“Right?”
“We’d regroup. Come up with a new plan.”
“But we’d also be watching our backs,” I pointed out. “He’s going to be on high alert right now. Keeping a close eye on all of us to make sure we aren’t onto him. We need to be smart. We need to lure him out. Have him come to us.”
“And how the hell are we going to do that?” Alessio said, his chair creaking as though he’d just flopped back into it.
I started to pace the room, my mind running over a hundred different scenarios. We had access to pretty much every event in New York, whether it be charitable, entertainment based, or political.
If we could host some kind of event and invited all our members, that would naturally include Ari. There’d be nothing suspicious about that. No reason for him to suspect we were onto him. It would give us an opportunity to observe him, and give him a false sense of normality.
“What about a party?”
King’s and Theo’s heads turned in my direction, skeptical looks on their faces.
“A party,” Theo said. “No offense, Shep, but I was thinking more an ambush in a dark alley with a gun.”
“That’s too obvious,” Alessio added. “Although we should definitely revisit that idea when it’s go time.”
“Keep talking,” King said, narrowing his eyes on me.
“What you said is true—Ari’s going to be on high alert. Paranoid. He’s going to be looking for any changes in our behavior, watching to see if we have any idea who he is. But what he doesn’t know is that we found his storage unit. He doesn’t know that Theo overheard his captor. All he knows is that Theo escaped. So he’s going to be doing his very best to blend in.”
“And what makes you think he’ll come?” King asked.
“So he appears cool and calm. Nothing going on over here.”
“Oooorr…” Theo drawled, looking between King and me, “you could use me as bait.”
Ice filled my veins and I adamantly shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
“No,” King said at the same time.
“Why not?” Theo replied, as though he hadn’t almost died less than a week ago.
“Because I said so,” I was quick to answer, before King had a chance to voice his own opinion.
“Excuse-moi?The last time I checked, I don’t need your permission.”
“Yes, you damn well do,” I said, marching back over to where Theo stood. He was out of his mind if he thought I was going to let him risk his life again with this motherfucker. “I’m your second-in-command.”
Theo angled his chin up, his face turning a deep shade of red as irritation washed over the stubborn ass.
“You might be my second-in-command, buthe”—he turned to face King—“is my King. My leader. You don’t get the final say here.”
“The hell I don’t?—”
“I’m going to go now,” Alessio said through the phone before the line went dead, and I turned my wrath on King.
“Don’t you even think about letting him do this.”
“Him?” Theo sputtered out, and then jabbed me in the chest. “Don’t you meanme? I’m standing right here, you know.”
It was pretty hard to forget when all I wanted to do was strangle him. How could Theo suggest something so asinine? To use himself as bait. To suggest putting himself directly in harm’s way?
Hell, at this point,Imight just kill him.
“Cut it out,” King said in that no-nonsense way he had about him. “Don’t you see what’s happening here? We’re fighting all over again. Butting heads over this fucker. We need to be thinking like a team,agreeingon a strategy and plan. Not going off half cocked, pissed off at one another.”
