Bonnie dusted herself off and started down the path, keeping an eye on the doors to make sure no one else burst out.
When she reached the doors, an LCD panel in the door came to life.
“Welcome,” a woman’s voice purred. “Please log in to access your CoolFood nine eighty.”
Bonnie reached into her bag and pulled out the user manual. She flipped to the initial user set-up pages.
“How lazy were you, Mr. Hamills,” she muttered.
“Username: admin. Password: coolfood nine eight zero,” she said in a louder voice.
“Password incorrect,” the woman said. “Please try again.”
Bonnie ran a finger down the list of default accounts.
“Username: admin. Password: password.”
The door hissed and popped open, sending another wave of fog rolling over Bonnie’s ankles.
The fridge was filled with shelves full of milk, veggies, meat, and an assortment of condiments. However, in the door, small Tupperware containers with neatly printed labels such as “maintenance schedule,” and “notifications configuration” were stacked three or four high.
Bonnie grabbed one labeled “network settings” and popped it open. It smelled like jasmine and rosemary. She reached in and pulled out a small key from the Tupperware.
“Got the network key,” Bonnie said.
“How much longer do you need?” Dana said.
“Just need to open up a back door.”
“Make it quick,” Dana said. “That guard has peeked out a few times. Looks antsy.”
Bonnie ran back to the front gate and held up the key. The drawbridge fell slowly on squealing pulleys, before crashing into place in front of Bonnie. She sprinted to the door and inserted the key into the hole in the middle of the large oak door.
The door swung open, revealing a miss mash of tents and buildings. Bonnie walked to the closest one and realized it was another smart device.
“This guy has his whole place rigged,” Bonnie said. “Smart lights, voice-controlled thermostat. . . . For a gun nut, he’s pretty high tech.”
“Anything we can use?”
Bonnie went to one of the smaller shacks and tried to pull the door open.
No luck.
She tried a few others, but they were all securely locked.
“It’s going to take some time to get into his files,” Bonnie said.
“I don’t think we have time,” Dana said. “The guard is going to walk over any minute.”
Bonnie looked around again for anything she could use.
“I think he set up his own camera system inside,” she said, walking over to one of the tents.
She tried to push the flap aside, but it was secured with a leather cord through several metal rings sewn into the fabric. When she touched the knot, it flashed red twice, then returned to a dark-brown color.
Annoyed, Bonnie reached into her bag and pulled out a hydraulic rescue spreader. Positioning the jaws through the seam in the tent, she engaged the motor, and it slowly started cranking the metal tips apart.
The leather cord held for longer than Haley expected, but it finally snapped. Haley checked the display. It wasn’t the strongest password she’d ever seen, but at least he’d changed it from the default one.
She put the jaws of life back in her purse and entered the tent.
Video feeds from inside the house floated above the dirt floor. Bonnie tapped the closest one, and it zoomed in to the bedroom. There was a maid dusting off the dresser, but otherwise, the room was empty.
“I don’t like this,” she said, “I feel dirty spying on someone.”
“If you have a better way to get the money, I’m all ears,” Dana said.
Bonnie bit her lip but zoomed out from the bedroom.
“Time’s up,” Dana said. “Mr. Rent-a-cop looks like he made a decision.”
Bonnie grabbed a crystal ball from her bag and set it on the floor. Then she got the second one and checked the connection. The ball in her hand went cloudy for a moment, then cleared up, and Haley could see the van and Dana outside the house. She rotated the ball, and the vision in the ball flipped to the different camera feeds.
“Thirty seconds ’til company,” Dana said.
Bonnie stepped out of the tent and threw the crystal ball into the air. It sailed away in a straight line until it was over the wall. The pristine crystal flashed as it caught the harsh rays of the sun, then took a sharp right turn and disappeared over the horizon. Bonnie watched it go for a moment, then started her own escape. She vaulted over crates and earthworks as she ran for the wall and through the refrigerator gate.
“You almost done?” the guard asked from outside the van.
Haley heard the junction box close with a bang.
“All done,” Dana said. “Shouldn’t have any problems now. Just sign here, and we’ll be out of your way.”
There was a mumbling that Haley couldn’t make out, then Dana opened the driver’s side door and threw her tool belt in the passenger seat.
“Have a nice day,” she chirped.
The van lurched forward, and Haley was thrown sideways as Dana turned around.
“Careful!”
“Don’t be a backseat driver,” Dana said.
Haley was confident she heard the tires squeal as they pulled onto the street but was too busy holding on to protest further.
Several minutes later, they swung into a parking lot.
“You’re going to kill me one of these days,” Haley said as she pulled herself up and climbed into the passenger’s seat, tossing Dana’s belt in back.
“Just trying to keep you on your toes,” she said. “All good with the feed?”
Haley opened her laptop and found the camera feed. Sixteen windows popped open, each with a different view of Hamill’s estate. The master of the house was in his study, while the maid had moved on to the dining room.
