Page 63 of Kill Me Sweetly

“Tomorrow at one.”

He nodded curtly. “Okay, so I went ahead and pulled up information on Wes. Issue is, the address is likely the real Wes’s.”

“I don’t understand.” I plopped down on the kitchen chair. “How did this happen?”

It was Nick who answered. “How I see it is, Four came into Saintly Sweets and his tracker pinged there because we don’t have the blockers at the shop.”

“We covered that part.” I was exasperated.

“Right, excuse me for thinking you’d like me to start from the beginning of my thought.”

I gestured for him to go on.

“Right. When Four didn’t show up when he was supposed to, maybe, they checked the tracker. Maxwell’s house and the shop were likely the only two that made sense, aside from the place Angel removed it but that happened a couple of days later. I’m not sure how, and personally I don’t think it matters, they intercepted the real Wes for the interview and replaced him with the Wes that’s currently employed at the shop. Maybe hoping to find Four there or at least get information.”

Mason snapped his fingers. “The message Wes gave you, Shep, about that meeting. He was setting us up to go there, so they could follow you to where Four was.”

All of it made so much sense now.

“Wes can’t be much older than Four? He claimed he was in high school, though.” I turned, searching for Four. He was sitting on the stool by the island. “Did you recognize the man on the screen?” He hadn’t gone to the shop since that first night, so he hadn’t seen him.

“Yes. That’s Two.”

“Two.” Another Weapon.

Four looked at me. “Yes. He’s trained to infiltrate and if necessary, kill.”

“But if the cell phone was his, does he also work at Harper Reese?” Nick asked.

Four turned to him. “Two is in a more advanced tier. One of my trainers said he was a genius and often times was called in for complex jobs. I’m simply a Weapon. I’m only called in to terminate.”

This was all sorts of fucked up. “Max, this isn’t by chance that guy you offered to help, is it? Mark Spriggs?”

Max shook his head. “No, Mark was older.”

“I have an idea.” I faced everyone. “To do it, we need to open the shop and have everyone come back. Wes will arrive, and we can grab him then. We don’t need to find him—we just have to bring him to us.”

“Tomorrow.” Gabe nodded. “You and Mason go with me to Alicia House. Shep, you and Angel get to the shop, grab Wes, and we’ll have to remove the tracker before coming to the safe house. Nick and Noel, stay behind to monitor the area and keep an eye on all of us through your weird tech so we can all get out of this safely.”

“That weird tech keeps you all alive, and if we weren’t so overloaded with work we’d have more intel on this Alicia House and the other venues where happiness goes to die and angels cry. Seriously, guys, it’s too much for just the two of us, we’re going in blind too much,” Noel snapped, but we didn’t have time to fight.

“You’re right, and after this is over we’ll figure out a new way to handle this.” Mason said.

“What do I tell Lizzy? I told her the shop was closed.” Shep sighed.

“Easy.” Mason smiled. “Tell Lizzy to call him and say you wanted to meet with everyone to discuss a new schedule you’re implementing due to the family emergency that has disrupted your life. You don’t need Darby and Lizzy there, like JJ said. Just him.”

I side-hugged my friend. “You’re so smart.”

“Okay, yeah, that all works well.” Angel snorted. “Who knew this would actually be so organized?”

“Miracles happen every day.” I laughed.

While everyone finalized things, Shep and I made dinner. Four was watching intently as I cut a carrot, so I handed him one and a knife.

“Want to give it a try?”

He looked at me with wide eyes and, dare I say, happiness. “Yes, please.”

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