by Mason Dixon
7:05 p.m.
Savannah, Georgia
Rashida caught Destiny’s eye when she entered the coffee shop but didn’t stop to talk. She grabbed a booth in the back and pulled out the tools of her trade—pen, paper, a laptop, and a pile of reports. She looked up from time to time to glance at the singer performing on stage but, for the most part, she remained focused on work. Destiny gave her fifteen minutes or so before she headed over to take her temperature. She asked point-blank if she’d done something to scare her off. Rashida did something completely unexpected but, given what Destiny had seen from her, not surprising. She told her about the rule designed to keep them apart and apologized for not cluing her in prior to her interview that afternoon.
Destiny took a moment to get her bearings. Rashida had given her the opening she needed. She leaned forward, closing the distance between them while turning up the pressure.
“Let me see if I understand what you’re saying. If I take the job, I’d earn a steady paycheck for the first time in months, I’d have insurance and benefits, but I’d never get to kiss you or know what you look like when you come.”
She watched Rashida’s eyes darken. Sure, she offered token resistance by saying Destiny was jumping the gun assuming they’d ever be more than friends, but Destiny could tell just by looking at her she was making the same assumptions.
Like a shark on the hunt, Destiny smelled blood in the water. She told Rashida what she knew she wanted to hear.
“I want the job, but I want you, too.”
Rashida continued to talk a good game, but Destiny could feel her defenses start to crumble. She tried to force her to make a stand. To force her into making a mistake.
“Would you rather I take the job or would you rather see where this leads?”
Rashida’s ringing cell phone kept her from responding to a question she obviously didn’t want to answer. “This call’s for you.”
Destiny knew without asking the caller was Jackie looking for her.
“Are you sure you want me to take this?”
She wanted to hear Rashida say yes or no, but Rashida refused to be backed into a corner. She placed the decision where it belonged—in her hands. “Whether you accept her offer is up to you.”
Destiny took the cell phone from her and listened to Jackie make her pitch.
“I’m calling today to formally offer you the position of security guard at Low Country Savings Bank,” Jackie said. “I’m pleased to say you were the overwhelming favorite out of all the candidates and the unanimous choice of the selection committee. The job is yours if you want it.”
The salary wasn’t eye-popping but definitely caught Destiny’s attention. She could do the job in her sleep. The funny thing was, it sounded like something she’d actually enjoy doing. Too bad she wouldn’t be around long enough to collect her first paycheck.
“When would you like me to start?”
Destiny searched Rashida’s face, but her neutral expression didn’t betray her thoughts. Her troubled eyes, however, hinted at inner turmoil.
“This is an immediate opening, so I’ll need you to start right away,” Jackie said. “St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, and I want to get you trained as soon as possible. Is tomorrow too soon?”
“Tell me when and where.”
“Meet me downtown at nine a.m. After you sign the employee contract and complete the necessary paperwork, I’ll give you a tour of the building and get you set up with a checking account so we can direct deposit your payroll every two weeks. Welcome aboard.”
“Thank you. I look forward to it.” When Destiny returned the phone, Rashida didn’t offer her congratulations. Those didn’t come until Destiny walked her to her car after the shop closed for the night. And they seemed to come at a cost.
“In a few hours, we’ll officially be co-workers.” Rashida flinched as if the words caused her physical pain.
The reminder of her rapidly closing window of opportunity caused Destiny to lose patience. Tired of waiting for Rashida to give in to the desire she was certain she felt, she gave her a gentle push. She pressed the length of her body against Rashida’s and leaned against the side of her car. She slid her hand up the nape of Rashida’s neck and cupped the back of her head. Rashida trembled in her arms but didn’t push her away.
Destiny melded their lips together, kissing the luscious mouth that had been fueling her fantasies for days. She’d meant the kiss to be quick, leaving Rashida wanting more. But once she started, she couldn’t stop.
