Yael tried not to think about how good Shane looked dressed all in black. Why one man looked like the best thing in the world despite bristling with weapons, whilst another turned her stomach holding nothing more sinister than a screwdriver, she wasn’t sure. “Did you find it?”

Shane nodded and a wave of relief filled her.

Alex pulled a bag of six different hardware wallets out of one of his pockets. He handed them to Ashley.

Yael sat at the computer and embedded a beacon into the metadata of one of the images Alex sent her. It would tell them where, when and on what device the image was opened.

The plan was for Ethan’s boss to email Grice’s work address telling him he had something he needed urgently from the guy. The email itself would be the photo along with a message from Alex asking EG to contact them on a cell number if he wanted his crypto back. If he hurt Laura, he’d never see any of it again.

Grice had turned his work email settings to render HTML without images but Yael had superseded his previous instructions. There was a good chance that he wouldn’t realize until it was too late. Hopefully it would give them a glimpse of his location. At worst it would let the bastard know Alex had the guy’s fortune in crypto.

In the meantime, they had to wait.

Shane stored his assault rifle in a room at the back of the plane and Yael tensed when he came and sat beside her. She met his stormy green eyes.

“Don’t worry. I can act professional.” Shane’s lips pulled back in a half smile. “Even when I don’t want to.”

A lump formed in her throat and the unexpected threat of tears had her blinking and looking away. She nodded. Grateful and heartbroken all at the same time.

She watched Ashley and Alex work on the email and finally agree upon the text before they sent it off. It was possible EG wouldn’t check any email accounts for fear of being tracked, but the alternative was announcing they had the crypto on the dark web which EG would probably view as both a humiliation and a challenge. This sort of coward was bound to take his anger out on the innocent.

Yael clenched her fists. “What do we do now?”

Ashley flicked a glance at her then at Shane. “We wait.”

“We’ll take off and head west for a while.” HRT had planes on both coasts ready to go in minutes. “Why don’t you get some sleep?” Alex suggested.

She could barely keep her eyes open. “I don’t want to.”

“I’ll wake you if we hear anything.”