by Elise Noble
“We’ll make a plan,” he said. “Give us a day or two.”
CHAPTER 4 - KYLIE
TODAY WAS THE day. Monday, the start of a brand new week, and I’d spent the weekend alternately plotting with Leyton and pacing the villa while Russell continued his love affair with his laptop.
Except this morning, Russell looked different.
“What’s with the glasses?” I asked him.
“Eyestrain. The optician says I should wear them more often, but I find if I do, my eyes get lazy.”
He’d gone for thick plastic frames, hipster chic, and they were weirdly…hot. But in a daggy sort of way, obviously, because this was work and I wasn’t meant to be thinking about stuff like that.
“Ah,” was the best I could come up with.
“Coffee?”
“You’re a mind reader.”
How long until Leyton arrived? Ten minutes, according to the ridiculously ornate clock on the living room wall. According to Akeem, the thing had been designed by an “up-and-coming Indonesian guy, so talented, he’ll be famous one day, and then Emmy’ll have to admit the clock was an excellent purchase, even though she hates it.”
At first, I couldn’t understand how Akeem had overridden Emmy, but then he’d somehow convinced me that going to the spa yesterday was a “fabulous” idea. The poor masseuse got all apologetic when she found so many knots in my muscles that she didn’t know where to start, but at least my skin would look clear for my mug shot.
I sipped my coffee on the terrace, trying to enjoy what could be my last morning of freedom. The plan called for me to go into the bank alone, and if the staff tried to stall me, I’d push them to hurry, say I’d leave otherwise. They’d call the police, of course they would, and letting me access my box quickly was a better prospect than losing me completely.
Leyton had paid a visit on Friday, posing as a customer, and we knew there was a fire exit at the back of the building. Blackwood would have a second car there as a backup while Leyton waited for me out front. Meanwhile, they’d monitor the police radio traffic with scanners to get an idea of when I had to run.
Was I scared? No, I was terrified, but I still had to do this.
Leyton arrived right on time and declined an offer of coffee. Was his adrenaline flowing already? My heart had begun battering my ribcage the moment I woke up. Before I left, Russell gave me an awkward hug, a sort of cross between “good luck” and “goodbye.”
“See you later, Ky.”
Later back at the resort or later in court? Oh, who was I kidding? Russell wouldn’t stick around for court. With his part of the job over, he’d be on the first plane back to England.
“Yeah. Later.”
The butterflies were back with a vengeance, and I headed for the door, wanting to get the trip over with. But Leyton didn’t move.
“Have you got the key for the Mustang?” he asked.
“We’re taking the Mustang? Won’t that stand out?”
“Sometimes, it’s better to hide in plain sight. If people remember seeing us, they’ll pay attention to the car, not its occupants. Plus it’s faster.”
His unspoken words: if we need to make a run for it.
But he spoke the truth about people’s memories. How many times had I questioned a witness, only for them to remember some insignificant detail of no use to anyone? After one bank robbery, I spoke to six people who all described the suspect’s orange baseball cap perfectly, but couldn’t tell me anything about the man wearing it, not even his skin colour. We found the cap on the pavement right outside the bank. Never did find the suspect.
Would the Mustang have the same effect? If nothing else, it was the automobile equivalent of a death row inmate’s final meal. Might as well go out in style, right?
And at least Mimi wasn’t with us. She’d graced us with her presence yesterday while Leyton and I went over the last details of the plan, only to insist I switched my messenger bag for a backpack and change some of the timings. Now I’d get the final call to leave one minute before the critical point rather than the two minutes Leyton had pushed for.
“Can I drive there?” I asked as we walked along the winding path towards the carport. Leyton’s legs were longer than mine, and I had to hurry to keep up. He didn’t seem particularly keen on the idea, but after a moment of hesitation, he nodded.
“Just make sure you stick to the speed limits. We don’t want to get pulled over before we even reach the city.”
“Cross my heart.”
