Page 62 of Built of Illusions

Before he could ask what she meant, Graham whistled to bring everyone to the room. With a sigh, he looped his arm over her shoulder and they moved to their usual spots at the dining table.

When everyone was settled, Sam took the lead. “Okay. We’ve gone over all the security systems and everything is working properly. Tansy has the one sensor looking dead, but it is functional. She also has the night drone flying a random pattern over the property. We should have plenty of warning if he shows up.”

Bella looked around the table. “How likely is it that he’ll come at night?”

Most of the heads turned to Nico. Josie nudged his shoulder. “You’re on, Spiffy Suits. Tell us what you’ve figured out.”

Chuckles broke out around the room and Nico rolled his eyes. He’d been here in the lodge for a few hours but hadn’t had time to stop and change out of his FBI gear.

He smiled and shook his head. “Okay. We’ve got multiple plans in place for various scenarios. Once we know Nelson’s objective, we’ll know which plan of attack he’ll use.”

Sam nodded. “Give us the most likely options.”

“If he wants to stick to his plan, he’ll have his eye on another woman before he comes here.” In fact, it was possible he was in San Francisco right now, hurting the woman he’d chosen for E. And that fact was eating at Nico. Had he caused the woman’s death by releasing more information to the media?

Josie took his hand and squeezed. “Not your fault.”

He squeezed back, but didn’t reply to her words. “If the media release angered him enough, he might disrupt his pattern and head here. He might have his sights set on eliminating me.” He swallowed hard. “Or he might know that hurting Josie would hurt me worse than that.”

She wrapped his arm in hers and leaned her head on his shoulder. “Still not your fault.”

He kept talking. “Nelson is a planner, so he won’t enjoy working on impulse. He’ll want to stake out the place, learn the patterns of the people who live here, find out who comes and goes.”

Mitch frowned and looked at Bella before turning back to Nico. “I need to be at the firehall tomorrow, but I think Bella should stay here. He’s always targeted women.”

Bella started to speak, but he turned to her again. “Your safety is the most important thing in the world to me. Please don’t make yourself a target.”

Bella pulled him down for a kiss. “Fine, but I don’t want you going in alone.” She looked around the table. “In fact, I don’t think anyone should be alone until the jerk is in jail.”

Everyone nodded. Nico continued. “Agreed. He’s proven himself a killer many times over. No one takes any chances.”

Flynn leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “So he might stake us out. He might be controlled by anger and try to attack either you or Josie or the entire team. You said it’s doubtful he has a partner, so he’s not likely to take us all on at once.”

Bella sighed. “Unless he tries to set the building on fire in the night when we’re sleeping.”

Nico had thought of that, so he nodded. “Then he could target who he wants as we leave for safety. But the security is pretty tight around here. We’re far from the road and he prefers to kill one on one.”

He regretted his word choice immediately when he felt Josie shiver against him.

Aisling frowned. “So, it’s back to luring him in to where we control the variables.”

Tansy smiled at Josie. “And that’s where our project from earlier comes in. We’ve got an idea that might bring him right into our trap. But the timing needs to be right. How do you feel about dawn, Josie?”

Nico’s heart froze. What had they planned?

Josie wished she and Nico had been able to squeeze in some time to talk, but since he’d arrived, the team had been busy. He didn’t even know what she and Tansy had created. The look of wild fear on his face had her reaching up to pat his cheek. “It’s fine, Nico. The plan doesn’t have me alone with Nelson. It’s a lure Tansy devised.”

Nico didn’t pull his gaze away. “Tell me.”

She nodded. They hadn’t updated the entire team anyway and she wanted to alleviate Nico’s worry. “Tansy took some video of me. I don’t understand the technical aspects, but she’s going to use the climbing wall at the orienteering hub to project the images to make him think I’m there.”

Tansy spoke quietly. “It’s not actually projecting—” When everyone groaned, she rolled her eyes with a laugh. “Okay, okay. You don’t want the technical details of the pseudo-hologram. Basically, it’s going to look like Josie is walking in the woods alone. I need it to be at dusk or dawn because projecting human movement is tricky.”

Josie knew Nico and Tansy had lived in the same house from the time Tansy was twelve. He would know exactly how her brain worked. She hoped that would be enough for him to trust the idea.

Tansy continued. “We’ll use the orienteering course to conceal our people, who will be hidden and ready to take Nelson down while he’s focused on the image of Josie.”

Nico nodded as he looked around the table. “So we’ll need to repeat this at dawn and then dusk until he does show up.”

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