Page 70 of Deception and New Direction

“All that charity paperwork you signed contained a few extra pieces—including a money transfer—which my secretary notarized,”Ronaldsaid.

I felt chills roll up and down my spine.They’dhad all of this planned.

“So now you’re going to go with me andRonaldto the bank and transfer all the money to my account,”Jasonspoke up. “Andjust to make sure you don’t do anything stupid,Dadwill stay with ol’ grandpappy here.”

He stepped closer to me and scowled, his voice lowered. “Ifyou don’t do exactly as we say,Dadpulls the trigger, andHankgets a bullet in his head.”

Tears welled up in my eyes at the same time as anger rolled through me.Icouldn’t believeIever thought my brother cared—even just a little bit.Iwas just a meal ticket to him.He’dplayed the long con well.

As much asIhated that they would get the money,Ihad no choice.Iwould not be responsible for my granddad’s death.ButIalso knew there was a high probability they would kill him anyway, even ifIdid give them the money, soIneeded to think of something.

Think.

I had on my boxing glove necklace—the one with the tracker in it—but that would only help if the guys knew to track it.Noneof them realizedIwould be leaving the house.ThenIremembered the cameras outside—the onesArcherandJackhad installed around my granddad’s house.

“Let’s go,”Ronaldsaid to everyone. “Thesethings take time to sign and transfer, andIwant this done long before the bank closes today so we can make sure the transaction goes through.”

I needed to somehow get a message across to the guys if they decided to check the cameras—but what?

“Come on, dear ol’ sis,”Jasonsaid in a cheerful voice as he grabbed my arm and squeezed to the point of pain.

I turned quickly toGranddad. “You’llbe okay,Granddad.I’llbe back soon.Justsit tight.”

His mouth was covered, so he couldn’t say anything, but he winked at me, soIknew he heard me.Ijust hoped he listened and didn’t do anything stupid to piss my dad off.

“Stop stalling.Move!”Jasonordered.

He yanked me toward the front door, andItried to keep up, butIwasn’t as fast as him with my boot on.

As we walked out the door and onto the front porch,Itried to turn my body to where the camera was and looked straight into it and mouthed, “Help!”Ijust hoped the guys saw my message quick enough.

26

JACK

Archer andIhad just finished up our recon job when we walked in to findDiegositting at the front desk, covering forRuthie.

“You hear fromRuthieabout her grandfather yet?”Diegoasked.

“No, but that man is as stubborn as she is, soIimagine the two of them will spend at least an hour bickering about whether he goes to the doctor or not,”Itold him.

“Jack!”Cathollered as the three of us walked in the door. “Haveyou heard fromRuthie?”

“No.Ijust told these guys…"Istarted to say, butIwas cut off byCat.

“Look, she promised me she would text me as soon as she got there, and that was an hour ago.Evenwith bad traffic, she should have been there by now.Plus, she hasn’t answered any of the three textsIsent her.MaybeI’mjust paranoid, butIalways get worried about rideshare drivers with all the stories you see on the news.”

“We put cameras up atHank’splace,”Archersaid. “I’llpull them up, and we can see if she made it and just forgot to text you, okay?”

Cat nodded emphatically. “Yes, please.”

AsArcherpulled up the cameras on the desktop in front ofDiego,Ipulled out my phone to make sureRuthiehadn’t texted—nothing.

“DidHankget a new car?”Archerasked.

“No, why?”Iasked as he turned his phone to me to show another car parked in the driveway.

Wade andElliewalked in the front entrance just asDiegospoke up. “HeyCat.Doyou remember what kind of carRuthie’srideshare was?”

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