He stared down at her, as if checking for any sign of deception. She forced herself to hold his gaze. Whatever he saw there must’ve satisfied him, because Ricky backed off, pulling a cell phone from his pocket. He dialed a number. “The package has been collected.” He glanced down at the USB drive in his hand. “I’ve got everything. Get over here. It’s time to finish this.”
Peyton’s attention shifted to Lilia. Her cousin seemed to be pleading with her eyes, but for the life of her, she couldn’t understand what Lilia was trying to say. One thing she understood was that whoever Ricky was working with would be here soon. Once that happened, the opportunity to escape narrowed significantly.
Was it Marvis? It seemed the only thing that made sense. Ricky had somehow teamed up with the criminal. Was he even a real ATF agent? Peyton believed he was. Somehow, while working undercover, Ricky had betrayed his oath, trading his badge for something else.
Money, probably.
She flexed her wrists. The handcuffs were tight enough to bite into her skin. There would be no getting out of them. Peyton’s gaze swept the farmhouse floor, searching for anything she could use as a weapon, but there was nothing but dust. Thunder rumbled, and the sound of rain battered against the roof of the old farmhouse.
Grace’s eyes fluttered, and she wriggled as if waking up, but then gave a few sucks on her pacifier and settled back down. They had maybe another half an hour before her next bottle. The backpack with the supplies had been with Dawson. They had nothing to feed her with, and Peyton was terrified of what Rickywould do if the baby started screaming. He’d been calculated and cold, but she sensed there was anger boiling beneath that calm exterior.
Ricky plugged the USB drive into the laptop. The desk was covered with old fast-food wrappers and loose-leaf papers. He pulled out the chair and sat down. “What’s the password, Lilia?”
She remained silent. Ricky turned to face her, even as his weapon was pointed at Peyton. “I can and will shoot her from right here.”
“You won’t hurt Grace.”
“I’ll do what I have to do to get what I want.”
His tone was deadly flat. Peyton’s heart pounded against her ribcage as trembles raced through her. What kind of monster threatened to harm an innocent child? Lilia also looked stunned, as if she hadn’t expected the threat against her baby. Then resignation washed over her face. She rattled off a series of numbers, letters, and symbols in rapid succession.
“Slow down,” Ricky ordered. He typed the passcode in, but the file didn’t open. “It’s wrong. Start again, and this time go slowly.”
Lilia did, but once again, the file didn’t open.
Ricky growled in frustration.
“It’ll be easier if you just let me type it.” Lilia leaned her head against the wall. Her complexion was pale, as if the very act of talking had drained her.
Suspicion crossed Risky’s face. “If this is a trick?—”
“It's not a trick.” Lilia's voice was hollow with exhaustion. “You have Peyton and Grace. I wouldn’t risk their lives. The password is thirty-two characters long. Numbers, letters, and symbols. I designed it so that no one could guess it or type it from memory. I have to see the keyboard.”
Peyton kept her muscles relaxed, but her heart skipped a beat. Lilia was lying. Her cousin could count cards in a Vegascasino and do trigonometry in her head. A woman with that kind of mind didn't need toseea keyboard to type a password she'd created herself. She could have rattled it off perfectly the first time.
Which meant she'd given the wrong password on purpose. Twice.
What was she up to?
Ricky seemed to weigh his options. Then he crossed to Lilia and unlocked the handcuffs. “Try anything and I’ll kill them both.”
“I won’t.” Lilia rubbed her raw wrists and slowly—painfully—got to her feet. She swayed, grabbing the radiator pipe for balance. Peyton's heart ached watching her. Days of captivity had taken their toll. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments, and something in her cousin’s expression hinted at a buried strength.
Then Lilia shuffled to the table and lowered herself into the chair. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard. Ricky stood behind her. Carefully, she pecked at the keyboard—another sign she was up to something since Lilia was an excellent typist—and then hit enter. The screen shifted as the USB drive opened.
A hunger appeared in Ricky’s expression. His attention was locked on the laptop screen. “Where’s the bank account number? The one that has all the money you stole from Cade.”
Peyton shifted ever so slightly, using the wall to support her weight as she got her feet underneath her.
“It’s buried in a folder.” Lilia’s fingers moved over the trackpad as her other hand disappeared from sight. “I’ll pull it up for you.”
“Quickly.”
Lilia tapped on the trackpad, and something new filled the screen. Ricky’s expression morphed into a slow smile as he leaned over further. “Two million dollars. It’s all here.”
Without warning, Lilia’s hand whipped out from underneath the balled-up food wrappers, a pen clutched tightly in her grip. She slammed it into Ricky’s throat. He staggered back, howling, his hand flying to the wound. The gun clattered to the floor.
Peyton sprang from her position, lifting one leg and driving it straight into his chest before spinning around to swipe his feet out from underneath him. Ricky slammed to the ground. Movement out of the corner of Peyton’s eye warned her to shift, and she stepped back just as Lilia, with every ounce of strength she had, slammed the folding chair against Ricky’s head.
