Page 109 of Playing With Love

My heart started pounding harder.

“Where?”

“The coffee shop.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” I declared. “You’re dropping me off at the DG then you’re driving away. You’re gonna keep that gun in your lap and you’re gonna use it if you have to.”

“Okay.”

“Dylan, you have Ally’s number. Track her and check in.”

“Liza—”

“We don’t have time for another argument,” I spat. “This is what’s happening.”

“I’m not gonna argue with you,” Dylan placated. “I’m going to remind you there are no cameras on sight. We don’t have a visual. I’m also not going to talk you out of this. You’re right, Tucker wouldn’t make you wait. I see returning that and I respect it. But I want you to promise, if you cannot get eyes inside or it’s not safe, you do not enter, and wait for Greg. He’s thirty minutes out. Our team is forty-five. You have backup coming. Play this smart. We don’t need them to have two hostages. And them using you against Tucker would be catastrophic.”

Shit. I hadn’t thought of that. Tucker would lose his mind if they had me to torture in front of him.

Something to think about but not a deterrent.

“There’s a basement!” Nick shouted in the background.

“Hold on, Liza, Nick has the blueprints that were submitted for the remodel.”

“Have you ever been in the back of the coffee shop?” I asked Ally.

“No. Colleen has, but I’ve never been back there.”

A few moments passed before I lost patience.

“I’m almost there.”

“Alright, there’s a back exit,” Nick supplied. “No windows in the back, so they’ll be in the kitchen or in the basement. The door to get to the basement is going to be to your right when you enter the kitchen. There’s a freezer, a storage room, then the basement door.”

“Third door on the right. Got it. Anything else?”

Nick hesitated briefly before he returned, “You could be walking into a trap.”

I could be but I’d take my chances.

“You’ve got two blind spots.” Lenox reentered the conversation. “The kitchen and the basement. I’m more concerned with the basement. You’ve got a fatal funnel and no element of surprise. Once you start down the stairs, you’re gonna have to be quick. You won’t have time to clear and assess.”

Lenox had turned back into his role as commanding officer. If my heart wasn’t in my throat and all sorts of horrible scenarios weren’t coasting through my head, I would’ve had a smartass retort. But I was too busy shoving my fear aside to come up with something.

“Where’s your head?” he asked me, like he could read my thoughts over the phone.

“On getting Tucker out alive and in one piece.”

“Liza—”

“Give me this,” I interrupted. “Don’t call me on my lie. Let me have this so I can get to Tucker.”

Fear up.

Focus and accomplish my mission.