“Crystal clear,” Haley said. “He may not have secured them, but he didn’t skimp on the quality.”
“So, what now?”
“Bounty just said they wanted a competitive advantage,” Haley said. “Don’t really know what that means yet, so we’ll just wait ’til we see it.”
“You’re recording all this?”
Haley nodded.
“Minute he does something, we’ll have him.”
“We just need to be watching to see what that is,” Dana said. She looked out the window. “All this sneaking around has made me hungry. Lunch?”
Haley leaned forward and laughed.
The gold-and-blue canopy of Burger Bippy fluttered a dozen steps away.
“I haven’t had that in years,” she said. “Not since Hector and I—”
“Oh, don’t start on that story again,” Dana said in mocking horror. “Anything but that story!”
Haley rolled her eyes.
“I need to get back to Jacob anyway,” she said. “Why don’t you drop me off, then you can go clog your arteries and get your credit card stolen.”
Chapter Nine
“Anything we can use yet?”
“Not yet,” Dana replied at the other end of the line. “He’s still just been talking on the phone in his office.”
“Let me know if anything changes,” Haley said and hung up.
“Mommy?”
“What is it?”
Jacob peaked over the back of the couch where he was watching cartoons.
“When will we see Daddy?”
“I’m not sure,” Haley said. “Probably not for a while.”
Jacob’s face fell, and he sunk back behind the couch.
Haley walked over and sat next to him.
“I know you miss him,” she said. “But he wants you to be safe.”
“We’d be safe with him,” Jacob said.
“I wish we would be,” Haley said. “There are some bad people after us, though. And if we go to Daddy, then they may try to hurt him too.”
Jacob was quiet for a few mome
nts as a trio of spandex superheroes bounced around the screen. Haley was about to go back to the kitchen when he finally spoke, so softly that she almost didn’t hear him.
“I wish you’d just killed them.”
Haley’s eyes went wide.
“Killed who?”
“The bad guys,” he said. “So we could go home.”
Haley shook her head.
“That wouldn’t have helped anything,” she said. “Except get Mommy in trouble.”
Jacob grew quiet again.
Haley wanted to say more, but her phone started ringing again.
Dana.
“I know this is hard,” Haley said. “We’ll get through it. We’ll be home before you know it.”
She kissed his head, then stood and walked back to her laptop on the kitchen counter.
“You won’t believe what he just did,” Dana said. “Go to the bedroom cam.”
Haley opened the live feed and enlarged the camera view.
Her jaw dropped.
Hamills was in the bedroom with his shirt off. And coming out of the bathroom was the maid they’d seen earlier, but dressed like a French maid.
Haley watched as she came up behind him and slipped her arms around his waist. He smiled, and she started undoing his pants.
“That’s not his wife . . .”
“Well done, Watson,” Dana said in a painfully bad British accent.
“I’m guessing she doesn’t know?”
“Doubt it. But there’s no way to know for sure unless you want to ask her.”
“Hard pass,” Haley said. “Think this is enough for the contract?”
“Depends on how conservative his investors and customers actually are,” Dana replied.
Haley bit her lip.
“Let’s send it,” she said. “The faster we’re out of the country, the better.”
“I’ll send you the recording,” Dana said.
Haley flipped to a different window and started to log in.
Bonnie dropped to the sidewalk and smoothed the fabric of her flapper’s dress. She quickly pushed through the gym door and found a seat at the side of the room.
It wasn’t long before a man in a three-piece suit and a twisted mustache appeared in the opposite chair.
“What do you have?” he said.
Bonnie pulled a glass cube from her bra strap and placed it on the table. Every side showed the video of the Hamills getting busy with his maid.
The man picked up the cube and examined every angle. Then he shrugged and put it back on the table.
“We already know of his infidelities,” he said. “Do you have anything else?”
“What do you mean you already know?”
“You’re not the first to bug his home.”
“What kind of leverage do you want then?”
The man shrugged again.
“If I knew, I’d already have it.”
“Maybe if you tell me what your goal is, I’ll be more effective,” Bonnie snapped.
“It’s stated in the ad,” the man said. “We want leverage over Hamills.”
Bonnie ground her teeth. Snatching the cube from the table, she stuffed it in her satchel as she stood.
“I’ll find something.”
“Hurry,” the man said. “Three others have already reached out as well.”
Bonnie strode away, fists clenched at her sides. She retreated to the punch bowl and tapped her ear.
“Rogue, do we have anything else?”
“They didn’t bite on the video?”
“No, and we’re not the only ones trying to get this bounty,” Bonnie said. She took a sip of punch. Fruity, but not enough to cover the vodka.
“There’s not much here,” Dana said. “He does business in his office, screws his maid and wife in the bedroom, eats in the kitchen.”
“The guy said they already knew about the maid,” Haley said. “What about his business? Maybe there’s something there?”
“Unless you want me to crack the bank, there isn’t much I can do.”
