“Lark says that Boker stole the diamonds first. That he was stealing from his government contracts and is planning on fleeing. Can you look into her story? I need to know which one is lying.”
“Sure, Ry. Give me a few hours.”
“I’ll call you. I’m going to be with Lark and her crew for a while and I don’t want them to know that I was checking into them.”
“I’ll await your call then,” he says in some weird Old English accent.
“Gotta go,” I say, hanging up as I hear high heels coming my way.
“Time to go,” Lark says as she comes back into the room.
I nod, tossing my sandwich wrapper and following her out to a nice Range Rover. Tristan slips into the driver seat and Lark the passenger. Sage is already in the back and August opens the door, motioning for me to get in. He climbs in after me and that leaves me sandwiched in the back seat.
Tristan whips out of the drive and heads back toward downtown.
“So, how did you all wind up together?” I ask, trying to learn as much as I can about this group.
I see Lark smile as she remembers it. She turns and looks over her shoulder at me stuffed in the back between Sage and August.
“Well, August and I here met after he tried to scam me.”
August grins at her and I feel jealousy fill me. It’s obvious that they’re tight, that they’re all close.
“What kind of scam?” I ask.
“Dropped wallet scam. He thought I was a tourist and dropped his wallet. When I told him he had dropped it, he tried to accuse me of stealing money from it. Even threatened to call the cops if I remember right.”
August laughs beside me. “That’s how the scam works, Lark. You know that.”
“Yeah, yeah. Too bad for him, I was flat broke at the time and all I had to do was empty my pockets.”
“I took her under my wing after that,” August says beside me and Lark rolls her eyes.
“Uh, no. I took him under my wing. We went from scamming tourists to taking jobs like this. We added Sage after we started rooming together and I found out that she was a hacker. She knew what we were doing and had arranged for us to be roommates.”
Sage smiles softly, shoving her glasses higher up her nose.
“Tristan we met after that and our group was complete.”
Tristan doesn’t react, just keeps his eyes fixed on the road as we drive along the crowded streets.
The sun is just starting to set in the sky as we pull into the parking lot of Brohme Jewelers.
“And remind me again what exactly we’re supposed to be doing here?” I ask as Tristan parks around the back, near the rear exit.
“So, we’re running a rip deal,” Lark says as she turns around in the passenger seat.
“Hate rip deals,” August mutters beside me as he scowls out the window.
“Why?” I ask him.
“They take for-fucking-ever,” he says as he sulks beside me.
“Yeah, because you have to convince them that they’re getting a deal before you can rip them off. Anyway, we’ve already laid the groundwork so now all that’s left is to do the rip off.”
Sage reaches behind us, snagging a dry-cleaning bag and passing it to me. Everyone else is already dressed up and I unbuckle, tugging the dress shirt and suit jacket on.
“We told them that we had a boss from out of town and he wants to meet you before we finalize the deal.”
“So, I’m the boss then?”
“It’s just pretend, Ryder,” Lark warns and I smile as I start on the buttons of the shirt.
“We targeted this jeweler. They’re selling blood diamonds and using children to smuggle them into the country. He killed some of the children after the last shipment when the Feds started to sniff around.”
My body tenses at learning that bit of information. Suddenly, I don’t feel so bad about ripping this guy off.
“What’s the scam?”
“We convinced him that we would buy his jewelry at a large markup if he would launder some money for us. We did the first batch last week, just a small one, but now that he thinks it can work and be profitable for him, he’s greedy. We’re doing the larger sale today and that’s why you, the boss, are here. He’ll only continue doing this if he gets to meet with the boss. When we get in there, Tristan is Marco, August is Bobby, and I’m Adrienne. You’re Mr. DeLaurence. Sage stays in the car and does her thing.”
“Any more questions?” August asks as he reaches to open his door.
“No, I got it.”
I quickly change into the dress pants and shoes before I slip out after them and follow them up to the rear door.
13
“Adrienne,” the smarmy man in the suit says as soon as he opens the door and sees Lark.
“Mr. Anderson,” Lark says in an English accent. “So good to see you again.”
I watch as she steps into him and lets him kiss her cheek. It’s hard to spot but I notice her lips tightening. She hates having his hands on her.
“Bobby, Marco, welcome back to Brohme,” he says with a greasy salesman smile their way. Tristan and August both nod in greeting, standing behind us with their hands clasped in front of them.
“You must be Mr. DeLaurence,” Anderson says as he turns to take me in.
“I am. Mind if we come inside?” I ask, making a point to look around the alley that we’re currently in.
“Of course, of course,” he says grandly as he holds the back door open wider.
I look around one last time, taking note of cars parked in the lot and along the street out front as well as where all of the exits are.
The jewelry store is dark inside and I follow after Lark as we’re led into a back room that looks like it houses the diamonds before they go out onto the floor.
“As I was telling Adrienne and her team, I think this agreement will benefit us both but I just didn’t feel comfortable doing such large business with a man that I had never met.”
“I understand,” I assure Anderson as he heads over to one of the counters and picks up a black jeweler’s bag. “Can never be too careful these days. That’s one of the reasons that I hired Adrienne here. She values security and privacy as much as I do.”
“She sure is a find,” he says, running his eyes over Lark.
She’s wearing a tight white dress with black heels, her blonde hair tied up into a high, sleek, ponytail.
“That she is.”
Lark’s eyes flash to me and I notice that she must have colored contacts in. Her normally pale green eyes are now a rich brown. I don’t know why I’m surprised. Any great thief would have a trunkful of disguises and she’s already proven she does. When I ran into her at the club, she must have been wearing a wig. I admit, I prefer her natural blonde locks more.
“I have the product here if you would like to inspect it,” Anderson asks, grabbing a felt lined tray and dumping out the diamonds onto it. He passes me a jeweler’s loupe next and I thank him as I use it to inspect some of the diamonds.
I notice Tristan and August are still standing in the doorway. Anderson’s men are next to them and I can see Tristan eyeing them. August is busy watching Anderson. It’s nice to see that her team can handle themselves and that they look out for each other.