“We can stop him,” Lena said quietly, and when they all looked at her, she met their eyes without flinching. “But only if we let him think he is winning.”
The plan was dangerous, controlled only by precision and trust.
A park was chosen, a family picnic staged exactly as Frost had demanded through his proxies, and stand in children from a licensed security firm were placed where the twins would have been, while the real boys were hidden safely away under guard.
Lena was wired, a tiny camera concealed on her jacket, her voice recorded, her heart pounding as she stepped into the sunlight that morning, knowing that this was the moment everything would tip one way or another.
Families laughed around them, dogs ran through the grass, and for nearly an hour nothing happened, until a man approached with a smile that did not reach his eyes.
“Beautiful children,” he said, crouching near the stroller. “Mind if I take a picture?”
“No,” Lena replied firmly, stepping between him and the babies, and when his expression hardened and he murmured Frost’s name under his breath, the trap snapped shut.