Chapter 10 #2
“What about Avalon?” Isaac asked. “That’s the case we care about. Apparently, that damn article by Olivia Park spread the right names to the wrong people.”
“Oh, that?” Willow nodded at Lewis in the far corner nursing his wound. “That wasn’t because of the article. Anyone who wanted to know about… Dalton,” she said carefully, gauging Isaac’s response, which he tried to keep schooled, “already did.”
“How?”
She had an agelessness about her that could have placed her as young as Andrew or pushing fifty, and honestly, Isaac wasn’t sure which was true, but when she tilted her head, she looked as chiding as a matriarch.
“All those death threats, and you really think you haven’t been watched since the moment you were released? ”
“I’m not a snitch,” Isaac swore. “I didn’t run in those circles, I got dragged along—”
“Don’t tell me the sob story. Half the people who would care about what happened after the breakout are on your side.
They get it. The other half hate you, but most aren’t planning any foolhardy attacks, not with Luke around, or when Katy’s so popular.
No, that’s reserved for a small few. And you know who would have you at the top of their hit lists. ”
“Other than nobodies like Lewis, they’re all dead or in jail, including Boyega.”
“Not his brother.” Willow leaned pointedly over the table.
“Jericho is across the country.”
“Is he?”
Isaac felt a sense of dread coil at the base of his spine. “He’s not.”
“He’s not. He hired the city’s new thief to target your son’s research.”
“Why?”
“You put yourself in the spotlight, Arty. Makes it harder to reach you. But there are other ways to take revenge on someone. He has a buyer, some competitor of Avalon’s, but his real goal was to shake you up and find out exactly who Dalton was to you.
No one was sure. By now though, he guesses he’s your son. ”
“If we find him, we’ll still have to worry about the thief,” Isaac said, feeling the dread turn colder and biting inside him. “I don’t suppose you’d tell me—”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Willow said. “But honestly, even I don’t know who they are.
You’ll have to track them the way you were tracked.
” She glanced at Andrew again. “You know what to do. Wait for the next hit, wait for the ad, get them at the drop. Fifteen minutes intervals like usual. Client drops the cash, thief makes the exchange, client claims their spoils. No one’s been dumb enough to break that rule so far. ”
“Jericho won’t show up in person.”
“No, but whoever he sends can lead you right to him.”
“Why are you telling us all this?” Andrew asked the right question, but Isaac knew the answer.
“Arty’s a friend,” she said. “And Jericho isn’t.
The nasty ones always want to push into others’ territories.
It’s disrespectful. You get him arrested, win-win for me.
I know which friends are important to keep.
” She snapped her fingers again and a tray of drinks appeared as if her underlings could read her mind.
“You’re welcome to stay and have a little fun, if you like. ”
“Thanks, Will,” Isaac said, “but we’ll pass.” He made to bow his head and lead Andrew away, but one of the muscle came over to whisper something in Willow’s ear.
She shook her head with a smirk. “You’re going to have to teach your boy the ropes a bit better.”
“What?”
“He’s at the front door.”
ANDREW
Andrew could tell Ford was beyond incensed as they moved back through the building to the door they’d first entered. Between his rage and insistent pace, and the looks Andrew was getting from that punch having spread, they would definitely be remembered, however good or bad that might be.
Even in heels, Kathleen managed to stay ahead of Ford. She had her trench coat back and didn’t look like she’d broken a nail—Andrew even thought that Sandra might have been shaking her hand as they left—but pushed forward to reach the bouncer first, who had a vice grip on Dalton.
“Don’t worry, sweetie, he’s with me!” she called.
“Yeah?” the bouncer spun with an unfriendly snarl.
“My nephew, darling. Completely harmless.”
Dalton lit up at being saved—but then paled when he saw Ford’s face.
“We need to teach him self-restraint,” Kathleen said, carefully prying the bouncer’s hands off of Dalton, “but you, honey, I’ll call later.” She leaned up to kiss his cheek, and he looked less formidable as he relented and let them escape outside.
“Do you have any idea the danger you just put yourself in!?” Ford was a force of paternal rage. “How did you even know to come here?”
“I can do a tail too,” Dalton pouted.
“There is no way you followed us. I made sure—”
“I followed Andrew.”
