Page 19 of Carler

“I hope you don't mind that I looked into the new girl, Fingers. She seems to be doing a good job and will start at the college in a month. Her name is Sarah.”

“That's a good name. I hope she goes by it now," Viv remarked.

“She will. That is what she listed for her job and the college.”

“Good. I hope Sarah does well.”

“I believe she will," Carler observed.

Back in the office, they both moved to their desks. Viv intended to get back to work on her list. Finding anyone who didn't belong here was very important. Getting rid of those sabotaging them would help them move forward and deal with Joe Senior. She was so into her work that she didn't even realize it was past the normal time to quit.

“The workday is over. Let me escort you to your room to prepare for supper. Would you let me take you to supper in about an hour?” Carler questioned.

“That sounds nice.” She hadn't even been paying attention to what she was saying, but she had agreed to have another meal with him.

Viv knew she was spending entirely too much time with him. She'd already agreed, so she would go. When they got to her room, he spun her around and leaned her against the wall as he gave her a passionate kiss that drove her crazy. This could not keep happening. When he released her, she could barely walk, but she managed somehow to get into her room and then collapsed on the bed. What did this mean?

She quickly showered, changed her clothing, and sat on the bed, waiting for him. It didn't seem like it had been a whole hour before there was a knock on the door. When she opened the door, Carler was there waiting for her.

“Come. Is there any food that you would like to try?”

“Everything that you have taken me to has been great," Viv replied.

“The food here is incredible. All the restaurants were handpicked, as were the employees at the restaurants. I am curious to know if any of the employees and the food establishments are on your list?”

“I've not even gotten into the employees at the food places. I will go through them eventually. There is no reason to think they would be exempt from pressure from Old Joe.”

“No, you are right. It just worries me because there are so many possibilities if you can't trust your cook," Carler observed.

Now that he'd said it, it also worried her. The only thing was that if they poisoned people, suspicion would be drawn straight to the kitchen and serving staff. At that point, security, whoever they had working in security by then, would take them into custody.

Chapter 6

Checking the List

He was so attracted to her that he could barely control himself. As he escorted her, his arm touched hers, and he felt the heat rolling through him. Did she feel it, too? Carler couldn't help but wonder because he rarely saw the signs that she did. Ranger insisted that the female would feel something if they were true mates. Human females would not feel as much as a dragon shifter female. Yet he said that they would feel something. He said many had a small amount of the DNA of their people hidden somewhere in their code.

Ranger also suggested that she was distracted by her past and her need for vengeance. If that was true, there was nothing he could think of that he could do about it. Old Joe seemed beyond anything they could handle, and he hoped someone could devise a plan for him to be taken out. He went through every possibility, but how could you plan to deal with someone without knowing where they were? If nothing else, Joe was good at hiding.

“I was thinking about some way to lure Joe Senior here," Viv observed.

“How could we possibly do that?”

“What is the one thing that Joe wants more than anything?”

“Besides destroying us? I suppose he wants Davy. He wants to destroy her, and if he could take her alive, I believe he would torture her. He sees her as his downfall. Even his son does not get the responsibility he deserves because, in his mind, it was all Davy.” Carler admitted.

“So, all we need to do is make him think Davy is here. She doesn't need to be here. He just needs to believe she is.”

“How will we manage that?”

“I heard you talking about doing an interview with a magazine. All we mentioned was to get a look-alike and have them in the background doing something Davy would be doing. We also had someone mention her name quietly but loud enough to pick it up. If he believes she's here, I have no doubt that he will take some kind of action. If that does not work well enough, we will have a trip she is going on somewhere he can get to. No one that looks anything like Davy will be there. That way, there won't be one person that is a target. It is worth a try," Viv observed.

“I have to agree with you. At this point, it is worth trying to get Old Joe somewhere where we can take him down. First, we need to go through your list and clear out anyone who is a possible traitor. Maybe we should keep one person and put them in a position where they can get the information we want and send it to Joe. That is another thing we might consider doing," Carler admitted.

“Let's work through my list, and then we can set things up.”

She sat down at her computer, and he watched as she began to work through the list, one name after another. Viv sent the names through the FBI computer, and it wasn't long before she got the information back. One was a definite traitor, and there was proof of payments from Joe. The others had issues and criminal offenses, but it would take more to connect them to Joe.

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