We reached the Mustang, and I inhaled the rich scent of leather as I slid behind the wheel. Emmy had picked every available option, from upgraded speakers to tinted windows to horse logos embossed on the headrests. Even on my old salary, it would have taken me years to save for a car like that. Right now, I’d struggle to buy a bicycle.
Leyton’s phone buzzed, and he checked the screen.
“Just Mimi. Everything’s quiet around the bank.”
“Who is Mimi, exactly?” I asked him as I did up my seat belt. The V8 engine started with a throaty roar.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because she doesn’t strike me as the kind of girl who sticks to the limits.”
When we first met, I’d assumed she was Leyton’s assistant, but I’d changed my mind on that. I couldn’t see her taking orders from anybody.
Leyton just chuckled. “As far as Mimi’s concerned, there are no limits. Now, let’s go over this plan one more time.”
My guts threatened to heave their contents all over the pavement as I stood outside the bank. Was this how career criminals felt each time they broke the law? Scared as hell and sweating through their clothes? What about Michael? Did the guilt eat away at him? Or did it slide off smoothly like raindrops on a windscreen?
Deep breaths, Kylie. I had to go inside because nothing looked more suspicious than hanging around on the street, and Leyton was by the kerb thirty metres along the road, waiting for me to make my move. One man had already stopped to admire the Mustang.
In the air-conditioned silence, I lined up, then asked to speak to the manager about accessing a safe deposit box.
“Your name, ma’am?”
“I’d rather speak to the manager.”
“If I could just give him your name…”
“I’ll give him my name. And I’m in a hurry, so if you’d just get him, I’d be grateful.”
The agent flounced away, no doubt muttering a few choice words under her breath. I couldn’t allow myself the luxury of caring. Instead, I forced myself to uncurl my fists and settle onto a seat, giving the illusion of nonchalance. What if they had a photo of me? Would they check every customer?
Every second felt like a decade until a man in an ill-fitting grey suit strode towards me. Once he got close enough for me to read his badge, the iron band around my chest loosened a millimetre. Barney Kemp, Branch Manager. Yes, that was the man whose picture Russell had shown me earlier.
“Ma’am? I understand you want to access a safe deposit box?”
“That’s right.”
“Is it your box?”
“It is.”
“Well, I can certainly help you with that. Do you have the box number and your ID?”
This was the moment of truth… Did he know? “It’s box number 864,” I said, holding my passport out. My real passport. I’d kept it with me all this time, hidden in the lining of my suitcase. “And as I said to your assistant, I’m in a hurry.”
Oh, he knew. He snatched my passport and took a step back as he checked the pages, stammering, “I-I-If you’ll excuse me, I’ll just run our security checks.”
“Last time, the manager checked my documents at the terminal right here and took me down to the vault.”
“Uh, yes. Yes, I’m sure he did. But we recently changed our procedures, and…and, uh, I have to do some secondary checks.”
I plucked my passport out of his grasp. “I’m sure you’ll understand if I don’t want to let this out of my sight. On
e can never be too careful nowadays.”
“I do understand. I-I-I’ll be right back.”
“Sure. And I meant what I said about being in a hurry. If you’re not back in two minutes, I’ll have to leave.”
“Two minutes. Yes, got it.”
He tripped as he hurried away and barely caught himself on the edge of a table. A white-haired lady waiting in line for the ATM gave me a curious look, and I managed what I hoped was a snooty smile.
“Just can’t get the service these days.”
“Patience is a virtue, young lady.”
And nosiness was a pain in the ass. I turned away in a huff as Leyton spoke into my earpiece.
“You’re doing good, Ky. Thirty seconds down.”
Barney Kemp didn’t return in two minutes. He took closer to four, and at three minutes, Leyton sounded the alarm.
“Units despatched to the bank.”
Oh, hell. I wanted to run, but I couldn’t. I had to stand my ground. Keep a neutral expression and pretend nothing was wrong as Kemp led the way to the vault, step by painfully slow step. I wanted to yell at him to hurry up, but I bit my tongue while he fumbled with his key, almost dropping the damn thing before he turned it with a hand trembling worse than mine.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be right outside, ma’am.”
