The Tyrant (Banker #3)(49)

“That’s cowardly.” To live deep underground to avoid a fight that he started in the first place was pathetic. What kind of life could he have down there anyway? There was no sunlight. Just women and booze.

“I’m sure he’s comfortable. It’s better than death, I’ll admit.”

“Maybe we should lure him out. Bait him.”

“And how do we do that?” he asked. “The only way that would work is if he thought he couldn’t lose.”

Bates and I talked about the bank, the estate, and Micah almost every day. I seemed to replace Cato as his sounding board for ideas and solutions. The past really seemed to be a distant memory now that we’d established this camaraderie. It was hard to believe he pointed that gun at my head and pulled the trigger. “Then make him think he can’t lose. We can pretend Cato passed away from his injuries. Micah will think you’re alone and grieving. When he comes out to take you down, that’s when you take him out.”

Bates stared at me blankly as he considered it, going over my idea in his mind. “Cato would never go for it.”

“Why not?”

“He’s too stubborn to let people think something so small killed him. He would also think it’s cowardly.”

“Well, it was cowardly for them to break the truce Cato offered them.”

He shrugged. “True…”

“Unless you want to storm the hatch. I got down there before. I might be able to do it again.”

“They’ll have changed the code by now—at least a dozen times.”

“It’s still possible to get down there. I’m sure he has women visit him all the time. I could slip in there—”

“You’re really going to put Cato through that again?” he asked incredulously. “I’m not on board with that. Cato and I are finally on good terms, and I’m not going to screw that up so soon.”

“It’s still a good idea. Get one person in there to get the hatch open. Then the rest of the team moves in, takes out all the men on the bottom floor, and then we go underground and hunt down Micah. Sounds like a good plan to me. I know the area better than either one of you. It makes sense that it should be me.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“And they’ll never expect it. Since it’s been six weeks, I’m sure he thinks we wouldn’t bother storming the hatch.”

He didn’t disagree with that. “It’s not a bad idea. But you aren’t going down there.”

“Well, someone has to go unnoticed to get the hatch open. The second the men realize they’ve been hit, they’ll probably override the system so no one can get down there at all. It’ll be on lockdown, and the game will be over.”

“Then I’ll go.”

I rolled my eyes. “They’ll shoot you the second you walk up to the door.”

“They recognize you too.”

“Not if I change my hair, makeup, and clothes. I’ll go in with a few other women and blend right in.”

He shook his head. “I’m not going to say no again.”

I would just do it anyway, but since I needed his team to back me up, it was pointless. “I have another idea. But it’s more difficult.”

“Difficulty isn’t an obstacle. But stupidity is.”

“It’s gotta be possible to either break through that door or override the system.”

“Overriding it will be impossible. From inside the hatch, there’s got to be some kind of protocol to shut it down. Even if we know the code or force it to open, they must have some fail-safe on their end.”

“Then maybe we can drill through it. All we need to do is make a hole big enough to drop a bomb. Problem solved.”

Bates watched me for a long time, considering my words carefully. “Like shooting fish in a barrel.”

“Yes.”

“How big is it down there?”

“Not that big. The drop to the bottom is pretty long, hundreds of feet. We should be able to drop anything without it affecting us. But this all depends on the drilling part.”

“I hate Micah as much as you do, but that’s pretty cold.”

“I agree. But he won’t face us like a man.”

“Because he knows he’ll lose.” He rubbed his coarse beard with his palm. “And why fight a war you can’t win when you can hide instead?”

It seemed Micah was giving us no choice. We couldn’t live knowing he survived, so this war would never truly end. He could either die like a rat or as a man on his own two feet. The choice seemed obvious to me. “I say we give him the option.”

Bates raised an eyebrow.

“Call him and tell him what we intend to do. He can decide how he wants to die.”

“Or if he knows what we intend to do, he could prevent it.”

“How?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “By getting out of the hatch? That’s exactly what we want anyway. At least this way, we can instill fear in him…and also have complete control.”

Bates lowered his hand and looked at me with new eyes. “You know, you would be the perfect leader for a mob.”

“I get that from my father…not that I’m proud of it.”

“I think you should be. Cato needs a woman who’s tough like him. In fact, I think you’re tougher.”