They’d made the wrong one, and they were paying for it. They’d used a cheaper, hand-held scanner that could be obtained over the counter to scan for cameras, listening devices, and magnetic GPS trackers. It wasn’t sophisticated enough for what Fisher had used.
“It wasn’t a high probability that he’d tagged her with anything other than a magnet on her car,” Hacker said. “We didn’t even know how he’d gotten Jenna’s number until her aunt told her about the cable guy.”
“We can debate it later,” Saint said. “Let’s get over to Easy’s place. Head home and change into civvies since we aren’t on the clock for this one, but get to Easy’s ASAP.”
“Bliss should be on the ground in Vegas soon,” Hacker said. “Maybe she’ll find something in Sam Baxter’s house.”
“Hack, bring the HOT scanner to Easy’s,” Saint replied. “We need to scan Jenna and see what kind of tracker Fisher is using. If we’re lucky, her aunt’s tracker landed inside that diaper bag.”
“Copy,” Hacker said.
“Saddle up, pardners,” Mal said, doing his best cowboy impersonation. “We got work to do if we want to clean up this here town. Yippee ki-yay, motherfuckers!”
“You’re mixing your movies again, buddy,” Gem said in a stage whisper.
Mal aimed a finger gun and fired. “Bang-bang, mofo.”
Noah wasn’t in a laughing mood, but he appreciated the effort. “I need to go prepare Jenna for what’s coming,” he said. “I’ll see y’all in a bit. Bring the ladies if they want to come. And maybe grab some food on the way. If somebody can bring dinner for me and Jenna, too, I’d appreciate it. We’ve eaten pizza recently, so I’d like to give her something else if possible.”
“You got it, buddy,” Gem said. “I’ll stop for subs and wings. Will that work?”
“Works great. Thanks.”
Noah badged out and headed for the parking lot. His stomach was in knots, and his heart hurt worse than it ever had before. He’d do whatever it took to get Alice and Maggie back again. No one threatened his family and got away with it. Not even the Mafia.
When Noah walked through the door an hour later, Jenna threw herself into his arms. She’d thought he might be angry, might push her away, but he clasped her in his arms and held her tight while she cried.
She hated crying, hated feeling so helpless, but for once she had someone strong to hold her while she did so. Soon enough, she dried her eyes and pushed away from him, feeling guilty for breaking down. “Sorry, sorry.”
“For what? Crying? You’re entitled to cry, Jenna.”
She sniffled and grabbed a tissue from a box on the end table. “I know… But I feel helpless and stupid. And doomed. Definitely doomed.” She threw her arms wide as frustration and fear pounded her. “I don’t know where Sam kept his Bitcoin wallet, or even if it was a physical device or an app on his phone! I don’t have any USB sticks or SD cards or anything like that. I’ve always used the cloud. I don’t have anything I need to hide. All the important papers from my parents are in a lock box in a bank in Vegas.”
She’d been racking her brain, trying to stay focused, because if she didn’t she’d break down at the thought of Alice and Aunt Maggie being scared or hurt. She’d told Owen Fisher she had an idea where Sam’s Bitcoin was, but she’d been stalling for time.
She hadn’t expected him to take them instead of her. She’d been trying to save their lives, but she’d gotten them into worse trouble.
Noah rubbed her arms. “Bliss landed. She can’t get into the house yet, but she’s working on getting access earlier than we’d planned. There may be a clue in that safe.”
“Assuming there really is a safe behind the painting,” Jenna wailed. She hated the idea that she might have sent Bliss off on a fool’s errand. What if she was reading too much into Sam’s glee about the Miró? Maybe he’d gotten a sudden appreciation for art that she hadn’t been aware of. He hadn’t told her everything about his life. She hadn’t known about Tiffany, the fiancée.
Jenna had been his assistant, and she’d often wondered why he didn’t have anyone else working with him, but she’d come to the conclusion he was just eccentric enough that he didn’t work well with others. He’d clearly been doing well, though she now chalked that up to stealing money from the Flanagans more than legal fees and good investments.
“If there isn’t, she’ll search the house and see if she finds anything. Can you think of anywhere else he might have kept a physical e-wallet?”
“The obvious places. His desk, his briefcase. Maybe his bedside table. But the Flanagans would have had those places searched already.”
“They might not have realized it was being held in Bitcoin at first. They must have thought he had an offshore account, or maybe even had some cash stashed somewhere.”
Jenna hugged herself and shivered. “I’m glad they didn’t think I had it right away. If they had, I don’t think I’d have made it out of Vegas alive.”
Noah frowned. “Probably not.”
“Even if Bliss miraculously finds it,” Jenna said, “I don’t know how to get in. There’s a password, and probably a pin if he enabled two-factor.” She’d looked it up while waiting for Noah.
“Can you think of a word or combination of words he would have used? Special numbers?”
“I don’t know.” The pin could be anything. His birthday. Tiffany’s birthday, which left Jenna in the dark entirely. As for the password? Good God, how was she supposed to figure that out?
Joan Miró? Moneybags-R-Us? Stealing-from-the-Mafia-never-felt-so-good?
She didn’t mean to make light, and yet if she didn’t she’d start screaming and never stop.
“The guys will be here soon, Jen. The ladies might come, too,” Noah added. “They’re bringing food, and we’ll work on this until we figure something out. We’ll try to find Fisher, and we’ll try to find the Bitcoin. If we have to invent a fortune instead, we will. Won’t be the first time we did something like that.”
Her heart thumped. “Really? You could fake it?”
He nodded. “We can with time.” He looked troubled for a moment.
Jenna’s belly squeezed tight. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He was silent. Then he sighed. “We’re deploying soon. In forty-eight hours, we go into lockdown for the mission.”
“Oh Jesus,” she breathed.
He hugged her to him, stroked her hair. “Hey, calm down. It isn’t over yet. We’ve got time, and we’ll work this out. We have until tomorrow at noon, right? We’ll focus everything we have on this, and we’ll solve it. I swear.”
Jenna appreciated his conviction, but she knew the confidence was for her benefit. She squeezed her eyes shut and breathed him in. Aunt Maggie and Alice were gone and she didn’t know when she’d see them again. And now Noah was leaving her too.
It was too much. Too much like losing her parents all over again. She couldn’t go through that, couldn’t lose the people she loved most in this world ever again. Because she did love him. Loved him, his niece, and her aunt like crazy. They were her people, even if they didn’t know it.