“Ky, you have to leave now,” Leyton said in my ear. “The cops are ninety seconds away.”
Bless him, he’d given me thirty seconds more than Mimi had decreed, but I couldn’t leave. Not now. Not when I was so bloody close.
I pressed my finger to the sensor, yanked the drawer open, then shrugged out of my backpack. There it was—Michael’s phone, right where I’d left it, plus five little boxes with my grandma’s jewellery and a bronze sculpture of my childhood dog that my grandpa had made. I’d loved that damn dog. I shoved the whole lot in the bag because whatever happened, I’d never be coming back.
“Ky, get out! They’re close. Too close.”
I ran. Out of the vault, past a terrified Barney Kemp, up the stairs, and into the bank. Every head turned to stare at me, but nobody moved as I sprinted for the door.
“Thirty seconds. Oh, shit.”
Shit indeed. There was the Mustang, exactly where I’d left it, but between me and the car, Shane Chapman jogged along the pavement, and the moment his gaze locked onto me, it felt as if all the air had been sucked out of my body.
The Mustang rolled forward, but Leyton couldn’t get to me. The car was pointing the wrong way, and by the time he turned it around, I’d be cuffed on the ground. Why hadn’t I gone out of the damn fire escape? There was another Blackwood car waiting behind the building, and if I just managed to reach it…
I spun and ran.
Shane’s footsteps pounded after me as I ducked down the alley at the side of the building, dodging a pile of trash that spilled across the concrete. Could I make it? Shane used to run track in high school, but he’d eaten too many donuts in the years since. Lost shape.
A glimmer of hope shone as the far end of the alley grew closer, only to darken like a shadow across the sun as Owen Mills appeared in front of me. Oh, hell. Oh hell, oh hell, oh hell! I stood a chance taking one of them on, but not both. Where was Leyton? Would he come to help?
Then Owen dived to the side as a motorbike nearly ran him down. A dirt bike, the rider’s face obscured by a black visor as it skidded to a halt in front of me. What the hell?
“Well? What the fuck are you waiting for?”
Hold on. I recognised that voice.
“Mimi?”
“Well, it’s not the bloody tooth fairy.”
I swung a leg over the back, then grabbed Mimi’s waist as she twisted the throttle and floored it towards Shane. Would she go left or right? Neither, it turned out. She aimed straight for him, speeding up, leaving him no choice but to leap sideways into a pile of junk.
Then we were zooming along the main road. Sirens sounded as police cars turned to follow, and what did Mimi do? She laughed. The crazy bitch actually laughed.
Me? I shrieked as she rode down the centre line, missing an oncoming truck by inches.
“Don’t worry,” Leyton told me through my earpiece. “Mimi’s been in police chases before.”
So had I, but always from the other side. “They’ll get more cars. The helicopter…”
“The helicopter’s grounded for repairs. Your bigger problem is that Shane Chapman’s just commandeered a souped-up sports bike, and he’s coming after you.”
Mimi leaned into one turn after the other, and I muttered a prayer under my breath. I didn’t even have a helmet. And neither did Shane when I took a look behind us. He was catching us fast, and his expression was a mixture of determination and anger. Mimi skidded through another street, and the police cars dropped back, but when I risked another glance, Shane was only a hundred metres away. A hundred metres with a red light dead ahead.
Oh, hell. Would Mimi stop? Cars whizzed across the intersection, oblivious. She had to stop, right? Then the light went green, and Mimi accelerated once more. We’d ended up on a road with a dozen traffic lights, a road where I knew most of the side streets led to dead-ends, and every single light turned green as we approached. Was this some sort of divine intervention? Maybe, but Shane was taking advantage of it. Mimi’s bike might have had the edge on agility, but Shane’s was faster, and he was gaining. One more light, one more light…
We sped through, and I heard the roar of Shane’s engine closing. Then the screech of brakes, the crunch of metal, and a sickening thud. Fuck! Mimi eased off on the throttle, and I twisted to see. Had someone run a red light? Because Shane’s bike was embedded in the side of a truck, and the bloodstain splashed across the logo for Brisbane’s Best Vegetables didn’t look good.
