Dalton lit up at being saved—but then paled when he saw Ford’s face.
“We need to teach him self-restraint,” Kathleen said, carefully prying the bouncer’s hands off of Dalton, “but you, honey, I’ll call later.” She leaned up to kiss his cheek, and he looked less formidable as he relented and let them escape outside.
“Do you have any idea the danger you just put yourself in!?” Ford was a force of paternal rage. “How did you even know to come here?”
“I can do a tail too,” Dalton pouted.
“There is no way you followed us. I made sure—”
“I followed Andrew.”
Andrew retreated as Ford’s rage whipped to him. “I-I didn’t think—”
“No, you clearly didn’t. And neither did you.” He reared back on his son. “We just found out that I was right. You were targeted on purpose. They know about you. They all know. And I can’t keep you safe. I certainly can’t if you show up where the worst of them gather and no one would find your body.”
Dalton looked rightly browbeaten, but he still countered, “I knew you were here. I knew I’d be fine.”
“That’s not good enough. Why would you risk—”
All at once, alarms on both Andrew and Ford’s phones started going off, and the exact timing and tone told them what it had to be.
The thief was at Avalon.
“The trap?” Dalton surmised. “It went off, didn’t it?”
“Did you bring a car?” Ford asked Andrew.
“A couple blocks down.”
“We can make it. It’ll take them at least ten minutes to get back to the first floor, and they have to use that same exit.”
“We should call Steve—”
“If they see any lights, they might try something different. We have to go now. Kathleen,” Ford grabbed Dalton’s arm and pushed him toward her, “take him home.”
“No way! I’m coming too.Don’targue,” Dalton spoke over Ford’s protest. “We don’t have time, and I can get us in faster.” He pulled out his wallet to show off his ID badge, but then put it away before Ford could simply snatch it.
Andrew knew Ford hated everything about this, but he still said, “I’ll call you later,” to Kathleen and pushed Andrew and Dalton down the alley.
Andrewgotthemtherein just over five minutes, lucking out with traffic, taking back alleys, and parking without care to race for the same entrance they’d broken into before. Their compressed air had long since evaporated—but there was new residue on the lock.
Dalton used his ID to get them in without causing any alarms. There were no obvious sounds of company inside or anyone in sight, but they were early.
The trap was simple. They knew the path the thief would follow but catching them relied on knowing when they struck—with a pressure plate. A borrowed scale hidden on Dalton’s tabletop held everything worth stealing. As soon as the weight changed, a signal had gone to Andrew and Ford’s phones. If they were too late, they still had a failsafe.
The Bluetooth trackers Andrew had planned to use with Larson, hidden on the equipment.
“We’re at the exit. No sign of them yet,” Andrew reported to Kevin over his radio. “What about the trackers?”
“Still showing in the building,” Kevin said.
He nodded affirmative to Ford and Dalton.
“Riley, anything on the cameras?” Ford asked on his end. He listened and nodded as well. “Working fine, but we know this thief knows where they are. They’re being smart, not wanting to alert anyone that something’s wrong. But they have to go through this exit.” He gestured behind them. “All the other cameras are stationary and would spot them. We just need to wait.”
They silently agreed on sentry points, moving to guard each hallway entrance. Dalton stuck by Ford, and for a few anxious minutes, there was nothing but stillness, not even one of the security guards appearing, which made sense, since the thief would have chosen their timing when this route would be clear.
“Shit,” Kevin hissed over the comms.
