Page 99 of Crossover

My brothers and I all turned to look at her.

“The minute we step foot in a government building, Daniel might be tipped off,” I said.

“The police station is full of armed men,” she replied.

“He’ll wait for you to leave, and he or his men will follow you.”

“So, what if we let him?” Hunter suggested.

I blinked, digesting what he was saying.

“You mean, lead him into a trap,” I clarified.

He nodded.

I shook my head. “First of all, there’s no guarantee he wouldn’t kill you guys right there in the parking lot, and second, that’s way too dangerous.”

“I’ll have security there,” Hunter said.

“No!”

“A shit ton of security. We can have a preplanned route from the police station to wherever we want to set a trap for this guy. Best-case scenario, we corner him.”

“Worst-case scenario, you guys all die.”

“I have bad news for you,” Hunter said. “You’re not going to find the scenario that’s bulletproof, Grayson. So long as this guy is out there, we’re all in danger, so the sooner we take him down, the faster we can all move on with our lives.”

I clenched my jaw. “Daniel is often one step ahead. If we think we have everything in place, he’ll find some hole to poke at, a blind spot we haven’t thought about, and he will leverage that to win.”

“We have to do something to flush him out of hiding.”

He was right. No matter what we did, no matter where we ran or how fast we ran, Daniel would be right on our heels. I had no idea how many men he might have working underneath him right now, trying to hunt us down. Hopefully few. Either way, our best shot at survival was for this to end as quickly as possible.

I paced the room as we kicked around other ideas, until finally settling on what felt like the best plan.

I would attend the emergency meeting with the CIA and walk them through the evidence. If it all went according to plan, they’d unleash the full weight of the CIA to find Daniel and take him in before he could get to one of us. Meanwhile, my brothers, Ivy, and Luna would retreat to apubliclocation where, in theory, it would be harder to get to them.

O’Hare airport. It was busy with constant activity, had a lot of security, and if anything went sideways, they could be on an international flight rather quickly.

But two important questions nagged at me: How would the CIA react to all this? And could they get to Daniel before it was too late?

55

GRAYSON

In the heart of a discreet CIA corporate building in downtown Chicago, the room was hauntingly silent, like the gray walls were holding their breath, waiting to see the outcome of this discussion.

The stakes could not be higher for this meeting.

I was grateful that both Barry and Seth flanked me at the massive mahogany table; facing the leader of the CIA about Daniel’s treason was a daunting enough task without having to do it alone.

Because make no mistake, there was still a chance that I would walk out of here in handcuffs myself. I had no idea what misinformation Daniel might have spread about me to the CIA—especially if he caught wind of this meeting.

Hell, it wouldn’t shock me if that door opened and Daniel was the one to walk through, and if he took me down, Ivy would be vulnerable to criminal charges.

Or worse…be killed.

I looked at my watch again, my throat running dry.

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