A clusterfuck.
Kate handed her something else.
Elizabeth took the paper and held it up. It was a cashier’s check.
“I am offering a reward outside of the FBI for information leading to the capture and arrest of Devon Slater. The amount? One million dollars.”
As soon as she said it, there was an audible gasp.
That was something the US government would offer up for terrorists. That the bounty in that amount was being put on his head…
“The FBI must really want him,” a reporter offered.
She didn’t mince words.
Since he’d put information on theDark Web, she had her people do the same against him. Someone wouldn’t be able to contact anyone else, or he’d be turned in for that handsome reward.
Checkmate.
“This is my own money. I’m offering it to anyone who calls the number we are going to give you with viable information that pans out. I will personally hand this person a check for helping if it leads to his arrest.”
There were whispers in the crowd, so she went there.
“Yesterday, Devon Slater caused the death of one of my security guards. He was shot in the head while transporting me. I take thatVERYseriously. Devon Slater is now public enemy one, and I’m asking the good citizens of this country to help me bring him in. He’s killed a nun. He’s killed innocent people by making it look like accidents, only to dig them up and rape them. We doNOTneed that kind of garbage running amuck in our country. If you hand me Devon Slater, I’ll hand you a boatload of money.”
No one argued that.
“So, starting now, the clock is ticking. Devon, you have three hours to turn yourself in before every single person in this country begins looking for you. If you don’t, at that time, the phone number will go up, and may God have mercy on your soul because I won’t. The US government won’t.”
And with that, both Elizabeth and Kate walked away, going back inside. They heard the reporters first shouting questions at them, and then talking about them as the new power in DC.
Oh, and how Devon Slater was a marked man.
As for the money?
Oh, she’d make good on it, even though she knew Devon wasn’t making it to trial. She’d pay whoever got her intel, regardless.
This was a new age of the FBI—one where she and Kate didn’t play games with the bad guys.
Fuck the patriarchy.
There were new badasses in town.
The Matriarchy.
As they opened the door, Kate laughed her ass off, knowing the can of worms they’d just opened.
“He’s going to be so angry. A million dollars is very motivating. Every single person in this country, and outside of it, is going to try to get rich quick.”
Oh, she was aware.
That had been the plan.
Now, Devon Slater would know what it was like to be hunted and unable to peek his head out of the hole. He couldn’t leave wherever he was by plane now, and he couldn’t hire anyone to do his dirty work without risking being ratted out.
Turnabout was fair play.
Her hope was that the people who worked for him would rat him out.
