Page 99 of Trapped

“Let’s hear it,” Hunter Kelley said.

She continued to stare at Cash. “What if you can convince him you’re no threat to him?”

“Like how?” he demanded.

“Like you’re in such bad mental shape that you can barely function. You escaped, and now you don’t know what the hell to do. You’re paranoid. You think everybody’s after you. You just want this nightmare to be over.” She gulped. “I’ve left you high and dry because you’re so whacked up that . . . that you attacked me. All you want is to get back into the bunker so Montgomery can make the pain and confusion in your head go away. But you don’t know how to find the front entrance to the place. So, you’re out in the West Virginia woods, looking for the back way in—through the cave. But you can’t find that, either.”

She dragged in a breath as everyone in the room stared at her.

“It might work,” Jonah said.

“But it’s dangerous,” Sophia admitted. “You’d have to . . .” She stopped and started again. “Cash, you’d have to make yourself a target.”

“Whatever it takes, it’s worth it,” he growled. “Pretending to be a mess isn’t going to be so difficult.”

She took her lower lip between her teeth. Really, she wanted some private time with him. She knew he wanted her—physically. And she ached to kiss him. Just a kiss—if that was all he was willing to give her.

But she knew he had built a wall between them again. And she understood why. He still thought he was dangerous. He didn’t know what the future held for him. And he was afraid to let himself reach for happiness. There was nothing she could do about any of that—not until Luntz and Montgomery were rounded up.

While all that churned in her head, Frank Decorah began speaking. “Okay, let’s get the sting operation set up.”

“We should start with a phone call,” Zane Marshall added. “With a burner phone that’s not equipped with a GPS.”

“A call to his house, even when we know he’s split?” Cash asked.

“Yeah, because you don’t know that. And there’s no evidence that we were there.”

“Did he have security cameras?”

Max laughed. “His security system had a malfunction.”

Cash grinned, and Sophia could see that he liked these people—and trusted them.

“Before you make any calls, we have to decide what you’re going to say,” Sophia said.

“Right.”

She’d thought that might give her some time alone with him while they did some planning. But he quickly said, “you and Kathryn can coach me.”

She gave him a narrow-eyed look because she was following his thinking. But she wasn’t going to make an issue of it by protesting.

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Cash was dead tired. He might have said he wanted to sleep first and work out his spiel later, but he figured that his fatigue would add a layer of reality to his phone call.

He, Sophia, and Kathryn found a smaller room where they could work on his monologue.

Two hours later, he figured he was as ready as he’d ever be. And Decorah Security was also ready with a special hookup to a prepaid cell phone.

With Sophia beside him, he walked back to the lounge. Jonah, Frank, and Kathryn gathered around him while he dialed the number.

As he expected, he didn’t get Luntz himself, only voicemail.

When he was invited to leave a message, he went into the monologue he’d rehearsed.

He started with a string of fiery expletives and finally got around to saying something semi-coherent.

“You’re not there! Where the hell are you? I need to talk to you.” He stopped and swallowed. “Oh yeah, right. Forgot to say. This is . . . this is Cash Baker,” he said, his voice making it clear that just saying his name required a tremendous effort. “I . . . I’m in trouble. And I need your help. Please, call me back. The number is . . ..”

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