Page 80 of Trapped

Chapter Fifteen

Cash found a house where the people were obviously on an extended trip and traded in the old clunker for a newer model. The trade involved breaking into the house and taking a spare set of keys. He wasn’t enjoying all the illegal activity, but he made himself feel better about it by keeping a list of people he had to reimburse.

As they headed toward Washington, D.C., he pulled into a fast food restaurant and got in line for the takeout window.

They were using the money from Montgomery’s office as sparingly as possible, but they were going to need an infusion of cash if they didn’t change their fugitive status soon.

He and Sophia each ordered burgers, French fries, and Cokes. As they sat in the car eating, he slid her a sidewise glance. Since the first car heist, she hadn’t complained about his problem-solving solutions. But he was sure she didn’t like being on the wrong side of the law.

She dipped a French fry in ketchup. “You remember when they declared ketchup was a vegetable—for the purpose of school lunches?”

He laughed. “Yeah.”

She ate the fry, then picked up another one and stirred it in the red sauce. “I have a suggestion for how to approach Luntz”

“Why do I think I’m not going to like it?”

“Because you don’t trust my judgment.”

He felt a pang of regret. “That’s not true.”

“Then at least listen to my plan.”

He took a bite of his burger and leaned back against the seat. “Okay.”

When she began to talk, he knew his suspicions had been right. He didn’t like what he was hearing. Unfortunately, her scheme made sense. But he told her they were going to look for every flaw they could find in her logic before they put it into action.

Since he couldn’t dredge up any objections, they checked out Luntz’s house. He lived in Potomac, Maryland, in what had once been prime horse country. In recent years, many of the horse farms had been turned into McMansion subdivisions. But there were still some old estates where the owners had kept the property intact. And Colonel Luntz’s was one of them.

Cash drove past the entrance several times. The approach to the house was up a curving driveway, screened by trees. He didn’t know what was going on up there. And he needed to find out.

Next, they stopped at a mall and bought some equipment—including two prepaid cell phones, set on vibrate only, so they could communicate. And he’d also bought a directional mike at an electronics store to pick up conversations at a distance.

“That’s about it for our money,” he said as they headed toward the colonel’s house.

Sophia nodded.

“Maybe I could play guitar outside the mall and collect tips.”

“Do you know how to play?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “I learned at Fort Benning. And I used to amuse my friends with raunchy ballads.”

She laughed. “I’d like to hear them.”

“But then I’d have to steal a guitar—which would defeat the purpose of the exercise.”

“Yes,” she murmured as they turned down the road where Luntz lived.

Cash drove past and turned off into a patch of woods. Then he got out and started back to the estate on foot while Sophia waited in the car.

Once he’d slipped under a split rail fence from the neighboring property, he waited and listened for signs that the place was being guarded.

But he only heard the rustling of small animals in the underbrush.

Staying low and moving cautiously through the woods, he came out into a well-kept garden, surrounding a red brick Georgian two-story house.

As he approached the structure, he could see lights on inside. A gray-haired man wearing casual slacks and a tan knit shirt was sitting in a den watching a cable news channel on television. He looked to be in his fifties, and Cash felt a spark of recognition. As he stared at the man’s face, he tried to come up with more details of the briefing.

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