John and Gabriel were already lowering the ramp. The cars were stacked two high on hydraulic lifts. There was almost no room around the cars to squeeze inside.
“Madison.” He strode toward her, wanting nothing more than to strangle her in that moment.
“Don’t lecture me.” She spun to face him and gasped. “What happened?”
“I had a wreck. Why are you here?” He grabbed her arm and hauled her into the office. The last thing he needed was a wrench in their plans, even if it had her curves.
“You said to get as many people away as I could. This is the best plan. You get in and out, no one knows you were here.”
“But your boss will know you were here.”
Madison drew herself up. “I thought about that. You need to knock me out so I have plausible deniability.”
He shook his head. “What about when someone asks who was working when his shit was stolen?”
She blinked at him.
Why couldn’t she understand? The fewer connections between them, the safer she was. “You might as well just paint a target on your fucking back.”
“Don’t yell at me.”
They’d have to put her in witness protection. It was the best bet. This was his fault. Aiden should have known that even the slightest hint of a connection to Madison was a bad idea. Evers would be suspicious. He had to know Dustin used to be married to her. It was probably some sick joke between the two how clueless she was.
“Okay, when we’re gone, call nine-one-one. Tell them what happened. Be truthful.”
“But—”
“No arguments, Madison. I need you to trust me on this.”
She glared at him, but didn’t utter another word.
“When you get off shift, go home. Text me. I’ll swing by in a different car and pick you up.” He wouldn’t give her the choice to stay or go. Anyone else, he’d leave it up to them, but not her. She had to live. She had to be out there somewhere, safe and happy. Which meant she needed to enter witness protection.
“Okay. Fine.”
“Good.” He closed the distance between them, crushing her to him and kissing her. She clung to his shoulders, and the little surprised moan she made only heated his blood.
He stepped back. Engines revved. Someone yelled.
Aiden jerked the office door open.
“Got somewhere to drive,” John yelled. He jogged around to a second car.
Aiden glanced over his shoulder. He had to be the first to The Shop. They each drove out in the order they were needed, and because Aiden had the most experience flipping cars, he had to be there to call the shots, when what he really wanted to do was stay here with Madison.
“I have to go. Text me,” he said.
Madison nodded, her eyes large.
He wanted to bundle her up, put her in the car, and drive off with her. Leaving her here killed him a little. But he’d see her again soon, for the last time.
Aiden climbed in the Bugatti and put the concerns out of his mind. One thing at a time.
* * *
“Guys, the other guard is going to be back any second.” Madison glanced at her watch.
“We’re going as fast as we can,” Tori said. She slithered between the cars.
They were packed in so tight, the only ones who could get into the cars and drive them out were the twins. It was a slow process, one she gathered from the nervous glances was supposed to have gone faster. The only ones left were Tori, Roni, and Julian.
Tori eased a car out while Roni slid into the open space and into the next to last car.
“Go,” Julian said, waving the mechanic on.
Tori waved. A second later her taillights were a distant speck on the horizon.
A clang and a grunt brought Julian and Madison jogging to the edge of the ramp.
“Roni, you okay?” he yelled.
“Yeah, someone spilled something back here.” Roni perched with one foot on the tire track and the other on the curved wall of the plane, avoiding the flat bottom.
It appeared that a two-level hydraulic system simply slid into the plane, allowing for the cars to be packed in, making the most use of the space.
“Come on, pick that lock faster,” Julian chanted.
“I’d be a lot faster if you got off my ass.”
Roni had an electronic box with a key she stuck into the lock. Some sort of code breaker? The cars were a lot more high-tech than anything Madison had ever driven before.
“Got it.” Roni slid into the driver’s seat and the car hummed to life.
She eased the car down the tracks, stopping as the wheels came off the ramp. Julian stalked around the car and met her.
“Take this one. You aren’t any help here. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Hurry,” he said.
“Really?” Roni rolled her eyes and glanced at Madison.
Madison looked away, trying to not laugh. This was not an appropriate time for that. Besides, Julian kind of scared her.
“Madison, as soon as she gets that car out, call nine-one-one.” Julian leaned out of the window, pointing at the plane. His battered face gave him a decidedly scary look, especially with the shadows casting most of his face in relief.
Roni jogged up the ramp.
“I got it.” Madison didn’t like this plan, but she’d go along with it.
Julian was gone in a puff of exhaust. She’d never seen a Bugatti in person, but she could understand the appeal.
“Shit.” Roni’s voice echoed in the plane.
“Need help?” Madison peered inside.
The last car was on the second level. Roni was shimmying her way up a support pole, one arm hooked over the top track. Why they’d left that one for the last car, Madison would never know, but it looked like a bad idea to her.
“What can I do?” Madison asked.
“Nothing,” Roni grunted between breaths.
Roni grabbed hold of the netting that had been strung tight over the cars and hoisted herself up. But she only went so far. The netting ripped. Madison gasped. She couldn’t move fast enough. Roni’s eyes widened and her mouth opened on a yelp. She dropped, except her upper body fell faster than her lower body. Her head thunked against the metal tracks on her way down. She flipped a hundred and eighty degrees before hitting the floor of the plane, one foot still suspended in the air by the netting.
