“Give me the number.”
Ezio did.
“I’ll call you back in a few.”
“Who was that?” Asher wanted to know as soon as he got off the phone.
“His name is Gideon Smith. He’s our comm guy on Omega Sky. He’s brilliant. Might not own his own software corporation, but if Kane found out how good he is, he’d want to recruit him.”
“Are you sure he’s that good?” Eden asked. Ezio saw the fear in her eyes. He put his hand on her arm.
“I’m sure. He’s going to be able to trace her phone.” He saw both women sag with relief, but that was only one of the next steps.
“Okay, Asher, what do you have planned?”
Asher ran his hand through his hair, then nodded toward David. “I didn’t introduce you properly. This is former Sergeant First Class, United States Marine Corp, David Ross. He definitely wants in on this.”
“Perfect. Let’s move this into the kitchen, shall we?” Ezio asked.
“Are you trying to get away from us?” Toni asked. “Because that’s not going to happen. I want to hear every detail of what you have planned.”
“Nope, not trying to get away from you, ma’am,” Ezio said. “As a matter of fact, since you’re the one who wrangled Samantha into this, you have the most information. We’re depending on you to fill us in on her plan.”
“I’m at fault too, guys. I saw Samantha shopping for this little expedition. I really didn’t press her enough to find out how hairy it really was. I blew it off. This could be bad; she bought a real sex-on-a-stick outfit.” Eden frowned at Toni.
Sex-on-a-stick? Ezio thought his head might explode. “Explain.”
“I met her at the mall and she had quite the sex-bomb red dress that she’d bought, and she was looking for shoes and lingerie to go with it. Now that I know it is for this event, I think she’s going to be trying to distract all the players with everything she has. Not that she will need to, she’s a really good poker player.”
“She’s not there to win money, she’s there to talk my brother into quitting the game,” Toni protested. “I just needed someone who looked real to play. We still don’t know that this is a bad situation,” she protested.
Ezio knew he was going to lose it, and he didn’t think David would appreciate him raining terror down on his wife.
His phone rang and he put it on speaker.
“Got the info. She’s at a strip mall in Magic Hollow.”
Eden groaned while the three men gritted their teeth. “What?” Toni asked. “Magic Hollow sounds like the Magic Kingdom.”
“It’s a pit. Lots of crime. This is not good, not good at all,” David ground out.
“Phil and Greg will be there,” Toni said tentatively. “They’ll be able to protect her.”
“Great, the drunk and the gambler, just the two guys you want to have watching Samantha’s back,” David said derisively.
“Phil is a good guy,” Toni argued. But this time she didn’t sound nearly as convinced as she had before.
“Toni,” Ezio’s voice was soothing. “I need you to tell me more about your plan. How was it supposed to work?”
“Samantha was supposed to get Phil away from the table. Maybe a bathroom break, or maybe entice him. She planned to look really good, and if he was drinking then he could be enticed,” Toni admitted sadly.
Fuck!
“Anyway, once she got him away from the table, I was going to talk some sense into him.”
“Why didn’t you just talk to him?” David asked.
“He’s gone to ground. He was supposed to be staying at Greg’s house, but they haven’t been there for the last five days. Believe me, I’ve checked. This was the only place I knew they’d be.”
“Okay,” Ezio said patiently. “Sam must have called you to tell you the plan had changed and that you couldn’t meet at Goldy’s, right? So, what was she planning on doing?”
“She had the picture of Sharon, little Seth, and a scan of her baby. She was still planning on luring him away from the table and talking sense into him.”
Ezio, David, and Asher all nodded. They caught onto the plan, even though it sucked donkeyballs. There was no way this private game was going to let some of their fishes just walk away, at least not with their money.
“What about Greg, is he playing too?” Asher asked.
“Yes,” Toni answered. “He was signed up when I called Goldy’s.”
“We need to go get them the hell out of there.”
Ezio looked at his phone. As he suspected, Gideon had given him an exact tracking to Samantha’s phone.
Sweet.
I don’t like this at all.
She’d never been to this part of Virginia Beach, and she sure as heck never wanted to come back to it. They pulled into the parking lot behind a wig store that was still open at nine o’clock at night. Murray was fast, and was immediately at her driver’s door, opening it before she even had a chance to unbuckle her seat belt.
“Where are we?” Samantha asked.
“I told you, we’re taking precautions. This place is very secure,” he assured her.
“It doesn’t look like a safe neighborhood.”
“Nobody will mess with us, trust me.”
Then out of the gloom, another man came up to her car. Samantha stifled a scream.
“Allow me to introduce you to my associate. This is Carl.”
“Miss Brooks, I’m glad you were able to make it,” he smiled. He had a nice smile at least. But still, she didn’t feel comfortable as the two men walked on either side of her into the wig shop. She didn’t know what she
