Fall Into Place (Taking the Fall #5)(3)
Two
Anthony
I hear the alert go off on mine and Samuel’s phone. I’m driving, so I look up in the rearview mirror and see him checking it out. “What is it?”
“Looks like we got a skip pop up just outside Vegas.” He pauses for a second, and then I see his eyes go big. “Goddamn, the bounty is a million dollars.” He whistles and looks up to meet my eyes in the mirror.
“Don’t even think about it,” Mary says beside me. She’s holding my hand, and I feel her squeeze it a little tighter. She hates it when we go out picking up people who skip out on their bail, but it’s great money and we're good at it.
The three of us are about half an hour from Vegas, and this could be some damn good money. I’m a f*cking great hacker considering my dad taught me everything he knows. I know I can find anyone anywhere, and Samuel can bring them in. We’ve both got the best training for this, and it was from our dads.
I look back up in the rearview mirror and lock eyes with Samuel. He nods at me, and I know where he’s at. We’ve been talking about this for a long time. We want to be smart about the bonds we go after, so we’ve been trying to take bigger paying jobs less often. A lot of deadbeat criminals who skip on bail aren’t worth the risk for the little it pays out, but with the two of us teaming up, we’ve got the skills to wait and go after the whales. This one that just came up is the whale we’ve been waiting for.
With this nest egg, Mary and I wouldn’t have to worry about setting up a home for ourselves and our babies. She’s been going to school to be a kindergarten teacher, even though she knows it doesn’t pay anything. It’s always been her dream to have lots of babies, and teach, and I’ve made it my mission in life to make even her tiniest of dreams come true. I want to give her everything, and if that means doing this, then it needs to happen.
I take a deep breath and start to say something, but Mary knows me all too well and lets go of my hand, looking out the window and ignoring me. “Just take me to the hotel. I’ll order room service until you get back.”
“Princess, listen to me,” I try, but she’s not having it. I reach out for her hand, and while she doesn’t pull away, she doesn’t squeeze it back. “This is the one we’ve been waiting for. This will set us both up for a long time. Don’t you want that house out in Springfield? I’ve seen that Pinterest board you made for it.”
She whips around and looks at me with big eyes. “That was a private board! You weren’t supposed to see that.”
Goddamn, she’s so adorable when she’s angry. “I’m a computer hacker, baby. There’s nothing on the internet that’s private. Back to my point though. I know you’ve been eyeing it. I know you want it, but you know we can’t afford it. This would buy that house outright and then some. I wanna take care of you, princess. Take care of us.”
Mary shakes her head and turns around to look at her twin. They have a silent conversation where they just stare at each other, and I keep driving, waiting for it to be over. They’ve done this since we were babies so I’m used to it. After a few moments pass, she turns back around and crosses her arms in a huff.
“There’s no changing your minds. I know your voice, and Samuel won’t be moved. But I just want to state for the record that I don’t want either of you doing this for me. It wrecks my nerves when the two of you go out on these things, and seeing as how you’re calling off our wedding to go do one, I can’t help but be a little pissed.”
“Nobody is calling off anything, Mary.” My voice is stern because I don’t like that she thinks we aren’t still getting married. “I’m going to do some research on this, but I’m sure Samuel and I can be in and out in an hour. Pick up the skip, take him back to the county jail, and be back before you’ve even gotten out of the tub.”
“Sounds like a chick from the name,” Samuel says from the back seat, not looking up from his phone. “I don’t have the whole file yet, but it’s on its way. From the bio it sounds like a cake job for a cool mil.”
“See? It’s all going to be fine. Samuel and I are going to go make some quick cash, and then you and I are gonna make this official.” I reach over, pulling her hand out from her crossed arms, and this time she holds mine back. After a second of me rubbing my thumb on the inside of her wrist, I feel her relax and squeeze me back.
We ride in silence as we make it to our hotel on the Strip. The three of us are used to rooming together, but this is our wedding night, so instead of adjoining rooms, Samuel got one across the hall from us. I sprang for the suite, wanting to treat Mary to a few luxuries, even if this was all last minute.
When we get upstairs and drop off our stuff, Mary goes to the master bedroom and closes the door. I know she’s not super happy with the two of us right now, but after this is over, I’ll have a lifetime as her husband to make it up to her. And who am I kidding? I know this won’t be the last time I mess up.
I pull out my laptop and download the file. “Let’s go over some of the details and see what we can find. From what the report says, I don’t think the skip has gone too far.” I scan the document and keep reading over the details, but something odd is standing out. I can’t seem to nail down what it is, and I keep looking, trying to pinpoint it.