Chapter 263
699 Words
“You sure we should be dragging a civilian into this? I know she’s smart and tough, OK, and the woman can shoot if she can get her hands on a gun. But this is getting dark and dirty, man, and this is the kind of situation where s**t goes sideways fast. Can we really in good conscience put her in what might be the direct line of f*****g fire?”
“I hear you, Sullivan. I do.” Dallas hesitated. “I’ve actually had thoughts about shutting this op down myself.”
“You have?”
“Yeah. I have.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“A gut feeling that it’s all gonna be fine.”
Sully shook his head. Dallas’ gut was incredibly accurate, and he’d always trusted it in the past. And if it were just himgoing into this situation blind tomorrow – both literally and figuratively – Sully would be willing to go along with the whole plan. But at this moment, it was also Cordelia’s life in the balance, and so Sully wasn’t breaking his neck to trust a gut.
“Yeah?” Sully said. “You got any actual reasons to think this? Non-gut-related ones?”
“I called King as soon as I got off the phone with you, told him what was going on. He told me that the guy giving information in exchange for a reduced sentence just coughed up some more intel.”
“Go on.”
“Seems this ring is ambitious, and the key players are now looking to expand out of state. And like any growing enterprise, they’re shoring up the cash to do that.”
Sully stared at Dallas. “Urgh. These fuckers are unbelievable.”
“Don’t get me started, I swear. Anyway, King thinks that this is why the whole process is on warp-speed right now… they’re trying to get their hands on as much money as possible as fast as possible.”
“So you’re saying that they’re not going to hurt us because they want the last instalment.”
“A million is way better than half-that, you know? Even if you throw in some world-class paperwork, there’s still plenty left over. And the last thing they need is a couple of dead rich people on their hands – peopled like that don’t disappear without lots of fuss.”
“True.”
“So I think they need you to pay them the rest of the money. They ain’t gonna hurt you or Cordelia – they want you to pay up. And the deal is that they don’t get the money until they deliver you the kid, right?”
Sully sighed. “Yeah. Yeah, I get it.”
“OK.”
“You got the rest of the cash?”
“Yeah. It’s in the safe over there. You take it with you today, lock it up in the safe in that home office.”
“Alright. So Cordelia and I will go along with this whole thing tomorrow, get eyes on the kids for real. We’ll ask to see all three places, of course, get the f*****g grand tour.”
“Yep. And the thing about these trackers is I’ll see when you get out of the car, and I’ll see when you’re walking. That’ll be my hint that you’re in the place they’re keeping the children. That’s how I can keep eyes on you and get the locations of the centers. I’ll pass all that on to the local cops and the feds, once you and Cordelia are home with that baby and these assholes have taken off with the cash.”
“I still f*****g hate it.”
“Join the club, Sullivan. You’re my people… the last thing I want is to lose either one of you.”
“Because you care about us so much?” Sully teased.
“Nah.” Dallas shook his dark head. “Because I hate interviewing new staff.”
The men exchanged grins.
“OK, man.” Dallas’ voice was gruff as he fought down his genuine worry. “Let’s go over it again. All of it.”
- Writer
