“She didn’t know about him, however,” Peter said, glaring at Brad.
“What I meant to say is, as soon as Elise gets what she wants, she’s going to disappear and you’ll be left here with five hostages.”
“You know shit.” He glanced at the clock.
He was definitely waiting for something. Probably for Elise to call. Then he would either kill them all and disappear, or tie them up and disappear.
Except Elise wasn’t going to call. Elise was using Peter Rabb just like she’d used Robert Garza and James Everett and even Mona Hill. Lucy understood her much better now—and her growing knowledge terrified her.
“Peter,” Lucy said, “let the boy go.”
“Sure,” he said.
Lucy almost breathed easier.
Then Peter burst out in laughter. “When pigs fly.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Elise Hansen sat in the chair and played with the knife. She was ambidextrous, which helped, but she preferred her right hand. But it would be a while before she’d be able to use her arm, and she didn’t even have mobility with the broken wrist.
It sucked.
But if she wanted, she could still throw the knife at the fat sniveling perverted asswipe and pierce his heart.
When he was done transferring the money.
She yawned. “It’s been forty minutes, dumbass. Are you fucking with us? Because if you are, I’ll call Pete and he’ll kill your boy.”
“Don’t. Please. I’m doing everything you want.”
The turd was sweating. Seeing him sweat and squirm and beg had been fun at the beginning, but now she just wanted to be done with him.
She looked over her shoulder. “Jay? How much do we have?”
“Three point one million.”
She sighed and leaned forward. Her body was sore from when the fed had knocked her down, “saving” her life. And Toby was mad that Elise hadn’t known she was wearing a vest! How was she supposed to know? Was she supposed to feel her up? Right. And even if she had known, how was she supposed to get that tidbit of information to the idiots Toby had hired to kill the bitch? Why didn’t they shoot her in the head? She didn’t have a bulletproof skull.
“Jimmy,” she said. “You’re being slow. Which makes me think you’re fucking with me.”
“I’m not! I swear. Come see. The network is slow. I don’t know why, it’s just taking a long time for every command. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve tried everything.”
“Maybe if Pete fucks your wife? I can have him FaceTime you while he tears her up. That would be fun. Maybe that would motivate you. Naw, it would probably just turn you on. Especially if I have Pete spank her.”
“Please don’t hurt my family.”
“Oh, no, Daddy, I wouldn’t think of it. Spank me, Daddy. Harder.” She laughed. Oh, damn, she was having fun. “Jay, make sure Daddy isn’t lying to us.”
She watched as Toby’s right-hand goon walked behind the desk. He pressed the gun to Everett’s temple and looked at the screen. “It’s going, Elise. Forty-seven percent.”
“This is the fourth account! Don’t you guys have broadband or a T3 connection or something? Are you in the fucking stone age of the Internet?”
Everett was shaking. “They could be updating the system. Or doing maintenance or … I don’t know, I don’t know!” he sobbed.
Her phone vibrated and she saw that she had a text from Pete. Shit, that guy was needy. She’d told him to do one thing and this was the third time he’d texted her. But she looked, because she wasn’t stupid. If there was a problem, she needed to know about it.
She pulled her phone from her pocket and read the message. “Oh, shit! I don’t fucking believe it. Toby is going to be thrilled.”
Jay gave her an odd look. She rolled her eyes. She didn’t care what the goon thought. She called Toby.
“Hey, big brother, I have some in-ter-est-ing news.”
“Everett is dead and we have my money.”
“Our money,” she corrected. “Almost as good. Your two favorite federal agents showed up at Everett’s place. They’re disarmed and tied up, waiting for us.”
“Kincaid and Crawford?”
“Kincaid and Donnelly.”
“Are you sure?”
“Pete just texted me.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“He’s harmless.”
“He’s an idiot.”
“True. So? Can he shoot them? Gut them? Maim them? Rape them? Cut their fingers off? Hey, I can get Donnelly’s dick for you. Box it up with a pretty bow.”
“Shut up.”
She laughed.
“Something’s wrong.”
She stopped laughing. She liked playing games, but Toby had the best instincts of anyone she knew, even herself. And she was pretty damn magnificent.
“Get out.”
“What?”
“It shouldn’t be taking this long. He’s stalling, or the feds are already there. How much do we have?”
She looked over at Jay. “Toby wants to know how much we have.”
Jay looked at his tablet. “Three point three.”
She repeated the number. Toby swore a blue streak, and she held the phone away from her ear.