Page 14 of The San Marco Heist

“Just go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Fine! Fine!” She waved her hands as she went, mumbling something to Kelley and Jenn as they hustled her out.

They were outside, rounding the house. They’d be safe so long as I kept him distracted. “Why are you here?”

“I really am sorry for interrupting your party, Eloise.” He smirked, mischief lighting up his eyes. So blue under the porch light. Tonight, they were a deeper shade, like a moonlit ocean. Like the Hope Diamond. “Or should I call you Scarlett?”

I curled my toes, even though I wasn’t wearing shoes, and I blinked slowly, showing only my work face. Calm, detached, observant. “Alright, you say Emmett asked you to stop by. Why?”

He folded his arms and leaned against the doorframe, crossing one ankle over the other. The smile tightened, almost to a grimace. “Your friends are probably still watching, you know. They’ll be disappointed if you don’t invite me in.”

“Very true, but I don’t make a habit of inviting strange men into my house.”

He nodded, reaching for something behind him.

Gun? Knife?

I inched one arm back, ready to intercept whatever he was planning to surprise me with.

But no, it was only a phone. He unlocked it, swiped a few times, and passed it to me. “I was told to bring you this.”

It was a video, starting on Emmett, tied to a chair, with three men in clown masks. My heart sank. No amount of training prepared me for this. Blood streamed down the side of his face and from his nose. His eyes were swollen.

A splinter of ice crashed down my spine. I sprang back, swinging the door shut, but Blue Eyes slammed a hand into it and slipped in.

Fuck. I threw open the foyer closet and grabbed the Glock from its hiding spot over the door, pointing it at him. I always stashed this gun with a round in the chamber. “Who the hell are you?”

“My name is Malcolm.” He didn’t budge. Didn’t come any closer. Didn’t flinch. Simply gestured at the phone. “And I’m not here to hurt you. Just watch it.”

A layer of dread settled over my heart as I held the phone up next to the gun and hit play, keeping my eyes on this man who claimed to be here at my brother’s insistence. “Back up.”

He nodded and moved farther into the living room, putting enough distance between us he couldn’t grab my gun. Giving me more time to watch the video.

Emmett’s voice shook when it started. “Scar, I’m so sorry.”

The clowns all had different colored hair, and the one with curly red stepped forward. His clothes were black, as were his gloves. Pale skin around his eyes. Caucasian. Compared to Emmett’s size, the man looked to be just shy of six feet. Thin with long limbs. Maybe a hundred and fifty pounds. Probably not the one beating Em.

Red Hair spoke in a distorted voice. “We want the Codex. We know you have it. Give it to our courier or your brother dies. You have twenty-four hours.”

The video zoomed in on Emmett’s face, his bloodshot, swollen eyes flicking back and forth, then boring into the camera. “Trust Malcolm. Please.”

The image faded out, and I extended the gun toward Malcolm. Their courier and yet a man Emmett told me to trust.

Twenty-four hours. What was I going to do?

Whose side was Malcolm on?

I instinctively scrunched my toes, the movement pushing Mum’s lessons through my brain. There were plans to make. A team to call in. These clowns would not get away with taking my brother.

“Scarlett,” Malcolm said, raising his hands in a gesture of surrender. “We need to talk.”

Chapter 6

Malcolm

Stepone.Iwasinside.

Step two. Scarlett had watched the video.

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