“Three of you to bring a duffel?” he asked as he approached.
James handed him the bag. “We’re going with you.”
“No, you are not.”
“Try stopping us,” Max answered with a deceptively easy smile.
He felt Elle behind him.
“Hi, guys.” She greeted each of them with a big hug.
“The part about you waiting in the truck?” Jack grumbled to her.
“Not changing in the back of your truck. And I need to see what a real chocolate bar tastes like.” She smiled at him, her hand out. “Money, sweetie? Or does a kidnappee have to pay her own way too? I wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t for the fact that I don’t have a penny with me. Next time you kidnap me make sure I have my purse.”
Smart-ass.
Jack gave her a bill and watched as she sauntered away after taking the bag from him.
“Sweetie?” James asked, lifting his eyebrows.
Jack did his best to ignore him. “The more of us, the more conspicuous we are. If someone is watching, we’ll be spotted.”
“We know how to blend. This isn’t our first rodeo,” Cole said.
Jack looked at the three men in front of him. Blend? Yeah, right.
“Besides,” Cole continued, “if someone is watching, you’re better off with us around.”
“Face it; you need eyes on her. You need backup. We are it,” James stated. “Deal with it.”
“This is too dangerous, for Elle and for you. You don’t have to get involved.”
The Bowens were an easy connection to Elle. And they were too visible. Anyone digging into her life would find them right away.
“We are already involved. How long do you think it will be until Maldonado figures out he can get to her through us? How long until he’ll think of using Tate and Christy and Annie and the kids for leverage? We need her safe, and she’s family.”
“We are going, regardless,” Cole added. “You know it’s better if we are all on the same page than running in disconnected teams.”
True. They would be more effective as a single unit.
“Where are the women?” Jack asked.
“They are at Annie’s grandmother having a sleepover,” James explained. “Kyra and Alexa joined them, which means Mike and Wata are there. They are as safe as it gets. So what’s the plan?”
“From the security point of view, this event is a nightmare, so we get through it as fast as possible. In and out.”
James studied him, a smirk on his face. “I never thought I’d see the day when a woman would lead you by your cock.”
“She’s not leading me by my cock. We have a deal.”
“Since when do you need to make deals to get your way with women?”
Since the happiness of said woman mattered to him. But he kept his trap shut. James could read him well enough without all the explanations. “After this, she’s going into hiding until this shit is resolved.”
“You got her to agree to that?”
“We have a deal.”
“You going into hiding too?” James handed everyone earbuds. Those were among James’s latest toys.
Jack shook his head.
“Who’s going to make sure she stays put if you aren’t around?” Cole asked. “Because we don’t intimidate her in the slightest.”
No shit. “I reached out to Kai. He will contact his family.” Jack had thought about it long and hard. Because of their meeting at the fund-raiser, when Maldonado found out who Elle was he’d figure out that Alex Ayala didn’t exist. Jack needed to stash Elle with someone that couldn’t be traced back to him. So all his contacts were out. The Bowens and their resources too.
“Oh boy,” James muttered.
Cole turned to his brother, confused. “What?”
“You know the global holding company Shinoda? The one whose assets in the US were frozen for a while but the FBI couldn’t link it to the Yakuza? It’s run by his family. And it’s not linked to the Yakuza; it is the fucking Yakuza.”
“Oh boy,” Cole repeated James’s words.
Max grimaced. “She’ll lose all her fingers just in the first day.”
“If Kai agrees to go into hiding with her to keep her company, she might be more accommodating,” James offered, looking intently at Jack.
That was a possibility he couldn’t even consider without seeing red. But her security was at risk and Kai and his people were more than capable.
At that moment Elle came out dressed in a two-piece black costume, the jacket trimmed with yellow and red flames and a hood with two red horns on it. She had a red scarf around her neck.
“Ready. You changing?” she asked Jack, pulling on her sunglasses and then handing him some clothes. “We are running kind of late. We won’t make it to prep.”
“You bet we won’t.” It was madness enough that he was agreeing to this; the last thing they needed was to spend extra time prepping. Then he remembered her question. “Changing?”
“Yes. Into Jonah’s outfit. I suppose it will fit you. You want to shadow me; you’ll have to wear it. You have to blend.”