Page 59 of Billion-Dollar Ransom
Annoyance in his tone, One repeated, “Do you understand, Two?”
Boo was studying him very,veryclosely now.
Two knew he shouldn’t ask a question—any question. One discouraged such things. He wanted people to carry out his wishes without pushback or improvisation. But he had to know.
“One, has there been an issue with the… transaction?”
There was a lengthy pause. Two felt like he was dangling between the sky and the earth. Boo reached out and touched his arm. Her touch felt like cold death.
Finally, One said for the third time: “Do you understand, Two?”
No. No, he didn’t. Not a damn thing about this made sense.
All at once, the hairs on his arms stood on end. Something in the world had just shifted—Two’s professional instincts were coming back online. In his former life, he could always tell when a tricky situation was about to go south, usually a few seconds before the rest of the team knew.
“What’s wrong?” Boo asked.
Wrong.
Something was about to go very, very wrong.
CHAPTER 64
TWO DID NOT like the sound of any of this. Not One’s irritated tone. Not the abrupt change of plans. What the hell was going on? Clearly,somethinghad gone wrong, and some part of the plot, if not the whole thing, was collapsing. But all Two could say in this moment were words of total compliance:
“Yes, One, I understand.”
One disconnected before Two had the chance to do it himself.
Shit.
Two truly missed the built-in gossip network of the LAPD. Even if your commanding officer wouldn’t tell you jack shit, there was always someone you could ask for insight on any given situation. Maybe a fellow cop who’d had one too many after a long shift. Or bored retirees keeping a hand in the mix. Ex-wives. Even somebody else’s CI, someone who might want to get one over on their handler.
But with One, there was no network. One was the lonenexus point for all of them. Two didn’t even know the identities of his fellow teammates. (He had some vague ideas, but nothing concrete.) There was no way to know if one of them had screwed up or maybe turned snitch on the rest of them. They were all operating in the dark, except for those times when One deigned to let a little light slip in.
“What is it?” Boo asked.
Two realized his captive had been studying his face and could easily read the complex emotions playing out on his features. There was no time to sugarcoat it for her.
“We have to move,” he said. “Right now.”
“Where?”
“I’ll let you know when we get there.”
Boo reached out and grabbed his forearm as if trying to stop him from touching a hot stove. “No. Don’t do that. Don’t pretend we’re right back to the way things started. I can help, you know.”
“Help? Help how, exactly?”
“I think best when I’m under pressure. First, tell me why we’re leaving in such a hurry.”
Two almost blurted it out, but hesitated. This was moving too fast. He suspected he could trust her, but it was far from a certainty. If he told Boo Schraeder what One had just told him—that a SWAT team was en route to this location—she could easily make trouble for him. Even delaying him by thirty seconds could make all the difference.
And then Two would end up in jail, the last place someone in his former profession would want to be. And even if he survived for a while, One would surely offer a reward for hismurder. Probably wouldn’t even require much of a bounty. A few extra candy bars and cartons of cigarettes from the commissary would do it.
And then there was Boo… something about her touch. Her kiss. The way she spoke to him, even reassured him despite the circumstances.
Two had always trusted his gut. And his gut was telling him this was real. Was this the world’s most bizarre meet-cute? Absolutely. But that made it even more special.
