Page 52 of K-9 Prime Target

“The dummy is there on the sofa. Covered with a blanket, as if you fell asleep. You and I are positioned where we can see the sofa.”

“When Nicholson abducted me before, he waited outside my hotel room,” she said. “He didn’t have to break in.”

“Right. But you’ll look so tempting, there on the sofa. Alone and vulnerable. He’ll have to break in.”

She wrinkled her forehead. “How? I’ve got really good locks.”

“We leave a back window unlocked. An oversight.”

“He’ll be suspicious.”

She was thinking of every angle, he had to give her that. “Maybe not,” he said. “He took risks before. That’s how he was caught. And he’s been bolder this time—confronting you at the terrain park, and then slashing you in the middle of a crowd. But he hasn’t yet gotten what we think he wants—to be alone with you. I think he’ll be willing to take a chance.”

“All right,” she conceded. “He breaks in. What happens next?”

“We let him get close to the sofa, then I jump him while you call the sheriff.”

She shook her head. “He’ll have a knife. A sharp one.”

“I’ll have a gun.”

“Liam Davies! What are you doing with a gun?”

“I don’t have it yet,” he admitted. “But I’m going to get one.”

“How? You’re not an American citizen.”

“I always hear about how easy it is to get a gun in the US.”

“Absolutely not,” she said. “You could end up in jail. Or he could shoot you. Or stab you.”

“Fine. Then we don’t wait for him to get close to the sofa. We call the sheriff as soon as he steps in the house. And if I get a chance, I come up behind him and hit him in the head. Or throw a net over him.”

“This isn’t a slapstick comedy!” She started giggling.

He pulled her close, laughing, too. “I guess I got a little carried away,” he said. “My default mode is absurdity when things get too out of control.”

“I don’t think everything about the plan is bad,” she said. “But we need better backup. Maybe we should talk to the sheriff’s office again.”

“Right.” He sat up straight and assumed a stern expression. “Young man, I don’t need you to tell me how to do my job. We’d be wasting time and money with your absurd scheme. We don’t even know this person intends to attack again. He didn’t succeed last time, so he’s probably given up and left town.”

“I hope that’s not what the sheriff really thinks,” she said. “But I’m afraid you might be right.” The sheriff’s office hadn’t responded to her requests for more information, and Doug and Marlena weren’t answering her calls, either. If it wasn’t for her fellow ski patrollers calling and stopping by, she might have despaired.

“We could ask ski patrol for help,” Liam said, as if reading her mind.

“It’s too dangerous,” she said.

“You’re talking about people who handle dynamite and risk avalanches for a living,” he said. “I don’t think they’re easily intimidated.”

“It’s so much to ask,” she said.

“You would do the same for them, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes, but…”

“Let’s invite them over to talk,” he said. “What have you got to lose?”

She sighed. “I guess we don’t really have anyone else to turn to. We’ll ask them. But maybe they can help us come up with a better plan. A safer one.”