Danielle Steel - Ransom

Honesty again. It was the only way to go here. Honor among thieves. “Ten on completion. Two hundred thousand cash up front. He wants me to put it together and hire the guys for him.”

“How many?”

“Three, including you. If you do it.”

“Drugs?” He couldn't even imagine how much heroin that represented, or cocaine. He couldn't think of anything else that would generate that much income. But that was high even for a drug deal, unless it was incredibly high risk, which it had to be, if anyone was offering to pay that much. But as Waters looked at him, Peter shook his head.

“Worse. Or better. Depending on how you look at it. In theory, it's pretty clean. They want us to kidnap someone, sit on them for a couple of weeks, collect the ransom, send them home, and split. With luck, no one gets hurt.”

“Who the fuck is it?” Waters bellowed at him. “The president?”

Peter almost smiled but didn't. This was serious business, for both of them. “Three kids. Or as many as we can get. One'll do.”

“Is he crazy? He's paying us twenty-five million bucks between the four of us to nab three kids, and send them home. What's in it for him? How much is the ransom?”

Peter was nervous giving him all the details, but he had to tell him enough to rope him in. “A hundred million. He keeps seventy-five. It's his idea.” Waters whistled and stared at Peter for a long moment, and then with no warning, he reached across the bench and grabbed Peter so hard by the throat with one hand, he nearly choked the life out of him. Peter could feel his veins and arteries exploding in his viselike grip as Waters moved his face to within an inch of Peter's.

“If you're fucking with me, I'll kill you, you know that, don't you?” With his free hand, he ripped Peter's shirt open and tore all the buttons off to see if he'd been wired by the cops, but he hadn't been.

“This is for real,” Peter managed to choke out with the last of his breath. Waters held him there until Peter saw stars and nearly lost consciousness, and then let go, and lay back against the bench again, looking unconcerned.

“Who's the guy?”

“I can't tell you,” Peter said, rubbing his neck. He could still feel Waters's hand on his throat. “That's part of the deal.” Waters nodded. It sounded right to him.

“Who're the kids?”

“I can't tell you that either, until I know you're in. But you'll know soon, if you are. He wants us watching them for a month or six weeks, so we know what we're doing, their routine, and when to grab them. And I have to set up a place for us to go.”

“I can't do surveillance. I've got a job,” Carl Waters said practically, as though he were organizing a work schedule or a car pool. “I can do it on weekends. Where is it, Frisco?” Peter nodded.

“I could do it during the week. It's probably less noticeable if we mix it up a little.” That made sense to both of them.

“They've really got that kind of money? Or is this guy dreaming?”

“They had half a billion dollars a year ago. It's hard to spend that kind of money in a year. The guy died. We're hitting his wife up for the ransom. She'll pay to keep her kids.” Waters nodded. That made sense to him too.

“You realize we could get the death penalty if they catch us,” Waters said matter-of-factly. “Who's to say this guy won't sell our asses out if we do it. I don't trust people I don't know.” He didn't say it, but he trusted Peter, although he also thought he was naïve. He'd always heard he was okay in prison. He was no hardass, but he had done his time and stayed clean. That meant a lot to him.

“I think we'd all need to figure out where to go afterward. I guess we do it, and we're on our own. If anyone talks, we're all screwed,” Peter said quietly.

“Yeah, and so is he, if you do. He must trust you.”

“Maybe. Greedy fucker. I had no choice. I can't risk my kids.” Waters nodded again, that much he understood, although he had none of his own.

“Who else have you talked to?”

“No one. I started with you. I figured if you didn't want to do it, you'd give me some ideas. Unless you beat the shit out of me and told me to get fucked.” They exchanged a smile on that one, and Waters laughed.

“You've got a lot of balls asking me something like this. I could have beaten the crap out of you.”

“Or choked me,” Peter teased, and Waters laughed again. It was a deep rumble that went with his looks. “What do you think?”

“I think this guy's a lunatic, or he has some mighty rich friends. You know the hit?”

“I know who they are.”

“And they're for real?”

“Very much so,” Peter reassured him, and Waters looked impressed. He'd never heard of that kind of money except on drug deals, and Peter was right, this sounded clean. “I still have to find a place for us to go, with the kids.”

“That's not hard. All you need is a mountain cabin, or an RV parked in the desert somewhere. Hell, how complicated is it to baby-sit three kids? How old are they?”

“Six, twelve, and sixteen.”

“Shit, what a pain in the ass. But I guess for five million bucks I could baby-sit Dracula and his kids.”

“But the deal is we don't hurt them. They go back untouched. That's the deal,” Peter reminded him.

“I get it,” Waters said, looking irritated. “No one's going to pay a hundred million bucks for three dead kids. Or even one.” He got the point.

“Presumably, she'll pay the ransom quickly. She lost her husband, she won't want to lose her kids. It may take her a week or two to free up the money, but it shouldn't take too long. Not for her kids.”

“I like the fact that it's a woman,” Waters commented, thinking about it. “She's not going to make us sweat it for six months. She'll want those kids.” Waters stood up then, and looked down at Peter, still sitting on the bench. He'd heard enough, and he wanted to get back to the house. He had enough to think about for now. “I'll think about it, and let you know. How do I find you?” Peter handed him a slip of paper with his cell phone on it. He'd written it down while he was waiting on the porch.

“If you do it, can you find the other guys?” Peter asked, as he stood up.

“Yeah. It's gotta be guys I can trust. Anyone can nab someone, but can they keep their mouth shut afterward? Our asses are going to be on the line after that. I want to make sure mine won't rot in prison.” He had a point, and Peter agreed with him.

“He wants us to make a move in July. He'll be out of the country then, and he wants it over by the time he comes back.” They had just over a month to set it up, find the men, and watch her. And take the kids.

“That shouldn't be a problem,” Waters said, and after that they walked along in silence, while Peter wondered what he was thinking and when he'd hear from him. Waters didn't even look at him when they reached the halfway house. He just started up the steps and then turned around to look at him. And in a voice no one could hear but Peter, he mouthed the words “I'm in.” And with that, he walked onto the porch and into the house. Peter stood staring after him, and the screen door slammed. Twenty minutes later, Peter was back on the bus and heading home.

Chapter 10

Peter heard from Carlton Waters on his cell phone later that week. He had the two other guys they needed. Malcolm Stark and Jim Free. He said he was sure they could do the job, and keep their mouths shut. The three of them had decided they would go to South America via Canada or Mexico after they did it. They wanted their five million dollars each in accounts in South America, where they could access it. Between themselves, they had talked about getting into the drug business, but they didn't have to figure that out yet. Waters knew people who could get them passports, and run them into Mexico. And from there, they could go anywhere. All they wanted was to do the job, get their money, and get the hell out. None of them had serious attachments, or were married. The girl in the coffee shop hadn't panned out for Jim Free. It turned out she had a boyfriend, and wasn't interested in Jim after all. She was just flirting with him.