Controlled (Gretel Koch Jewel Thief Book 2)

by Samantha Price

  Immediately, she called her sister. Hazel answered on the second ring. “Hey, be careful today.”

  “Not this again. Tell me what’s going on, Gretel. I know it’s something.”

  “Nothing. What are you doing today?”

  “Mom and Dad wanted me to go with them to see a house in Nova Scotia.”

  “You didn’t mention it yesterday.”

  “I know, it was a last-minute thing. I thought the trip would clear my head and they were happy to take me with them.”

  “All the way up there?”

  “Yes. We’re making a bit of a road trip of it. Doing it over a couple of days.” Hazel then lowered her voice. “I’ll tell you about it later.”

  Good. They'd all be out of town. “When will you be back?”

  “In a few days. We’re just filling up with gas now and then we’re on the way.”

  “Okay. Don’t let them know it’s me on the phone.”

  “Or, you could say hello.”

  “Bye, Hazel.” Gretel threw her cell phone back into her bag. She was certain she was safe since these guys needed her to perform the robbery. Her folks were safe too. If any of her family got hurt, she’d never do the robbery. She tapped a finger on her chin. No. The crooks wouldn’t go too far. They’d do something to warn her first. Maybe they’d scare one of her family members—enough so that she’d hear about it.

  Time to get dressed. In her dressing room, Gretel looked through her clothes wondering what to wear. She grabbed the hanger of a dark blue pants suit, pulled it out and held it against her. “That’ll do,” she said as she looked into the full-length mirror. “It just needs a white shirt.”

  When she changed into it and looked in the mirror again, she didn’t like how plain she looked. Reaching out to where her scarves were neatly folded, she grabbed a bright red one.

  There, that’s better, she thought, and perhaps a smart straw hat would top it off nicely.

  Later that morning, Gretel walked into Jack’s office, saw him nowhere about, and sat down on the small couch in the corner of the room. Now, she felt her hat looked a little out of place.

  Besides, Jack wasn’t keen on hats. He’d mentioned that before, she remembered now. Wanting Jack to like the way she looked, she took off the hat and smoothed down her hair.

  “Look at you in your scarf. Oh, and a hat.”

  “Do you like them?” Gretel asked.

  “I do.” Monica reached forward and grabbed the hat and promptly put it on.

  Gretel noticed that Monica was wearing dark blue pants and jacket the same as she was. “We’re wearing the same. Snap.” It was something she and her sister said when they did something the same or said something at the same time. They would also snap their fingers in the air, but she didn’t think Monica would appreciate that.

  “Don’t be juvenile, Koch.” Monica reached down and pulled the scarf off Gretel’s neck before Gretel knew what was happening.

  “Help yourself.”

  “I will.” She tossed the scarf around her neck and knotted it in front.

  “Feel free to borrow them, but I’ll need them back.”

  “I’m going out to lunch with Tosh.”

  “Isn’t it early for lunch? It’s only half after ten.”

  “Early for you, but Tosh and I have been here since five o'clock, working hard.” Monica further adjusted the scarf. “I quite fancy myself in these. I’ll give them back later. Just like I’ll expect my earrings to find their way back to me. Got it?” After a steely gaze into Gretel’s face, Monica promptly turned on her heel and walked out the door. Gretel was left shaking her head at the woman.

  Jack walked into the office looking over his shoulder. Then he saw Gretel on the couch. “Was that Monica I saw just now heading down the corridor? I thought for a millisecond it was you.”

  “It was Monica, all right. Funny you should say that because she is wearing my scarf and hat. Said she was going out to lunch with Tosh, whoever that is. ”

  “Damian McIntosh. Commonly known as Tosh.”

  “Maybe Monica’s got her eyes on him.”

  “He’s married I’m afraid.”

  “That’s even worse.” Gretel shook her head.

  Jack laughed. “Let’s get back to the job, shall we?”

  “Yes, please.” Anything was better than talking about Monica and her lunch date.

  “What have you come up with?” He moved behind his desk.

  “Nothing yet. Unless one of the men on the security team can be corrupted, bribed, or replaced. That would be the most obvious and easiest way that I can see.”

  “Not likely.” Jack sat down and Gretel moved to sit on the chair in front of his desk.

  “Why not?”

  “I agree that would be the easiest way for someone to make inroads toward stealing the diamond, but not with this team. Each one has been handpicked and vetted and each is logged in, and if they’re sick that week, we have backups who are just as reliable.”

  She nodded, agreeing, but everyone had their price. One of them on the twenty strong security team would have the need for a cool million dollars or two dropped in their lap with the promise of a new identity and passage to another country.

  Then Gretel’s mind traveled to Monica. With Monica being so hostile, Gretel felt like she was always just one step away from going back to prison. Sometimes it seemed as though Monica could see straight through her charade of being a good person and straight through to her dark soul. The same dark soul her parents had seen. They’d always thought the worst of her, and held out no hope for her turning into a decent person.

  It didn’t help that Monica had spotted her on the night her apartment was robbed. That was a careless error and she had Kent to blame for that. It was the first time he’d let her down. The man Kent had sent on the date with Monica should’ve called Kent the second Monica left the restaurant. Something had gone wrong and she had yet to find out exactly what it was.

