The Immortal Hunter(19)

"No."

"Oh." Dani's shoulders drooped briefly and they started walking again, but they'd taken only a few more steps when she paused and turned to him excitedly. "The listening device."

"What about it?" he asked.

"Nicholas might still have the receiver on," she pointed out, and suggested, "You could speak into it and tell him your number and ask him to call you."

Decker raised his eyebrows at the suggestion. It was a clever one, or would be if there was any possibility of Nicholas calling. There wasn't, but Dani's words made him realize that he'd completely overlooked the presence of the bug and tracker. Nicholas might very well be listening to them. Justin had put both gizmos in one of the cup holders between the two front seats and they'd promptly forgotten about them. Nicholas had probably heard everything they'd said in the van, including his side of the phone conversation with Lucian, and the tracker would tell him exactly where they were right now. It's what Decker would have done had the situation been reversed and he should have thought of it, but in their rush to get things done and get going, both he and Justin had forgotten all about the two gizmos. At least he knew he had and suspected Justin had, or he would have said something.

"Come on." Dani hurried for the van.

Decker followed more slowly. He was pretty sure Nicholas wouldn't call, and Dani would be disappointed when he didn't. She'd also wonder why he wasn't calling and start asking more questions, which he didn't want or need. On the other hand, trying to dissuade her from her plan would just bring those questions earlier.

Justin was sitting sideways in the front passenger seat, the door open and his legs hanging out. He stepped down as they reached him and let the door swing closed, his eyebrows rising in question.

Dani smiled brilliantly and announced, "It just occurred to me that we don't have to wait for this Lucian person to track the SUV. Nicholas can tell us where it is. He's following it."

"Nicholas?" Justin asked doubtfully, his gaze sliding to Decker.

"Decker told me he doesn't know your cell phone numbers, but what if you were to speak into the bug and tell him your numbers? Then he could call."

"But..." Justin began, and then paused when Decker caught his eye and shook his head.

"What?" Dani asked. When Justin remained silent, his gaze locked on Decker, she sighed and said, "You want to talk. I'll wait in the van."

Both men remained silent as she pulled the back door open and got in. The moment it slid shut, Justin urged Decker a few feet away from the van and then admitted, "I'd forgotten about the bug and tracker."

"Me too," Decker admitted, and then raised an eyebrow when Justin suddenly frowned and glanced back to the van. "What's wrong?"

"Maybe I should get them," Justin suggested. "Just to make sure she doesn't try to get a message to Nicholas."

Decker shook his head. "She doesn't know they're in the cup holder. She'll wait for us to try speaking into it."

Justin nodded, but then pointed out, "He won't call."

"No," Decker agreed. "But it's better to let her try than to have to come up with an explanation to give her for why he won't. I'm hoping Lucian calls quickly and she's sufficiently distracted by chasing after her sister that she doesn't notice when Nicholas doesn't call."

Justin was silent for a moment and then said, "We could let her try... or we could tell her they were broken and save the bug and tracker to set a trap for Nicholas later." When Decker's eyebrows rose, he pointed out, "If he is listening, by now Nicholas probably believes we've forgotten all about the bug and tracker because we've talked in front of them. If he continues to think this we might be able to use it to lay a trap to catch him."

Decker was shaking his head before Justin finished, and once he fell silent, said, "As you pointed out, Nicholas probably heard my phone call to Lucian and knows we're going to track the SUV. He'll know we're on his trail anyway and be on the lookout for us. Nicholas is one of the best. We are not going to sneak up on him without a damned good plan."

Justin paused briefly before suggesting, "After the next call you could tell me that Lucian said Bastien was unable to track the SUV, that the GPS isn't working for some reason. If we did that and deactivated the bug, Nicholas wouldn't know we were coming. Although," he added, "I wouldn't suggest trashing the bug, just trying to remove the battery if there is one. Bastien may be able to use the bug to reverse track Nicholas somehow."

"Could he?" Decker asked with surprise.

"I'm not sure," the younger immortal said. "I watch a lot of sci fi stuff, but I'm not a techie."

Decker stared at him with a frown. The ideas were good ones, and he wished he'd thought of them himself. First Dani had recalled the bug both he and Justin had forgotten about, and now Bricker had come up with a plan to use the bug to trap Nicholas. Where had his brain gone? He was usually the one to come up with these ideas.

"Don't be too tough on yourself," Justin said lightly, slapping a hand on his shoulder. He then added tauntingly, "Finding his life mate made Mortimer an idiot too."

Decker scowled. Finding a life mate had also made Mortimer so scattered that they had easily read his mind, he recalled. Decker decided he didn't like his mind being an open book to others and that he'd have to take greater care to be less distracted and keep his guard up.