Page 83 of Untamed Sinner

He meets my gaze without blinking.

"What I'm hearing," Jake says, "is that Mandy may be the bait."

My entire body rejects the word.

"But bait doesn't go into the water without a line attached," Jake says.

Mason nods. "Surveillance. Backup. Extraction routes."

"Multiple teams," Harper adds. "And we choose the location if we can."

"We don't even know what's in Turner's encrypted files yet," I say.

"Exactly," Jake says. "So we wait for your contact."

Mandy exhales beside me. “We can’t wait. Clara Whitlock is likely scheduled to be abducted within four days. She doesn’t have time for us to dilly-dally.”

“I’ve never dilly-dallied in my life.” Luke turns to Mason. “Have you?”

Mason shakes his head.

Jake looks at me. "The files confirm Ashford was part of Turner's network. I say we use the commission to draw him out."

Fuck. I run a hand over my head.

Mason leans back. "All of us help."

Luke reaches for the remaining half of his donut. "Preferably with snacks."

Mandy looks at Jake. “So we do it?”

Jake’s gaze settles on me. “We do it. Hendricks tells Ashford he has Mandy. We let Ashford tell us where he wants the delivery, and we control everything we can from there.”

“And everything we can’t,” Mason adds.

Harper nods. “We improvise.”

“Now we’re speaking my language,” Luke says, sticking the rest of his donut in his mouth.

I look at Mandy.

She gives me a small, satisfied smile.

I fucking hate this plan. I stand up. “Fine. We do it.”

59

MANDY

We have a plan. D-day is Monday.

Which gives us two days to figure out exactly how Hendricks is going to hand me over to a man who probably wants me dead—without actually getting me dead.

Details.

The one thing we didn't figure out is Clara.

We know who she is. We know she might be abducted in four days. What we don't know is how to protect her without tipping off Ashford or anyone else involved. Harper wants to put eyes on her, but Hendricks thinks even that could spook someone who's watching her. If someone's watching her.