As I enter the room, I have everyone’s attention.
“Is it really her?” Massimo asks straightening up.
“It’s her,” I confirm with a sure nod.
“How can you be certain?” Dominic asks.
“I saw her with Dmitri Oleksiak,” I answer and that’s confirmation enough. They know Dmitri too.
“Jesus…”
“Yeah,” I say, agreeing we might need to call on the lord’s help. But since he wouldn’t condone the plans we have up our sleeves we’re kind of in the shitter.
“Okay. Now that we know it’s her, we need to plan on when to strike,” Massimo states.
At the mention of striking Candace’s gaze drops back down to the stack of papers in her hands. Like all the shit we get up to, she doesn’t agree with what we’re planning to do. But she won’t voice her opinions one way or the other. Not when she also knows this is the only way to get the man responsible for so many deaths.
We know enough now and all that’s left is a window of time for me to take her.
“Brother, I don’t mean to overstep,” Dominic says. “But if she has the likes of Dmitri watching over her we need to think of how we’re going to pull this off.”
“I’ll keep watching,” I cut in. “I’ll keep looking for a way. I just have to find one. A window. When I find it, we just have to be ready to act.”
The plan is to take her to the island.
My island. No one will be able to find her if she’s there. I’m supposed to take her there to hide her while Massimo arranges the heist to take down Mortimer. That’s of course providing we’re told his location. That’s the plan.
“All right, you keep watching her and we’ll be ready to act,” Massimo says. “Dominic, anything you can conjure to make this go a bit faster?”
“Yeah,” Dominic replies. “I got access to her number from the clinic, so I can set up a tracker. I’ll try to make some kind of device so you and Tristan can listen in. I can’t promise anything though. It might not work.”
“Do your best bro. Right now, it’s like watching a film on silent.” It’s exactly like that, and now I know it’s her it’s gonna piss me off to no end if I can’t do anything but watch and wait. “If I can hear what’s happening around her then that will definitely make everything go smoother, quicker too.”
I lean against the wall as he nods.
“I’ll see what I can rig up. You’ll have to get close to her though and attach it to something she carries with her. I can’t think of anything else I can make that doesn’t require you to do that.” Dominic inclines his head to the side and cracks his knuckles.
“Then I’m gonna have to find a way to get near her.” She always has her bag with her. It’s a small pink suede saddle bag. Over the last few days, I haven’t seen her without it. If I am going to go for any of her belongings it has to be that.
“That should work. I’ll get on it tonight. I’ll definitely have the tracker ready by nightfall though.”
Sometimes I don’t know what we’d do without him. Fuck knows what would have happened, and God knows we’ve managed to achieve the impossible with him. Like now. All of this is him.
“Thank you,” I tell him, and he nods his appreciation.
“Good. Looks like we have a plan in motion,” Massimo says. “I’ll have the men ready for back up when you’re ready to take her. It would be best to take her without a struggle.”
“Massimo, my choices are to knock her out with a tranq or hold a gun to her head.” I have to be blunt because neither of those means are going to be without a struggle. If I do either she’s going to put up a fight. I would however prefer not to use my gun, but I will if I have to.
“Your pick,” he answers glancing cautiously at Candace as she closes her eyes for a few seconds, a tell she’s not really coping well with this conversation.
It’s understandable, more so given her fears from what happened to her in the past.
Shit. Maybe we should have left her back in LA with Emelia. She returns to arranging the paperwork, but her hands are shaking.
“Babe,” Dominic says to her noticing her reaction too.
It’s only when he moves off his chair and crouches down in front of her that she looks at him. That flush in her cheeks that only appears for him rushes over her neck and she widens her eyes at the surprise of having his attention.