5

Every time the phone rang for the next two days, Eva and Jake flinched. The third day, it came. Eva answered the phone. Jake picked up the extension in the bedroom when she mouthed It’s them.

“Listen and listen good,” Lenora said. “In three weeks, a shipment of diamonds and a half million in cash will be coming into the United States. You’re going to get it and deliver it to me.”

“What”

“No time for questions. Pay attention. The ship is called the Eleanor. It’s coming in from Brazil. Xavier Suarez will be bringing in the goods himself.”

Eva’s wide eyes widened even further. Xavier Suarez. Holy shit. Suarez was known throughout the underworld as the heir apparent to Carlos the Jackal—the notorious international hit man. Rumor had it that Carlos trained Suarez personally before he was finally captured and imprisoned.

“The boat will dock in Miami. That’s your window of opportunity. You’ll be receiving a package in the mail in the next few days. That’s how we will stay in contact. You fuck up, considered yourselves fucked.”

Lenora hung up.

Jake darted out of the bedroom, his eyes as big as balloons. “Did you hear that Suarez” He rubbed his brow.

“You got us into this mess. So get us out!” She folded her arms and paced. “This is too awful. I knew we shouldn’t have done it. I told you!”

He held up his hand. “Lemme think, will ya. I can’t think with you yelling at me.”

“Yelling! You think this is yelling You ain’t heard nothing yet.”

“How do we know this chick is even for real”

“She’s some-damned-body. She got our very unlisted number. Remember” Her neck rocked back and forth as she ranted.

“Maybe she works for the phone company.”

Eva twisted her lips into a snarl and looked for something to throw. “Phone company employees wouldn’t know squat about a diamond shipment coming into the U.S.!”

“Would you keep your voice down Do you want the whole neighborhood to know we’re up the creek”

Eva huffed, reached for the pillow on the couch, and hurled it at Jake.

He snatched it in midair. “Would you please stop throwing things at me” he snapped. He returned the pillow to its rightful place and sat down on the couch. He glanced up. “Would you please sit down You’re making me dizzy.”

“Good.”

“Babe, you were right,” he conceded. “Maybe we need to roll up the game board and disappear.”

Deflated, Eva sat opposite him on the love seat. “How can we disappear If she is who she says she is, she’ll find us. No matter where we go. We’ll be running for the rest of our lives.”

“Then we need to find out if she’s for real.”

“How”

“Jinx. There’s not a computer program he can’t crack. If she’s really FBI, he’ll find out.”

“Okay. So when he does find out, what then”

“We’ll deal with it. For now, one thing at a time.” He got up.

“Where are you going”

“To Jinx’s house. I don’t trust the phone. I’ll tell him what we need.”

Eva nodded slowly in agreement.

Jake came up to her, kissed her mouth softly. He cupped her cheeks. “We’re going to get out of this. I promise.”

She swallowed her doubts, needing to believe in her husband. “Hurry back.”

While Jake was gone, Eva went over every detail of that night with Stan Ingram. What had she missed Nothing. Nothing at all. There was no way to tell that he was married to an FBI agent. How was she supposed to know Maybe she should have asked more questions, but she’d just wanted it to be over, wanted to get out of there and be done with the whole business. She’d slipped the roofie in his drink shortly after they arrived in his suite. As soon as he was good and looped, she called Jake on the cell phone and they staged the photos. Same as they’d always done for years. There had never been a glitch. There had never been a mark who didn’t pay, and certainly never one who tried to turn the tables on them. There’s a first time for everything, some pain-in-the-ass voice whispered in her head.

Eva heaved a sigh. This was all new to her: this feeling of helplessness, being the pawn that was moved around the chessboard. She was accustomed to being the game master, not the other way around. And damnit, she wasn’t going to become a pawn now.

She grabbed her purse, car keys, and jacket. While Jake was with his brother Jinx, she needed a powwow with her girl Rita.

Eva smiled as she drove through the city streets. She had begun to formulate a plan. If this chick Lenora was for real, they needed to be ready.

*   *   *

Stan lay in bed next to Lenora. He stared up at the ceiling. He’d been wound tighter than a roll of aluminum foil since he’d confessed the affair to her. After she’d ranted and raved, calling him every kind of fool in the book, she’d made love to him like a woman possessed—the first time they’d been intimate in months. She kept asking all during the act whether “Leslie” was as good as she was. He wished he knew. So of course he told her no. No one was as good as she was. Then after that first night, not another word was said about the incident. When he’d tried to make love to her this evening, she turned her back on him.

She was up to something. It wasn’t like Lenora to let anything slide, especially something this big. He turned his head to look at her in the shadows of the bedroom.

How had their marriage come to this They’d been so in love once upon a time. They were going to conquer the world together. At first it seemed that they would, but somewhere up the ladder, his foot got stuck in one of the rungs while she kept on going. The higher she rose and the more money she made, the less she seemed to love him. She no longer looked at him with admiration in her eyes, just disdain. So he started to let himself go. It wasn’t as if she cared. Maybe he should have left a long time ago. But there was still a big part of him that loved Lenora and ached for her to love him back—again.

He turned his face to stare at the ceiling, folded his hands atop his rounded belly. There was still the matter of the blackmail. Now that he’d told his wife, Leslie—or whatever her name was—didn’t have that hold on him, but she’d promised worse. He had one more day to come up with the money.

Lenora’s insurance policy was worth a hundred grand. But he didn’t have the balls to kill her. He started to sweat. His life had gone from zero to one hundred miles per hour in a blink, and he couldn’t even remember if it was worth it.

Lenora’s voice came to him in the dark, distant. “You need to plan on taking some time off from work.”

“What”

“You heard me. Put in for your vacation.”

Stan pushed himself to a halfway sitting position. “I don’t understand.”

“You don’t need to understand. Just do what I ask, Stan. I’ll explain when it’s time.”

She reached for him. And he was thankful.

*   *   *

When Jake came back home with Jinx in tow, Eva and Rita were sitting in the living room. Jake saw the dark sparkle in Eva’s eye, and that wicked smile, and he knew she had a plan.

Now this was the Eva he knew and loved.

*   *   *

They stayed up until the sun was high in the morning sky, planning. Everyone knew what they needed to do. The moment Jinx verified Lenora Ingram’s identity, the pieces would begin falling in place. This would be their biggest sting yet, the first time they’d all worked together. If one of them failed, they all failed—and they had no intention of letting that happen.

“Everybody knows what they have to do. Right” Eva said.

“I’ll get cracking on breaking into the FBI files,” Jinx said, rubbing his eyes and yawning much too loudly.

Rita stood and stretched. “I’ll get started on the documents.” She looked at them each in turn. “I’m gonna need recent pictures of everyone. Better yet, y’all go get some new passport photos, and I’ll hook them up in Photoshop.”

They all nodded.

“We don’t have much time,” Jake said, looking at his wife. “I’ll work on the timeline and getting the schematics for the ship.”

“And I’ll be getting us outfitted.” Eva smiled. She turned to Jinx. “And we’re going to need you to get the ship’s roster.”

Jinx was on it. “Done. Already on my list.” He tapped the side of his head.

“Rita, me and you are going to have to do a little shopping for the accessories.” Eva winked at her cousin.

Rita grinned. “You know I love shopping.”

Jake slung his hands into his pockets. “We got everything covered, gang”

They murmured agreement.

Jake checked his watch. “The clock is ticking, folks. Let’s get busy.”