  Jack spoke, snapping her mind back to the present and back to the task at hand—guarding the Purple Promise. “If the power goes off, we immediately switch to a backup source. The alarms and all the systems will be kept in place. There’ll be four different surveillance systems.”

  “Four?”

  “Yes.”

  “They’re making it hard for anyone to break in.”

  He smiled at her. “That’s the idea, but that’s not the half of the systems they have in place.”

  “I’m listening.”

  Before Jack could say more, they both looked through the glass walls of his office as someone ran one way. Then another person ran the other direction.

  Something was happening.

  Not sure she’d seen correctly, she turned her head and then saw another man running past.

  Jack saw him too and jumped to his feet. “Something’s going on.”

  He walked to the door and someone told him, “There's been a shooting. Tosh and Monica are down.”

  Down.

  Gretel knew that meant they’d been shot.

  Chapter Eight

  “Where are they?” Jack asked, on learning that both Tosh and Monica had been shot.

  “Downstairs on the sidewalk,” the young man called back over his shoulder.

  Jack turned to Gretel. “I have to go.”

  “I'm coming too.” She raced to catch up to him and then they traveled down in the elevator with a group of worried agents. When the doors opened, they rushed through the foyer and out to the sidewalk where the crowd had gathered.

  They arrived in time to see someone cover Tosh’s face with a coat. That had to mean he was dead. Gretel saw that Monica was still moving. Then she was aware Monica had been wearing her scarf and the hat that she’d worn that morning. She gasped and both hands flew to her mouth.

  Had someone thought that Monica was her? Had those men tried to kill her just now?

  So many scenarios played out in her mind. The most plausible one was that they kill
ed Tosh as a warning and Monica got hurt in the process.

  Jack rushed forward and looked on as a man was doing his best to stop Monica's bleeding. The man announced he was a doctor, and that made Gretel feel better.

  All Gretel could do was look on. She was thankful when the paramedics arrived a few seconds later. Gretel turned and walked a few steps away and then she felt a hand on her shoulder.

  “Are you okay?”

  She turned to see Jack. “It's horrible. Who would do such a thing?”

  “I don't know yet but we’ll find out. Isn’t that your scarf you said Monica borrowed?” He pointed behind him.

  “Yes, she took it from me just before she left.”

  “And, is that your hat over there?”

  “Yes.” She nodded.

  He looked at her and she knew what he was thinking. Was that bullet meant for her?

  “We have to find out who did this.”

  Gretel gulped. “We?”

  “I didn't mean us as in you and me. I meant the bureau, but I'll do everything I can to help find out who did this. Tosh is dead and Monica… who knows what will happen to her? It's in God’s hands now.”

  Those words were like a bolt of lightning through her body. God’s hands? She’d tried to put God out of her mind these last several years. Why did His name keep coming up? And God saved her while putting someone else in the line of danger? That was hardly very Godly, or was it? Saving one while sacrificing another.

  Jack turned and looked at the scene unfolding, as onlookers were moved away to allow police and paramedics to do their jobs. “They've just put her on the stretcher. I hope she'll be okay.”

  “Me too.” Gretel wiped tears from her eyes. “Are we going to be killed, shot down in the street like criminals?”

  “This is rare, Gretel, extremely rare. Someone had it in for one of them or both of them. It's surprising though.”

  She stared at him. “What's surprising?”

  “The whole thing. Yet again, I don't know what cases they were working on. It could have something to do with that. They could've stepped on some big toes.”

  Gretel shuddered. Those men weren’t joking. How big were the toes she was stepping on when she’d told them she thought they were a joke? The thugs wanted that diamond and now she knew for certain they were prepared to kill to get it. But, she told herself, she wouldn’t know for sure if it was them until they contacted her again.

  “Let's get out of here.” Jack put his hand on Gretel’s arm and moved her away.

  “Yes, please.”

  She moved to go back into the building.

  “No,” Jack said. “Let's get away from the office for a few moments to clear our heads.”

  “Great idea. Where are we going?”

  “I need a bite to eat and a strong coffee.”

  “How can you think about food?” she asked.

  “I’m always thinking about food.”

  “I do need a moment to get my head together.”

  He smiled at her. “Come on.”

  Putting one foot in front of the other, she walked in silence alongside Jack thinking how her life was no longer her own. Everything had been perfect before she made one wrong decision. Now she was forced to work for the dark side as well as the light. All she wanted to do was be free and work for herself like in the old days. She no longer wanted to be controlled like a marionette.

  “Let's go in here.” He stopped outside a dark charcoal-colored brick building.

  She looked up at the signage above them. “It's a bar.”

  “I know.”

  Gretel frowned wondering whether he liked his drink a little too much. “It's a little early in the day to start drinking, isn't it?”

  “It serves food and very good coffee. Trust me, I've been here before.” Jack gently put a hand on her elbow and nodded to the doorway for her to go in. She walked in ahead of him stepping on the plush red carpet, a comforting change from pounding the hard pavement with the ridiculously high stiletto heels she had chosen to wear.

