“No, but the vein on his forehead looked like it might explode. Mansplainers hate being called out for their bad behavior, especially when it’s done by one of us lowly women folk. He stomped off in a huff after saying he’s forgotten more about cyber security than I’ll ever know.”
Ty laughed. “Damn, we missed all the fun.”
“It wasn’t fun,” Larissa insisted. “If anything, it was disappointing. That sexist pig has potential, but he’ll never reach it with that attitude.”
“How are the other two trainees doing?” Austin asked.
“Pretty good.” Her face brightened at the change of subject. “I think they’ll do even better now that the toxicity has been flushed from the building. At the rate they’re going, they’ll finish the background checks that Opticore requested by the end of the week.”
Austin’s dark eyebrows drew down. “What’s going on with Opticore?”
“Nothing for you to worry about; they’re acquiring Fisk Pharmaceuticals,” Nate answered for Larissa. As the head of the sales and marketing department, it was his job to know what was going on with all of the accounts, and to make sure that they were happy. “They asked for background checks on all current employees of Fisk. My guess is they’ll use the results to weed out any potential problem children once the buyout is complete.”
“Is there any risk of losing the account?”
“Oh no, we’re good. We already handle both accounts, and they’re satisfied with our performance. When the dust settles, it’ll just be one big-ass account instead of two smaller ones.”
Apparently satisfied with the answer, Austin turned his attention to Ryan. “What’s the status of Vicky’s premiere?”
Ryan swallowed the last bite of his pizza and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I’ve been coordinating with the company that handles the studio’s security. Their plans for the premiere look pretty solid, so I don’t anticipate any issues there. Our team will be handling the after-party at the Grand Formosa. Barring any unforeseen issues, the biggest challenge should be keeping out uninvited guests and paparazzi.”
“Excuse me,” Essie said, her hand slightly raised. “What premiere are you referring to?”
“Ryan’s married to Vicky Hale, the actress,” Nina said. “She’s got a new movie coming out in a few weeks. It’s an indie project that was filmed locally, so the studio decided to hold the premiere in the area.”
Essie’s gaze sharpened. “And where is the Grand Formosa located?”
“Out by the attractions,” Ryan said. “Why?”
Jackson could practically hear the gears shifting in Essie’s head. He knew exactly where she was going with this. He also knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that an overprotective man like Austin Flint would absolutely hate what she had in mind.
Shoulders squared, chin tipped up, Essie projected confidence and competence. “Vaughn said the contract offered a bonus if Nina died in a public setting. A movie premiere doesn’t get more public than that.”
The whole room went silent. A few people even stopped chewing.
“You want to use my wife as bait?” Austin’s voice came out in a growl.
Undaunted, Essie met his gaze. “Yes, but not in the way you’re thinking. Hear me out before you say no.”
Essie’s parents deserved thecredit for her ability to read a room. She’d learned at an early age how to tell when her father was close to blowing a gasket, and when her mother was about to go from screaming to hitting. But all bets were off if either of them had been drinking, because you never knew what would flip the switch and turn happy drunk into angry drunk.
It didn’t take a great deal of intuition to sense the mood in this room was against her. Security professionals avoided risk whenever possible, and that tendency amplified when a loved one’s life was on the line. But playing it safe wasn’t going to erase the price on Nina’s head. It would only delay the inevitable—or force her to spend the rest of her life in gilded seclusion.
Essie took a moment to gather her thoughts, because she only had one chance to convince the Flints to buy into her idea. “Right now, we have no way of knowing where, when, or how Vaughn and Bazarov plan to strike. That puts us at a serious tactical disadvantage, and purely on defense. As I said before, there are only two ways to get that target off Nina’s back: fulfill the terms of the contract or convince the contract holder to rescind it. None of my informants have heard anything about this contract. Has your team had any luck?”
“You already know the answer to that question,” Austin bit out.
“It’s a needle in a haystack,” Larissa added.
Essie met Nina’s gaze. “She’s right. We may never uncover the identity of the person who wants you dead. Odds are the assassins don’t even know who hired them. To protect all parties involved, that kind of information is often buried beneath layers of middlemen, burner phones, temporary email addresses, and numbered accounts. That’s why I think we should go for what’s behind door number two.”
Nina frowned. “Door number two means I’m dead.”
“No, it means theythinkyou’re dead. Big difference. If we play our cards right, the bad guy is happy, the hitman might even get paid, and you live the rest of your life without a dark cloud hanging over your head.”
The only person who appeared on board with the idea was Jackson. And although she appreciated his faith in her abilities, she knew it was going to take a lot more effort to convince the rest of the room.
Arms crossed, Austin glared at her as if she were the kid who kept trying to jam a fork into a light socket. “And how the hell do you propose we accomplish that?”
