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“Not even after the camps were compromised?” Judge persisted.
Thinking back, PJ couldn’t remember Augustus ever blowing up. “He’s always maintained a calm, unflappable appearance. Even when his subordinates were flipping their shit over raids on the compounds.”
Judge’s frown lifted, and a smile pulled at his lips. “Tiberius must have meant more to him than just a second in command. Maybe he was a friend or a relative. Someone he cared about. Now, he wants revenge for the death of Tiberius.” He grinned. “Let’s give it to him.”
PJ shook her head. “I don’t know where you’re going with this.”
“Neither do I,” Drake added. “And I’m almost positive I won’t like it when you explain.”
“No, you won’t like it,” Judge said. “But I think it might be the one thing that’ll bring Augustus out in the open.”
“What will bring him out in the open?” PJ asked.
Judge spread his arms wide. “Me.”
“You want me to deliver your dead body to him?” PJ stared at him. Had he lost his mind?
“Not my dead body,” Judge said. “Deliver me alive and well for him to exact his personal revenge.”
As the magnitude of Judge’s suggestion hit her, PJ’s stomach flipped, and her heartbeat sped. “No.” She held up her hands and backed away. “No. I won’t let you sacrifice yourself just to get that bastard out into the open. He’ll be surrounded by his bodyguards. I won’t be able to get to him in time to save you.”
Drake’s lips twisted. “I knew I wasn’t going to like it. You want to offer yourself up to this lunatic?”
Judge nodded. “That’s where you and our team of renovators will come in handy. We choose the place, get into position and wait for him to arrive. I won’t step out until Augustus moves out into the open. You and the team get a bead on him, take him down, and we will have exterminated the vermin that has plagued this area for far too long.”
“Do you know how dangerous this will be?” Drake’s head didn’t stop shaking.
“It’s suicide,” PJ said softly.
Judge took her hands in his. “The people he’s abducted never had a choice. They deserve their freedom. He has to be taken down, or more people will suffer the same fate. More families will lose loved ones to his twisted organization. And if he has big plans to take over the government, whether state or national, he must be stopped now before even more people are hurt.”
“Is it that you don’t want Augustus to die?” Drake asked PJ.
She almost laughed. “The only reason I haven’t left TCW is because of him.”
Judge frowned.
“I’ve stayed in the hope of finding a way to bring him down,” she turned to Judge, “for all the reasons you just stated. I never want anyone to live as I have, afraid for my family and friends. Forced to do things I would never have done to keep TCW from hurting the people I love. He’s just never been around or out in the open, away from his bodyguards, long enough for me to get to him.”
“And now, you have the chance,” Judge said softly. “I’ll be the bait, but it won’t be up to just you to take him down. We’ll have enough people on him that he won’t get away.”
Having been alone for so long in a camp full of people who’d either bought into the propaganda or were faking it to stay alive, PJ didn’t know how to react to people who wanted to help. And she didn’t want to lose Judge. It might happen anyway if TCW wasn’t shut down. But not like this. Not offering him to the devil himself.
He squeezed her hands. “I’m going to do it one way or another. In fact, it might be better if you aren’t involved.”
She shook her head. “You’re not leaving me out of this.”
“I don’t want you to get caught in the crossfire,” Judge said.
“I don’t want you to be the target,” she countered. “If we do this, we do it together.”
His lips pressed together. He didn’t say anything for a long moment.
“We’ll do this together,” PJ insisted. “On one condition.”
Judge’s lips twitched. “Anything.”
“If everything works out, and neither of us ends up dead…” She shot a glance toward Drake and then leaned close and whispered into Judge’s ear in a tone only he could hear. “I want one night with you. One whole night where we wake up the next morning in the same bed. Not in a bunk. Not in a barracks, but a real bed.”
