Page 36

But not my clear obsession with her, that was for sure.

We were all a little on edge, so I gave him a pass. But not if he touched her or threatened her again. I knew he’d done all of that just to get a rise out of me, his idea of retribution for almost fucking everything up. But I didn’t give a shit. I wasn’t going to let him use her to get at me.

I sighed, sifting a strand of her soft hair through my fingers.

We had one last job before we could go home. But this was the most important one because we were looking for the code, and if we didn’t find it, then we could potentially be shit out of luck. At the very least, we’d have to do more planning.

It hadn’t been at the two we’d already hit, so it had to be at this next one.

And this time there weren’t any unsuspecting women to save. Actually, Whitney was the first woman Thorne had hired in years because he was a misogynistic piece of shit. He’d only brought her on board because he had ulterior motives.

I wondered how he was feeling since we’d stolen her from under his nose.

I wanted him to suffer and panic and know the feeling of losing something precious before I put a bullet in his head. It was one of the reasons I’d decided to kill Tom before him when the time came. I’d make him watch his son die right in front of him.

“Maybe we should rethink getting help from Frank if the code isn’t there,” Vincent said, his eyes briefly meeting mine in the rearview mirror.

When we first told Frank about our plans involving Thorne, he’d tried to warn us off it. Then, when he realized we weren’t backing down, he’d offered to help. We told him we had to do this on our own, but if it really came down to it, we’d call him if we needed him.

Brooks thumbed his bottom lip, staring absently out the window. “It’s gotta be in there. He keeps it in one of them. I know he does. If it’s not there…” He shrugged. “If it’s not there, we go back to Plan A. Blow it the fuck up.”

“I don’t know. I have a feeling she’ll be able to do it, code or no code,” I said, playing with a soft piece of her hair. I leaned down and brought it to my nose, inhaling the subtle fragrance. Coconuts?

Vincent glanced in the rearview mirror at me, his eyes briefly trailing to the sleeping woman in my lap. He looked back at the road without a single change in his expression.

Whitney didn’t stir, even when I had to get up. I lay her delicately on the seat, pressed a kiss to her forehead, and got ready.

After hopping the fence, I drew the mask up over my mouth and nose, pulled my hood over my head, checked the safety on my gun, then slid it into my waistband.

This wasn’t going to be easy, unlike the other hits.

Thorne wasn’t a complete idiot, so he’d bolstered security after the last run and stationed a security guard at the store in Canton. And, because he had ties to the police, there was now a squad car sitting in the lot at all hours.

I’d have to go through the back this time. Vincent had pulled the car down a narrow dirt road about a quarter mile from the shop. A small wooded area sat between the dirt road and the store, a tall chainlink fence the only barrier between the woods and the shop. No barbed wire at the top, at least. And the back of the store? Completely deserted. Thorne was guessing we’d go through the front like we had for every other one, but not with the squad car and armed guard. He was a big guy, too. Almost as tall as me. Definitely bulkier. And on his hip was a holstered pistol.

Thorne should’ve had armed guards long before this. With what he got into—and the shit he kept in his stores—he should’ve anticipated some kind of attack. But his ego made him careless, and now he would pay the price.

It was almost midnight, which was when the store would close. One of the main reasons we had to hit it during opening hours instead of past closing was because of the security system that was activated once the store was closed. It wasn’t hackable from a remote location, and it was too risky to try. Easier to go when it was shut off.

There was only one employee working today, a stoner that got high in the bathroom all day long. He’d be easy to subdue if he posed any issues.

My boots crunched on the gravel. I glanced around the narrow back alley that was primarily for the trucks that brought the goods in. Empty. For whatever reason—or maybe for a very specific reason, knowing Thorne—he’d decided to have his store in a less-trafficked part of town.

And by town, I was referring to the small strip of a street with a few shops that was surrounded by thousands of acres of forest. The population of Canton, New York, was less than five hundred. Not an ideal place to set up shop, but Thorne didn’t care about drawing in business. The store was just a front. A holding spot and halfway point for the final destination of the products.

But his employees—outside of his son—didn’t know that. I didn’t want to hurt them if I didn’t have to. Jay, though? He’d fucking deserved it.

“The cop is watching something on his phone.” Brooks’ soft voice came through the earbud in my right ear. He was monitoring the feeds for me and would let me know if I needed to bounce quickly.

I stayed low and crept up the stairs to the back door. Brooks had disabled the alarm system and remotely unlocked the door. Modern technology might be convenient, but it had its downsides—for Thorne, at least. It made it so much easier for us to access what we needed.

Cautiously cracking the door open, I peeked inside, making sure the back room was empty before going in.

“All clear.”

Crouching low, I moved quickly to the office. We weren’t even sure if Thorne was keeping anything in the safe anymore, but it was still worth a try. Even if there wasn’t any money, the code could still be there.

I crept to the door and pulled out the lock pick and tension wrench Vincent had given me, sliding the small tools into the keyhole and working it open.