“Just goes to prove, yet again, you can take the operator out of special forces, but you can’t take the special forces out of the operator.”
“She’s here.”
My head swiveled back to my husband so fast my neck cracked. “In New York here, or here in the hospital here?”
“Both. She was in the crowd outside the alley where Jackson and Katie’s failed abduction happened, and I saw her when we left the hospital. She was sitting on a bench waiting for a bus. The more I look at the photos of the guys, they could be two men I saw when we came back in, but I didn’t see either of their faces.”
“And you didn’t say anything?”
“Why would I? Without knowing she’s a person of interest, I wrote it off as nothing more than a random woman in a city with millions of other random women.”
“And you’re sure the woman in the photo is the same woman you saw…”
“Without a doubt. That wild ass mane of crazy red hair sticks out. As for the guys, I’m not sure, but it’s possible.”
Walker nodded and walked away. We all stared after him, and I turned back to ask, “What’s with him?”
Foster sighed, turning his back on his brother to talk with us. “Jackson and Katie both know her.”
“Well, yeah, she’s Katie’s publicist.”
“Jackson’s never met Katie’s publicist, but he did meet a…”
“Sexy as fuck redhead built for sin.”
Foster pointed at Hayden and said, “Exactly that.”
“So, did she target Katie because of Jackson?” I asked, hoping no one thought I was blaming either of them.
“No. Jackson met Michelle in Nashville four months before he met Katie. According to Marcie and Katie, the stalker was already in the picture when Jackson and Michelle screwed around. Still, it’s safe to say she has a vendetta against Jackson at the least, but maybe also against Katie, but we can’t figure out why.”
“Have you asked Katie?” Hayden asked.
Foster nodded. “She said she doesn’t think either Michelle or Danny had reason not to like her or to be working with the stalker. She swears she doesn’t know who Caleb is.”
“Well, one thing I remember about Katie is that she can’t lie for shit. If she knew him and tried to hide it from us, we’d know. It might’ve changed over the years, but I don’t think so. People don’t usually change that much without training or reason.”
“Can you two talk to Marcie and see what she thinks?”
Hayden nodded in agreement as I asked, “Have you called Cato?”
“I’m waiting on him to get back to me.”
Foster’s phone went off, and Hayden’s eyes bugged out. I couldn’t help but laugh. He was thinking what we all did, that Cato listened in on all our conversations, or he was psychic.
Foster read through the messages, then handed me the phone. “You were right, Hayden. The redhead was at the scene. Cato’s still scanning faces there for Danny and Caleb.”
“And what about here at the hospital?”
I handed Foster his phone back. “Yeah. You were right about that as well. But it’s worse. They’ve been roaming the halls looking for Katie and Jackson.”
“Fuck!” Hayden growled.
Foster and I nodded.
“Y’all remember to call Marcie. Lemme know what you find out. I’m calling in reinforcements. In the meantime, we’ll keep Jackson and Katie here surrounded by family.”
Foster stalked off, and we headed toward Jackson’s room. Lucia and Scott stood guard. I walked over to speak with them while Hayden ducked his head inside. I smiled when I heard Katie and Jackson’s laughter drift toward us from the open doorway.
