Page 54 of Tiger on the Prowl

26

After dinner the same day, Jay and Yankee readied their equipment to install surveillance outside the house of Evelyn Treadstone. They were busy disguising the van as one from DC Gas & Electric, so nobody seeing them would become suspicious.

“We’ve never gotten this close to identifying him,” Yankee said.

“I wish we could kill him right now.” But Jay knew that was impossible.

“Me too, especially because he tried to have Lilly killed. Twice! But he has to lead us to Jones first. But when it’s time to take him out, I’m calling dibs,” Yankee vowed.

“Knowing what I know about Ace so far, he’s gonna wanna take him out himself.”

“Yeah, well, he’ll have to get in line.”

Jay chuckled and put a large decal on the door of the white van. “I don’t care who kills him, as long as he’s dead.”

“So, you and Olivia,” Yankee said, changing the subject. “How’s that going?”

“It’s going well. She’s a very forgiving person. Not sure if a different woman would have forgiven me so quickly for bugging her place.”

“Doesn’t surprise me that she forgave you. I mean, the way she looks at you…” Yankee shook his head. “Lucky bastard.”

Jay grinned. He knew he’d struck gold with Olivia, even though she hadn’t yet spoken the three words he wanted to hear from her. But he could be patient.

“Looks like we’re ready,” Yankee said with a look at the van. “Now let’s get into some overalls so we’ll look the part.”

They walked back into the house, when Ace came toward them and waved them into the computer room. “Surveillance is off.”

“Why?” Jay asked, surprised as he and Yankee entered the room.

“We just intercepted a call between Evelyn Treadstone and Smith. Michelle confirmed that it was his voice. Smith and Timothy’s mother got into an argument, and she broke it off. She was pissed off that he made her leave her son’s wedding reception early, and blames him for getting into a fight with her son because of it. And then Smith didn’t even stay the night with her. She accused him of two-timing her. So, unless they reconcile, which I wouldn’t hold my breath for, we won’t be able to identify him by surveilling Evelyn Treadstone.”

“Fuck!” Jay cursed. “Now we’re back to square one.”

Olivia stood up from where she’d been sitting with her computer. “Maybe not.”

He watched her walk closer. “What do you mean?”

“Remember when you listened to me talking to my sister on the phone and thought I was planning to kill you?” she asked.

“Yeah, but what’s that got to do with Smith?”

Fox and Michelle also came closer to listen to what Olivia was suggesting.

“It gave me an idea. Smith bugged my place, which means he can listen in on me now. And he has no idea that we know that he’s recording everything that happens in my house. We can set a trap.”

Slowly, it dawned on Jay. He realized what Olivia was suggesting. “That’s too dangerous.”

“It’s not,” she protested. “He has no idea that we know that he somehow connected me to you. We can exploit that, and stage something for him. It’s easy. And then we control the where and when. We’ll be in the driver’s seat.”

Jay didn’t like the idea.

“She’s smart,” Ace said with a sideways look at Jay. “And it would definitely give us the advantage. It’ll be easy to keep an eye on Olivia.”

“What if something goes wrong?” Jay asked.

“It won’t.” Ace motioned to the other agents and their girlfriends. “We outnumber him. And with the right disguises, he won’t spot us, and we can tail him until he leads us to his car, his home, or his office. It’s our chance to identify him.”

Jay looked at Olivia and held her determined gaze. “Fine. We’ll do it. First thing tomorrow morning.”