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“Wade’s going to be on an electric dirt bike following along in the woods. When the guy runs off the road, Wade’s going to run up on them like he’s the saving grace. He’s going to have brass knuckles under his gloves so he can punch out the glass and stop the vehicle if need be or get in to check on the driver if the woman isn’t opening the door. She most likely won’t have seen the dart or know that the driver is impaired unless he tells her—and remember his whole focus is to get away.”

“What’s she doing?” Viv asked.

“From my experience, people in freaky circumstances freeze,” Wade said.

“And what happens from there?” Ben asked.

“Back at the mansion, if the coast is clear, Ben, you drop down, get on your own electric bike and get out of there.”

“Who would stop him?” Viv asked.

“They hired one guy with a dog to be on hand,” Jay said. “It’s just for show, so Muffy looks impressive to her guests. He’s a day hire, looking for a quick paycheck and no hassles. My guess is, if he sees something, he’ll turn a blind eye. Besides, he should be watching the perimeter, so he’ll be walking around the house. Ben can keep an eye on the guy and tell us when it’s a good time to make the downed-dog call.”

Vivian glared at Jay. “This plan has so many holes. It’s the Swiss cheese of plans.”

“I’m painting with broad strokes. We’ll have to get granular about it and make contingency plans. The house is on a hill. Once the chauffeur goes over the ridge, we don’t have to worry about the guard. Wade’s face is obscured by his helmet. He gets into the limo and drives to a ruin I found on a hiking app. Nice and private. There, Ben, Wade, and me invite Mrs. Amanda Gotbucks to share her wealth.”

“How?” Ben asked.

“We have her log into her wallet and send us a shit-ton of crypto.” Jay turned to Vivian. “Crytpo is untraceable. We aren’t hurting her. She gives us the money—which she will because money is meaningless to her. This isn’t her rent money, this is that day’s interest accumulation—she gives us the money, and we make it so she’s inconvenienced but not hurt and we go on our way.”

“I thought you said no connectivity,” Viv said.

Okay good. Vivian was looking for holes. She might be okay with this plan. “Mike can set up a hot spot at our chosen work space.”

“You all have full-face helmets?” Viv asked.

“Yes, and we all have electric dirt bikes, so we can stay silent and off the road.” He turned back to Ben and Wade. “After she’s bought the crypto, we ball gag her, tie her up, and leave her there to find her way home.”

“And we’ll be long gone,” Wade said with a clap of his hands and a grin.

“If anything goes awry, we stop, drop, and roll,” Jay said. “Then we get another plan together. It’s so unexpected that no one’s thinking about such a thing. I’m not that worried about it. Wade can tell you that surprise is ninety percent of the game on a mission.”

Wade laced his fingers and rested his hands on the top of his head. “As far as broad strokes go, I like it. I bet she’s pees on herself.”

“What if the security dude with the dog sees this go down?” Ben asked. “What if he makes a phone call?”

“Mike knows what he’s doing,” Jay told Ben. “Wade and Vivian know him. He’s a buddy from the Army who worked in communications. He was in software development after the military but got the boot because of AI. Now he programs drones for the light shows that are taking the place of fireworks. He’s all into that shit. We can depend on him because he needs the money, and he’s pissed at his job.”

“Mike’s good,” Vivian said. “But what can he do about the calls?”

“He has a machine that can pull a cell phone call through his device before routing it on to the cell tower. He uses it to listen in on calls and pick up data.”

“Like what?” Wade asked.

“He wants to hear what the financial bigwigs are saying about what to buy and what to sell on the stock market. He thought he could ride their coattails to his own millions. But you need seed money to make that work. And Mike’s got milk money. Point being, Mike can intercept the call and be a fake 9-1-1 operator, or if the driver is calling someone else—he’s dialing team or something—Mike can jam it up.”

“And if the security guy sees Benny?” Viv asked.

“Ben’s got more darts: one for the security guy, one for the dog.”

“Why not do that preemptively?” Viv asked.

“Because,” Ben said, “once the guard is shot, he’s still got at least five minutes to act.”

“That’s enough time to move everyone to a safe room. If he does that, Mrs. Payday doesn’t come out,” Wade said.

“So there are four of us?” Ben asked.