Chapter Twenty-Three

Allen

We leave the cabin at around three-thirty on Wednesday morning, and I chuckle at the scowl on her face.

“I made you some coffee for the road,” I offer as a means of apology for setting the meeting time at eight o’clock when our destination is a four-hour drive away.

Brielle grumbles but takes the travel mug and gives me a kiss on the cheek before she wheels her suitcase out to the back of the Caravan. I load it for her as she moves around to climb into the front passenger seat, yawning loudly in the pitch black.

“What about the rest of the food?” she asks me once I join her in the minivan.

“I moved what I could to the freezer, and what I thought we’d eat on the drive is in a cooler behind my seat,” I tell her with an impish grin as I buckle my seat belt.

“I was completely wrong about us, Allen. We cannot be together. You are way, way too chipper this early in the morning,” Brielle pouts.

She looks adorable, all sleepy and grumpy, and I laugh, lean over, and kiss her.

“Just wait until you realize that I can survive a long time on a ten-minute power nap,” I tell her as I turn the ignition key.

“You’re one of those? Ugh. Anything less than a two-hour nap just makes me angry,” she proclaims with a frown.

I just smile and shake my head. “Drink your coffee, baby.”

Brielle

As the coffee Allen so thoughtfully provided begins to kick in, my mind clears of its cobwebs, and within the first hour of being on the road the caffeine propels me into a better mood.

Not that I want to always be up before the crack of dawn, I note sarcastically to myself. This will not become a regular thing. No way.

But with my brain beginning to function properly, I realize that in all my ranting yesterday I did not do one vitally important thing – think through exactly what kind of trap is necessary to lure in whoever is stalking me.

“Allen, do you have any ideas of how we’re going to do this?” I ask. “Because I’ll be honest, I am just now realizing I did not think that part through.”

“I know. That is why we are meeting with my entire team, not just Pete and Marlon,” he tells me. “Some of my guys have Special Ops training, and I think it would be good to get their input.”

“Special Ops? Good to know. I bet they can come up with all sorts of cool things,” I exclaim.

“They have to get… creative on occasion, yes,” Allen confirms. “On and off the battlefield. Take the clunker here, for example.”

“What about it?”

“This is no ordinary Caravan, Brielle. One of my guys, Braeden, is a hell of a mechanic, among other things, and he modified this thing nine ways to Sunday. Hellcat Hemi engine, bulletproof glass, armor plating in the doors, you name it.”

“Shut the front door. This thing? Really?”

“Yep,” Allen says proudly. “But she still looks like a normal minivan, honestly, and that is by design. Excellent vehicle to use when you need to blend in and still be very much protected.”

“Huh,” I mutter. “I would have never known if you hadn’t told me. The engine’s not even that noisy for a Hellcat thingy.”

“Thingy?” Allen arches an eyebrow at me and shoots me a playful smirk.

“Cut me some slack, I’m still not fully awake yet. But you know what I mean. If it has a bigger engine, shouldn’t it be a lot louder? This thing is pretty quiet.”

“Depends on the pipes.”

“Pipes?” I repeat, confused.

“The exhaust system,” he elaborates. “A lot of those really loud vehicles you come across sound that way because of the size of the muffler and exhaust system, not the engine.”

“Huh,” I say again, intrigued. “Learn something new every day, I guess. So, back to the original topic. Today is Wednesday, June the twenty-seventh, right?”

“Yes. Why?”

My eyes go wide as it dawns on me.

“I cannot believe I didn’t realize it before!” I blurt out.

“Allen, I think I know what that countdown on my computer was all about.”

He looks over at me. “What?”

“The Realtors’ Association banquet is happening on Saturday night at seven-thirty.”

“I take it you planned on attending?”

“Yes, just like I do every year. With everything going on I completely forgot about it until just now. And I’ve had some issues syncing my calendar to my new phone, so it didn’t show up when you asked me about my schedule for this week. You think whoever is after me is planning to attack me at the banquet?”

He does not answer me right away, and I can tell as I glance at him that he is lining out a plan in his head.

“Yes, I do,” he says solemnly. “But that gives us an excellent starting point to focus on. Is it held at the same venue every year?”

“Usually, yes. But this year it’s happening in one of the ballrooms of that new resort on Lake Grapevine.”

“There’s a notepad and pen in the glovebox,” Allen tells me. “Get them out and take some notes for me. It will help us get the team up to speed faster during the meeting.”

Allen

“About how many people will be there?” I ask.

“In past years, they usually had round tables that seated nine people, and there were twenty tables, at least. But I’ve never been to the new place, Allen, so I’m not sure about the room size there.”

I run some quick calculations in my head.

A hundred and eighty guests, minimum, plus figure anywhere from twenty to forty waitstaff and other hotel personnel. Conservatively, we are talking about trying to spring a trap surrounded by over two hundred and ten people without incurring any collateral damage.

Not to mention it probably has some sort of view of the lake, which means we need to assess the possibility of threats coming from the water….

Great.

“How do you feel about doing some reconnaissance with me after we talk to the team?”

“Sure. Where?”

“I want to get a first-hand look at the location. Maybe we can pretend to be engaged and tell them we’re checking out reception venues.”

Brielle bats her eyes at me. “Darling, I expected a proper proposal, at the very least.”

I know she is teasing me, but the mere thought simultaneously makes my heart soar and my stomach tight.

Whoa there, buddy…

***

By the time the Dallas skyline appears in the distance, Brielle and I have lined out a solid base plan to share with my team, and I can tell by the excitement in her voice that she feels confident about catching her mystery stalkers.

While I don’t want to curb her enthusiasm, my optimism is much more guarded, because I know all too well how things can go very wrong in a split second – particularly when the environment involves a large crowd.

I take the interstate exit that we need, and we pull into a parallel parking space in front of my office building at ten minutes to eight.

The group has already assembled, and Brielle smiles and nods when we walk into the conference room and I begin to introduce her to the team members that she has not already met – Braeden, my mechanic extraordinaire, Jack, Sam, and Hope.

When Sam stands up and comes over to shake her hand, I almost laugh at her response.

“Pleased to meet you. And please don’t take this the wrong way, Sam, but I believe you just might be the tallest person I have ever seen.”

The grin he gives her lights up his face. “No worries, I get that a lot.”