"It's not obvious, whatever it is." He talked mostly to himself. "I sorted through here twice. There were no neon signs or a note that said 'meet us here at high noon', or even a business card or anything like that."

Ellie reached into the bag then paused. "Can I touch it?"

"Go ahead." He nodded but didn't add what he was thinking. They already know who you are, E. Because that thought alone was enough to send shivers down his spine.

Lucas had the skills to take her and run. They could live a comfortable life somewhere overseas and never be found. A tiny, remote island all to themselves sounded ideal. But he knew without asking that she would never leave Ryan or the support network of friends that had become her second family.

Shit.

While he was daydreaming about running away for the first time in his life, Ellie was flipping through the cash. She picked it up, shook it, smelled it. Stared at it in awe. It was a life-changing amount of money for someone with no job and a lot of medical bills piling up.

Lucas made a mental note to see about getting her a reward for helping the authorities.

She deserved it.

Hell, she deserved everything good in life.

"Is it normal for some of these to be highlighted?" she asked after a while.

"No," every one of the Men in Blue plus Lucas said in unison.

"Wow, did you guys practice that?" She smiled, completely at odds with how Lucas felt. He'd hoped maybe they wouldn't make the connection and she'd be out of the mess by default.

"Tell me what you see," JRad ordered, his Dom side peeking out.

Ellie shivered then responded quickly, making Lucas's eyes narrow. Was she in to that? Or was it a learned response from Morselli's dungeon?

Efficiently, Ellie reported back, "It's in the serial numbers. Different characters all over. Numbers too."

Lucas sat by, letting her take charge as she read them off to JRad, who plugged them into one of his crazy software programs.

Within minutes, he had a short list of possible addresses.

While Ellie and Lucas listened, the Men in Blue eliminated them one by one from the records.

Until they hit on a name that had the hairs on Lucas's arm standing up.

"Lucky's Bar at 777 Clover Boulevard." Razor snorted. "It's got to be that one. There's a special event listed on their website at seven o'clock tonight, with no information other than the time."

"I wouldn't say this was very fortunate for us at all." Lucas shook his head. "Does Ryan know you're sending her in there?"

"Hell fucking no," Razor nearly shouted, as if Lucas were crazy.

"Don't tell him, either," Ellie insisted. "He'll only worry and there's nothing he can do. I'm going."

Lucas crumpled the sack in his hand, staring at her and measuring her resolve.

"Don't look at me like that either." She shoved him hard, but he didn't budge from her side. "I'm not going to change my mind."

"She'll be okay with you to protect her. These guys are crooks, not murderers, mostly. They'll need her for the job, Lucas. Getting rid of her doesn't make any sense." Mason's logic might have been soothing if they were dealing with something slightly less important to him than his woman's safety.

Wow.

Where had that thought come from?

He wasn't sure, but he didn't deny to himself that it felt right.

Whether she knew it or not, she was destined to be his. And he was hers.

"I don't know."

Lucas doubted himself. It was a foreign experience. One he hated. But the stakes had never been so high before. His own life meant nothing compared to hers. If something happened to her, he was as good as dead himself because he'd never recover from the guilt.

"Maybe one of you should cover her. I'm still getting used to things. What if she needs me and I trip or something? I'm not sure-"

"We can't risk them recognizing us," JRad said gently. He knew the toll it could take when your partner was at risk. Lily had been in Morselli's dungeon too. She'd nearly lost her life there. "If I had to pick any man not on the force to watch over Lily, it would be you. And I have to say that first part because they have guns, and they're right here."

Matt, Clint, Razor, Mason and Tyler laughed.

"Not you of a year ago either," JRad kept going. "You right now. You're ready for this. You've been working hard, getting yourself back up to speed. Hell, you hiked almost four miles through rough terrain wearing completely the wrong prosthetic foot for the job and managed to tough it out. You're the best man for this job."

"You're the only man I'd trust." Ellie leaned up to kiss him on the cheek.

