Easy enough plan. Too bad his nerves didn’t agree.
“You okay?” Ryder cocked an eyebrow.
“Great,” he lied. “You ready to go?”
They walked half a mile to the used car they’d purchased precisely for this job. It wasn’t much to look at, but it blended well into Jacksonville traffic and they’d paid cash for it through an acquaintance who didn’t keep a paper trail.
Markus would have liked to drive, since it helped when he was nervous, but Ryder got behind the steering wheel without inviting discussion.
On the ride to their exit, they were quiet. They’d scouted the area out days before and found an abandoned service road between two swaths of trees that provided the perfect hiding spot for the car. Backing the vehicle as far as possible into the brush, they got out.
Markus checked his wristwatch. Forty-five minutes until sunrise.
“Okay.” Ryder cracked his knuckles. “Send me the word when you’re in position.”
“Right.” Since his tongue had gone dry as sandpaper, one word was all he could manage.
They moved at a crouch through the woods, separating when they got within sight of the trailer that served as a guardhouse. With Ryder positioned behind an old junker car, Markus started making noise by cracking sticks.
Though the blinds were drawn in the trailer, orange light escaped through the sides of the windows. A shadowy figure moved, and a moment later, the trailer’s back door opened.
Markus’ heart skipped into his throat. The guard, armed with a semi-automatic, descended the few steps into the yard.
Drawing behind a thick tree, Markus pressed his back to the trunk. If this plan didn’t work, he would be a dead man.
A long, tense moment passed. No footsteps sounded.
Markus drew his gun, ready to shoot if he needed.
But then…
A thud, followed by a groan and the sound of something heavy hitting the earth. He looked around the tree to see Ryder jumping on the man and grabbing his arms.
Markus joined in. The guard had been dazed thanks to a hit to the back of his head. He started to shout, but Markus got a bandana in his mouth while Ryder tied his arms behind his back.
The man was big, and he started thrashing around as they dragged him to the tree Markus had just been hiding behind. The top of his head clipped Markus’ jaw, and shooting pain momentarily took over the show.
They got him flush against the tree, though, and another rope around him, binding him there. Even though he still struggled, he wouldn’t get loose, and his attempts at shouting were significantly subdued.
After feeling in the man’s pockets, Ryder pulled out a set of keys, which he tossed to Markus.
Straightening up, Ryder used the back of his hand to wipe at his forehead.
“Christ,” he said. “I’m already sweating.”
Markus craned his neck to check the road. No traffic. “I’m going in.”
They parted, Ryder going to the side of the trailer to watch the road, and Markus rushing the warehouse at a low run. The scouting they’d done over the course of multiple days showed that A.J. had been right. There was only the one guard to contend with.
The door had two locks, one on the knob and one deadbolt. Luckily, there were only two keys on the guard’s ring, and they matched with the locks on the first try.
The door swung open into darkness. Gun at the ready, he entered and stepped to the side, eyes squinted against the black and ears listening hard.
Nothing. The warehouse was dead quiet.
Markus licked his lips and felt along the wall till his hand hit a light switch. The fluorescents overhead flickered to life, revealing mostly empty space.
A ratty couch. Some metal folding chairs. Two small safes.
Markus cursed.
Safes?
A.J. hadn’t mentioned that part, but he probably hadn’t known. And Markus should have expected it. Why would Dagger leave diamonds sitting in a cardboard box?
The safes were on the smaller side. Markus would have been able to carry them both if they were empty. Crouching down at the first one, he tried it, just in case.
No use. It had been sealed shut. He had no clue what the combination could be, but a safe bet was that it wasn’t one-two-three-four.
Fury bubbled up his chest and throat, and he wanted to scream. Instead, he forced himself to stay calm and move to the next safe.
To his disbelief, he’d hardly touched the second one when it swung open. His jaw dropping, he gazed at the contents.
Diamonds. A literal pile of diamonds. White. Pink. Yellow.
His pulse quickening, he pulled the cloth bag from his back pocket and swept the jewels into it. He was just about to see if he could carry the locked safe when the walkie-talkie clipped to his belt beeped.
“Someone’s here,” Ryder said. “We need to go. Meet at point three.”
Markus’ blood ran cold. Spinning around, he caught sight of the gray light through the door he’d left cracked.
No time to grab the locked safe. He would have to make do with what he had.
He dashed for the door, but a gunshot going off stopped him. If his ears were to be trusted, it had come from behind the trailer.
Shoulder pressed against the wall, he peeked out the door. Nothing. No more gunshots. No bodies or people.
He resisted the urge to call Ryder back in case he was hiding out somewhere and one of Dagger’s men heard it. Point three was at the road, the spot they’d planned on meeting if things got hairy and they needed to make a quick getaway.
Taking one step into the yard, he scanned the premises. Still no sign of anyone. Was Ryder okay? Had he been caught?
There was only one thing to do: stick to the plan. Keeping to the warehouse’s outer wall, he moved in the direction of the road. Voices around the corner stopped him in his tracks.
“Watch the back door,” a man said.
Markus’ breath froze.
“Hey, Dagger,” someone called. “You got—”
“Shh,” the first man hissed. “Shut it.”
Markus had gone rigid as a board. After years of wondering, he finally knew Dagger Rossi was real—and only a few feet away from him.
“Where’s A.J.?” Dagger asked someone in a quiet voice.
A.J.
The little rat. He’d told Dagger all about the heist. It was the only explanation for his being at the warehouse this early.
A gunshot went off from somewhere behind the warehouse, a yell following it. Markus heard footsteps take off in that direction. Taking what could be his only chance, he ran for it.
He didn’t look behind to see if Dagger or his thugs had noticed him. He just ran, weaving an erratic path to avoid bullets.
He sped through a thicket of trees, something sharp snagging on his pants leg and tearing the fabric. The road appeared, the first orange of sunrise past it.
They’d gotten Ryder. He knew it.
With the car in the other direction, there was no quick getaway. He’d be unlikely to hitchhike a ride before Dagger came down the road looking for him. That meant his best bet was sticking to the woods. When the tree cover ran out… well, he didn’t know.
Right as he started to turn from the road, though, he caught a flash of metal in the rising sun. It was their car, slowing down as it reached the massive fallen tree designated point three.
And in it was Ryder.
Markus ran for the car, pumping his arms and jumping over rocks and bushes. He threw himself into the front seat, and the engine groaned as Ryder took off.