Free Ready by Lucy Monroe

was wrong. “I guess you enjoyed them?”
    “Yes. I liked them a lot.”
    His praise warmed places left cold by Hotwire’s revelations and she smiled. “Thank you.”
    He shrugged. “It’s the truth. So, you haven’t totally cleared the apartment?” he asked Hotwire, effectively changing the subject.
    “No. We left her car transmitter intact. The sound transmitter in her computer is now broken and we’ve rigged the video transmitter to send a constant picture of her empty apartment. Nitro and I made sure no one could be aware that we’ve been inside her apartment.”
    Joshua inclined his head in acknowledgement. “We’ll have to take the jury-rig off once she’s home.”
    “You’re going to leave the minicam in?” she asked.
    “If it conveniently breaks, too, there’s a good chance he’ll figure out you’ve got professional help and he’ll become a lot more cautious.”
    She hated the idea of the stalker seeing her, even in brief glimpses when she was in the line of the camera, but she was willing to put up with it if it meant catching him.
    “So, you don’t think he’ll break in while I’m gone right now?” she asked Joshua.
    He shook his head. “Too risky. He doesn’t know when you’re coming back and you left your car behind, so he has no way of tracking your arrival. Everything about his behavior so far indicates that he plans his actions carefully.”
    She had to agree, but it was still very disappointing.
    “If he doesn’t try today,” Hotwire said, his tone encouraging, “we’ll keep your apartment under surveillance when you go grocery shopping and do other things that take you out of the building.”
    “He’ll know where I am,” she said, thinking of the transmitter they’d left on her car.
    “Which is all the better because he’ll be confident you aren’t anywhere near home.”
    She nodded.
    Hotwire eyed Joshua. “Right…if you’re hanging around, Wolf, ain’t no way he’s coming near.”
    “I’m not leaving Lise alone.”
    “Didn’t think you would, buddy, but you’re going to have to be covert when she leaves the apartment and you have to stay out of the line of sight of the minicam at all times.”
    Joshua just stared and Hotwire smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Guess I don’t have to tell you that.”
    “Are you and Nitro going home, then?” she asked.
    Hotwire shook his head. “We rented an apartment in your building.”
    “Did you check the other vacancies?”
    “No sign of unauthorized use.”
    “And the other tenants?”
    “Only three have taken apartments since Lise moved in and none of them fit our perp’s parameters.”
     
    Joshua dropped Lise off at her apartment, walking her inside but leaving when she got on the elevator. Although she knew he would come to her apartment later, an immediate sense of isolation overwhelmed her with the shutting of the elevator doors.
    A dark, silent shadow separated from the wall when she let herself in and she could only be grateful Hotwire had told her Nitro would be there. Otherwise her heart would have climbed right up her throat.
    However, not being surprised by his presence was a far cry from being prepared to meet the man again…particularly on her own.
    He was taller than both Joshua and Hotwire, and had the classic bone structure, long black hair, and unreadable expression of an ancient Apache warrior.
    She shivered even as she stuck her hand out toward him. “Hi, Nitro. Joshua said you would be here.”
    He didn’t smile and she got the distinct impression he didn’t do it very often, but he did shake her hand.
    “Thank you for helping me,” she said, her voice a lot lower than she’d intended.
    “Wolf asked.” He released her hand and stepped back. “I’ll switch the camera back to live feed.” He turned without another word and left her standing in the hall, feeling a little disoriented.
    For the next hour, he silently worked at her computer out of the line of vision of