Defiance (The Protectors #9)(36)

Which meant I’d be losing one of my final links to David.

“If I stay, I need to know it’s as an equal participant in all this.”

I turned to see Nathan standing inside the entryway to the kitchen. I straightened from where I’d been petting Mickey and said, “Within reason.”

“Vincent-”

“There are things I can’t tell you, Nathan,” I interjected. “If you ask me how I know something or how I found out some piece of information, I might not be able to tell you. It’s to keep you safe.”

He studied me for a moment and then nodded. I watched as he walked towards me and then placed the SUV key on the kitchen island. Then he held out his hand. “The watch,” he said.

I smiled at the fact that he’d known I’d picked it up. I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him, trying not to touch him as I did it.

“If you emailed Preston and my assistant, does that mean it’s safe?”

“From my computers, it is,” I said. “I’m using what the assailant used…fake IP addresses so he can’t figure out our actual location.”

“I don’t want you to speak for me anymore,” he said. “I want to email them myself, and anyone else I need to reach out to.” He held up his hand when I opened my mouth to speak. “You can read every email I send, if that’s what you want. I just…I need a little normalcy back.”

“Fine,” I said with a nod. It wasn’t an unreasonable request. “But you limit yourself to only the people you need to talk to, and if you need to use the phone, you clear it through me first. I have a special secure line that isn’t traceable.”

“Okay.” Nathan put the watch on. “What’s next? How are we going to find this guy?”

His use of the word “we” sounded wrong to me, since I always worked alone, but I remembered his comment about needing to be a part of this…needing to be equal. “I have a couple of things I want to do to see if he’s hacked any of your accounts or any of the people closest to you. If I don’t find anything there, I’m going to set up a trap for him.”

“What does that mean?”

“Chances are he’s been watching you for a long time, and not just physically. Judging by the hardware he used the other night, he’s not your average stalker,” I hedged. “I’m probably not the only one who’s been monitoring your email and phone. If I can’t find him, I’ll bring him to me by sending messages that will indicate your location, only it won’t be your actual location.”

“You’ll bait him?” he asked.

I nodded. “He’ll think you’re holed up in a cheap motel somewhere. By now he’s figured out that you didn’t go to the cops to report the attack. And he’s probably gone back to your house and discovered you haven’t been back.”

“Won’t he figure it out? I mean, he must have sensed the same thing about you…that you weren’t just some random guy.”

“He was brazen enough to attack you in your home, Nathan. He wanted to send a message. Whatever his beef with you is, it’s not going to go away anytime soon. Either he’s getting paid a lot of money to take you out, or he’s got more personal reasons. In any case, he’s not going to let someone like me stand in his way. He’ll just come better prepared next time. And he doesn’t know what I’m capable of…at the most, he’ll assume I’m hired muscle and nothing more. I’ve been careful to make it look like the email you sent to Preston and your assistant came from a library in Charleston – he’ll think we’re still in the area but just lying low. And that we’re not smart enough to realize he’s monitoring you electronically.”

“You’re giving him a false sense of security,” Nathan murmured with a nod of his head. “So you draw him out, and then what?”

“How about we make that subject one of the ones I get to veto,” I offered.

He tensed, but didn’t push the issue. Undoubtedly because I’d answered his question by not answering it.

“Why not just let me draw him out?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Actually stick me in a motel room somewhere. Let him think I’m alone.”

I began shaking my head before he even finished. “No.”

“No? That’s it? What happened to equal participant?”

“Putting yourself in a dangerous situation isn’t equal participation,” I snapped. “It’s stupidity.”

He shook his head and drummed his fingers on the island. “Not going to work,” he muttered to himself.

I knew I was overreacting, but the idea of him back in that fucker’s direct line of sight had me on edge. Especially since I didn’t know who I was dealing with. “Look, let me see what I can figure out and we’ll go from there,” I conceded. “If I think that I can’t draw the guy out on my own, I’ll…I’ll think about it, okay?” Even the words sounded wrong, but deep down, I knew Nathan was right. I needed the threat to him to be gone, and I needed it to happen soon.

And not just because I wanted to fulfill my commitment to Dom and his nephew.

Nathan nodded. “Can I take a look at my email now?”