It might have been a maneuver intended to soften him to her. If so, it only worked on certain parts of him, like his heart. Below the belt, not so much.

"You kept me safe the other day. We make a good team," she continued when he didn't immediately agree. "Otherwise, it'll be me alone. And that's way worse."

It was. And he knew she'd do it too.

"Fine. Fuck," he snarled. "We'll be there. Tonight. At seven. We'll tell them we're on to their game and that we want in. Ellie's proven she can be the mule. I'll tell them we want a cut for not turning them in."

"Act less threatening than you really are." Razor tried to be helpful. "You're kind of scary when you're in agent mode."

"The kid's right." Mason backed Razor up. "Grab equipment from your stash. Maybe set something up with JRad later so we can listen in or watch. That would be even better. We'll be ready with backup in case something happens. But when you're on-site, face-to-face, make sure you tone it down. Remember to act casual. These losers aren't in the same league as the baddies you're used to. You're just a street-smart, greedy punk. Not a hero."

Lucas figured there was a specific reason Mason had chosen that word. It implied sacrifice. They didn't want him doing anything stupid.

Well, too fucking bad. This whole plan was the dumbest thing he'd done in his life.

And if went sour, everyone would pay.

Missing a leg or not, he would hunt down every last person who dared to harm a hair on Ellie's head if she wasn't at home, waiting for him, to stop him from going vigilante.

"Got it," he told the Men in Blue.

"Good. So maybe you want to get back to resting up for tonight, then? We won't keep you." Mason's smarmy tone made it clear he knew what they'd been up to in order to induce such fantastic sleep. He must have been moving as he talked since his speech was uneven. "Say hello to Lucas and Ellie, everyone!"

Just before the connection was severed, a chorus of "hello", "miss you", "stay safe" and "love you" poured through the speaker.

When it was just the two of them again, Lucas realized there was a sheen of tears in Ellie's eyes.

"Are you scared? We can call them back. Tell them we're out."

"No. I'm grateful and so lucky to have people like them in my life." She crawled into his lap and wrapped her arms and legs around him. "People like you. I would never disappoint them by doing less than the right thing."

How could he not find that type of spirit attractive?

Hint: He couldn't.

Lucas buried his fingers in Ellie's hair and drew her to him for a kiss that wiped his mind of everything but her and how incredible she made him feel, simply by being near her.

If doubt still niggled the back of his brain, somewhere deep in the instinctual zone he'd perfected during his career, he silenced it. There would be plenty of time for running the odds later.

Please let them come through this unscathed.

Chapter Eleven.

It gave Lucas hives when things went too easy. This was definitely one of those times.

Even after making a stop at the mall so Ellie could pick up some appropriate clothes to replace the too-baggy T-shirt and shorts he'd loaned her, he hadn't been able to delay them significantly.

At precisely seven o'clock that evening, he strolled through the front door of Lucky's Bar with Ellie on his arm. She hadn't taken any of the opportunities he'd given her to turn around. In fact, she'd implied that if he didn't stop asking her, she'd torture him by playing with herself and not allowing him to touch her when they got home.

He didn't intend to piss her off that much since he had big plans for tonight.

That was, if they didn't get wiped out by the fuckwads they were meeting.

Before Lucas had even made it all the way into the dimly lit, smoky interior of Lucky's, he knew who they were aiming for. The thugs were too inconspicuous to be natural. It was like a debadged tan sedan with mud slung just over the license plates. Trying too hard to blend.

Lucas steered Ellie by her elbow toward the pair of men. The taller of the two wore a too-new baseball cap and the other had on a pair of ridiculously dark sunglasses.

Lucas did his absolute best to mask his limp. Fuck, they were sitting on either side of the booth, so he and E would have to split up to join them.

He hated this more and more by the second.

"Last chance," he murmured to her.

"Keep going," she responded with a low rumble completely incongruent with the lovely smile on her face.

"Gentlemen," he said as he approached the table. The two guys who'd noticed them the instant they entered acted pleasantly surprised, as if they had run into old friends out for drinks.

