Chapter 31
Josie hadn’t slept much, but at least Spider had left her alone. He’d locked her in the bedroom with a warning not to try anything. Of course, she’d checked the window again, but without a fire escape, a jump from the third story wouldn’t end well for her.
In the long hours before sunrise, Josie’s worry turned to despair–despair for Adam, for Charlie, for the kids, and for herself.
She knew the chances of making it out of this situation weren’t good.
So much could go wrong, and Spider’s bad temper and impulsiveness weren’t a healthy combination of attributes.
Instead of thinking about the coming day and all the ways it might end badly, Josie forced her thoughts in a different direction.
She imagined Adam, uninjured, holding her and telling her he loved her.
She pictured Charlie the last time he’d been home on leave, smiling in his understated way and cheering for his beloved Red Sox.
She thought about Ellie enthusiastically telling a story with barely a breath in between words, and little Adam rolling his eyes at his sister, but with a look of adoration in his eyes.
She remembered the barbecue at Fiona and Jake’s house, and how the whole team had turned out to be together and support one another.
Josie wanted her life back. She wanted to do the work she believed in, and come home to a family she loved. She wanted to be part of this group of friends who cared deeply for each other, like family.
She wanted a damn toothbrush and a pair of clean underwear.
As her thoughts wandered to the mundane, she let out a watery laugh. Overtired and overstressed, it felt like her brain was short-circuiting, so she willed her eyes to close and finally fell into a deep sleep.
When she opened them again, late morning sunlight brightened the dingy room, and footsteps thumped around in the kitchen. Josie rattled the knob to find the door unlocked, and, after a trip to the bathroom, reluctantly made her way to the kitchen.
Spider sat at the table texting on his phone. He’d made coffee in an ancient coffee maker and pointed at the pot.
“Help yourself,” he said without looking at her.
Josie found a chipped mug in one of the cupboards and poured herself a cup, hoping the jolt of caffeine would help clear her foggy head.
In the fridge, she found creamer, gave it a sniff before adding some to her mug, and then sat at the table as far away from Spider as she could manage in the small space.
With potentially an entire day stretching ahead of her, Josie felt a strange combination of boredom and anxiety.
As she sipped her comforting, warm liquid quietly, she waited to take her cues from Spider.
That cue happened a little after noon.
Josie was sitting on the couch, watching more reruns of police procedurals.
This time it was one of the CSI shows. She briefly wondered why a criminal would be obsessed with law enforcement type series, where the good guys always won.
Maybe Spider thought he could learn something from the cops on the show that would help him stay one step ahead of them in real life.
“Check your bank balance,” Spider said, startling Josie as he tossed his phone onto her lap.
He moved to hover over her as she logged into her bank account. As soon as her information popped onto the screen, she could see that the balance transfer had gone through. Her stomach churned and her hands shook.
Spider snatched the phone from her hands.
“The money’s in the account?”
“Yes,” Josie answered.
“Let’s go get it now,” Spider said, tugging Josie out of her chair and shoving her toward the door.
***
Cam’s cell phone rang as they slowly cruised down a side street off Columbus Ave. A.J.’s eyes flickered to the display on the dashboard. Jake.
“What’s up?” Cam asked, tapping the answer button.
“The money transferred into Josie’s account at noon.”
“Josie uses Bank of America. Where’s the closest full-service branch to Andrew Square?” A.J. asked, his mind spinning.
“Hang on,” Jake said, and A.J. could hear the clicking of fingers on a keyboard over the line.
Cam turned down another side street.
“The one on Washington Street,” Jake said, a few seconds later. “Any luck finding the Honda?”
“Not yet,” Cam answered. “But we’re going to make a small change in plans. Get Maria inside that bank ASAP, and have Tank running surveillance.”
“On it,” Jake said.
Cam slowed the SUV and pulled over to the curb, then tapped open the map feature on his phone. He pointed at an intersection. “If they’re somewhere in this neighborhood and need to get to that bank, they’ll have to drive through here.”
A.J. had worked with Cam on so many operations over the years, both domestically and abroad, that he could follow his friend’s train of thought before he even finished it.
“And if we wait there, we’ll see them as they head to the bank,” A.J. finished.
Cam gave A.J. an intense look. “She’s your girl. Do you want to keep looking for the Honda in this neighborhood, or go wait near that intersection?”
“Let’s go to the intersection. The car could be in a parking lot or underground garage, and we might miss it.
If Josie transferred that money, it’s because she thinks she’s found a way to buy herself time, and she knows how we operate.
She knows we’ll be on the lookout for this kind of thing,” A.J. said.
“That’s what I’m thinking too, but this needs to be your decision.”
“Let’s go,” A.J. said.
Cam hit the gas and headed back toward Columbus Ave.
“Maria and Tank are on their way.” Jake’s voice came back over the line.
A.J. relayed to Jake their plan to sit on the intersection, and Jake kept the line open, updating them on Maria and Tank’s location every couple of minutes.
“We’re going to have to let the police know if Spider steps foot in that bank. We can’t go inside to diffuse a situation like that without informing them we’re in there,” Cam said.
A.J. sighed. “Yeah, I know. Let’s wait until we have a visual, then I’ll call Detective Morgan.
***
Despite the chill in the fall air, Josie was sweating through her clothes. Spider had kept the vice grip on her arm as he manhandled her out of the apartment building and into the car. When he’d slammed her door shut, he tapped his gun on her window in warning.
As they drove, Josie’s whole body trembled.
She ran through various scenarios in her head, from trying to make a run for it outside the bank to admitting to the bank teller she was under duress.
Spider, per usual, was the wildcard in every scenario.
Josie didn’t know if he’d be standing next to her, with his gun pressed into her back, or if he’d wait menacingly in the lobby.
She worried how exactly she was going to convince some poor, unsuspecting bank teller to give her twenty-five thousand dollars from an account she couldn’t prove was hers.
She worried her ill-advised plan was going to get someone else hurt.
She worried that she’d pass out the minute she stepped into the bank lobby.
The closer they got to their destination, the more panicked Josie became.
The coffee she’d had earlier soured in her stomach and she wrapped her arms protectively around herself, as if that would do any good.
As she stared out the window, focused on her breathing exercises, the familiar logo of her bank on a large brick building came into view.
Spider found street parking a block away, and then they were walking toward the entrance.