“Oh my God.” Madison climbed up in the plane.
There was blood. So much blood.
Roni groaned and rolled to her side, clutching her arm.
Madison stood stock-still, frozen to the spot. She was pretty sure shoulders weren’t supposed to be down by a girl’s boobs.
Think, damn it. If this was derby, what would I do?
Get her flat on her back.
Madison stood on the track, staring at Roni’s foot. She didn’t want to hurt the girl, but damn, black boots, black netting, and almost no light was a piss-poor combination.
“Knife,” Roni gritted out through her teeth, pointing with her good hand.
Madison spied the end of the blade sticking out of the boot on her extended leg. She slid the stainless steel knife out of the sheath and in two swipes, cut the netting.
Roni slowly lowered her leg to the plane floor.
“God, what do I do?” Madison asked.
Normally, this is where she’d call the medic over and take a knee.
“Bleach.” Roni’s breathing was coming in gasps and pants. She appeared to have a nasty gash on her forehead that was the source of the blood.
“But—”
“Bleach,” Roni said with more force.
Madison turned and jogged to the hangar control panel, hit the big red button to close the doors, and flipped the lights off. If her other security person came back, she didn’t want to give him a reason to look in here. She turned on the workstation lights along the wall of the hangar to give her light to work by and unlocked the maintenance closet. She wanted bleach? Madison could do one better.
She rolled out the pressure washer and a couple bottles of bleach. By the time she had everything to the plane Roni had limped her way out and was using grease rags to stem the bleeding.
“Pour the bleach over the blood. All of it.” She sat down on a metal folding chair, looking worse by the minute.
“Shouldn’t we call someone?”
“Everyone’s gone. They’ve got shit to do. Fuck.”
Madison uncapped two bottles of bleach and walked up into the plane. She was about to obscure the crime even further. Not only was she helping, she was now covering up evidence. She paused, holding those bottles. Was this the right thing to do?
Her heart said yes.
Her brain said fuck no.
She was already involved. There was no getting out of it if she were ever caught. Might as well make it as hard as possible to do that.
The bleach chugged out, splashing on her shoes, her legs, and all over the plane. She sloshed some on the wall and netting and saved the last bit for the top track. Instead of crawling up the support pipe, she lowered the hydraulic lift at the end and rode it up until she could walk back to the spot and pour bleach on.
“Unlock the door while you’re up there.”
Madison gasped and put a hand against the car, staring down at Roni below her.
“Sorry. Here. Stick the key end in and press the button. It’s easy.” She held the device out with her good arm.
“You can’t drive. Not with your arm out of the socket like that.”
“I’ll need you to help me put it back in.”
“Roni, I can’t do that.”
“You’re about to hot-wire one of the most sophisticated cars on the earth. You can put a joint back in place. Go on. I’m going to ralph. Trash can?”
“Over there by the silver locker.”
Roni wasn’t steady on her feet. There was no way Roni could drive in that kind of condition. But she couldn’t stay here. The others would be expecting the cops any minute now.
Would anyone believe her if they saw the criminals had had time to pressure-wash the scene? No.
So she’d have to be a hostage.
That was the plan. Madison could drive Roni out of here and they could stage a fake hostage situation or dump her somewhere. It would give her deniability.
Oh my God, I’m making up ways to lie to the police.
This was everything she’d wanted to avoid. It was worse than what Dustin did because now she was an active participant in doing bad things. Breaking the law. With Dustin, she hadn’t done anything. She’d been stupidly unaware and completely uninvolved. Here, she’d made the choice to help. That was all her.
Madison’s hands shook. She slid the fake key into the lock. The runner next to the tire track was narrow and didn’t provide much to stand on, but she was used to balancing on a metal plate three inches wide bolted to four wheels. That was a piece of cake.
She waited for a moment, watching the screen scroll numbers and slash marks. It beeped once, then the locks disengaged and the headlights flipped on.
Roni hadn’t told her to get the car out of the plane, but it had to be done, especially for this plan to work. She climbed in and stared at the console for a moment. Where did she put the key?
“It’s a keyless start. There’s a button,” Roni yelled.
Where the ignition key would have gone was a black button. Madison pressed it and the car revved to life, but there was no full-body vibration like Aiden’s Chevelle gave her.
She eased the car into neutral and let it roll forward onto the hydraulic lift. There was a convenient button mounted near enough to her window. She pressed it and held her breath. The car lowered and tilted. Her stomach did odd flip-flops and she pressed the brake harder.
Madison’s phone rang, breaking up the near silence. She gasped and came off the break a bit. The lift hit the tracks with a jarring jolt and the car rolled forward. She ignored the ringing in favor of guiding the car safely out of the plane of death. As soon as she had wheels on the ground she pulled her phone out.
“Shit.”
It was her other security guard, no doubt wanting to know where she was. If she didn’t answer, would he go looking for her? Or just assume she was doing a round?
She didn’t answer it.