Rashida’s breasts pressed against her chest. Destiny could feel her firm nipples rubbing against hers. Rashida parted her lips, inviting Destiny to explore her mouth. She met Destiny’s probing tongue with her own.
Destiny felt a jolt of excitement. Women often elicited physical responses from her when she was working, but not like this. This unexpected reaction hadn’t come from her body but her heart. She needed to pull back before she got in too deep. Before she began to mistake something imagined for something real.
“I’m sorry,” she said, apologizing for her aggression, “but I couldn’t go another minute without feeling your lips pressed against mine.”
She traced a finger across those lips, wanting to hear them whisper her name.
“Get in the car.”
Rashida’s voice was feral, bearing no trace of its usual measured tones. The desire flowing from her was so palpable Destiny wanted to take her here and now. To take her as DaShawn. Unfortunately, that wasn’t part of the plan. She climbed in the car. Jo was waiting for her.
When she’d clocked out, she had texted Jo Slater, another member of her crew, to get set up in the Victorian District. She couldn’t avoid what was coming even if she wanted to. The dominoes had already been set in motion. In ten days, the final one would fall.
“Pull over,” she said when they neared the designated spot.
They were only a few minutes away from Rashida’s apartment, and she was reluctant to stop. Destiny convinced her to do it anyway. She spotted Jo standing in the shadows, camera at the ready. She subtly positioned their bodies so Jo could have a clear angle for the shots she needed.
She told herself to forget about the camera and relax and enjoy the experience, but she couldn’t. She was much too aware of the fact that she was working. That what she was doing was part of an act. An act she no longer wanted to be a part of.
When it was over, when Rashida spent herself against her fingers, she didn’t feel the emptiness she normally felt after such encounters. She derived no pleasure either. Overwhelming guilt filled the void.
How was she supposed to bring Rashida down when she wanted to see her succeed?
She was in it up to her neck. In too deep to back out now. She didn’t know if she’d be able to turn an increasingly hopeless situation to her advantage, but she had to take the chance.
Chapter Sixteen
Wednesday, March 8
8:50 a.m.
Savannah, Georgia
After Destiny walked into the lobby of Low Country Savings, she paused to take in the vintage fixtures and rococo architecture. Yesterday she’d been too nervous prior to her interview to see anything but what lay directly in front of her feet. Now she freely absorbed the sights and sounds of the busy bank. Tellers waited on customers, corporate lenders worked their smartphones, customer service representatives scurried to and fro, and the phones rang nonstop.
These people lived a life to which she had always aspired. A life of power and privilege. A life the employees and their customers took for granted but had always been just out of her reach. Until now. The life she had always wanted was right there for the taking. All she had to do was wrap her fingers around it. And keep her heart out of the equation.
She approached the pretty blonde seated behind the New Accounts desk. The blonde’s nameplate read Winter Humphries. Destiny idly wondered if Winter had sisters at home named Spring, Summer, and Autumn.
“May I help you?” Winter asked.
“I’m here to see Mrs. Williams.”
Destiny pulled at the collar of the cheap polyester suit she’d picked up at a second-hand store. She would have preferred to wear some of the designer labels hanging in her closet, but those clothes didn’t fit the character she was playing. As the old saying went, the devil was in the details. The key to assuming an identity other than your own was looking the part. To a casual or interested observer, she’d look like exactly who she claimed to be—a down-on-her-luck blue-collar worker eager to make a good impression on her first day on the job. She had slipped a little on Sunday when she had worn a pair of her best jeans, but today she was back in character. Like it or not.
“Is Mrs. Williams expecting you?”
“We have an appointment at nine.”
“One moment. I’ll see if she’s ready for you.” Winter reached for her phone. “Destiny, isn’t it?”
Destiny shifted her portfolio with the cheap plastic cover from one hand to the other. “You remembered.”
“You’re hard to forget,” Winter said with a wink.
Destiny had hoped to blend in rather than stand out. So much for that plan.
