Page 112 of Nanny for the SEALs

“He must have met with the shooter nearby the hotel, rather than inside,” Rogan replied.

Asher shrugged. “I suspect you may be correct, but we have no evidence of that.”

“What about confronting him?” Brady suggested. “Roll over to his place, the way he showed up here one day, and tell him we know everything.”

“That would be a mistake,” Asher said. He removed his glasses and cleaned them with a small cloth. “At this moment, we have an advantage because we know he was there that night. He is not aware of our knowledge.”

“Then what do we do with that knowledge?” Rogan demanded.

Asher replaced his glasses on his nose. “I don’t know.”

Now it was Brady’s turn to let out a frustrated growl. “I can’t believe we fucken missed him. The hotel was our chance to nail that asshole and prove it was Heimdall’s goons all along. We’re not going to get another chance to flush them out again.”

“Not without risking Amirah again,” Rogan added. “Which is the last thing we want to do.”

“Let’s focus on what we can control,” Asher said patiently. “Filming begins in two days. I looked at the film schedule Amirah’s agent provided. The first two weeks of shooting is done outside, in downtown Los Angeles.”

“Perfect. Just perfect,” Rogan muttered. “There’s no way we can keep her one hundred percent safe outside. We can’t lockdown all of LA.”

While they deliberated, I thought about what Amirah herself must be going through. Trying to advance her career while knowing someone was trying to kill her. I imagined myself on set, filming my first movie, worrying about my next scene and how I was going to act—while worrying that, at any moment, someone might start shooting at me. I didn’t know if I could handle that.

Poor Amirah, I thought.She just wants to live her life, and meanwhile people are trying to bring her down. Looking back on it, I was lucky that Maurice and I had sneaked into the Lakers suite six weeks ago, before Amirah Pratt hired HLS Security. If we tried something like that now, while her security was so much tighter, we would have gotten caught and probably arrested. And I definitely wouldn’t have been able to masquerade as the actress.

I blinked to myself.

Wait a minute.

The idea formed in my head like a thundercloud, swirling and manifesting into something powerful. It was a bold plan, but one which would help the three men I cared about. And it would absolve me of all my guilt for screwing things up at the hotel.

It would make thingsright.

Rogan and Asher were arguing about extra security when I interrupted them. “I know how we can flush Heimdall out. We need to get them to attack Amirah again. We’ll put her out in the open and lure them to her.”

“Amirah will never go for that,” Rogan said.

“No, she won’t,” I agreed. “Which is why we’re going to use me instead.”

43

Rogan

There was no worse feeling in the world than despair. Knowing that something bad was happening, and was going tocontinueto happen, and being totally unable to stop it. I wasn’t used to feeling so powerless. I hated it.

Heimdall was going to win. They were going to convince Amirah and The Weiman Agency to drop us. There would be a powerful ripple effect from it, and our company would never recover. I was desperate for any plan that would help us avoid it, no matter how crazy.

And then Heather offered a solution.

A surprisingly good one.

“What are you saying?” Brady demanded.

“I’m saying use me as bait,” Heather answered. “I’ll pretend to be Amirah at an event or something. That will lure the attackers again. And then you guys nab them!”

I immediately dismissed the plan. “I know you want to help, and I appreciate the offer. But we’re not going to put you in danger.”

“I won’t be in danger!” she insisted. “You said it yourself: Heimdall doesn’t want toactuallyhurt Amirah. They just want to scare her into hiring a new security firm. That’s why they took random pot-shots through the earthquake-proof glass at the hotel. Accuracy didn’t matter, as long as they made her afraid. It was all show, no risk.”

Brady laughed. “This is nuts. It doesn’t matter if there’s any real danger or not. We’re not putting you in that position. Right, guys?”

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