Madison killed the engine and got out. Roni was shuffled toward her. The girl was pale and a bit green around the gills. Not good.
“I think I should drive you,” Madison said.
“What? Hell no.”
“You’ve got a concussion and your arm’s out of socket at the very least. If something’s not broken I’d be shocked. You’re about to pass out or hurl. Maybe both. You’d crash. Just hear me out. I drive you wherever you guys are going. Tomorrow morning, after someone’s for sure found this, kick me out on some back road in the Everglades. I can claim I was kidnapped, but you guys let me go since I never saw any faces. Plausible deniability, right? That’s what Aiden was stressing.” God, she’d really thought this all through.
“Fuck,” Roni spat.
Madison blew out a breath and grabbed the pressure washer.
“I need to hurry. My other guard is back,” she said.
“That’s just great.”
Madison ignored her grumblings and flipped the washer on. It began to chug away, far too loud, but there was no other option.
She began with the top track, spraying it from the bottom up, then the floor of the plane. This was a job she hadn’t done in ages. Over time, she’d worn every hat at the airport. It took much longer than she’d have liked to wash the plane out and get rid of the run-off. By then, every sound, even the scuff of her shoes on concrete had her jumping.
“That’s going to have to be good enough. We’ve got to go,” Roni said.
“I was thinking the same thing.” She hastily wiped down the power washer, but between the bleach bottles, the plane, and the rest of the hangar, her fingerprints were everywhere. She could only hope that working at the airport gave her an excuse.
Madison sighed, wanting nothing more than to crawl into her office chair for a nap. But she couldn’t do that. She had to kidnap herself first.
They had to use the key once more to not only unlock the car, but fool it into thinking they had the real key. Madison gripped the wheel, waiting for the automatic doors to open enough to drive out of the hangar. At least it wouldn’t be up to her to call the cops.
“Shit. The gate’s closed,” Roni said.
“What does that mean? What do I do?” Madison stared at Roni.
“Drive through it and hope the airbags don’t deploy.”
“Are you serious?”
“Dead serious. Drive!”
Madison shifted into gear and accelerated. A figure was coming out of the guard shack, removing his hat. They were halfway to the gates before he seemed to realize there was a car driving at him. He jumped aside, hands waving. They’d all been taught that merchandise wasn’t worth a life, good to see that lesson was firmly in place.
“Oh shit.” Madison screamed. They hit the gate.
There was a moment of resistance. They were pushing the gate the wrong direction. But the Bugatti had more power and strength. Sparks flew from where metal scraped metal. They burst through the gate with a pop and the car flew forward, eating up the road.
“Oh my God. Oh my God,” Madison chanted.
“Woohoo, you did it.” Roni grinned weakly. “And thank God we didn’t have to eat airbag.”
“Uh, where am I going?”
Roni sighed. “I’m so fucked.”
* * *
Madison steered the car into a deserted yard, surrounded by a chain-link fence. The gate was open and a light slashed out from under a rolling door.
“Honk twice, fast,” Roni said. She wasn’t looking good. She listed to one side and any time Madison hit a bump, Roni would gasp and groan.
Madison honked twice and a second later the door rose.
“Go,” Ron
i snapped.
Madison rolled the car into a warehouse. The other five cars were up on lifts, missing pieces—if she didn’t know these were the same vehicles that had come off the plane she wouldn’t have known what she was looking at.
“This is going to be fun,” Roni muttered, and pushed her door open.
Madison killed the engine and glanced around. Tori bolted around the car, fussing over her sister. Everyone else paused in what they were doing, staring at them.
John walked up from the fender, mouth hanging open.
“What did you do? What did you do?” He laid a hand on the hood of the car.
Madison opened the door and stood, a little shaky after the drive, and winced at the damage. She hadn’t realized how bad it was.
“We aren’t going to be able to fix this or smooth the scratches out.” John knelt next to the headlight, which was also cracked. He turned toward her. “What the hell did you do?”
“She told me to go through the gate.” Madison waved at Roni, trying to ignore the way Aiden was staring at her.
“We give it to the FBI as evidence. Come on.” Julian shouldered her aside and moved the Bugatti into a bay. The other two men followed.
“Kathy, come take care of Roni, I need Tori on that third car.” Aiden walked toward the twins, and bent his head to speak to Roni for a second.
Madison didn’t know where to look or what to think. A loud pop startled her and she glanced at the car she’d driven. Gabriel and John had removed the rear panel and a . . . container of some kind. They handed it over to a man she hadn’t seen before. The other two removed several of the containers, lining them up.
Could this be Emery? The person Aiden always seemed to be talking to? The man opened the first container, wearing bright blue gloves, and dumped out several smaller, white bags of—something. Drugs. Was that what was in there?
“Madison.”
She inhaled sharply and pressed her hand to her chest. The way this night was going, she’d die from a heart attack.
“Holy shit.”
Aiden grabbed her shoulders and gave her a little shake, bending just enough so she couldn’t look around him.
“Why couldn’t you just do what you were supposed to?” He spoke low, his voice pitched for her ears alone, with rage in his eyes.
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