“Mrs. Williams, I have Destiny Jackson here to see you.” Winter listened for a few seconds before replacing the phone in its cradle. “She’ll be right up. Have a seat in the waiting area if you like.”
“I’d rather stand, thanks. If I’m going to be on my feet all day, I’d better get used to it now.”
“You got the job?”
“Yes, I did.”
“Yay.” Winter clapped her hands like a delighted child.
The diamond ring on the third finger of Winter’s left hand was so bright Destiny squinted from the glare. The rock had to be worth at least five Gs. How many hours of legitimate work would she have to put in to buy someone a ring like that? A year? Two? She could earn the scratch in a fraction of time on the street, but she doubted the resulting purchase would provide the same sense of satisfaction.
She had been living the fast life since she was seventeen, when her parents had forced her to find her own way. Lately, though, she had started to question the direction she had chosen. She was tired of staying one step ahead of, or more often, behind the law. She had never been tempted to walk the straight and narrow, but meeting Rashida Ivey made her want to put her life of crime behind her.
No matter how this job turned out, this was her last con. Not for a while. Not until the money ran out and she needed an infusion of cash. Forever. After this, she was done.
“Welcome to the family,” Winter said. “You’re going to love it here. It’s a lot of hard work, but a lot of fun, too.”
“I can’t wait to get started.”
“That’s exactly what I want to hear.”
Destiny turned to find Jackie Williams standing behind her. Jackie’s smile revealed a slight gap between her front teeth that made her look like Esther Rolle, the late actress who had played everyone’s favorite ghetto mama on Good Times. Destiny couldn’t look at Jackie without thinking, “There goes Florida Evans.” If she wasn’t careful, she might bust out a Jimmie Walker-style “Dy-no-mite!” in the middle of their conversation.
“We have a great deal to go over today,” Jackie said. “If you’ll come with me, we can get started.”
Destiny followed her downstairs to the same conference room where they had conducted her interview. The room, with its long cherry wood table surrounded by twelve leather-bound chairs, wasn’t nearly as intimidating the second time around as it had been the first.
They spent a good two hours completing more forms than Destiny could count. Insurance forms, benefits forms, assorted policies, and the infamous employee contract.
“By signing this,” Jackie said, “you attest you will not have intimate relations with any of your co-workers. If you violate the contract, you and your fellow employee will be subject to immediate termination.”
Jackie seemed to hesitate before she slid the contract across the table. As she signed the form, Destiny wondered if Rashida had told her about what popped off between them last night. She doubted it. Rashida didn’t seem like the type to put her business in the streets.
“And last but not least, the Internet policy. By signing this, you attest you will limit your online activity to professional use only. Any websites you access must be for a valid, business-related purpose. In other words, don’t watch porn on company time.”
“People actually do that?” Destiny asked when what she meant to say was, “Who had balls big enough to think he could get away with something that stupid?”
Jackie cocked one artfully plucked eyebrow. “You’d be surprised.” She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “You didn’t hear this from me, but one of our former corporate lenders had all sorts of free porn sites saved in his favorites. And one of the branch managers saved naked pictures of his wife on his desktop. The IT guys used to race each other to his office whenever he had a problem with his computer.”
“Are the pictures still there?”
“No. Both he and the file are long gone. I saw to the removal personally. If you haven’t guessed, this place is as dysfunctional as any other. But you’ve already signed your life away, so it’s too late to back out now. Do you have any questions about any of the forms?”
“No, they seem pretty straightforward.”
“Good.” Jackie sorted the pile of papers into a neat stack and reached for another set. “The FBI recently released its latest batch of crime statistics.”
Destiny sifted through a sheaf of graphs, pie charts, and spreadsheets.
“As you can tell from the charts, there were over a thousand bank robberies last year and ninety percent were in commercial banks like ours,” Jackie said. “A little more than half of the robberies took place at the teller window after the thief presented a demand note or made an oral request for cash. The culprits were overwhelmingly male. Women accounted for less than ten percent of the robberies. Weapons were used or threatened in over half of the crimes.”
