by Box Set
“Sadly yes,” he said. “Hearst is in the kitchen making us breakfast. He’s already showered and dressed for the day.”
“He made pancakes?” I asked sleepily.
“Blueberry,” Graham said. “I thought about fessing up to being awake, but he looked like he was doing a great job in there.”
“He’s a good cook. As long as it’s pancakes, eggs, or french fries.”
“How’d you end up sleeping on the couch?”
“I came out for some water. Couldn’t sleep.”
“It wasn’t an easy night for any of us,” Graham said.
“Me and Hearst are just friends.”
My brother gave me a small smile. “I’ve never found you cuddled up next to Liz or Felicity in the morning.”
He had a point.
I smiled to show him it wasn’t a big deal. “Liz has terrible morning breath,” I said. “And Felicity steals the blankets.” I was making it all up of course. I hoped I hadn’t just wrecked Liz’s chances with my brother. I shook my head. She didn’t have any chance with him anyway.
“This tolerance you’re getting from me this morning is the exception, not the rule,” Graham said. “No more shacking up on the couch with each other.”
“Even if it gets you pancakes?”
“Even then.”
In the back of my mind, I had this foggy memory trying to surface. I closed my eyes and tried to capture it. I’d woken up earlier and Graham had been there. And I’d woken up because Hearst had kissed me on the cheek. Had he really? I remembered the feel of his lips. He had. I was ninety-nine percent sure of it.
“You can stop pretending you’re asleep, Graham,” Hearst called loudly from the kitchen area. “Breakfast is ready.”
“Busted,” my brother said.
“He’s smarter than he looks,” I said.
“I’m starting to realize that appearances can be deceiving,” Graham said.
Hearst came over to the sofa. “Wake up sleepyhead. It’s time for pancakes.”
I rolled over to face him. “How are you so wide awake?”
His smile seemed so different without the makeup and piercings. It shouldn’t. His lips hadn’t changed. Somehow it looked brighter, more genuine. “I finally got some good sleep,” he said. “Now get up, lazy-pants, and come eat.”
I got up and went over to the kitchen island with my brother right on my heels.
“Good grief, Graham,” I said, “I’m not going to eat it all.”
“I’m starving,” he said. “I’ve been watching Hearst cook for an hour.”
“You could have helped,” my friend said. “Especially when it took me five minutes to find the whisk.”
My brother grinned. “I could have helped, and you could have slept alone on the couch without my little sister in your arms.”
Hearst handed Graham a plate with a stack of at least six pancakes. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
Graham let him get away with the misdirect and picked up the bottle of syrup. He poured enough of the sticky liquid on his pancakes to give himself sugar shock, and with any luck, sweeten his mood. “When we finish breakfast, I need you both to get ready. We have an appointment at ten.”
Appointment? “Where?” I asked.
My brother motioned to Hearst. “The shooting range.”
* * *
An hour later, all decked out in eye and ear protection, we were the only customers at the shooting range.
“I’m a pacifist,” Hearst said when my brother handed him the pistol.
“You look like a punk most of the time. You want to look like a pacifist? Quit wearing such angry clothes.”
“I’m not wearing Birkenstocks and tie-dyed t-shirts,” Hearst said.
“The way Hearst dresses isn’t the point,” I interjected. “We need to be armed tonight because we aren’t going to have backup. It’s not about violence, Hearst. It’s about safety.”
“I can’t send you in there unprotected,” my brother said. “I’d never forgive myself if something happened to you two. We are stealing this man’s money and family right out from under his nose. He is dangerous, and we don’t know if he will uncover our plan sooner rather than later. Townsey has trained on firearms for years. We have two hours to get you up to speed, Hearst. By the time we leave here, I want you able to handle this safely and be able to point and shoot if your lives are in danger.”
“Got it,” Hearst said.
“If I had one other person to bring in on this case, I would have an armed escort watching over the two of you. I just don’t have anybody we can trust who is skilled enough to slip in without being noticed.”
“He’s a fast learner, Graham,” I said. “He’ll be fine.”
By the time we left the shooting range, my brother agreed with me. “Not bad for your first time, Hearst.”
“I would have liked to hit the center of the target at least once,” my friend said.
“Not necessary,” Graham said. “Just aim for the biggest part of the body and fire.”
When we got back to the office, Lori had printed out checklists for each of us and packing lists for all the equipment. Joshua was packing up duffle bags with supplies we’d need.
When she saw Hearst, Lori grinned. “I just can’t get used to seeing that beautiful baby-face,” she said. The she walked up to him and pinched his cheeks. “Are you going to keep this fresh-faced look or go back to the Angel of Death?”
My friend tolerated her touch remarkably well.
“Lori!” I said.
“I’m sorry,” she said, putting her hands on her hips, “I hate for him to cover himself up again.”
Hearst motioned to his face. “This is going back to normal. I’m off balance without all the jewelry. I keep leaning to the left.”
Lori’s eyes widened. “You do?”
“No,” he said. “But you can say bye-bye to this baby-face.”
