“That’s too dangerous.”
“Let me think.” He laughed softly. “Too bad we can’t convince him we’re invisible.”
“Oh sure.”
He shrugged. “It’s worth considering.”
She stared at him. “You think we could do something like that.”
“I think we may have a lot of possibilities we can explore. But not until we can get out of the city.”
He knew she wanted to ask him to give up on his computer, but he wasn’t willing to do it—not with so much data in it. Of course it was password protected but an expert could probably hack his way in.
“If this guy is out front, you can assume the other one is out back.”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s check that out.”
They reversed their steps, heading back to the alley on the perpendicular street. Staying close to the buildings, they walked quietly toward the mansion. They spotted the curly-haired man in the yard across the street before he spotted them. As Stephanie stared at him, she took Craig’s hand.
He caught his breath when he saw what she had in mind. “No.”
CHAPTER NINE
“No,” Craig repeated.
“You have a better idea?” Stephanie asked as she scanned the alley, which was empty of people.
When he couldn’t come up with one, she said, “There’s a drugstore in the block back there. Let’s go get some duct tape.”
“You like the idea of poetic justice?”
“You know I do.”
They went for the tape, then separated. Stephanie walked to the end of the alley where they’d entered before, and Craig went the other way. When they had visual contact with each other, she started walking down the alley as though she wasn’t aware that she was in any danger. Craig hurried to get into position.
As she’d predicted, the man saw her and stepped out of the backyard where he’d been hiding, his gun in his hand.
Stephanie stopped and gasped.
As the man closed in on her, Craig rushed in back of him. The thug must have heard him, because he whirled. Before he could fire, Stephanie pushed him to the side, throwing him off balance. Craig brought the butt of his gun down on the man’s head, and he collapsed.
After looking around to make sure nobody was watching, they pulled his limp body into the backyard where he’d been hiding and quickly taped his hands and feet, the way they’d been taped in the van. His face was already battered and bruised from when Craig had slammed his head against the floor.
He groaned, and Craig shook him. His eyes blinked open. For seconds they were clouded with confusion before he focused on his captors.
“Who are you working for?” Craig asked as he crouched over the captive.
Curly’s only answer was a feral glare.
Craig slapped him across his bruised face, and he gasped. “Who?”
The man looked desperate, but he answered. “I don’t know.”
“Nice try.”
“It’s the truth. We was hired by phone.”