“Shame,” Mimi said. “He should’ve worn a helmet.”
“I’m not wearing a freaking helmet either!”
“Yes, but I’m driving, and I don’t crash.”
She set off, accelerating more slowly this time. The road was blocked now thanks to Shane, so the other cops following would be delayed as they tried to find a way around. I began to breathe again.
“Holy shit,” I mumbled. “What just happened?”
“That there was karma in action.”
“Do you think Shane’s dead?”
“I expect so. He was doing a hundred and thirty kilometres per hour, so unless his skull’s made of titanium…” She signalled and took a left into a residential street, so quiet in the daytime while people were at work. One man glanced up from watering his garden, and I quickly turned my head.
“Gonna need a pickup,” Mimi said, presumably speaking to Blackwood. “Send whoever’s close.”
Pickup? I needed a defibrillator.
She stopped the bike beside a small park and kicked down the stand, then hopped off in a smooth move a gymnast would’ve been proud of.
“You can get down now.”
She made it sound so easy. My knees buckled as my feet touched the ground, and I clutched at the bike for support. Don’t stumble, Kylie. Falling in front of Mimi would be the cherry on top of this disaster of a day. I used to think I was tough, but three years had worn me down, and the events in Egypt had taken their toll too. Now I was tired. I longed to sleep and never wake up.
“What about your bike? Are you leaving it here?”
“I stole it this morning, so probably someone should give it back to the owner.”
She strode off into the park, leaving me scrambling to catch up.
“You stole it?”
“What, you think I’d use my own vehicle in a police chase? That’s such an amateur move.”
“What if you’d damaged it?”
“I didn’t.” Mimi hopped onto a swing and began swinging back and forth, not a care in the world. “The owner should thank me—that thing’s notorious now. I bet we made every news station, and that’s got to add a couple of hundred bucks to the value.”
“Sanity is in the eye of the beholder.”
“We were in a police chase. A cop most likely died. Until today, I hadn’t actually committed a crime, and now they’re gonna try even harder to catch me.”
“Just a temporary glitch.” She waved a hand, dismissive, as I clutched the swing set’s wooden frame to stop my knees from buckling. “You gotta look at the long term. When we nail Michael and his buddies, one less trial will be needed. A casket’s cheaper than a bunch of lawyers. And the savings could fund a whole lot of new playground equipment like this stuff. Kids need something to keep them occupied.”
Well, this beholder thought Mimi Tran was out of her bloody mind. But if she cared, she didn’t show it, just swung higher and higher until suddenly, she leapt clear in midair and landed like a cat.
“Our ride’s here.”
I turned to see a green minivan parked at the edge of the road. Could I even walk that far? I’d have to crawl if not, because Mimi wasn’t waiting.
CHAPTER 5 - KYLIE
THE MUSTANG WAS already back in its parking spot when the minivan pulled up outside the hotel. Apart from nodding a hello, the driver had ignored me the whole trip, and Mimi had mostly spoken into her phone, in code, it seemed. Either that or she was arranging a date. Drama, dinner, and spirits were all mentioned, and I wasn’t sure whether the last was in reference to hard liquor or the dearly departed. I also wasn’t sure I wanted to find out.
“Uh, I need to thank you—” I started, but she cut me off.
“Forget it. For me, it was just work.”
“But—”
“I need to get back to the office. Don’t forget your bag.”
That was it: dismissed. I staggered out of the vehicle, heading for the path to the villa, only for Leyton to make me jump out of my skin when he appeared between the trees.
“What the…?”
“Here, let me take this.” He wrapped an arm around my waist and liberated my backpack with his other hand. “You don’t look too steady.”
“You scared me half to death!”
“Sorry about that.”
“And you left me with a crazy woman,” I whisper-shouted, keeping an eye out for stray tourists. “Why didn’t you warn me her elevator doesn’t go all the way to the top?”