My brother motioned to Hearst. “If you’re finished flirting with my assistant, I need to fit you with an ankle holster. Then I want you to go upstairs and spend half an hour drawing your weapon. You need to be proficient and fast enough to help Townsey.”
“What about mine?” I asked. “Remember all the cameras. It will have to be pretty well hidden.”
“We’ll have to go with your purse,” Graham said. “You’ll need to be very careful with it when you first get to the house. The kids will still be there. Maybe put it on top of the refrigerator at first. Then keep it with you after they leave.”
I agreed.
“Hearst, when you get to the part of the evening where you two are watching a movie, you’ll need to be careful. You’ll be sitting and you’ll have two cameras on you. At that point, I’d recommend slipping the gun out of your boot and hiding it in the couch cushions. They may search your car while it’s parked out front, so you’ll need to be sure there isn’t anything in there to tip them off or identify you.”
I glanced down at my list. It was thorough. It even reminded me to text Hearst when Sharon left.
“Townsey,” my brother said. “I need you to go upstairs and arrange the couches like those in the play room. Then mark the positions of the two cameras. Lori and I will come up in a few minutes and watch you two from those vantage points to see if we identify any problems.”
The man was thorough.
“My friend Rob can help with eyes on the scene,” Hearst offered. “He’s the one who hacked into the cameras in the first place. I can give him your contact info in case he sees something going down.”
Had he referred to him as a friend for Graham’s sake, or was he starting to realize Rob was more than a consultant?
“Can we trust him?” Graham asked.
“He got the money and the IDs,” I said. “If we can’t, we’re in big trouble.”
“Get him on board then,” my brother said.
Joshua walked out of the weapons closet with a couple of grenades.
“Um
,” Hearst said.
The large man shrugged. “I’m making sure they aren’t followed out of town. If the enemy tries to intercept the family, I need to neutralize the enemy.”
I glanced at Graham.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Graham assured us. “He has experience with extracting people from hostile situations.” My brother pinned me with a stare. “The enemy has the same skillset. Don’t let yourself forget.”
As freaked out as I was at the sight of Joshua with the grenades, which we’d never had in the office before, a part of me wished we had a couple more ex-soldiers along for tonight.
“Let’s go, Hearst,” Graham said. “I want to see if this ankle holster works for you.”
The preparations and rehearsals and checklists went on for hours.
Chapter 15
At four o’clock, we stopped to eat Chinese food. My energy was wearing out, but I knew adrenaline would kick in before it was time to go to Sharon’s. My own bag was packed with the clothes for them, shoes, and the bug sweepers. If I found that the SUV was bugged, we were going to have to figure out a Plan B. We knew it likely had a GPS tracker on it, and that wasn’t going to pose a problem. We didn’t mind them watching the SUV. We just couldn’t let them know the kids were inside it temporarily without ruining the whole plan.
Hearst and I were sitting on the couch with our food. My brother was at the island, making phone calls in between bites of food.
When I saw Felicity and Liz come into the loft, it didn’t alarm me at first. Seeing them standing there was so commonplace.
Graham reacted first, getting off the phone, and walking over to shut and lock the loft door behind them. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.
“Oh my God,” I said, jumping up and rushing over to them. “You shouldn’t be here!”
Liz actually looked frightened between Graham barking at them and me yelling. Felicity didn’t get scared. Typical Felicity, she got mad.
Felicity got in my face. “What do you mean we shouldn’t be here? Why is Hearst here? I thought you were grounded! And Hearst said he was in New York with his parents.”
“We lied!” I said. “We lied to keep you guys safe. We are mixed up in something dangerous with a client right now. We had to keep you guys far away.”
“So much for that,” my brother said. “Now we have to keep you close.”
“Close?” Felicity repeated. “What do you mean close?”
“I mean you two are staying here where we can keep an eye on you until this whole operation is over and done.”
Liz gasped. “You’re keeping us here?”
“How long?” Felicity asked. “You’re going to just kidnap us?”
“You two wanted to be here in the first place, remember?” he said, his frustration showing through. “We’ll text your parents an excuse and then you’ll be on lockdown here until around midnight. No phones. No internet. No communication with the outside.”
“Are you crazy?” Felicity said. “You can’t take our phones.”
“Everybody calm down,” I said. “Let’s all go sit over there where Hearst is stealing my egg roll and discuss this.”
My brother’s face was red, and he was trembling a little. He had reason to be upset. We had enough pressure on us without my friends disrupting our plans.
Hearst stood up.
“What happened to you?” Liz asked.
“You’re so cute when you’re normal,” Felicity said. “Why don’t you leave all that crap off all the time?”
Hearst scowled.
“Now you look more like yourself,” Liz said.
He gave each of my friends a hug.
Liz calmed down some, and Felicity relaxed visibly.
They sat on the couch on either side of Hearst as if he were suddenly their ally.
I rolled my eyes.
Graham said, “What will work with their parents, Townsey? Could they say that Lori had an emergency and they needed to help you with the triplets?”
Nodding, I looked at my friends. “That would work, right?”
Liz said, “Yes.”
