crime venture?’’ asked Diane.
‘‘Yes. And it’s not so little. I’m serious about getting
those account numbers—about three hundred million
dollars’ worth of serious. They’re the only reason
Bryce and I stuck around.’’
‘‘That’s a lot of money,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Did Jefferies
make all of it with his cybergangs?’’
‘‘Mostly. His Atlanta business does well, but not
that well,’’ said Rikki.
‘‘How do you expect to get out of the building?’’
said Diane. ‘‘Do you plan to take one of us hostage?’’ Rikki laughed. ‘‘I have the best hostage of all,’’
she said looking around the room. ‘‘Bryce saw peo
ple as mice he could poke a stick at and they would
go scurrying. I told him he was making one mistake
after another dealing with you, but he wouldn’t lis
ten. Typical male. But I’m not that way. I get to
know people. And I know that more than anything,
you will protect the museum. You don’t want me
even firing a gun into the air on museum property,
and certainly not firing inside the building. You want
no danger and no bad publicity; that’s why you’re
going to let me just walk out of here with my bank
numbers and my gun. You’ll be willing to take the
chance that I’ll be apprehended when I’m well away
from the museum. I know this about you, just like I
know my mother will always choose the wrong men
to shack up with and my father will always be a
drunk.’’
‘‘You’re smarter than we gave you credit for,’’
said Diane.
Rikki smiled. ‘‘It’s the blond hair. Fools ’em every
time.’’
‘‘I suppose I don’t need to tell you that you won’t
get far off museum property,’’ said Diane.
‘‘I have an escape plan,’’ said Rikki. ‘‘Now, give me
the numbers.’’
‘‘They’re in the printer tray in my office,’’ said Diane,
nodding toward the locked door. ‘‘That’s where this’’—
she gestured to the computer—‘‘this thing printed the
list.’’
‘‘How convenient. I knew you would crack the secu
rity. Bryce in his stupidity wanted to get the computer
himself. Like he could have broken the encryption. I knew David could—given time. And for the record, I know you guys were on to me. I knew you weren’t
going to keep me on.’’
‘‘For the record,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We knew that you
knew. We figured there must be a really big payoff.’’ ‘‘You see now that there was,’’ said Rikki. She opened the door behind her. ‘‘I’m going out to
your office. If the list is not there, I’m going to be
pissed, and you don’t want that.’’
