The Dangerous Thief (Stolen Hearts #3)(37)

Willa could tell from his dejected tone that there was a “but” coming.

“But,” he continued, “because of his connections, there’s not a lot we can do about it. If we bring the laptop to a police department or the FBI, it’s going to accidentally get lost or wiped before charges can ever be brought against Jadon.”

Willa felt her heart sink. “So what does this mean? We just have to let him get away with it?”

“He doesn’t get away with anything,” growled James. “Just give me thirty seconds alone with him.”

Austin laughed. “I knew I liked you, Weston.”

“No, it doesn’t mean we let him get away with anything,” said Scott, obviously not as amused by James’s willingness to take things into his own hands. “Toni found something else.”

Toni smiled as all attention turned back to her. “Well, the laptop might not be good as solid evidence right now, but it pointed us in the perfect direction. Remember when I said Jadon has connections at the Pentagon? Well, those connections have been feeding him classified information. Very classified information. If we can get our hands on the original file and deliver it right to the top people at the Pentagon, they’ll take care of Jadon themselves.”

“How do we deliver something to the head of the Pentagon?”

“That is a me thing,” said Toni. “Right now we’re going to work on a Jennifer thing.”

“A what?” asked Willa.

“A thief thing. I steal things for a living. What do I have to steal?”

“We,” said Austin. “You’re not doing anything alone. What are we stealing?”

Couples who steal together stay together, she supposed.

“You don’t have to steal anything. What is stored on the laptop is a photocopy scan of documents. But based off the residual information I could pick up off of the images, the scanner that was used is located inside the Cordon Enterprises building. So he has the original documents somewhere inside the building. We need to prove that they’re there.” Toni reached into her bag and pulled out two disposable cameras, the older film ones that used to be at every table at weddings.

“I didn’t realize they still made those,” said Willa.

“Well, they do. And they’re a bitch to find, so you two need to be careful. We only have these two for now. You need to get into the building, find the original documents, snap photos with enough background info so the Department of Defense will know where they were taken and then get out before anyone knows what you’re doing.”

Jennifer took one of the cameras and turned it in her hands. “So we’re not even taking anything? That should be easy.”

“Should be,” said Toni, even though she didn’t seem as though she believed it. “Thanks to Willa’s cloning Jadon’s phone, we have access to his schedule, so we can get you up to the offices when we know he’ll be gone for a few hours.”

“Except the papers could be anywhere,” pointed out Scott. “We’re assuming that he’s keeping the shady documents close to all of his normal documents, but there’s just as good of a chance that they’re at his apartment.”

“We can split up,” said Jennifer. “I’ll do the office building and Austin can do the apartment.”

“We’ll do one at a time,” said Austin. “We already lost one team member. We don’t need to lose anyone else.”

Everyone fell quiet and Willa knew they were talking about Toni and Jennifer’s mother. Willa looked over to James and saw him looking at her. He was his normal stoic self. He had said so little. Did he think this was a good idea? Was he optimistic about getting to Jadon via these classified documents?

Willa took in a deep breath. It didn’t matter what James thought. This was good. They were so close to getting Jules the justice she deserved. Now they just needed to pull this off. “What do you need me to do? Vouch for Jennifer to get her in the building? Distract someone?” Toni pressed her lips together and Willa suddenly knew what they wanted from her. “You want me to stay out of the way.”

“You’ve already done a lot,” assured Scott. “More than we could expect anyone else to do under the same circumstances.”

Willa wanted to protest. To insist that she could still be useful. But she forced herself to remain quiet. She was by no means qualified to do anything, especially compared to everyone else in the room with her. “Well, it sounds like a plan then. When are you going to try to get the photos?”

Jennifer and Toni exchanged a look. “Well, we haven’t really taken a look at his calendar yet,” said Toni carefully.

They didn’t want to tell her. Fine. They didn’t have to.

“Weston, I think you should be around when we make our move. You’re known there so you can get in—be nearby if we need you.”

Willa forced herself not to look at his direction. Just because everyone in the room probably already knew they were screwing didn’t mean she needed to stare at him like a clingy high schooler.

“I’ll be there,” said James.

“Sounds good. We’ll try to get this done ASAP and then we can all move on. I suggest everyone have a way out of the city if necessary. If things go down, we’re going to need to run fast. I have my car.”