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“Once you can confirm that the guy waiting is Roberts, then you give the signal.” They’d gone over the signal so many times that she almost rolled her eyes. “There’s a chance this isn’t our perp. We need you to verify ID before we bring hell crashing onto him.”

“Right.” The butterflies in her stomach were sure doing some kind of wild dance. And her palms were wet. And her heart really, really needed to slow down.

It was almost showtime.

Cain caught her hands. Brought her fingers to his lips and pressed a quick kiss against her knuckles. “It’s going to be over soon.”

Over would be great. No more serial-killing vampire on the streets of her town, thank you very much.

“I’ll see you at the restaurant.” His gaze was warm, tender. And worried.

“See you then,” Miranda repeated and felt her smile melt away. For her protection, two deputies were stationed outside of her house. And Sam was on his way. He was going to be her tail to the restaurant.

Cain opened the front door. Hesitated with his hand on the knob. “Don’t drop your guard with him.”

“I won’t.” Not that she particularly needed that reminder.

Cain looked as if he wanted to say more but then he turned away and headed out the door. He called out a quick greeting to the men stationed near the foot of her steps as he hurried to his car.

Miranda followed him to the doorway. Her hands rose and gripped the hard wood of the doorframe. This was it. The time they’d been planning for had finally arrived.

She just hoped she could hold everything together.

Cain sped down the drive, disappearing in a faint cloud of dust and the flash of red taillights. After a moment, Miranda nodded to the two men and pushed the door closed.

She’d change. Put on a short black dress, as if she were going to meet a lover. A wig was waiting in her bedroom, the perfect piece needed to make her become Angie Phillips, the woman she’d depicted on her fake dating profile.

If things went according to plan, Roberts would be spending the rest of his night in a jail cell. Then the Feds would take charge of the vampire the next day. Cain had told her that the vampire wouldn’t burn in the daylight, but he would be weak.

Weakness would make him much easier to handle.

Miranda stepped toward the bedroom.

A floorboard squeaked behind her. It was all the warning Miranda got.

She spun around and found Paul smiling at her.

“Guess I won’t be making our date tonight, eh, love?” Paul grinned at her. “And neither will you.”

Oh, God.

Miranda screamed as loud as she could, hoping to alert the men outside, and then she turned and ran.

He laughed. “Oh, please, scream all you want. Those poor humans out front can’t help you now.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. He’d set them up.

“It was so easy to slide into your mind,” he called, sending the words flying after her. “So incredibly easy.”

The sadistic bastard had been on to them all along.

Had he killed the deputies? No, please no.

Her heart felt like it would rip from her chest. Paul was running down the hallway behind her now. The heavy thump of his feet hitting the wood echoed in her ears.

She shot to the left, dashing for the kitchen. The back door was close. A few feet away.

More laughter. Too close.