He crossed to the bed he’d slept in and stretched out his feet. His bag was packed, so when the others were done all he had to do was pick up and go.
Thomas pulled out his phone and checked his messages. The others went back to their card game, ignoring him for the moment it took to tap out a text.
Lopez plus one are at her house. Team will drop me, then head to her location for flight to states.
When he’d drawn the short straw for this gig, he’d thought it would be easy. He could slip into Erin’s office early or late one day, find the DVD, and get out, none the wiser. But Erin was meticulous about keeping her office locked whenever she wasn’t there. The building security upgrades made it near impossible for him to break in without setting off alarms, which was why he’d been here as long as he had.
Thomas’ phone vibrated with a reply from Mark.
That’s not possible. Team on their location @ hotel.
Thomas didn’t know what to say to that except what he’d heard.
Their boss says they’re picking up Lopez and their guy at her house. Could the team have missed them?
A few agonizing moments went by before Mark replied.
Maybe. Go to the house. U r closer.
Fuck.
“Bam! What I tell you? Read ‘em and weep, girls.” Vaughn stood and displayed his cards.
Brenden and Nolan groaned while the other man gloated about his nickel-and-dime victory.
“Come on, let’s pack it up,” Nolan said.
“I got this. You guys go grab your bags.” Vaughn scooped up the money and cards.
“You good to go in a few?” Nolan asked Thomas on his way to the door.
“Yup.” Thomas had a small bag he’d as soon ditch as keep.
“Let’s try to be out of here in five,” Nolan suggested.
“It might take me more time to count my winnings,” Vaughn said.
“You don’t have enough fingers and toes for that.” Nolan flipped Vaughn off, then ducked through the doorway into the adjoining room.
Close to ten minutes later everyone was packed and downstairs. Thomas tried to play it cool, to not let on that in minutes they could be putting an end to the biggest threat to his personal security. With any luck, Mark and another team would beat them to Erin’s house, get her, the DVD and wrap this all up.
They loaded into the SUV, the trio of guys bantering while Grant and Melody gave each other the cold shoulder. Thomas couldn’t wait to be rid of these people.
Thankfully, it was only a ten-minute drive to the permanent headquarters of Ruddy Brothers Security, the current contractors with the NexGen job. Thomas almost threw himself from the vehicle when they pulled into the drive. That first breath of air, without their voice pollution, was heaven.
“If you’re ever in the market for a job that travels look us up,” Grant said by way of a farewell.
“I just may.” Thomas nodded.
Like hell he would.
The SUV turned around and left.
Thomas kicked his bag toward the office door and sprinted for the corner of the parking lot where he’d left his motorcycle. The only way he’d beat the SUV was by some creative driving. By his estimation, it was a good twenty-five minutes from here to Erin’s house if he took some shortcuts too narrow for a car. That would shave five to ten minutes off the road distance, not including time spent at security checks.
He threw his leg over the bike and started the engine, forgoing a helmet. There just wasn’t time. He whipped the bike around and merged into traffic, keeping to the shoulder and zipping past cars. He cut through parks and alleys all in a mad dash to arrive first. He even found a way to bypass a check point, shaving off crucial time. All in all, he arrived at Erin’s house with at least fifteen, maybe twenty minutes to spare. Not much, but he’d take what he could get.
@ Lopez house. Going in.
Thomas had been to Erin’s house twice a day, six times a week for a couple weeks. He’d had time to scope out her condo and make a plan for if he ever had to break in.
The building was at the end of a row. The front and side of the white building were exposed a high amount of street traffic, but the tiny back yard was sheltered by trees and a taller fence for some semblance of privacy.
He parked the bike a street over, on a quieter lane, and walked down to Erin’s house, keeping his head down. While he’d hoped that being part of her personal security would grant him a key, she’d never taken that step. Instead, Thomas had made his own. It was why he hadn’t been near her during the attack in the first place. Even if she was killed, they still had to get into her home and office to locate the evidence and destroy it.
Thomas let himself in through the back yard. He drew his knife, holding it in his left hand. There hadn’t been time to swap out his gun to one not registered to him. He couldn’t afford to use it, which meant relying on close quarter weapons and hoping he got the drop on them. If they were even here.
He peered through the rear windows into the home, but there wasn’t any movement. Not a soul inside that he could see. The lights and TV were off.
Still, this was his chance to get inside and have a look around. See if the DVD was here or not.
Thomas let himself in through the back door. The security system beeped, and he winced. Response time was down to ten minutes, and that was if Erin had a system that called the police. He’d be willing to bet that this one didn’t. She was too arrogant for that.
No other sound greeted him.
Erin and the man weren’t here.
Either Erin had lied to Grant and the others,
