“Almost there,” Josh panted, sprinting for the town car.“Fuck me.It’s going to be close.”
All the times he’d jumped off buildings or danced for hours.All the times he’d pushed his body to its max, strong, fleet, graceful, and it turned out the most important race of his life was being run in a back parking lot as he tried to beat a valet who was attempting to finish his cigarette quickly before they both got to the same town car.
At that moment, something complicated went on in his ear—and, as usual, it had to do with Grace.
“Hey—ouch!The fuck!”
And then, that voice.“Iknowyou.”And, almost bewildered.“Iknowyou.I’ve seen you on surveillance—you’ve… you’ve beeneverywhere!”
“Mister,” Grace said, “I’ve never seen you before in my life.”
Oh God—Grace.Who could rob a nun blind but couldn’tfucking lie.
“Grab him,” Kadjic muttered, and there was something jumpy in his voice.Josh pictured the jowly mobster with his eyes flickering in all directions.Had he seen Carl?Was he rethinking Julia?Did Tienne appear suspect?To Kadjic—so paranoid they didn’t know where he actually lived—every interaction, every frustration of the last two months, must have been scrolling through his mind.
Josh hoped it was epic.He hoped Kadjic saw shadows that reminded him of old enemies and the faces of the dead he’d left behind in every stranger’s eyes.
“Grab me?”Grace protested.“Grab me?Help!Help!I’m being—oolf!”
Oh God.Oh God.They had Grace!
“Josh,” Carl said, his voice edging on panic.“They left.They’re heading for the valet lot themselves.Somebody sounded the alarm for the Klimt, and he knows the game is on.You need to duck out of sight ASAP.”
Josh didn’t have enough breath to answer.The valet had stopped to shout instructions to two of Kadjic’s thugs as they neared the entryway to the valet lot, and Josh was mere feet from the back of the town car.From this angle, Josh could see Grace, sagging in the grip of one of the thugs.
Grace.
Shit.Kadjic was approaching—Josh was going to get busted if he didn’t find someplace to hide, and find itnow.
He felt the trickle of blood from his nose as he fell against the back of the town car, fortunately in the shadows.He was hidden from Kadjic’s party, but could still watch them advance, and he thought helplessly that most of the vehicles out in this area were low-slung growly sportscars that would probably give Chuck a hard-on but that he could hardly roll under without getting squashed.
The trunk latch rattled underneath his weight, and his panic and his breathlessness faded as his formidable brain took over.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his lock picks, trying to remember if the valet had already clicked the alarm system as he’d approached.
He must have, Josh thought as he opened the trunk and slipped in, then closed it from the safety handle inside.
Nobody even saw him hide.
LIAM WONDEREDhow old he was now.He’d been about to turn thirty-one and feeling mighty old next to his young lover, whom he refused to relinquish, before Molly had opened the bottom hatch, the one level with the dock, so he could slip into the yacht, but that felt like it was a thousand years ago.
His path had been littered with moaning henchmen with zip-ties around their wrists—but only three of them.
“How many?”he asked softly as he followed her through the labyrinthine corridors.
“There’s at least twenty,” she said.“Right now most of them are up in the common room, whining about the rations.”There was a touch of smugness in her voice.She’d been “delivered” that morning in a big pallet of boxes that had been transported to the cargo hold.The markings on the side had indicated steaks and pies, and discovering those boxes had been emptied had probably pissed a lot of the lower ranks off.
They’d be assuming the captains had all dined well that night.The captains would all be assuming they worked with thieves.That hadn’t been the plan, but it was a windfall to sow dissension in the ranks before you robbed them of their cargo.
“Have you made contact with the victims yet?”
Molly gave him a fierce look.“Some of them are in a bad way,” she said unhappily.“They’ll need medical.I already contacted Felix and Danny, but they’re going to need help swimming under the dock to the other ship.”
Liam grunted and wished for maybe the more bloodthirsty mindset of a TV law enforcer.“Due process,” he whispered to himself.“Due process.Due process.”
One of the men at his feet moaned and spat, and Liam kicked him in the ribs.
That process was due, he thought sourly.
