Page 58 of Wild Devil

“I know,” Frey says. Then she tilts her head, and I can see her brows furrow. She’s thinking hard about something. Damn. I’ve forgotten how beautiful she looks like this, bottom lip trapped between her teeth, gaze turned inward.

I can’t stop myself from asking, “What are you thinking?”

She sighs. “I’m thinking… What if he did know I was in the city?”

“I hate to be the one to say it, but if you’re expecting some sudden change of heart because you’re his daughter, that seems a little farfetched. Nothing he’s done up until now seems to faze him.”

“I know. That’s because he thinks he’s in control,” she says, pressing her lips together in a thoughtful line. “But I keep thinking about something Silas told me...”

“Oh?” My vision threatens to turn red at the thought of that bastard coming anywhere near her. Over my dead body. “I hope that doesn’t mean what it sounds like.”

She shrugs, her gaze wistful rather than fearful. “He said that it appeared my father was in control, as if he knew something that we didn’t. Then, with the fire and everything… I have to wonder if he isn’t gunning to stage an outside ploy all along. What better time to strike than right when my father thinks he has a win sewn up and the levers of power on a silver platter?”

“You think Silas might be aiming to disrupt the grand explosion? How? I know the bastard better than you do, and taking credit for the work of another is his M.O.”

“I’m not sure,” Frey says softly. “Maybe there’s more to it than my father realizes. Maybe the bombs are planted in a different location than where he thinks? I mean, why would Silas do his bidding perfectly? My guess is he wouldn’t. He has to have a backup plan.”

“I hate to break it to ya, but Damien and his boys scoped it out. The shit seems to be set in the concrete used by Higher Limit. Hard to prove even if Heywood didn’t own the cops, and it’s too soon to stop what’s in motion anyway. All we can do is try to keep anything from detonating.”

A task easier said than fucking done.

She’s silent for a long time, still thinking, and my dick twitches at the sight of her. She’s never been more beautiful than she is now, with her intelligence on full display. There’s something I missed, but she hasn’t.

“You aren’t convinced,” I say, inferring what her silence means. “Talk to me.”

“What if those aren’t the only locations of the bombs?” she says. “What if, there is more of the city under attack than my father realizes?”

I frown, thinking it over. The plan is already risky from a logistical standpoint. Explosions mean fire and fire is hard as hell for anyone to control. Especially if Heywood’s aim is to enact some twisted version of Marshall law that will allow him to take over the city.

Unless…

“City hall,” I say. “It was on the list, but there was no construction date. I thought it was just there to mark where Heywood would be, but…” Son of a bitch. Why didn’t I see it sooner? “What if Silas is planning to hit there?”

I wouldn’t put it past him, the son of a bitch. Hell, it’s just like him—lure his so-called partner into a false sense of security. Then strike like the sneaky bastard he is.

Frey’s eyes widen, her jaw tight. “That would be total chaos. It would be?—”

“Anarchy,” I finish for her. “Which is Silas’ fucking middle name. You might be right. The bastard could be planning to wipe out all the power in the city in one fell swoop. We have to find a way to evacuate the city or?—”

“Maybe we beat them at their own game,” Frey says softly. “We call their bluff.”

I glance at her so sharply that I nearly drive us both off the road. At the last minute, I right the wheel, thankful that the highway is mostly empty. “You’re not saying what I think you are? That we let the city explode with us and countless people in it?”

“No.” She looks at me with that confident gleam in her eye, and I instantly feel like an idiot for doubting her. “But what if we take advantage of the moment to expose the reality behind my father’s lies and Silas’ greed?”

“How? You want to use your reporter friend and try to get it in the paper or some shit? It’s a smart idea, but I don’t think we have the time.”

“Not in a newspaper,” she says, her voice soft. “We go directly to the news station and jam the broadcast. We expose everything that my father is planning in detail, in real time.”

“Yeah, but he’ll be broadcasting around the same time. Besides, there’s no way in hell anyone will believe it without proof.”

“We don’t need proof,” she insists. “We simply need to buy time and get my father and Silas to see each other’s true colors. Turn on each other. If we can stave off the detonation and seed doubt, they’ll do the rest. Silas himself even told me a salient piece of advice.” Her cold, hard smile reveals that she isn’t looking back on these words fondly. “Pride cometh before the fall. We let them both revel in their victory and then force them to watch it collapse before their very eyes.”

“Well, I’ll be damned,” I say, feeling my lips quirk into a smile. “Sounds like I’ve been rubbing off on you.”

“There’s one part of my plan I don’t think you’re going to like,” she adds before I can gloat too much. “For this to work, it can’t just be anyone on the broadcast. It needs to be me.”

And she saw the same fucking map I did.

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