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When people show you who they are, believe them. I finally get it.
65
RAFAEL
“How do you want to handle this?” Zé asks after I tell him and Tamar the entire story, including how Valentina wants to get Marco to confess.
I sit back in my desk chair and stretch out my legs in front of me. I glance from Zé to Tamar. “I’m not sure.”
My hair stood on end as I recounted everything Lexie told me.
But something else happened too. Once I put aside my fear for their safety, it began to make some sense to me. Not the part about confronting Marco so he’d confess. That’s the stupidest idea I’ve heard in a long time. Maybe ever. But Lexie is right about one thing.
Valentina was the one wronged. We allowed Russo the opportunity for vengeance, and we would have shown any man the same respect. Why wouldn’t we extend it to a woman?
I can’t come up with a single answer that doesn’t prick my conscience.
I was too hard on Lexie too—and it’s eating at me.
She came to me, as I asked. Yeah, she waited, but so what? I would have waited to see if Valentina changed her mind too. But she’s insisting on something I’m not sure I can give.
It takes a bite out of my soul each day she’s at risk. Now she’s asking me to put Valentina at more risk—and herself too. I don’t have it in me to worry about both of them falling into the hands of those monsters or being killed. I don’t.
But somehow I have to figure it out. Otherwise, I’m going to lose her for good—if I haven’t already.
“Is there any way we can come up with a plan that allows Valentina her revenge without putting either her or Lexie at any more risk?” I choke out the words like a cat chokes out a hair ball.
“I was hoping you’d ask,” Tamar replies immediately. “I’ve been thinking about that while we’ve been sitting here.”
“Are you going to share?” Zé asks, annoyed.
I’m sure his initial reaction to involving Valentina is the same as mine.
“What if we fed Marco some disinformation to lure him out?”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. We know he’s monitoring her devices. What if we had Valentina and Lexie texting that they were going to slip their guards and go to the beach for the night—or something like that, but believable. They could go back and forth with the concocted story, reeling him in. We’d have to feed him a scenario he couldn’t resist. If he logs in to their conversation in real time, we can pinpoint his exact location and also see who he contacts. If we’re lucky, they’ll make a plan and share the details with us.”
I shudder to think of what the plan might be. “You’re not suggesting that they actually go away to bait him?”
“Of course not.”
“It could work,” Zé mutters.
Maybe. But I hate any plan that involves luck—especially when the stakes are so high. Although I suppose almost any operation we’ve conducted has involved some measure of luck.
“If Marco and Philippe aren’t the masterminds, they could lead us to the person who is,” Tamar continues, “but that means we’ll need a lot of resources—more than we have available—in order to scoop everyone up at the same time. That’s what we’d have to do. Otherwise, they’ll go underground.”
She’s right. If we do this, everyone needs to be swept up within seconds of one another. It’s the only way. I know people with a lot of resources. Whatever assets Antonio has are mine. And Will has more resources than we have combined. I have no doubt they’ll both assist, even if I have to kick them in the ass. Of course, I’ll have to provide details of what’s transpired. That ought to go over well.
“Are you sure we can make this work?” I ask my team.
“Obviously it needs fine-tuning, but all we’re looking to do is to catch him while he’s online and capture his location so we can monitor his communications,” Tamar replies. “This isn’t that complicated. It’s not like tracking terrorists in the desert mountains.”
Which I’m sure she’s also done. I glance at Zé, who nods. I’m beginning to believe we can pull it off, too, but I’m not convinced it’ll be easy. “We get one shot at this. What if the communication is encrypted?”
“That’s why we have her,” Zé quips, cocking his chin in Tamar’s direction.
