Page 96 of Stuart Woods' Smolder

They propped him up between them and moved him into the hallway.

“Jeez, he’s even heavier than he looks,” Devin complained.

“Just keep moving.”

They had to switch tactics at the stairs, Devin taking the guy’s feet and going down first, Benji grabbing him under the arms.

They had just reached the ground floor and laid the guy on the carpet, so they could readjust, when Sticks threw the front door open and hurried in.

“What’s the holdup? Fire’s almost here.”

Benji twisted around. “What do you mean it’s almost here?”

“A fire’s gonna do what a fire’s gonna do.” Sticks noticed the unconscious man. “Who’s he?”

“Don’t worry about him,” Benji said. “Worry about getting your devices set up in here.”

“I’m not sure we’re gonna need them.”

“We’re not taking any chances.”

Sticks glanced at the open front door, then grimaced. “Fine.”

“Devin, with me,” Benji said.

Benji and Devin collected the painting, then returned to the foyer to find Sticks standing exactly where he’d been before.

“I told you to get everything set,” Benji said.

“I did.”

Benji nodded at the man on the floor. “Then help Devin carry him to the car.”

“No way. You’re not paying me to carry bodies.”

“He’s not dead.”

“I don’t care.”

“Fine. Then take this.” He held out the Matilda Stone.

“You don’t pay me to—”

“Just take it, dammit!” Benji shoved the painting into Sticks’s chest.

Sticks grumbled but took it and headed outside.

Benji and Devin picked up the man and exited the house.

“Oh, my God!” Devin said, his gaze locked on the meadow behind the home.

Benji looked over his shoulder and sucked in a breath. The blaze couldn’t have been more than twenty yards behind the house and moving fast in their direction.

“Move it,” Benji said.

They piled into their fake sheriff’s car, Devin in back with their extra passenger, and Benji sped away as fast as possible.

Half a mile later, they left the guy from the house next to several dumpsters behind a closed restaurant, then made a beeline for the freeway, to put as many miles between them and the scene of the crime as possible.

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