Page 34 of Red, White, and BearCat Blue

I nodded to Cam, and he let out a long sigh. “Okay. I’ll tell you everything I know about the guy. Like I told Mars and Mickey, I’m pretty sure he’s a really bad guy.”

“Which is what I gathered. Now, please tell us what you know about him.”

“One more thing,” Cam said.

I refrained from rolling my eyes.

“What’s that?”

“I want the FBI to protect my mom. He’s threatening to move her to L.A. since he says he’s planning on moving his entire organization there…along with me, of course. He says he’s only moving Mom to make it convenient for me, but it’s not.”

“I see,” Candy said. “What do you think it is then?”

Cam frowned, leaning closer to the mobile I held between us. “I took it as a threat to hurt my mom if I don’t do everything he says. I mean that. Once he has us in Los Angeles, he knows I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep her safe, so you’ll have to protect me and my mom or this whole deal is off the table.”

Since he didn’t really have any other choice but to cooperate with the Bureau in order to keep his mom safe, it really was a hollow threat, but I didn’t think it was the time and place to point that out.

“Okay, I’m sure we can make that arrangement,” Candy said, much to Cam’s relief, if I was reading his body language correctly.

“I need you to promise me or I’m not telling you anything,” Cam insisted.

There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone. I knew Candy was getting frustrated and judging by the way Mickey was tensing beside me, so did he. “Fine, Mr. Demarco. Tell me everything you know about Josiah Sterling, and I’ll promise you the FBI will make sure both you and your mother are safe.”

I smiled at Cam, nodding my head as he told Candy everything.

Chapter Nine

CAM

I told Mars’ boss everything I knew about Josiah, not leaving anything out.

When I finished about ten minutes later, it was almost a relief to have all of it out in the open. I hadn’t realized until after I’d finished how much guilt I’d been carrying around with being part of his organization. I’d started out as a cool car thief, a bit of fun, a challenge, and somehow, now, it had become a way of life rather than a choice I made only once in a while. It actually felt really good to tell someone everything.

“So, Mr. Sterling told you he’d have guys at your place to move you the day after tomorrow in the morning?” Candy asked.

“That’s what he said,” I replied. “But Mars and Mickey got me a room at the Flamingo for tonight.”

Mars leaned toward the phone. “We wanted to talk to ya before deciding to take ‘im back to ‘is place tonight so ‘e can pack. We weren’t sure what ya wanted us to do.”

Several seconds ticked by before Candy said, “Do you have a way to contact Mr. Sterling, Cam?”

“If it’s an emergency,” I replied. “He’s made it very clear that he doesn’t like me calling him.”

“All right. Call him and tell him that your sister called you. She’s flying in tonight and wants to spend the day with your mom tomorrow. She does this. Just turns up. You can’t stop her. Sound exasperated and anxious. A little annoyed. Let him know you can’t pack up your place tonight because you’re not feeling good. But his guys can come by in the late afternoon the following day, so you have time to pack that morning.”

I frowned at Mars. “I don’t have a sister, though. And should I just go home tonight then?”

“No, I agree with Mars and Mickey. It’s best you stay at the hotel and go home tomorrow. The sister sounds plausible. A reason to delay things slightly. Now that I’ve spoken with you, I’d like a little extra time to put some things in motion, and by pushing your move date back by even a few hours, it’ll give me time to get that done.”

I looked at Mars who nodded. I sighed. “Okay, I’ll call him, and what do I say about ‘my sister’ if he asks more questions?” This was starting to feel crazy and a mess.

“We’ll be with ‘im when ‘e makes the call, Candy,” Mars said, giving me an encouraging nod. I stared into his kind eyes and realized he possibly wanted to listen to the call, so he could gauge Josiah’s mood. Hopefully, I could make the call sound believable.

“Good,” Candy replied. “Thank you for being so open and honest with me, Mr. Demarco. I look forward to everything going well with your move.”

“What about my mom?”

“I don’t want you to worry about her. I’ll get some agents to watch over her at the care home tonight and the delay you put in place with your phone call will help facilitate her safety.”