Page 59 of Hero's Prize

“In between them and people we know from town, we should recognize just about everyone who’s not a stranger.”

“There may be a few tourists around, but we can try to vet them on the fly.”

“You know who can help with that.”

Callum rolled his eyes. “Yes, I’m very aware that Lincoln is the best thing since sliced bread when it comes to computers. It’s not like he would ever let anyone forget it.”

Colton tried to hold back his smile, but he couldn’t. “Linc doesn’t do it on purpose, you know that. In his mind, he’s just stating a fact when he lets everyone know that he can do damn near anything having to do with software.”

Callum’s face was comical. “Fine. We can have him run any strangers we think fit the bill and hopefully get this taken care of.”

Colton pushed out of his chair. “Let’s do it tonight. In a couple of days, everybody’s going to be needed to take the campers out in the wilderness, and like I said, I’m tired of just sitting around here with my thumb up my ass, waiting for the next letter or something worse to happen.”

“It’ll be tight to get everything in place by tonight. This’ll have to be more off the books than I want, although that happens with your little buddies more than I would like anyway.”

“I can make some calls and get everybody in place by nine o’clock tonight. It’s worth a shot.”

Callum stood up. “I agree. I don’t want anybody thinking they can come in and cause trouble in my town just because they want to.”

Colton winked at him. “Yeah, that privilege belongs to those of us who were raised here. So, let’s get this handled.”

There was no shaking in his hands now.

“For Christ’s sake, you guys are like a bunch of fucking toddlers.”

Snickers went through the various comms units at Callum’s words later that evening.

So far, their sting operation hadn’t produced anything much worthwhile. Colton had been sitting at the bar for the past thirty minutes. The Eagle’s Nest was fairly busy, but so far, nobody who fit the bill of the stalker—female, relatively young, and a stranger in Oak Creek—had been spotted.

So yeah, Colton’s friends who were helping out were a little chatty. He could see why Callum was frustrated, although the other man knew everyone would immediately focus if needed.

“Maybe if Colton had worn a tighter T-shirt, he’d look more approachable,” Lilah said into the comms unit.

Colton turned his head and glared in her direction where shewas sitting at the far end of the bar. Or at least as discreetly as he could since they weren’t supposed to be noticing each other at all.

“Don’t you think his biceps would burst through the seams if his shirt were any tighter?” Theo’s voice rang in his ears. “Do they make that brand in adult sizes, Colton, or is it just for kids?”

Colton now turned to glare at his friend who was sitting in a far booth with Derek Bollinger. Meanwhile, Lilah nearly spewed her drink, barely covering the mishap with a cough.

Colton reached up and scratched his cheek deliberately with his middle finger, spinning slowly on the stool under the guise of looking around casually so all his friends could see the gesture. “Always a pleasure to be back home,” he muttered behind his hand.

“You guys want to lock it down?” Callum asked. “Anybody with an IQ over sixty is going to be able to tell something is going on if you’re not careful.”

“Roger that,” Theo said. “Let’s get serious.”

Callum was right. If the stalker felt like something was off, she might not approach Colton, or hell, she might not even come all the way into the bar at all.

As Callum had feared, Ella hadn’t been able to remember any details about the face in the window, outside of the black hoodie. So the forensic artist hadn’t been able to come up with any sort of sketch. Colton had taken Ella home from the sheriff’s office and tucked her into bed so she could rest. She’d been so tired, she hadn’t even pressed when he’d told her he needed to meet his buddies for something tonight. Becky and Eva were with her right now.

All his friends had been down to help with this sting operation, once he’d explained about the stalker and how the situation seemed to be escalating. They’d come up with a plan where Colton would be by himself at the bar, to look approachable. Lilah would monitor from the other end. Derek and Theo would have eyes on the back of the room.

Of course, anybody from Oak Creek would wonder why the four buddies weren’t sitting together as they normally did. But fortonight, they would just give the gossipmongers something to feast on—let them assume they were having a big fight or something.

All of them had comms units, discreet and top-of-the-line from Linear Tactical. Everyone could talk and hear one another with tiny electronic pieces inside their ears. His friends all knew what they were looking for. Bear knew too, although he wasn’t on comms. He was working a shift behind the bar like he sometimes did.

As a matter of fact, it was Bear who gestured with his chin when two women walked in the door. Colton glanced at them without making it obvious.

“We got two possibilities entering,” Lilah said. “Both female, roughly age thirty, five foot eight and five foot six, both slim build.”

---