Page 31 of Dangerous Silence

There were eight of us, plus Demi. As we regrouped in the shadows of the community center, I looked at each of them, trying to decipher the strengths we had. Wil and Derek were too recognizable to bring Cannon out, but I stopped over Ellie, Wil’s newly-wed wife. Her light brown hair was still styled from the wedding, but like the rest of us, she had changed into a more practical outfit.

“Ellie,” I nodded to her. “Pretend to be a whore. Lure him out.”

“What?” Wil squinted his eyes at me. “You want my woman to dowhatnow?”

“If we want to do this the most efficient way possible, that’s our best option,” I said. “Ellie can pretend to be a sex worker, ask him to take her outbeforethey do anything, then we attack. If we try going against him as is, it will be deadly.”

“It’s eight against one,” Wil said. “I’m sure we can handle it without letting that bastard touch my wife.” He leaned in closer. “Mywife,Axe.”

I didn’t understand his need to always remind me that she was his. No one was arguing about that.

“Besides, he’ll know it’s me,” Ellie said. She had a fair point. She had been forced to work in one of Muro’s side projects before meeting Wil.

“I doubt it,” I said. “Every man who worked at the Skyline Shift is dead.”

Derek turned to Wil. “It’s not like he’s actually going to get anywhere. She just needs to show a little cleavage.”

I turned to Demi. “Your skirt is in the car?”

“It was a dress, but yeah.”

“Go get it.”

When Demi returned, I took my pocket knife to the dress’s hem, making it short enough in the back to show off her ass. Wil fumed the whole time, his jaw clenched.

“It’s not going to go anywhere,” Ellie reassured him. “I’ll stab him if he tries anything.”

“And then I’ll gouge his eyes out.”

By the time Ellie changed, she looked the part. Demi shook her head.

“But that was such a nice dress,” Demi said.

“I’ll get you another,” I said. Demi raised a brow at me, but I turned back to the group. “Your line is that you want him to take you to a restaurant. One where you need his help to get you a reservation.”

“Will that actually work?” Ellie asked.

“Do things to draw attention to your tits, and he won’t notice,” Derek said.

“Why don’t you send her?” Wil asked, pointing at Demi. “She’s younger. Looks more the part.”

“The hell is that supposed to mean?” Demi asked.

“Your hair.”

“Demi is not going anywhere,” I said in a low voice.

“Why not? All we need is a decoy. What do you care about her? She’s—”

“She’snotgoing anywhere,” I repeated. Demi was not from this world, like Ellie was. Wil stared at me. Even in the dark, his face red. “Ellie has training. Demi doesn’t.”

“I used to take kickboxing lessons,” Demi said.

That wasn’t training like Ellie had. I turned back to Ellie.

“Do you want to go?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “It’s to bring him out, right?”