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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Noel

Nick and I had to give our brothers the simplest of tasks. Ask them to track someone and bring them to an undisclosed location without being seen, and they were on top of it. Ask them to rotate the cameras, and suddenly it was like they didn’t understand what words were.

JJ was great at coding, but we didn’t need any of that. He did pick up on things quicker than most, so we had him input keywords that would draw alerts across the Internet. Mason wasn’t hopeless either, so he was rotating cameras and watching the property and the shop.

Angel, Gabe, and Shep—well, they were unteachable. We’d told Shep to keep us watered and fed, a task he’d been relieved to be given, and he had muttered something about being allergic to technology.

That left Gabe and Angel. Four was unfamiliar with computers because he was raised to be a super assassin, so he’d agreed to go to our armory in the basement and make sure everything down there was ready to go if we had to leave quickly.

“I can go help him,” Gabe offered.

“We don’t need two people for that.” I rolled my eyes. “You and Angel are on standby if anyone needs to go to the shop or run an errand. I don’t have jobs for you because you don’t know what a pound sign is.”

“I do,” Angel growled. “Don’t lump me in with him.” He hooked his thumb in Gabe’s direction.

Gabe huffed. “See if I save any of your lives ever again.”

“Angel, the other day you asked me if there was a remote for the computer.” I lifted my brows.

“I think that’s a great question.” He shrugged.

“I can’t work with that.” I spun around and started typing.

“So Gabe and I just sit here and wait for orders?”

I waved my hand at him. “Ask Shep if he needs help. Shoo.”

“I’m gonna suffocate him in his sleep,” Gabe muttered as he and Angel retreated to the kitchen.

“What can I do?”

I looked to my left where Phoenix was sitting in a desk chair, amusement on his face.

“Do you know anything about computers?”

He lifted one shoulder. “Probably average, but tell me what you need, and maybe I’ll know how to do it.”

I searched the room briefly. “Where’s Hazel?”

“Doing laundry.”

I nodded. “Okay, so the café Jaron and his cronies were at is called Sogni di Caffeina, some ritzy coffee shop. Never been—but then again, I’d never pay ten bucks for a small coffee anywhere.”

“I’ve never even heard of it.”

“Right. So I’m going through their employee files. Going to try the workers first, then management. If I can get photos on them, do you think you could take a look?”

“I can, but I only saw his eyes and the color of his hair.”

“So maybe I just blow up the eyes, and you can see if they are familiar.”

“Sure.”

“I have an idea.” JJ spun in his chair. “What if Gabe and Angel go to the café with a recorder and talk to the baristas. Phoenix can listen and see if any of the employees match with psycho killer man.”

It wasn’t a bad idea, but there was a problem. “Except he dropped Brady’s body at Saintly Sweets, which means he likely knows what each of us looks like. He’d use that to his advantage.”

“I mean, yeah, probably.” JJ bit his lip. “But maybe not all of us. Matt hardly ever goes there—he works a lot.”

“No.” Nick jumped up from his seat. “I’m not sending Matt in there alone, or at all, JJ. He had a stalker; that could be triggering.”

JJ glared at Nick. “First of all, I didn’t forget that. Second, I never said alone; and third, it’s not your decision.”

Nick crossed his arms over his chest. “And how would you feel if I said to you, ‘I think Shep should go walking in the woods where Phoenix was found and see if he could find more sheds’?”

JJ’s brow dipped. “I don’t know how that would be productive, but it wouldn’t be my call, and he’d be paired up with someone.”

Nick pressed his lips together, and he released a low hum. He wasn’t happy—that was for sure. “You’d hate it, and you know it.”

“I would.”

“And I hate this.”

JJ rubbed his temples. “My hating it wouldn’t mean he wouldn’t do it, because it’s for a good reason. But this is a great idea, and it could really help us figure out if any of the employees are the guy.”

“If you think he knows all the brothers, who are we going to send with Matt?” Phoenix asked.

Nick motioned to Phoenix. “Excellent question.”

“Well, I mean, Nick can go and wait in the car outside.”

I chuckled. “Nick isn’t going to agree to Matt going in there alone as he sits outside, unable to see him.”

“He could wear a camera and a wire.” JJ smiled triumphantly.

“And if this psycho thinks he’s caught and lashes out at Matt, hurting or killing him on the spot before running out the back where I won’t be?” Nick’s brows jumped to his hairline and his lips twisted.

“That’s oddly specific, Nick.” JJ’s eyes widened and he mouthed, Wow to me and Phoenix. “I don’t think crazy murder man would do that. He’s not dumb; he wouldn’t risk getting caught.”

“Ha!” Nick shook his head. “He’s insane, JJ. You can’t get into his head any more than any of us can. We don’t risk someone to save another. Your plan is dangerous.”

“Actually.” Mason held up his hand. “I got an idea.”

Nick groaned. “If it’s anything like JJ’s, I’m sequestering you to the kitchen as well.”

“No, but it’s a risk.”

Nick motioned with his hand for JJ to get on with it.

“Gabe and Angel go as originally suggested.”

No one said anything for a beat; then JJ spoke. “And?”

Mason sighed. “If he knows any of us, seeing Gabe and Angel enter the place where he works could invoke a visceral response. He likely wouldn’t expect the brazen attempt.”

“Huh…” I glanced at Nick, JJ, Phoenix, and Four. They were all clearly impressed. “That may work.”

JJ stood. “Let me get the guys.” He rushed off to the kitchen and a few seconds later, all three of them came into the living room.

“Got an errand?” Angel leaned against the doorway, a bored expression on his face.

“We got an amazing errand.” JJ was practically bouncing. “Mason, tell them, tell them!”

Mason chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Okay, but remember, you don’t have to do this.”

The three of them stared, waiting for Mason to get on with it. Once he was done, the same reaction JJ, Nick, Four, Phoenix, and I’d had adorned their faces.

“I love it.” Gabe smiled.

“Sounds brilliant.” Angel nodded in agreement.

“What about me?” Shep asked.

“We still need to eat.” Four smirked.

“Fuck you.” Shep turned and went back into the kitchen.

Gabe clapped his hands together. “When do we do this?”

“We need to get you both wired with cameras and microphones. Then, yeah, you can go this afternoon.” I’d have to go to the tech room to get the equipment.

“Wait,” Phoenix said. “A couple of things. What if you go and he isn’t working or you don’t see him?”

“We’ll go every day until we’re sure we’ve seen them all. It’s possible he won’t react to us at all, and we won’t know if we’ve found him without you, Phoenix,” Angel answered.

“That’s why you’ll be watching and listening in. If you hear him, you simply have to speak into this, and Angel and Gabe will hear you.” I pointed to the microphone that was attached to one of my computers.

“Okay, and what if he does run?”

“Then we run after him.” Gabe took a few steps closer to Phoenix. “We won’t let him get away, Phoenix.”

He nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.”