Bonnie pulled up the video cube from her bag again and shook it, changing the camera with each motion. She stopped when the glass displayed a live view of Hamill’s office.
“Do you see anything on his desk?” She said. “Maybe he wrote a password somewhere?”
She pulled the cube closer and tried to read the notes on the cluttered desk.
“I don’t see anything,” Dana said. “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy to leave a bunch of passwords laying around.”
“Probably not,” Bonnie said with a sigh.
She started to put the cube away, but something in the trash can at the side of the desk caught her eye. Zooming in, a small smile crept up her lips.
“But I do know where he gets his coffee.”
Chapter Ten
Vlad gripped the tablet against his forearm concealing the shank. He walked through the common area, nodding at some inmates, glaring at others.
Gil was already working in the commissary, stacking shelves and ringing up purchases from the inmates at the front of the line. Vlad joined the back and waited until he got to the front.
“Pack of cigs and a case of water,” he said.
“Cash or InMoney?” Gil asked, even though he already knew the answer.
“InMoney,” Vlad said. Handed the tablet over, and Gil took it and the shank with one hand. They’d practiced the move most the night, but Vlad still held his breath as they made the exchange.
Gil took it without a second glance.
“One second,” he said before heading to the back. Vlad pretended not to watch as he grabbed the cigarettes, hid the shank and tablet behind a row of microwavable ravioli, then lifted the case of water.
As he brought the case back, he slipped a hand inside and grabbed another tablet from inside the plastic. Then he held it up for Vlad. The screen was black, and a large crack spider webbed across the glass.
“Twelve dollars and ninety cents will be deducted from your account,” Gil said. “Sign here.”
Vlad smiled as he pretended to sign the blank and placed it on top of the water and headed back to his cell.
Klaxons rang out through the cell block, prompting curses and shouts from the inmates. Vlad grinned at Gil, who was busy tapping away on the tablet.
“Nice work,” he said.
Gil looked up and flashed a smile before diving back into the screen.
“I’m in the cameras,” he said. “Looks like they’re scrambling toward the medium-security wing first. Once they start to evacuate our block, we just have to get to the laundry room.”
The lights when out, only for a few to pop back on.
“On emergency power,” Gil said.
“Warning, carbon monoxide levels rising,” a soothing female voice said over the loudspeakers. “Please proceed to line up on the wall outside your cell and wait for further instructions.”
The cell doors slid open.
Shockingly, a few of the inmates did move to the wall and started to line up.
Less shockingly, most panicked and started running for the gates at the end of the common room.
Vlad and Gil headed the opposite direction, toward the commissary. The hanger door was down over the main shop, but Gil pushed the side door, and it swung open, the shank Vlad had given him earlier falling to the ground.
Gil paused long enough to connect to the tablet he’d hidden earlier, downloading the wireless encryption keys, before they moved on.
They pushed through two more doors that said “Laundry” and quickly found the two uniforms Yuri had hidden earlier that day.
“We’re in the system?” Vlad asked as he stripped off his jumpsuit.
“Not exactly,” Gil said.
Vlad froze.
“You said you could get us badges.”
Gil held up two ID badges. He handed one to Vlad.
One side had Vlad’s picture, photoshopped to include a brown hat and a khaki shirt, li
ke the guards wore, and the prison logo. The other advertised two large pizzas for $19.99.
“You’re joking . . .”
“You’ll be fine,” Gil said.
“You want me to break out of prison with a pizza box?”
“It’ll make for a great story.”
“If we get caught, I’m strangling you in your sleep.”
Gil shrugged. “That assumes you don’t get transferred.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
“Simmer down,” Gil said in an exaggerated Southern accent. “I took down their fancy ‘biometric badging system.’” He stopped getting dressed long enough to use air quotes around the words. “So we just have to get someone to open the gate for us.”
Vlad glared at him but kept getting dressed.
They emerged from the laundry room wearing the brown pants, khaki shirts, and baseball hats that came with the guards’ uniforms.
Gil consulted the tablet, then led them down another hallway. They could hear shouting getting louder as they approached a T intersection. They peeked around the corner and saw a mob of inmates clustered around a gate that led to the main prison entrance. The prisoners clawed at the metal gates, shouting obscenities and reaching through the bars. To the right was another hallway that led to cell block A.
“Where to now, genius?” Vlad hissed.
“You’re going to love this part,” Gil said.
Then he stepped out from the corner.
“Stand down,” he shouted at the inmates. “Everyone be calm.”
Vlad groaned, as this, of course, had the exact opposite effect.
The mob turned, and seeing their uniforms, grew quiet for a second. Then someone roared, and the whole group surged toward Gil.
Gil spun on his heel and ran past Vlad, who quickly followed.
They slipped and slid around several more corners, the screams getting louder as the front runners gained on them with every change in direction.
Vlad didn’t have the breath to cuss at Gil. He was built for strength, not speed.
Then Gil came around a corner, and Vlad saw a gate with two guards behind it.
“Open up,” Gil yelled. “Hurry!”
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