Page 84 of Lethal Deceit

“That won’t help if they detonate from inside,” I say.

“No, it won’t. And we can’t use the jammer yet or they won’t be able to contact you.”

My eyes drift to where my phone is resting against my hipbone. “So we just pray they don’t decide to make bombs until we’re ready to move?”

His answer is given without a hint of irony. “Praying is all we can do right now.”

At the sound of footsteps behind me, I glance back—Adena and Jake. If they’re carrying weapons, I can’t see them, but Jake’s enthusiasm is evident in how he bounces on his toes. Guess he really is the rookie they keep referring to him as.

A little doubt nudges at me before Adena smothers it quickly. “We’re all set. We’ll preempt the old guy and say hello in case he comes knocking on the front door,” she says.

“What about diapers?” Samantha says.

We all look at her, probably equally puzzled, and she wrinkles her nose. “If you’re doing this right, you should dump some in the trash outside.”

Adena’s hands slide to her hips, and she appears a little peeved at the suggestion. “We have done this before.”

Jake, however, sends Samantha a shifty smile. “She’s right. I’ll go get some ready.”

Adena lowers her hands, eyes narrowing just a little, then mutters a grudging thanks. “Who’s going in the front door?” she asks.

Caleb jabs his thumb into his chest and returns to the screen.

Adena frowns. “How’s Mick going to get to the side window?”

Caleb pivots so he can face her. “Distraction. Verity is going to help with that one.” He pulls out a timer and passes it to me. “Thirty seconds after impact. That’s your gap.”

Adena assesses me, looking me over. “And you think you can haul your sister out the window if she’s a dead weight?”

A flickering of annoyance sets my veins on fire. “I’ll drag her out of it if I have to.”

Fed up with being ignored, Samantha cuts in and points at Caleb. “If anyone should be getting your sister out, it’s him.”

Caleb’s eyebrow hikes, but he gives her a grim nod before turning his attention back to me. “We go in as soon as it’s dark.”

Sixteen

Samantha

The more I listen, the more my stomach sinks. They’re serious. They’re actually going through with this insane plan instead of handing me over to the same terrorists who paid me fifty grand to seduce Mick.

It makes no sense.

I try to catch Mick’s attention, but he’s too focused on the floor plans of the building down the street to notice. Frustrated, I leave the room and head back to the kitchen—a depressing space that reminds me of too many childhood kitchens.

Looking for anything to distract me from the madness unfolding next door, I gather up the empty pizza boxes and start stacking them, trying to figure out how to stop Mick. But stopping him feels like trying to halt a freight train going full speed. Once he’s moving, he’s not stopping.

“These people are going to get him killed,” I mutter.

“If Mick gets killed, it’ll be because he didn’t listen.”

I spin around. Adena’s just walked through the door. “You’re back already?”

She nods. “We only had to plant the mic and intercept the old guy, which we did. Then I picked a fight with Jake about forgetting the twins’ pacifiers so we could bail.”

To her credit, that’s a bold move. If the nosy neighbor had looked too closely at the babies, he would’ve known they were fake.

I trace the edge of a pizza box, head shaking. “He’s going to get himself killed trying to save her.”

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