"Have a seat, please." The Yankees fan motioned. Lucas gave Ellie's hand one final squeeze then ushered her into the seat with the obvious second-in-command.

"I think we have something of yours," Lucas said as if he were talking about a Tupperware container the guy had left at his house during their last potluck, or something as trivial as that. He plopped the sack on the table. Of course, the real bills had been replaced by high-quality counterfeits he'd cooked up while stashing the originals in the boathouse. He'd included a tracker for fun too.

The fake bills and transponder were all top-of-the-line, international-quality spy shit. Nothing these guys would be able to detect either. JRad had nearly come in his pants when he'd seen the gizmo up close. This way, they'd have an idea of where these losers were hanging out, so the Men in Blue could bring down the entire network of conmen and robbers.

"I'm surprised to see you found it." Sunglasses shook his head. "I would have thought it would be with someone else. Those three guys we know."

Lucas thought about the two corpses the Men in Blue had cleaned out of Ellie's house. He bet the third sucker wasn't doing much better right about now.

"Funny thing about that." Ellie dazzled them with her smile. She stuck to the script they'd rehearsed as best as possible, given that they hadn't known exactly what to expect. "Sometimes you discover what you're looking for in unusual places. Or maybe you figure out that what you were hunting for isn't what you need at all."

The taller guy nodded at her. "I do think that's true."

He steepled his fingers as he took a long, hard look at Ellie, then Lucas.

Neither one of them flinched. They must have passed his unspoken test.

"Would you like to go to the casino with us this weekend?" Yankees fan asked Ellie. "I've heard you're quite the lucky charm."

She laughed. Lucas hoped he was the only person who could sense the slight tinge of bitterness to the peal. She'd been dealt some rotten hands by fate lately. But he hoped to turn that around for them.

If she'd let him.

Lucas jumped into the conversation to seal the deal. The sooner they finished with these goons and got the hell away from here, the better he'd feel. "It's true. She won a jackpot last weekend. If we go with you, though, I'm sure they're going to pay lots of attention to her. High roller and all, you know. The house will want to win back their money. I'm sure that would be no fun for you. It'd almost be like you were invisible, you know?"

The man nodded solemnly. It was a solid plan. They'd be perfect for the job. Unsuspecting, the casino would be blind to the real drama happening in the cashier's cage. If Lucas were planning this heist for real, he would use a decoy exactly like Ellie.

She would steal everyone's attention.

Be the diversion they needed.

"Let's make a night of it," Sunglasses said. "We'll be in contact soon to arrange the details. Sound good?"

"Sure," Lucas answered for them both. "But if her good luck rubs off on you, I expect you to split the winnings with us fifty-fifty. It's only fair, after all."

Yankees nodded, though the glint in his eye told Lucas the man never intended to pay what he owed. He'd kill them before they could collect. Or he would if the Men in Blue weren't on to them, waiting to spring their trap. As soon as they had evidence in hand.

"That's a deal." The man grinned as their food was brought to the table.

"Well, we won't keep you from your dinners." Lucas stood then extended his hand to Ellie. She took it, her fingers like ice in his grip. "See you this weekend."

"It will be our pleasure." Sunglasses guy leered at Ellie when he said that, making Lucas long to rebreak his crooked nose with a punch or two to his smarmy face. Maybe once they had the cuffs on the douche bag, he could sneak in a jab or two.

Lucas let his hand trail behind him. Ellie's body blocked part of his, giving the thieves something to concentrate on beside his slightly uneven gait. He hated using her fine ass like that, but it had to be done.

Once they were outside, she started shivering despite the balmy air of late spring. He wished he had a jacket to drape around her. For warmth and just to keep whatever filthy eyes were on them from seeing too much of her.

When they got to his car, he checked around discreetly for any signs of tampering. When he found the strand of hair he'd placed over the passenger door broken, he stopped Ellie from getting in. Peeking in the window, he noticed a manila envelope on the seat.