“No one plots a murder out loud,”Acedeadpanned to me.
“You plotting theirs or mine?”Iasked.
“Both,” she responded with an evil grin.
Vince snorted andSaracoughed—likely to cover a small laugh—before she spoke again. “Alright, kiddos.Getsome rest tonight.I’mgoing home to make some calls.I’llarrange to have all of us on a flight toVegastomorrow afternoon.Makeany arrangements you need to here, andIwill take care of the rest.”
Ace started to interrupt her, butSaracut her off. “Don’tworry about your job.You’vehad a death in the family—some great-aunt something-or-other—whichIalready drew up paperwork for.Thiswill give you immediate bereavement untilIcan come up with something else to buy you some more time.”
“I’ll informJackandWadetomorrow morning so we can take care of everything on our end,”Vincesaid before turning toSara. “I’massuming you beingAnna’shandler is confidential?”
“Yes.Thatinformation does not leave this room,” she confirmed. “Asfar as your friends are concerned, you can tell them about the general reason we’re going toVegas, but nothing else.YouandIare simply going with them to be witnesses for the nuptials.”
Vince nodded his head in silent acknowledgement.
“Get some rest,”Sarasaid. “I’llcall you in the morning with your flight details…and a reservation for a wedding chapel.
17
ARCHER
We sat on the runway in the small private jetSarahad arranged for us.Theflight attendant who welcomed us aboard greeted us asMr. andMrs.Young—aliasesIassumedSarahad given them so that no flight logs showed our real names.Wehad also purchased two one-way bus tickets fromAtlantatoLasVegasunder our real names, so that if anyone from thePaganoFamilywas checking, they would see that purchase.Theflight would get us toVegassafely and also quickly, so that we could get a few small things taken care of before we wereexpectedto arrive.
AfterSaraandVincehad left last night,AceandIhad been alone in an awkward silence.I’dwanted to ask her about how all of this informant business came about, but the look on her face clearly showed she didn't want to talk about it.
Axel,Vince, andSarawere also on our flight.Axel, becauseIneeded someoneIcould trust to handle hacking, digging up intel, and assisting with the technology side of things while we were inVegas.Vincebecause he wouldn’t take no for an answer when it came to assisting the mission.Sarawas here because there would be moments whenAceandIwould need to be separated, andIwas not about to leave her alone or unprotected.
Sara, while mostly on the managing and operations side of theFBIas a handler, was a fully trained agent and knew how to handle her shit and protectAce.Plus, if thePaganoFamilyhad been following her for any length of time now, they would have seen the two of them together and would have assumed they were just friends.
When we boarded,Acesat by the window, likely hopingSarawould sit next to her, butIquickly sat down beside her, foiling that plan.Instead,Sarasat in front of us, focusing on her phone—likely making sure all her ducks were in a row for when we arrived.
“There are literally half a dozen other seats to choose from,”Acesaid, looking at me.
“I’m aware,”Itold her. “I’msitting exactly whereIwant to.”
She stared at me, silently questioning whyIcouldn’t sit somewhere else.
“We’re going to be married again soon.Ifigured we could practice doing things that other couples do—like sitting next to each other on a plane,”Iinformed her, giving her a big grin in the process. “Probablybest to keep up appearances.”
She rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything.Isettled in, and she turned to gaze out of the window, likely in an attempt to ignore me.Ilet it slide becauseIwanted to go over a few more details in my head before we arrived.
First on the agenda was checking in to our hotel.Wehad two rooms—one was the decoy, registered underArcherandAnnaPapadopoulos, and would be set up with several hidden cameras to catch if anyone broke in.Thesecond room was our real room—registered underPercyMcLovin—a joke thatSarathought was hilarious.
My old captain of the police department as well as one ofSara’ssupervisors would be meeting us at our hotel to get any new information, as well as get updates on our plan.
After that,AceandIwere headed to the chapel.Despitebeing divorced for nearly five years, thePaganoFamilywas under the impression we were still together—hence the hit out on both of us.Sowe decided to play into that byrenewingour vows.Vince, as my cousin, would be my best man, andSarawould beAce’smaid of honor.
The hope was that word would spread to thePaganoFamilyand they would make a move on what they believed was their territory, while the feds waited for the right moment to catch them in the act.
The plane began to speed down the runway, and we took off.Wewere merely a hundred feet in the air whenInoticedAcegripping the armrest as though her life depended on it.Hereyes were closed, butInoticed she was starting to breathe quickly.
“You all right?”Iasked her.
“Not really, no.”
“You nervous about the plan?”
She sighed and squeezed her eyes even tighter as though in pain. “I’mnot a good flier.Normally,Ihave to take a gummy or some good anxiety pills to make me a better flier, butSaraadvised against it, given the fact that we will need to be on alert the moment we touch down.”
