“You’re probably not going to get it,” Denver said, the itch between his shoulder blades intensifying. Telling the cop everything might’ve been the biggest mistake he’d ever made. What had he done?
Malloy sighed. “I’m aware.” He looked over at Tina. “You ready to take this bullet out or what?”
Noni finished cleaning the blood from the table as Malloy rested on the sofa with Tina next to him. The bullet removal had been surprisingly quick, but the cleanup was taking time. “Are you sure he hasn’t lost too much blood?” she called out.
Tina glanced over the back of the sofa at her. “He’ll survive.” She rubbed her hand down his jaw. “He’d better.”
Noni tossed the paper towels in the trash and tried to keep from freaking out. A clock on the mantel ticked ominously. How had she not noticed it yesterday? Today it seemed to tick away her chances of finding Talia. Her knees shook, so she locked her legs.
Denver was in the chair next to the sofa, his concentration absolute on his laptop. “Three minutes to go,” he muttered.
“You ahead?” Malloy asked.
“Bid is at five hundred K,” Denver said, his fingers poised over the keys. “Two serious bidders left.”
Tina extended her long legs onto the coffee table. “I don’t understand why the police can’t track this.”
“Anybody on the dark web can track it, but only online. There’s no way to follow the participants into the real world. No way to find them,” Denver said grimly.
Noni moved up behind him to see another picture of Talia, this one with today’s newspaper next to her. At only three months, she was bright eyed and smiling with a purple bow in her hair. The image almost dropped Noni to her knees. “She’s okay,” she breathed.
“Yes.” Denver didn’t turn around.
He’d been cranky all day since everyone had refused to board the helicopter. In fact, he’d barely looked at her. She fought a rising irritation and tried to focus on the baby. Soon she’d be back in safety. Noni had to believe that.She had to.
Denver stiffened. “Damn it. Three new bidders.” He started typing faster.
The entire room seemed to hold its breath.
Flashes of color showed across the screen.
“Fuck,” Denver said, typing even faster. Then the entire screen went black.
Noni stopped breathing. “What happened?” She leaned over his shoulder to see just a blank screen. “Denver?” Her voice trembled. Had they lost? Was Talia gone? Oh God. She gripped his shoulders.
Malloy grabbed his phone. “I’ll call for help.”
Denver held up a hand. “Wait. Not yet.”
Noni swallowed rapidly as bile rose in her throat. What was happening? She blinked.
A three-dimensional box suddenly spun into existence on the screen. Denver clicked on it. Words exploded:
You have three minutes to send a picture of your final bid.
Then a clock appeared on the screen, already counting down.
“Shit.” Denver set the laptop down and ran for the briefcase. “Malloy. Phone.” He somehow snagged the phone out of the air without even looking when Malloy threw it. Then he yanked open the briefcase and snapped several pictures before taking the micro SD card out of the phone. He hustled back to the laptop and inserted it, bringing up the pictures.
As Noni watched, he manipulated two of them to change the briefcases, the angle of the money, and even the denominations so they all looked different. So it appeared as if they had three times the money they really did. Wow.
The clock counted down, now attwenty-two seconds. Twenty-one. Twenty.
She pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from screaming. If they didn’t win, she might never see Talia again.
Eighteen seconds. Seventeen. Sixteen.
Then Denver typed some weird code, the pictures blinked, and then fizzled.
