The Cocky Thief

Chapter 26

Austin held on to the table in front of him as the van went over another bump, careful not to touch anything. He had no idea how Toni had gotten this all set up in a day, but he was impressed. Hell, this thing looked as though it had enough hacker power to take down the Pentagon. Five monitors were hooked up to the left side of the van and along the right-hand side was a row of car batteries used to power everything and a whole other mess of electronics that even Austin didn't know the purpose of.

But Hart was driving and Jennifer sat in the front seat with him, which left Toni, Weston, and him all in the back. Weston was going through all of his weapons, one by one, and taking stock of them. Even though the plan didn't have Weston interacting with the fundraiser at all, he was still dressed in black slacks and a black button-down. So if people saw him wandering around, he could at least pretend to be a lost guest.

Toni wore a tight gray dress, but her feet were bare. Like Weston, if the plan went the way it should, she wouldn't be rubbing elbows with any of California's elite.

"I don't get you," said Weston as the van went over another bump.

"That's because I'm an enigma," he said dryly.

The corner of Toni's mouth hooked up but she didn't comment.

"I get her. She's trying to save her sister," said Weston. "And I get Hart. He's still being a Boy Scout. And I get me, because I'm getting paid for this job. But I don't get you."

"Who says I'm not getting paid?" Weston didn't say anything and Austin continued, "What business is it of yours anyway?"

"My life might be in your hands. When someone has that kind of power over me, I like to know what's going on in their head."

"There are only sunshine and rainbows up here, Weston. Don't you worry about me—just focus on your part. You're the star of this operation."

"I could do this extraction in my sleep. Don't worry about me."

"It's my sister's life on the line. Both of you had better get your head out of your ass and get in the zone. Because if anything goes wrong, I know every single one of your account numbers."

Weston scoffed. "I live off the grid. You can't touch me."

"No one lives completely off the grid. If you think you're untouchable, you just give me a reason to prove you wrong."

"Remind me not to get on your bad side," muttered Weston as he went back to checking the handguns he was concealing, making sure the magazines were full and there was a round in the chamber ready to go.

Austin and Jennifer were going in unarmed. He was never sure how good the security was at these things and if they were going to go through a metal detector, he wanted to pass through without issue.

Jennifer had no room to hide a gun anyway, which he considered a win because he got to look at her hot body all night. Not that he was going to get a chance to see it tonight. When they got Melody free, he doubted the sisterly reunion would leave them any alone time together.

And after the reunion? Who knew. Every time he tried to bring it up, Jennifer would pull away. He wasn't the type to push "the talk" this early into a relationship, or whatever the hell they were doing. But he didn't know what corner of the world the Murray women would be fleeing to after this, so the talk would have to be happening sooner rather than later.

"Hart said you were going to get us in the party," said Austin, changing the subject.

Toni nodded. "I'm getting you on the list, but you still need to provide your tickets when you arrive. Good news is that security here is ridiculous. They don't ask for ID and the tickets don't have names on them, so you can get any ticket and as long as you give them a name on the list, you'll get in the front door."

"Then why even bother getting them on the list?" asked Weston.

"Isobel is the one who is going to slip in. We want them to know Jennifer and I are there."

A few minutes later, the van came to a stop. Austin adjusted his cufflinks and made sure his jacket didn't bear the wrinkles of someone who had ridden in the back of a van for the last forty-five minutes.

Right as he was about to jump out of the van, Toni cleared her throat. "Remember my warning, Miles. If Mel isn't found, you don't need to worry about Stranger finding you. You'll have to worry about me."

"I love these chats of ours. Can't wait to do it again." He jumped out of the van right as Jennifer was walking around to greet him.

"Everything going okay in there?"

"Oh yeah." He shut the door a little too forcefully. "Your sister is a peach."

Jennifer smirked, as though she knew exactly how uncharming Toni could be. "Yeah. When you live life behind a computer screen, things like common politeness aren't really required. She's sweet behind it all, I promise."

"I'll take your word for it." He held out his arm to her. "Ready to make Stranger cry?"

She hooked her arm through his. "I've stolen a lot of things in my life, but I've never stolen a sister."

"It's time to beef up our resumes then."

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