  “Let's sit by the window.”

  Gretel sat, feeling like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. In that moment, she really wanted to tell Jack about the people who’d threatened her, but it was too late for that. It was possible she'd already caused one man's death and possibly a second person’s if Monica didn't make it. If they’d done it, it meant they were keeping her under surveillance like they’d said.

  “Are you okay Gretel?” Jack asked.

  She looked across at his handsome face. “No, I'm not okay.” She put her hand over her stomach. “I'm not used to seeing people shot in the street.”

  “How long have you lived in New York?” His lips twisted into a smile.

  “Don't even joke about it.”

  “I shouldn't. It's no laughing matter and I'm sorry that you had to see it. I feel responsible for you.”

  She swallowed hard. He also seemed to be protective of her for some unknown reason. She could feel that. “You do?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “I'm okay, truly I am.”

  “You stay here. I'll get something to eat. Coffee?”

  “Yes please black and strong.”

  He gave her a nod and left her at the table. She looked out the window at the passing pedestrians and cars. What if they’d seen her come here with Jack? She didn't want to be shot right there in the bar.

  Jack was back before she could let her dark thoughts carry her away too far. “I'd like to be the kind of person who could see things like that and then just go back to work. But I can't say it doesn't affect me.”

  “Does it make you rethink your job, your way of life?” Gretel asked.

  “No, that makes me think I'm not going to be here forever. None of us are.”

  Gretel nodded, thinking about the lake of fire she was going to be thrust into. The cost of all her evil deeds, if what her parents told her was true.

  He continued, “While we're here, let's get our minds off it and let's talk about the Purple Promise.”

  Gretel shuddered inwardly. She wished she’d never heard of the odd-colored diamond. It was becoming a promise, all right, a promise of heartache and pain.

  “Gretel? The Purple Promise—what ideas have you had so far?”

  “The idea that I've had so far is that no one is even going to attempt to steal it. Why would they? How would they? It's impossible.”

  “As I've said before, you got yourself in and out of some impossible situations in the past and managed to take millions of dollars with you.”

  He was right. But many of those times it was due to human error and she was quick to take advantage of the weaknesses she saw. Other times, it was planned down to the second with many months of preparation behind it. She leaned forward. “So far, with all the security in place and all the backups, I'm not seeing any weaknesses in the system.” What didn't he get?

  “I know, but if you really, really wanted to get it and your life was dependent upon it, what would you try? What would you do?” He smiled and interlaced his fingers as he lowered his forearms down on the table in front of him.

  She sighed and leaned back in her seat. Now, her life did depend on it, and so did the lives of her family. Now, she realized, she had to take what those crooks said seriously. It was clear they weren't messing about. “I really need some time to think about it.”

  “We don't have a lot of time. I wish we did.”

  The waiter brought over their coffees and two bagels.

  “I hope you like bagels,” Jack said when the waiter left.

  “Lately, I can't get enough of them.”

  He smiled. “I'm glad.” He picked up the dish of cream cheese. “Cream cheese?”

  “Absolutely.” She cut her bagel in two and spread it with cream cheese. Jack spread his only with butter. “I'll have to give it some more thought. I can’t just pull something out of my head.”

  “I'm sure you'll come up with something.
Maybe a few things? That would be even better.”

  “Maybe something, one thing, I don't think I'll come up with a few things.” She shook her head. “It's just not possible.”

  “You've got to believe in yourself more.”

  She couldn't help smiling. At that moment, his cell phone sounded and he reached into his coat pocket and pulled it out.

  Gretel overheard from the conversation that Tosh was officially declared dead and Monica’s shoulder wound was not fatal. She would be in the hospital for a few days and off work for an undetermined period of time. He ended the call and put the phone back into his pocket.

  “Monica will make it,” he stated.

  “I know. I overheard it. I’m so glad.”

  He picked up his bagel. “Me too. You've got good hearing.”

  “Not especially. Maybe you should turn your phone down a little bit if you don't want people to hear what’s said.”

  “Okay I will, but I still think you've got good hearing.”

  “Maybe that's one of my superpowers.”

  “That's it, so use your other superpowers to think up some schemes that someone would use to get that diamond. I’ll find out what hospital Monica’s at and I’ll visit her.”

  “She'd love that I'm sure.”

  Knowing Monica, she could've got shot deliberately just to get Jack's attention. She ate the last piece of her bagel. “I'm starting to feel a little better. Now, what about you? You're the FBI agent, what cracks do you see in their security systems?”

  “It's got to be somewhere in the change-over. Transporting the diamond there or when it leaves.”

  That was obvious, too obvious. “That's something we only touched on briefly.”

  “I've got all those details back in the office. We can go through them this afternoon.”

  Gretel nodded. “Can't wait.”

  “Gretel, are you giving this your full attention? You seem distracted and I know the shooting would've affected you as it's affected me, but you were distracted before that. Is there something wrong? Are you ill or unwell?”

  “No, I'm fine. I’m just feeling the pressure of stealing this diamond.”

  “You’re not stealing it.”

  “You’re making me do it, in my mind, if you understand what I’m saying. I have to put myself in the potential thief’s shoes.”