’s the best idea. The closer to reality it is, the more likely they are to believe it.”

Huff, who’d been strangely quiet, spoke up. “What about adding some ransomware to his computers on top of this?”

Drex flashed a wicked grin. “This keeps getting better and better. Go on.”

“I love the video idea of the kid. But let’s hijack his computer and add some ransomware too. We’ll completely tie him to us… lock him down and force his hand.”

Huff was a genius. This could totally block him and put him at our mercy. “One thing, Huff. Can you grab all his networks? If you hijack one, that’s not enough.”

“Yeah, I can get all of them. He’s bound to have linked ones, and I can find the rest by pinging his IP address. It shouldn’t be too hard.”

Drex exercised his authority. “Let’s take a vote. Who’s in favor of both, raise your hand.” All hands went up. “Good, now we need to find a great stage makeup artist.”

“On it,” Gemini said.

“I’ll help,” I volunteered.

We left the conference room and went to hers to hop online. We found several in the city of Denver who worked with the local theaters, but vetoed that and moved the search to LA. There were dozens and we settled on one who would fly out at the beginning of the week.

Then Cruze called to announce he’d found the perfect place to live. It was near where we currently were, in the high country, remote, huge, with security like a prison.

“You won’t believe this place. The alarm system beats everything I’ve seen. Even Drex has approved it. A ten-foot wall that has an electrified fence surrounds the property, so scaling it wouldn’t be possible. Video surveillance is perfect, and the driveway is a half mile long. It would be close to impossible to penetrate the place.”

“Sounds awesome. When can we occupy it?” I asked.

“Anytime. The owner is in prison for tax evasion.”

Gemini and I glanced at each other and smiled. I said. “I’m ready to settle in for the winter.”

“Uh, you have a few months before that happens,” Cruze said.

“I don’t care. I’m still ready.” His deep chuckle, so like Raiden’s, hit me. “Hey, where’s your big bro.”

“Aww, you miss him already, don’t you?”

“I might.”

“He’s right here, sitting next to me.”

“Can you hand him your phone?”

Raiden came on the line and asked what was up.

“When will we leave the hotel?”

“In a few hours. Drex is arranging for the kitchen to be stocked and finding