Page 9 of Lone Star Target

“All right then,” Jericho said to Kit. “Daddy and big brother know about the sex hookups and believe that’s enough to get you to cave.” He tipped his head to the burner phone she was still holding. “Is there another text explaining how they planned on kidnapping Jace and you?”

Ruby was the one to answer that. “No. This was the only message on the phone so it’s possible there are other burners.” Now, she was the one who paused. “I’ve talked to my legal team and to Kit, and we don’t believe we have enough to get a search warrant for either her brother’s or father’s residences or offices.”

“Because there’s a chain of custody issue on this burner,” Jace said, filling in an explanation. “Trevor could say it isn’t his, that maybe he found it or it was planted on him. Since he doesn’t have any priors and probably has a judge or two in his pocket, the odds of getting a warrant are nil.”

Jace couldn’t even hope there was a slim possibility of getting such a court order. He’d seen Ramsey slip through the legal cracks way too often, and he was betting Trevor had done the same. Added to that, by now Ramsey would have destroyed anything that could be linked to Kit’s and his planned abductions.

“So, how do we play this?” Jace asked after he blew out a hard breath. “Do I make myself bait while Jericho or someone else is protecting Kit?”

“No to both,” Ruby stated, and her tone was that of the woman in charge. “For one thing, Jericho is going home. It’s his fiancée’s birthday, and I’m sure he has something planned.”

“The plans can be put on hold,” Jericho volunteered.

“I’m certain they could be, that your fiancée would understand, but it’s not necessary because Jace will be the one bodyguarding Kit. I’ve tapped Angel DeLuca to assist him.” Ruby looked at Jace, and she obviously knew that he wouldn’t have an objection to that.

And he didn’t.

Angel and he had been raised in foster care together, and they were like brothers. They also had had similar training with both of them first being in military special ops, then the police force before joining Ruby’s team. Angel had taken a diversion when he’d become a deep cover detective rather than working in homicide as Jace had done.

“Angel’s going to stay in the background,” Ruby went on, putting up something on the monitor. It was the camera feed from the front gate of the Maverick Ops’ headquarters, and there was Angel sitting behind the wheel of his black van. “He’ll follow the two of you first to Kit’s townhouse so she can pick up some things she needs and then to her office.”

Jace muttered some profanity. “So, Kit is bait?”

“I wanted to be,” Kit blurted. “I want to draw out the human snake who’s supposed to try to abduct us. Then, he can be arrested and maybe confess about the person who hired him.”

Jace moved closer to her so he could get right in her face. “You could be killed,” he said through clenched teeth.

“No.” She got in his face, too, and he saw a fresh spark of the fearless side of Kit. “If they’d wanted me dead, they would have already used something more surefire than a rattlesnake or poison.”

“Either could have left you dead,” Jace reminded her.

“But more likely, they were scare tactics. And judging from that text, they don’t want us dead. They want us alive and kidnapped, so I can be coerced into not testifying.”

“Killing you will stop you from testifying,” Jace snapped.

Kit didn’t back down. “You’re not going to let them kill me. Angel and you will stop it. I’ve spoken to him by the way,” she tacked onto that, and it put the pause button on the argument that he still hadn’t finished. “And Angel is ready and willing to help us put a quick end to this.”

Jace had no doubts about that readiness or the willingness. Angel had a soft spot for Kit. Ironic since the man didn’t have a lot of soft spots for, well, pretty much anything or anybody. But Angel hadn’t been a happy camper when Jace had walked away from the annulment and hadn’t fought to keep Kit as his wife.

“I know this plan isn’t ideal,” Ruby interjected, turning to Jace. “I have my own concerns and objections to it, but Kit wants things to proceed this way, and I believe we can make it work. If you want to back out though, just give me the word, and I’ll assign someone else.”

“Over my dead body,” Jace grumbled. Groaning, he scrubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t want to be replaced. I can do the job.”

He hoped.

But this might be akin to dick thinking. Because there was still plenty of fire between Kit and him. Both of the sexual variety and their turbulent past. However, he wasn’t handing Kit over to anyone else. She was right when she said that she trusted him with her life.

Because he would protect her at all cost.

“All right, then,” Ruby said. “Then, do the job.” She shifted her attention to Jericho. “And you go home and tell Rachel that I hope she has a wonderful birthday.”

Ruby turned to go to her desk, a clear signal that this conversation was over. And it was. But Jace knew the mission wasn’t.

Nor the danger.

“Hell,” Jace muttered as Jericho, Kit, and he walked out of the office together. “Have you ever been put on a bait mission like this before?”

“Yeah,” Jericho verified. “They’re not fun, especially when sex baggage is involved, but it’s doable.” He glanced over his shoulder at Kit. “You have a permit to carry that gun you’ve got concealed in your shoulder holster?”

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