Page 73 of Tangled
“I can’t. But I’ve known enough people like Rathwell that I’m pretty confident in saying he’ll view our choice of location as a missed shot.”
“What does that mean?” Brad asked. He wasnotcut out for this shit.
“He’ll see it as a shot across the bow, which it is. But because it’s his turf, he’ll believe we’ve made a misjudgment rather than a calculated one,” she replied.
“Like we’re smart enough to know his favorite coffee shop, but not smart enough to recognize that meeting in a place he’s familiar with, and where he knows people, will disadvantage us?” he clarified.
Scarlett nodded. “It will make him cocky,” she said. “It will make him think we don’t know what we’re doing.”
“Exactly,” Jess confirmed. “Tucker and two other operatives will be there, along with the four Feds you conjured up, Chad,” Jess said. “Everyone will wander in between the hours of two and three. The HICC folks will come in alone, but the Feds will pair off and arrive in twosomes.”
Brad took Scarlett’s hand in hers as Jess continued.
“Scarlett will arrive five minutes after Rathwell, which will give him time to get a coffee and find a seat. Once she’s seated, she’ll set a bottle that looks like the one he contaminated, the apartment key, and Gracie’s phone on the table.”
“I can’t wait to see his reaction,” Sabina said, sounding more bloodthirsty than he’d ever heard her.
“He may not react at all, but I agree, I think he will, and it will be interesting which path he chooses. But regardless of whether he laughs at you, Scarlett, or threatens you, you need to stay focused on your message,” Jess said.
“Which will be that I’m blackmailing him with the video but that I also know what he did to Gracie so I’m throwing that into the mix, too,” she said.
“Spot-on. Have a good story as to why you need the money, because if he asks, you need to have one on hand. If you’re blackmailing him and don’t know why, it will raise flags.”
“She could always say it’s none of his business,” Brad suggested.
“She could,” Jess agreed. “But she’d have to be able to pull that off. It might be easier to come up with something.”
“I’ll tell him I want out of my life of constant travel, and I have my eye on a cute bungalow in Venice Beach,” Scarlett said. “It might also put him at ease because he’ll think I plan to stay in the area.”
“Making it easy to eliminate you the same way he did Gracie,” Ava said with a nod. “Nice, I like it. Another way to make him think you haven’t thought through everything.”
“And then?” Brad asked.
“And then I get him talking,” Scarlett said.
“That easy?” he asked.
She tipped her head in an “I don’t know” gesture. “I have a lot of experience getting people to open up and talk to me. I don’t know if it will work on Rathwell, but that’s the point of this whole exercise. Let him think I’m playing out of my league so that he feels safe in talking to me.”
“And by talking, you mean threatening you,” Brad said, the words leaving a bad taste in his mouth.
“Maybe,” Scarlett agreed.
“Remember, it won’t matter if he does because he won’t have a chance to follow through,” Jess interjected. “Based on the video, the Feds were able to get a warrant for his arrest and he won’t be allowed to walk out of the coffee shop on his own. That’s why they’re there. Scarlett will also be wearing a wire, and we’ll all hear if he confesses to anything else. Even if he doesn’t, though, they have him on the assault and corruption charges.”
It all sounded, well, not easy, but simple. He hoped they weren’t tempting fate by being so certain. Again, logically, he knew that didn’t make sense. But logic—his logic—had fled the building when he’d agreed with the plan.
“I get him to talk and then what?” Scarlett asked.
“Once it looks like he’s done talking, or if it looks like it’s not going the way we planned, the Feds will move in. He’ll be armed, of course, but he’d be a fool to try anything. That said, I think it’s wise if everyone on the inside wears a vest,” Jess said.
He presumed she referred to Kevlar vests. They wouldn’t be much help if someone took a shot to the head, but he supposed they were better than nothing. He ran his fingers through his hair and squeezed the back of his neck. He couldn’t believe he’d agreed to have the woman he loved—and their baby—involved in this. But bringing Gracie’s killer to justice was important to Scarlett—and he admired the hell out of her for her loyalty to her friend. Getting Rathwell off the streets where he couldn’t hurt any more people was important, too.
“We’ll have JJ give you some coaching on how to guide the conversation,” Chad said, referring to the psychologist that HICC had on an on-call contract. She’d helped with a number of their past cases and between her career with the FBI, her education, and her experience, she was an impressive, and effective, woman.
“I’m not sure who that is, but if you think I should talk to her, I will,” Scarlett replied. Chad already had his phone out texting the doctor.
“Okay, now the elephant in the room,” Brad said. He didn’t want to ask the next question, but he needed to know the answer. “When are we doing this?”
