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Tai pulled a face. “Never gonna happen.”
Jane pictured Pete lounging on a beach somewhere, not a care in the world. Her hands curled into fists.
Bridger reached over and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze.
Jane gave him a small, grateful smile. With him and his team on her side, she believed it just might be possible.
“So what’s our next move?” Kate asked, her voice crisp and businesslike.
Bridger looked determined. “Whatever we do, we’ve got to make sure the feds don’t get to the money first. Or to Pete.”
“Easiest thing to do would be to find that scum, Pete. Sorry, Jane,” Mason added quickly.
She waved off his apology. Scum was a nice word for her ex. “How do we do that? He’s got enough cash to lay low for months. I should know. I gave it to him.” She tried not to think about how stupid it had been to hand the man her savings.
Bridger’s expression darkened. “We’ve got to assume the feds knew about the stolen funds. Why didn’t they lock Pete away months ago? Keep him on ice until he testified?”
Mason groaned. “Because they’re not really interested in taking down Sanderson or Sunshine. They want the cash.”
Fenn let out a low whistle. “That makes sense. Unfortunately.”
Jane’s mind raced. She turned to Bridger. “What do we do?”
Bridger’s jaw was granite. “We be smart. And very, very careful.” His eyes blazed. “But we don’t back down. Pete’s still the key. We grab him and we have something to bargain with.”
Tai nodded thoughtfully. “None of these dudes are going to give up a payday like this easily.”
Jane’s resolve wavered. They’d be fending off attacks from both sides.
“Alright team, here’s the plan,” Bridger said, his voice crisp and authoritative. “We need to locate Pete and the money before the agents get wind we’re onto them.”
He addressed Paige. “Dig deeper into Pete’s background. Any properties, aliases, connections. Anything we can use to track him. If his mother’s sister’s neighbor has a sliver of property somewhere, we need to know about it.”
The hacker shook her head. “No need.”
Bridger opened his mouth to respond, but Paige interrupted him.
“Honeypot,” she explained cryptically.
Bridger grinned. “Oh, yeah. That’s way better.”
So did Tai. “Mmmmm. Hmmmm. Why chase the jerk down when we can lure him in?”
“What are you all talking about?” Jane finally asked.
“Pete wants to pull the ten mil out of your account,” Bridger explained. “So we let him think it’s safe to take it. How long you gonna need?” he asked Paige.
The pretty blonde scrunched up her nose, thinking. “Give me until morning. I want to be certain we’re ready to close the jar once he sticks his hand in.”
Bridger crossed his arms, wincing as he jostled his wound. “Copy that. Mission Honeypot is a go.”
Fenn pounded a fist into his other palm. “Let’s do this.”
Jane waved a hand in the air. “‘Scuze me? Do what, exactly?”
Mason responded first. “I feel you. I don’t speak geek, either. What they mean is we’re going to make Scum-boy think the feds have arrested you. Am I right, guys?”
“Exactamundo.” Tai jumped in. “He’ll realize he has to transfer the millions out of your account before the rogues impound it in the name of the Bureau.”