Andrew retreated as Ford’s rage whipped to him. “I-I didn’t think—”
“No, you clearly didn’t. And neither did you.
” He reared back on his son. “We just found out that I was right. You were targeted on purpose. They know about you. They all know. And I can’t keep you safe.
I certainly can’t if you show up where the worst of them gather and no one would find your body. ”
Dalton looked rightly browbeaten, but he still countered, “I knew you were here. I knew I’d be fine.”
“That’s not good enough. Why would you risk—”
All at once, alarms on both Andrew and Ford’s phones started going off, and the exact timing and tone told them what it had to be.
The thief was at Avalon.
“The trap?” Dalton surmised. “It went off, didn’t it?”
“Did you bring a car?” Ford asked Andrew.
“A couple blocks down.”
“We can make it. It’ll take them at least ten minutes to get back to the first floor, and they have to use that same exit.”
“We should call Steve—”
“If they see any lights, they might try something different. We have to go now. Kathleen,” Ford grabbed Dalton’s arm and pushed him toward her, “take him home.”
“No way! I’m coming too. Don’t argue,” Dalton spoke over Ford’s protest. “We don’t have time, and I can get us in faster.” He pulled out his wallet to show off his ID badge, but then put it away before Ford could simply snatch it.
Andrew knew Ford hated everything about this, but he still said, “I’ll call you later,” to Kathleen and pushed Andrew and Dalton down the alley.
Andrew got them there in just over five minutes, lucking out with traffic, taking back alleys, and parking without care to race for the same entrance they’d broken into before. Their compressed air had long since evaporated—but there was new residue on the lock.
Dalton used his ID to get them in without causing any alarms. There were no obvious sounds of company inside or anyone in sight, but they were early.
The trap was simple. They knew the path the thief would follow but catching them relied on knowing when they struck—with a pressure plate.
A borrowed scale hidden on Dalton’s tabletop held everything worth stealing.
As soon as the weight changed, a signal had gone to Andrew and Ford’s phones.
If they were too late, they still had a failsafe.
The Bluetooth trackers Andrew had planned to use with Larson, hidden on the equipment.
“We’re at the exit. No sign of them yet,” Andrew reported to Kevin over his radio. “What about the trackers?”
“Still showing in the building,” Kevin said.
He nodded affirmative to Ford and Dalton.
“Riley, anything on the cameras?” Ford asked on his end.
He listened and nodded as well. “Working fine, but we know this thief knows where they are. They’re being smart, not wanting to alert anyone that something’s wrong.
But they have to go through this exit.” He gestured behind them.
“All the other cameras are stationary and would spot them. We just need to wait.”
They silently agreed on sentry points, moving to guard each hallway entrance.
Dalton stuck by Ford, and for a few anxious minutes, there was nothing but stillness, not even one of the security guards appearing, which made sense, since the thief would have chosen their timing when this route would be clear.
“Shit,” Kevin hissed over the comms.
“Kev? Is something wrong?”
Ford and Dalton dashed over to him to listen in.
“The camera to one of the other exits just went out. That whole grid, just shut off remotely.”
“Which exit?” Ford demanded.
“There!” Dalton cried, taking off as there was a flash of color and movement down the hallway.
“Wait!” Ford called after him. He gave chase, and Andrew sprinted in pursuit behind him, but Dalton still crested the corner first. Then Ford.
Then a gunshot rang out, followed by a scream.
Andrew prepared for the worst as he rounded the corner, but it wasn’t a gunshot, just the slam of the door, which must have caught Dalton’s hand, because he was on the ground cradling it, while Ford crouched over him.
“Go!” Ford cried.
Andrew wasted no time darting past them out the door, meeting the cool night air to see…
nothing. There were multiple directions the thief might have gone and no sign or indication of which one they’d chosen.
The ground wasn’t dusty or soggy enough to leave footprints, and there were too many shadows and hiding places.
Still, Andrew ran out further from the building, hoping to catch something, anything, even a random passerby, but the thief was gone.
Angry as he was at their failure, there was still plan B. He turned back to the building, bringing his hand up to his earpiece to alert Kevin—when he passed a dumpster just outside the exit and saw a collection of tiles sitting on top of the trash.
The trackers.