Felicity said, “Tell us what is going on.”
My brother sat down on the couch and filled them in on the basic details: a battered wife, the need to run, the plan for tonight, a little about my role and Hearst’s, and a lot about the danger. “This is a very bad man, and he will be angry. If he gets wind of this before we get Townsey and Hearst out of the house, there could be violence.”
My two friends each glanced at me in horror, but I didn’t miss that they grabbed onto Hearst.
My brother continued, “We can’t risk anything hitting social media that would raise any suspicion.”
“We won’t say anything,” Liz assured him.
He shook his head. “The risk is too big. We also need to be sure you’re safe. As far as we know, they haven’t been watching us. They know that the woman contacted us though. If they are watching and have seen you here, you’re safer on lockdown while we extricate the woman and her children.”
“Fine,” Felicity said, relenting. “We’ll stay.”
“Go ahead and contact your parents. Tell them about the emergency and the babysitting thing. I’m going to go ask Lori if there’s any way she can stay here with you two until we all get back tonight.”
“Wait,” Liz said. “Lori is going to babysit us?”
“Pretty much,” he said, his mouth in a grim line.
“Can we at least help?” Felicity asked.
“No,” Graham said. “We’ve been preparing for days. Even if there were something you could do that was low risk, you wouldn’t be ready in time.”
“Fine,” Felicity said, picking up my Chinese food container. “Then I’m eating Townsey’s beef and broccoli. Lunch was terrible.” She looked at me. “Tell us more about tonight.”
I glanced at my brother for a go-ahead.
He nodded.
“All right,” I said. “There are six cameras in the house.” I continued to tell them about our plan. With Hearst jumping in to explain his role at the right times.
They were appropriately horrified.
Hearst handed me his half-empty takeout container as we finished talking. “You need to eat,” he said. “We need our wits about us.”
I didn’t argue. I started eating.
* * *
My brother came back and took possession of their phones. He had Lori lock them up downstairs. Then he called me and Hearst into his room to speak in private.
“I think we’ve got control of them for tonight,” he said. “I’m worried about tomorrow. I know the two of you won’t go blabbing about what we’re doing.” He glanced at Hearst. “In fact, the two of you seem quite capable of keeping secrets.”
I blushed. He wasn’t wrong.
Graham said, “I don’t know if Felicity and Liz can keep this excitement to themselves. We know Doug West might track us down eventually, but having a bunch of rumors out there would confirm his suspicions. We need to be able to deny involvement.”
While Liz and Felicity weren’t exactly the Gossip Girls my brother liked to call them, they weren’t innocent of gossip either. I was worried about it too.
Hearst finally said, “I can have Rob mess with their wireless access. He can slow down their social media posts, texts, everything but voice, and take a look at what they say before letting it go through.”
I looked over at Hearst in shock. “He can?”
Graham actually patted Hearst on the head. “I’m starting to like the way you think.”
Hearst grinned up at him.
“That means that the only real problem is what they say at school to people. I think we can scare them into keeping a lid on their conversations,” I said.
“I hope so,” my brother said. “Right now we need to get our heads in the game. Do you know what you’re wearing, Townsey?”
“Jeans and the hoodie from the other night,” I said.
“I
’m changing into an Atlanta Braves jersey,” Hearst said, motioning to the Nirvana t-shirt he was currently wearing. “I’m keeping these boots though because of the ankle holster.”
“I think we’re ready,” Graham said. “I’ll touch base with Joshua. You go ahead and ask Rob to do us that favor.”
* * *
Lori ended up taking Liz and Felicity into my room so my brother could concentrate. He gave me a big hug, and then hugged Hearst as well.
“Be careful tonight,” he said. “Rob has eyes on you, and he can alert me of any problems. The only thing is that our response time won’t be great. You’ll be on your own for far too long.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “We’re armed. We’re prepped. And we still have the teenager thing going for us. We don’t have anything to show that Doug is concerned about either of us.”
Graham walked us out to the car, and we got in. We had to switch cars and then I’d be on my way to Sharon’s to fake babysitting.
We waved to my brother, and Hearst drove us out of there.
“I’m actually breathing easier now that we’re moving,” he said. “I was suffocating in there with your brother’s constant checking and rechecking.”
“Me too,” I said. “I’ll be great until you drop me off at Sharon’s. Then it’s all going to hit me.”
“You’ve already been successful as Cheerleader Rory twice now. You can do this.” He yawned. “I know I’m a freak, but I could go for some coffee right now.”
“You can grab some while you’re waiting for Sharon to leave. I think I’ll be fine with the adrenaline.” Or terror.
“We have backup. I can’t believe we ever considered trying this alone.”
I shuddered at the thought.
* * *
At exactly six twenty-five, Hearst dropped me off at Sharon’s house. I got out of the car, grabbing my Admiral High duffel and my purse.
“See you soon,” Hearst said.
I met his eyes and took a few moments to steady myself. Then, I said, “See you soon,” and slammed the door.
Sharon answered the door wearing black heels and a little black dress. Lori and I had done a good job of duplicating the outfit.
