The Rebel Queen (Outlaw #1) - Lexi Blake Page 0,120

to bring Zoey?” Danny asked.

“I would certainly say we don’t tell him she’s not coming,” Sasha advised. “He needs to find that out at the very last moment possible.”

“He’ll know I’m in town.” This could be very good for my heist. Knowing Myrddin and his strongest witches would be out of the building gave me the perfect time to get in. “We take someone with us, put a Zoey glamour on him or her, and make sure I’m seen around. They won’t be able to tell unless they get close, and by then it’s hopefully too late. Neil could do it. Or he can run around shopping with whoever plays me.”

The big Russian nodded. “This could work. I believe Myrddin might actually prefer this scenario. He can’t try to take Zoey if she’s in that meeting. It would be much easier to pick her up somewhere else.”

“Myrddin’s played this game many times,” Daniel said with a sigh. “He knows what he’s doing and how to manipulate a situation. He would ask for something he knows we won’t give. He’ll maneuver us into a situation where we compromise. The compromise is exactly what he wants.”

“He’ll think I’m an easy target,” I pointed out. “He’ll believe that I would be out shopping while Danny and Dev are handling him.”

“I don’t know about that.” Dev seemed uneasy with the whole situation. “I think Myrddin knows exactly how competent Zoey is. He certainly knows she’s a thief.”

I had an ace up my sleeve. “But he doesn’t know the grimoire is in the building. He won’t expect that I’ll try to get in.”

“My network has told me that he’s torn up the penthouse.” Sasha seemed even grimmer than usual, and I wondered how close he’d been to the witch who’d died. Or perhaps he was a male who’d seen more death than he’d wanted and yet refused to allow himself to become numb to it. “He’s looked for the book around the globe, and he hasn’t been able to find it.”

Because it wasn’t on the globe.

“If he believes the queen is the one who stole the book, he has to think about the timing,” Zack mused. “There were only a few hours between when Myrddin would have last seen the book and when Zoey and Daniel disappeared. The book would have to be somewhere Zoey could have stashed it quickly.”

Sasha shook his head. “Eddie was in the building that day. He could have teleported the book anywhere. I assure you Myrddin has done his due diligence. He’s mapped out every single place that book could be and he’s searched it. He has to believe that the queen alone knows where the book is or he would have found it.”

“When is this meeting supposed to take place?” Danny asked.

“He would like to meet tomorrow,” Zack replied.

Danny shook his head. “He can’t expect us to be in the States by tomorrow.”

“It’s his way of testing to see if we’ll use Eddie,” Sasha surmised. “He’s likely trying to figure out where everyone is. He’s getting his chess pieces lined up, and this will help him.”

Danny looked my way. “Zoey, how long do you need to be ready, and how big a crew are we talking?”

“I’m going to keep it to a minimum. It’s me and Lee and Neil.” I wished I didn’t have to bring Lee into it, didn’t have to put him in more danger, but he really was our best shot at pulling this thing off. There was also the chance that if I left him out, he would find something far more dangerous to get into. He truly was my son. “The Hidden Ones have agreed to go in first and make sure we know where the bag is. I have to assume that Myrddin has the penthouse warded to the nth degree, so if they can make sure it’s still there, that would be helpful.”

Rhys leaned in. “Asta has assured me she can have an answer for us before Mom ever gets on the plane. The Hidden Ones have a network they use to move across the globe. It will take them a few hours to get there, search the building, and get back. We’ll at the very least know if there’s a reason to go in at all.”

“Do we have a reason to believe it wouldn’t be there? The way you and Harry have described the bag of holding, there should be no way for Myrddin to have found it.” Sasha looked through