Page 13 of Billion-Dollar Ransom
One of the gunmen had the garage-door opener. As Five pulled forward, the door lifted.
“You two okay back there?” Five called over his shoulder.
There were no moans, no grumbles, no nothing. His captives were still unconscious from the knockout drugs.
Good.
Five pulled into the garage and watched as the door began to close behind him. That was triggered by one of the gunmen, who anticipated Five’s every move. They were more than a working team. They were like brothers, with a connection thicker than blood. Sometimes it felt like they shared the same mind.
So, yeah, sure, the mysterious Mr. One didn’t want Five to get anyone else involved in this kidnapping plot. He’d made that very clear:
If you improvise, you will not be paid. If you involve others, you will not be paid.
But Five didn’t work without his brothers. You hired Five, you were hiring all of them.
CHAPTER 16
Wednesday, 5:13 p.m.
“OH, WOW, you have Mastermind!” Finney exclaimed.
“Of course we have Mastermind,” Three said. “That happens to be our all-time favorite game. And no matter what my wife says, I am the master of all the minds!”
“I’ll bet I can beat you,” Finney replied.
“No one has ever beaten me at Mastermind,” Three said.
Four responded to this with an eye roll. She knew the truth. Until a few days ago, Three had never heard of Mastermind. Shortly before the abduction, Three and Four received a list of Cal’s and Finney’s favorite board games. None of them required power or Wi-Fi; these were old-school board games like Clue, Monopoly, and, yes, Mastermind.
Three and Four were given no instructions, just the list, typed on a plain index card and mailed in a crisp white envelope, but they’d understood what to do. They’d gone out thatnight, purchased every single one, and brought them to their hideaway in suburban Garden City, California, just outside of Pasadena.
Three and Fourstilldidn’t know how they’d ended up on One’s radar. But they were the couple best suited for the task at hand. Or so he had claimed.
And right now, the task at hand was keeping Cal and Finney happily distracted. They were smart kids and needed to stay fully engaged.
“Set up your pegs,” Finney said. “I’ll guess first.”
“Never in a million years, my friend,” Three replied.
“I’ll guess it in five moves!”
Cal nodded. “You don’t understand,” he told Three. “She’s really, really good.”
“Did you know,” Finney said, “that Mastermind was invented by an Israeli communications expert as a way to practice code-breaking?”
“Is that right,” Three said, staring at the game board as if it had suddenly transformed into a difficult math problem. Four knew that Three was very bad at math. He had no idea how to play the game. The box had made it look simple—little colored pegs on a plastic board with holes in it. How hard could it be?
“While you all master each other’s minds,” Four said, “I’ll get dinner started.”
“What are we having?” Cal asked.
“Flatbread pepperoni pizzas.”
Finney looked concerned. “I don’t know how much kidnapping research you did, but I happen to be a vegetarian.”
“She is,” Cal confirmed.
“Don’t worry,” Four said. “We did our research. I’m making one without pepperoni and with plenty of mushrooms and green peppers.”
