She glanced over at him.
“Like?”
He hated to say this, but they were too big a family to be kept safe. Security was part of their circle, too, and that would be dangerous at some point for them.
“Do you trust me?” he asked her.
Elizabeth nodded.
“Then, listen to me. I’ve done this a long time, too. Maybe not always as a Fed, but I know when to run and hide. The Hunter in me says abort. Not for us, but we have too diversified a circle. We need to get the kidsFARfrom here. I think we need to get them to Scotland, and tuck them away. As in no one knows they’re there. As in leave the tutors, the teachers, and anyone who doesn’t need to know, behind.”
She listened as he spoke.
“Because if this person is watching us, hiring more security, or bringing teachers we’ve just hired might be our downfall. We don’t know where this person is, who it is, or what they’ve found out.”
Ethan tended to agree.
“I know we do the whole‘we want the kids to have a normal life’but this isn’t normal. This is dangerous. We almost lost Charlie, and God forbid this lunatic is better than Sally. She was tough to catch, and she remade herself. We can’t risk it.”
She agreed.
“Ivan, change of plans. We go home for this weekend, and plan to extricate the kids from the US. We’ll also get all of security out, and put a hold on hiring. We don’t need to let the fox into the henhouse.”
He didn’t argue.
“We can get the kids to Scotland with some trickery. If you give me a few days, I have a few friends who know some people. It will be an uncharted flight on a cargo plane. It’ll land in Scotland, and we can transport under the cover of darkness to the castle. I’ve seen the layout. Once behind the fence, no one will know.”
It looked like they were going to use an asset that they had.
“Okay, get the plan situated for post-chemo for Wyler. Keep the nannies on payroll, pay the teachers, and tell them we’re taking the kids to the Puget Sound. If we have the potential for a snake in the house, we need to be on a need-to-know basis only. I’m going to need time.”
He could get her that.
“We’ll fly jets into Puget, and that will be on record so at the same time, we go the opposite way. We can pull them into the hangars there, and have limos pretend to drive them from inside the building to the island at night.”
That worked for her.
Ivan went further.
“I’ll have Callen cancel his tour that’s coming up,” Ivan stated. “We’ll go radio silent and play Marine hide-and-seek.”
She needed that.
Until she could play this game without her family being in danger, she’d be hampered and on a leash. Elizabeth didn’t want to go months, or years, having to live in fear. It was time to be proactive if this nut got past her.
Which she hoped he wouldn’t.
Glancing over at Gene, she knew what else she needed.
“Alert Maura,” she said. “I know they’re in the UK right now, chasing down leads on Von Donore, but I might need backup. I might need to borrow some Hunters. If this person gets away, I can’t do this above board. I’m going to have to risk playing dirty to keep my family safe. If I’ve been studied, or God forbid this person works for our government, I’m fucked. Only Gabe knows where we are.”
Ethan was worried about that.
“Just be careful. We don’t know how much this person knows. I’d keep him out of the loop, too.”
She was aware.
If Ethan thought that was for the best, it was for the best.