“I’m not currently certified to carry a gun. Would you like me to get recertified?”
“I’ll leave that up to you. We’ve been fortunate at Low Country Savings so far. We’ve never been robbed, knock wood. It isn’t a requirement that you own a gun, and your predecessor never carried, but if you’d feel safer armed, by all means, make it happen.”
Destiny didn’t think she’d need a weapon. If everything went according to plan, she and her crew would get in and get out without having to worry about hostages or witnesses.
She read the stats for herself. Most of the robberies had taken place on Fridays between nine and eleven a.m. or between three and six p.m. Branch offices in commercial districts were the most common targets, due in large part to easy access to and escape from the scenes of the crime. By targeting Low Country Savings’ headquarters, she and Harry were bucking all the trends. She hoped one trend, at least, would continue to hold true. According to the report, robbers got away with their loot nearly ninety percent of the time. Additionally, law enforcement reported a full or partial recovery rate of a scant twenty-three percent. The odds were definitely in her favor.
“It’s almost eleven.” Jackie rose from her chair. Destiny followed suit. “I’ll take you on a tour of the building and we can grab some lunch. After we eat, we’ll get you outfitted for a uniform. Sound good?”
“It sounds wonderful. Thank you again for giving me this opportunity.”
“Don’t thank me. You earned your chance.” Jackie headed to the elevator. “I almost forgot,” she said, pressing the Up button. “I need you to make an appointment with human resources to get your fingerprints taken.”
Destiny’s heart fell to her feet. Despite the cool, climate-controlled temperatures, she felt beads of sweat form around the edges of her hairline. “Why do you need my fingerprints?”
“It’s standard procedure for all employees. We perform an initial background chec
k during the interview process and a more thorough one after someone has been hired.”
Destiny’s mind raced as she and Jackie rode the elevator to the main floor. If someone in HR ran her fingerprints, she’d be exposed as soon as the results came in. This was one test even Techno couldn’t rig. She was good, but she wasn’t that good.
Destiny needed to stall. If she could conveniently forget to call HR or schedule the appointment for a couple weeks from now, she might be okay. She could do what she needed to do and get the fuck out of Dodge before anyone was the wiser. Oh, who was she kidding? As thorough as she seemed to be, Jackie would probably insist she get the task done before the end of the day and she’d be out on her ear and on her way to jail by nightfall.
This is why I don’t work with amateurs.
Harry had conveniently failed to mention the secondary background check. If she didn’t find a way around it, they’d both be screwed. Because Destiny would be damned if she’d be the only one going down for this fuckup.
The elevator doors opened. Harry, Rashida, and some flashily dressed guy Destiny had never seen before were waiting to come inside. Jackie introduced her to Rashida, Harry, and Mr. Best Dressed. Everyone responded with the right amount of professional courtesy. Almost. Daniel, the guy in the expensive suit, tried to get under her skin about replacing the beloved old codger Pit Bull had tangled with. Destiny didn’t let him walk all over her, but she didn’t make a big deal out of it, either. The rules here were the same as they were in jail. Keep your head down, keep your nose clean, and don’t make any enemies on the first day.
She smiled in Rashida’s direction, but her smile wasn’t returned. The slight hurt much more than she expected it to.
Their encounter in Rashida’s car had gone even better than she had anticipated. She hadn’t been nearly as excited as Rashida, but that wasn’t anything unusual. She never completely got into the act when she was working. Except with Rashida, it hadn’t felt like work. In Rashida’s apartment, Rashida had come close to accomplishing what no other mark ever had—making her lose control. She hoped the lapse was a one-time thing. If not, she was in even more trouble than she thought. She couldn’t afford to develop feelings for someone in her sights. That would make her just as much of a sucker as the woman being conned.