Move the Sun (Signal Bend #1)(88)
She barely hesitated before she nodded and said, “Yeah. You need to flank this guy. You can’t beat him head on. You’re asking for the wrong kind of favors. The guns are good, for the patrols you’re doing. But a shootout on Main Street is just going to blow up Main Street. I’m going to get in touch with Rick. Maybe my team broke up too fast.”
She was giving him an answer he hadn’t expected. She was pulling herself into the fight. His first inclination was to reject that, but he realized—she was skilled, smart, and experienced. She was more of all of that than he was. He needed more than her opinion. He needed her. “What do you mean?”
“You have no idea the kind of damage a top-shelf hacker can do. The best can rewrite history. Rick is the best. If he’s game—and he will be; he loves this shit—I’ll hook him up with Bart. Bart’s good, but he hasn’t been playing in the majors.”
Another answer he hadn’t expected, one that went against Isaac’s very DNA. “What—you’re saying we bring Ellis down with the internet?”
She smiled, apparently hearing the disappointment in his voice. “What, you thought I was going to fly a Black Hawk in over his house, blow it up? No. I’m saying you can certainly weaken him or at least find out where he’s weak that way. If he’s a big enough player, that works against him, because too many people have dealt with him. He’s known. No matter how well he shields himself, every person with an insight is a little dent. This is where being small works in your favor. Flank him. He won’t see you coming.”
She was making sense, and Isaac wanted the others to hear it. “I want us to sit down with Show, Len, and Bart.”
“Good. I want to work out at the clubhouse, anyway.”
He laughed at the matter-of-fact way she’d changed the subject. Very little got her rattled. “You sure you’re ready for weights?”
She rolled her eyes. “Yes. Yes. I have a brace for my hand. I’m ready. And I want to go at the bag, too.
Enough of this sitting around getting flabby shit. Let me get Rick in on this Ellis thing, though, before we say anything.”
For the first time since Kenyon Berry told him how big a threat Ellis was, Isaac felt a small hope that they’d be able to save the town. “I love you, Sport. I want to put my ring on you. I want to put my ink on you. I want to make a baby with you.”
She got serious at that, quickly. He knew he pushed it any time he brought up a baby. She’d never thought about kids before, and she’d told him she needed time. He understood, and he would wait, but he wanted it. She grabbed his chin and looked pointedly at him, her grey eyes flashing. “You need to slow down, love. I’m feeling my way here.”
He wrapped her hand in his and kissed it. “I know. I’m just puttin’ my pieces on the board. Play your gambit.”
“Your chess metaphors elude me sometimes. You know I don’t know how to play.”
“I’ll teach you. You’ve definitely got the head for it.” He grabbed her legs and pulled her flat on the sofa, lying over her. “But right now, I gotta say, I’m more interested in the rest of you.”
THE END