The Cocky Thief

Chapter 14

"It's so pretty!" Isobel ran her fingers over the massive stone now resting right under her collarbone.

"It's definitely your color," said Mel.

Jennifer had to agree. The bright-red stone matched Isobel's fresh red manicure and dark red lipstick.

"It's almost a shame it's red. So many people will think it's a ruby. They should all know just how special this piece is..."

Jennifer didn't think that would be a problem. She glanced out the curtains of the cheap motel they'd checked into, but didn't see any chance of them being followed. That didn't mean they weren't. "It's not going to matter, Mom. No one is going to see you wearing the necklace." She let the curtains fall closed and looked over at Isobel. "You said you had a buyer lined up, right?"

Isobel rolled her eyes, apparently upset with Jennifer's lack of enthusiasm. But Jennifer knew her mother too well. Isobel was just as freaked out; she just refused to show it. None of them would feel safe until they were on a different continent and the necklace wasn't in their possession any longer.

Mel came out of the bathroom and ran a hand through her hair. The tenth time she'd done it since they got to the motel room a few minutes ago. "Why did we stop?" she asked. "We're way too close to the vineyard. We need to be putting as much distance between us and them as possible."

Isobel sighed. "Ye of little faith." She crossed over to the worn-looking armchair in the corner of the room and gave a good shove to the top corner until the chair fell over. Mel and Jennifer exchanged a look, but neither asked. Isobel did have a flair for the dramatic.

"Right where he said it would be." Isobel detached a large manila envelope that had been duct taped to the bottom of the chair. She ran her finger along the top and then spilled the contents onto the one and only bed in the dingy room.

Jennifer stepped forward and spread out everything. "Passports, IDs, credit cards... This must've cost a fortune." The wad of hundreds that spilled out was hopefully real.

"Like I said, I wouldn't plan a job this big and not have an escape route in place. Ajax does the best fakes on the West Coast. These are the best money can buy, and it will be taken out of your considerable share of the profits." She opened the passports and handed them out accordingly. "We're going to split up. Three women are easier to spot than lone travelers. And in three days, we'll meet in Amsterdam." She looked up with a victorious smile in place. "Easy."

Mel picked out her documents and studied some paperwork. "I'm getting a rental car? You really don't have faith in me anymore, do you?"

Jennifer playfully punched her in the shoulder. "Price of being the youngest, Mel. You get stuck with all the overprotectiveness." Truth was that Mel had been out of the game for six years. Car was the slowest and most annoying way to travel, but there were less cameras and security measures involved. The California airports would probably be crawling with guys on Stranger's or Sterling's payroll.

Jennifer looked over her documents. She was the one booked on the flight. Made sense considering the security guys at the house were only around her for two nights. They'd seen Isobel a lot longer.

"Why leave in the morning?" asked Jennifer. "If we leave now, we can put more distance between us faster."

"It's one in the morning. Everywhere will be so deserted that we'll stand out like sore thumbs. If we wait until the morning rush, we shouldn't have a problem. I don't want them to find out where we're going based off of security footage."

Jennifer knew Isobel was right, but the one bed in the room didn't look big enough to share and she didn't want to think about the bugs that might be on the floor.

"Armchair it is," she said with a sigh as she fell into the stiff upholstery and took off her shoes.

Melody sat on the bed and the worry was plastered all over her face. "Everything okay over there?" asked Jennifer.

Mel seemed to snap out of it. "Yeah. I was just thinking about that guy, Austin Raye."

"That's probably not his name," said Jennifer, probably a little too quickly, but she couldn't tell if Mel caught on.

"Well, whatever his name was, do you think he got out?"

"It doesn't matter," she snapped. "He was there for exactly the same reason we were and if our places were switched, he would've done the same thing to me, okay?"

Mel held up her hands. "Fine. Sorry I asked." She backed up onto the bed and reached for the remote to turn on the television.

As she flipped through channels, Jennifer let her head fall back onto the top of the armchair. Austin would've left her. Like the old saying went, there was no honor among thieves, no matter what kind of connection they might've had. But he had run with her. He hadn't abandoned her and even though she wasn't wearing the highest heels, he must've been slowed down.

No. No matter what happened nnifer. "I'K