The doorbell rang, and Chase rose to answer it. “Finally, geez. The pizza is probably cold by now.”
Teddy temporarily covered the money that was sitting on the coffee table with a couch throw, then he went to the kitchen and pulled two cans of beer from the fridge. He heard a few seconds of conversation, then the door closed. The coast was clear to remove the throw and enjoy staring at all that cash while they ate their pizza.
Chase jerked his head at the coffee table. “Make room for the pizza boxes then grab a couple of plates and some paper towels.”
Teddy did as told, not out of fear but simply because Chase was the eldest brother, and that was the way their life had always been. The younger did what the older brother said.
After they each had a slice of pizza on their plate and an open beer at their side, they resumed staring at the stacks of cash that lay in front of them.
Chase pointed his chin at the money. “Have you ever made that kind of money in your life for something so easy?”
Teddy huffed. “That was rhetorical, right?”
Together they laughed, knowing full well that up to that point, they’d both lived simple lifestyles.
“We can quit our dead-end jobs and harvest a few more organs over the next week or two. After that—”
“We’ll do what?” Teddy asked.
“Buy that boat we’ve been talking about. Hell, we can buy a fishing boat and a boat to show off like the weekend jackasses do on the river.”
Teddy chuckled. “First, you’ve already quit your dead-end job, and second, we can buy that big boat, take it out to Hilton Head, and show off to the folks and their hotshot friends.”
Chase rose and walked into the kitchen, where he grabbed two more beers then returned to the couch. “Nah, we can’t do that. They’d ask too many questions, plus they don’t give a shit about us anyway.”
Teddy’s forehead wrinkled. “Well, what’s the fun of having cool shit if we can’t show it off? We’ll say you won the lottery or something.”
“Let’s worry about the folks later.” Chase grinned. “We haven’t even picked out a boat yet. For now, we have to find our next organ donor.”
Teddy glanced at the clock. “I have to go into work for a few hours, but you can drop me off. We’ll sidetrack past the mall and see how many ladies walk out to their cars alone.”
“You want to do something in broad daylight? That’s super risky.”
“We can look, can’t we? A strategic plan takes a day or so to form, but we can surveil the place now and see what we think. We’d have to park at the far end of the lot where the cameras can’t pick us up and next to a high-end car. Well-off people are the only ones who care about door dingers. They park their expensive cars as far away from everyone else as they can.”
“Right, but it’s probably the fifty-year-old wife of a CEO, who has never lifted a finger in her life except to carry shopping bags from the pricey stores out to her pricey car.”
Teddy shrugged. “Yeah, so what? She’d be easy to overtake. Once the organs are out of the body, nobody knows the age of the donor.”
Chase smiled. “True enough.”
They clinked beer cans, guzzled the golden brew, and grabbed another slice of pizza.
Thirty minutes later, the brothers left the house and headed to the mall on the south end of town. Teddy drove since he knew the area better and the mall was relatively new. It took all of fifteen minutes before he was trolling the parking lot while looking for the perfect place to park.
“Damn, this place is huge,” Chase said.
“Yep, and I bet there are a lot of women shoppers inside.”
“Seems like this occupation suits you, brother.”
Teddy grinned. “A lot of money suits me. I’m going to drive along the edges of the lot. It’s safer there, being out of camera range, and when the time comes, nobody will see us snatch our next organ donor. That person’s car will be parked next to the sliding door, so even if the cameras did reach that far out in the lot, the body of the van would hide the activity going on. Everything will happen on the other side.”
Chase cocked his head as he took in Teddy’s idea. “That’s pretty damn smart if I do say so myself. Okay, I’m on board. Let’s find the right car and see what happens.”
Within a few minutes, Teddy pointed out the window. “That’s what I’m talking about. See those two women who just got out of that Audi?”
Chase looked in the same direction as his brother.
“They’re going into the store, but at some point and likely with their hands full, they’ll come out and load the trunk or back seat, all while they’re busy talking about their purchases. They wouldn’t even notice us about to grab them.”
“But that’s just an example since we wouldn’t snatch two at once.”
“Right. We can’t press our luck, but something like that can’t be too hard to do.”
Chase agreed. “So what’s your work schedule for the week?”