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“Bingo.” He awards her with a heart-fluttering smile that I can’t help wishing was directed at me. “And I want to keep hitting the joints that Patriots Now is laundering their money through as a little extra ‘fuck off’ to them.”
“So I still don’t see how irritating the crap out of them ends Patriots Now by the end of the summer,” Johnny says. “Other than posing as them, I don’t see how your plan is much different from what we’ve already been doing.”
Jeb nods toward the money on the table. “Eli, you killed the tracker that was on the money, right?”
I roll my eyes. “Of course,” I tell him, a little insulted he’d doubt me on something so basic.
“Can you make it work again?”
I nod my head. “Not the exact same signal, but I can spoof it to where whoever is tracking the signal won’t know the difference.”
“Cool. Then it’s settled. Eli and I will go on our road trip-slash-crime spree together.” He looks at me. “Have you ever been on a road trip before?”
When I shake my head no, he smiles like I just gave him a birthday present. He starts practically vibrating in his chair as excitement dances in his eyes. “I didn’t think so. We’ll take the back way so you have a chance to see the sights. There’s this one gas station in Lafayette I gotta take you to. Its boudin is so good it will make you cry and tempt you to move to Louisiana. And maybe we can check out a few ball games.”
“As much as I think it’s cool that Eli might get a chance to catch a fly ball,” Johnny says. “How do you plan to take down Patriots Now between showing Eli the biggest ball of yarn and having him try to figure his way out of a corn maze?”
“I hadn’t thought about the corn mazes,” Jeb exclaims excitedly.
Johnny groans, and Jeb waves his concerns away. “Once Eli spoofs the tracker, we’ll keep the Patriots Now goons one step behind us chasing their money.”
“And what do we do while you two are seeing America?” Cash asks and then turns to Johnny with a stubborn look on his face. “I’m not being sidelined cause you don’t think I’m healed enough.”
Johnny looks like he has something to say to that, but Jeb speaks before Johnny and Cash can start bickering.
“Relax.” He eyes Cash and Johnny. “Both of you. There’s plenty that needs to be done, and a lot of it won’t bust your sutures open. While Eli and I do our thing, Patriots Now still needs to be kept off balance. Since you both love stealing cars, focus on hitting all the used car dealerships they launder their money through.”
“We also need someone to keep track of the big honcho—the guy with the daughter Johnny was stringing along to get access to his home.”
“You mean Leland Banks, the founder of Patriots Now?” I ask.
“Yeah.” He snaps his fingers. “That’s the one. When we’re done with our high-profile crime spree, we’ll figure out a way to plant most of the loot we steal at Banks’s compound in Lexington. Then Archie Hendrix can pull off some of his covert magic of his and arrange to raid Bank’s home.” He mimes dusting off his hands. “Banks and all those other Patriots Now assholes join the Reivers in jail.”
There’s a quiet pause while everyone in the room takes a second to admire the simple brilliance of Jeb’s plan.
“You came up with all that yesterday when you walked into that credit union?” Daisy asks in an incredulous voice.
“More or less.” He shrugs like it’s no big deal. His glance flickers to me. “I saw an opportunity to get what I wanted, so I made it happen.”
Cash gets up and gets the bottle of tequila. As he pours the liquor intoDixie cups, he glares at Johnny, daring him to object. Johnny glares back, but doesn’t say anything.
Cash hands me my usual shot of water and then passes out the tequila to the rest of the crew. “Here’s to a good plan and the man who made it.”
Jeb looks down. For a man who loves and demands attention, he can become oddly shy when it’s given to him. He takes a breath and when looks back up, he’s wearing his easy confidence once more. “Here’s to me.”
We all take our shots, and mine might as well have been tequila, because as I swallow my water, Daisy speaks, “Now, let’s get back to the subject of those handcuffs.”
I start choking.
Chapter9
Jeb
Tennessee
The beer and tequila flow while we stay up late into the night finessing my plan.The one about taking down Patriots Now out, not my personal one of keeping Eli at my side until I’m ready to let him go.
Daisy disappeared about a little while ago to take her bubble bath. As soon as I heard the bath water turn on, I streamed some Barry White through the speakers in the suite. “Very funny, asshole,” she called out through the bathroom door.
