Jenna drove slowly through the complex. When she spotted a white Tahoe sitting empty in front of one of them, she knew she’d found the right place. Noah had told her that Fisher would likely get there first. He wanted the tactical advantage of already being inside when she entered the warehouse.
Jenna parked nearby and sucked in a breath to slow her racing heart. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she knew she would do anything to get her aunt and Alice back safely. She just had to go inside and make Fisher believe she had what he wanted.
Bliss was listening, but there was no way Bliss could speak to her in return. The guys had debated giving her full comm but decided it was too risky. The small microphone was positioned in the bun on top of her head and blended perfectly with her hair color. The hope was that Fisher would incriminate himself and the Flanagans, but Jenna thought he might be more cautious today.
“Going in. Wish me luck.” She turned off the Jeep and pulled the emergency key out of the fob. Her heart hammered and blood rushed in her ears. She wanted this to be over, but she was also terrified by all the ways it could go wrong.
The bright side, though, was she had an entire Black Ops team at her back. Which she never would have had if she hadn’t met Noah. Her belly tightened at the memory of kissing him and telling him she loved him. She wanted to do that again. And again. She prayed she got the chance.
“If anything happens to me, tell Noah I love him, please. And tell him I’m sorry I got him into this. I’m sorry I got all of you into it. But thank you for helping me.” She sniffled. “Okay, enough of that. I’m going to think good thoughts and get this over with.”
Jenna stepped out of the Jeep and shut the door. She didn’t lock it because Noah had told her not to in case she had to run. She kept the key in her hand because it was a weapon. Noah had told her that, too, but she’d already known it. He’d seemed relieved when she demonstrated how to use it.
Jenna went up the steps to the loading dock and over to the door. It opened with a rusty creak. It was dark inside. She thought the guys might like that info, so she said, “Wow, it’s dark in here,” in a low voice.
The warehouse smelled old and rusty. The ceiling soared above her head, and dim light filtered in through a few panes of glass high up on the sides of the building. As her eyes adjusted, she realized it wasn’t quite as dark as she’d thought. But it was still dark.
She made her way into the building, trying to hear beyond the hammering of blood in her ears. Crates were stacked up in one section of the warehouse, and there were piles of debris scattered randomly across the floor.
“Up here,” a voice said.
Jenna looked up to see a man in shadow standing on a catwalk that ran across the back of the warehouse. Behind it, she could just make out doors and what seemed to be rooms. Offices?
“Where are Aunt Maggie and Alice?”
“They’re here. Come up and we’ll talk.”
“I need to know you have them with you,” she said, fear crawling up her spine.
He pushed open a door behind him. It was utterly dark inside the room, but a moment later Aunt Maggie called out, “We’re here, Jenna.”
Alice wailed then, and Jenna’s insides liquefied. Her legs were shaky as she pushed them forward. The stairs were metal and they clanked as she walked up them. She hoped Bliss was relaying all this to the guys. She wanted to describe everything she saw but she couldn’t figure out how to do it and not make Fisher suspicious at the same time.
Alice was still crying when Jenna reached the top of the steps and stopped. Owen Fisher was leaning on the railing, watching her with an intense expression. “Did you get my money?”
“Your money?” she asked as anger and hatred swirled in her belly. “I thought it was Charlie and Billy’s money.”
“Answer the question. Do you have it?”
She took the USB stick from her jeans pocket and held it up. “Yes, I have it.”
Fisher did something and then yellow light flared on the catwalk and inside the room where Aunt Maggie and Alice were. “You won’t mind plugging it into a computer and showing me then.”
“Let Aunt Maggie and Alice go first.”
“You come plug that thing in and show me you have access. I better see a Bitcoin account. I better see that you can get into it. We’ll transfer the money. Once I verify it’s in the account, I’ll leave.”
“Sounds too easy.”
“Maybe it is. Don’t see what choice you have though.” As if to emphasize her utter helplessness, he lifted his hand and pointed a gun at her. “Either way, you’re going inside the office and proving you have the dough.”
Jenna swallowed her fear and moved forward slowly, hoping something was about to happen. But nothing did and she reached Fisher’s side. He grabbed her arm, digging his fingers into her flesh until she yelped before shoving her into the room. Horror rolled through her at the sight of Aunt Maggie and Alice. They were inside a big metal dog crate with a padlock on it. Aunt Maggie’s pink velour was streaked with black dirt and rust. Alice held the bars and wailed while Aunt Maggie tried to soothe her as tears tracked down her own cheeks.
Jenna whirled, clenching the key in her fist with the point barely sticking out between her fingers. He hadn’t noticed it, which made her feel at least a little bit like she had some protection. “You let them out right now,” she grated. “I’m not giving you anything until you do.”
Owen Fisher raised the gun and aimed at her head. Then he smiled evilly before slewing it over to point at the cage. “You don’t want to cooperate? Which one should I shoot? The brat, probably, so she’ll shut up.”
Jenna shook with rage and fear. She told herself to calm down and narrate what was going on for Bliss and the team. That hadn’t necessarily been what they’d intended, but she could do that much if it helped. “Fine, I’ll cooperate. But you put them in a cage like dogs. It’s old and rusty, and it’s in a dark corner of the room. What kind of person are you?”
“The kind that doesn’t let sentimentality stand in the way of the job.” He jerked the gun toward a desk with a laptop computer on it. “Get over there and access that account. Now.”
“I’m going.”
She couldn’t figure out how to say the desk was on the opposite side of the room from the cage without it seeming patently obvious that she was narrating everything, so she didn’t. Fisher stood beside her as she pulled out the squeaky chair and sat. He flipped open the lid to the laptop.
“Now, sweetheart, or I start shooting.”
Jenna pushed the USB into the slot with shaking hands. Anytime now, fellas. Please.
If Noah and his guys didn’t burst in here soon, Owen Fisher would know she couldn’t get to the money. And then he’d kill Aunt Maggie or Alice—or both.
“Why didn’t you get the money from Sam before you killed him?” she asked. “Wouldn’t that have been easier?”
“Didn’t know how much he’d really stolen. Charlie and Billy wanted an example made of him. It wasn’t about the money so much as the disrespect, which he displayed right to the last.”
“I don’t understand.”