Run to Ground(114)
“Ten apiece.”
Feeling like he’d punched her in the midsection, she choked for breath. Her knees went wobbly, and she had to force them to stiffen enough to hold her. “Fifty…” She couldn’t even finish saying the amount. It was too staggering, too…heartbreaking.
Once the initial shock had passed and her lungs started working again, she searched her brain for a solution. Every problem had a fix. It wasn’t helpful to just despair that she didn’t have the money.
“Can I do payments?” She was proud that her voice was only a little wobbly.
His expression was unreadable, but Jules took slight comfort in the fact that he hadn’t immediately turned her down. She could figure out how she’d be able to make money while hiding after she solved the immediate problem.
“I don’t do payment plans,” he finally said, grinding a casual heel into her newly blossoming hope. “But we might be able to figure out a trade.”
Trade? Even though Dennis was wheeling his baby around the park and looked about as un-lustful as any man possibly could, her brain immediately went there.
“What kind of trade?” Her voice was flat and thick with suspicion. There were a lot of things she’d do for her siblings, but that was not one of them. If that was Dennis’s offer, she’d figure out another way to get what she needed to steal the kids.
“Not what you’re thinking.” Instead of sounding offended, amusement crept into his tone. “Not that you aren’t pretty and all”—his wave indicating her form was dismissive—“but this little one takes all of my extra energy. Right now, a hookup just sounds exhausting.”
“Okay.” She believed he was being sincere, but he still hadn’t named his price—his nonmonetary price, at least. “So what would I need to do?”
“Mr. Espina has me do this”—he tipped his head toward her in a gesture that Jules interpreted as the whole disappearance-assistance thing—“a lot. Sometimes, his clients need a temporary place to stay for a few weeks until I can arrange something more permanent. Once I set you up with a safe new home, I’d like to send the occasional traveler in your direction.”
Jules considered this. It was much more reasonable than what her overactive imagination had been conjuring—so reasonable, in fact, that it made her suspicion flare even higher. “We’d just have to let someone live with us for a few weeks?”
“Exactly.”
“No criminals or anyone dangerous?”
“No dangerous criminals.”
Not missing his careful wording, she narrowed her eyes at his impassive face. It was true that, if all went to plan, she’d be a felon herself shortly, so it wasn’t fair to judge others for their possibly justified crimes. He’d covered the “dangerous” part, and that was the most important. “How long would we need to keep the vacancy sign up?”
His shoulders raised in a shrug. “Indefinitely.” He straightened the collar of his polo shirt, as if concerned that it had been mussed by the gesture. “I won’t abuse the privilege, however. Only one visitor at a time, and no more than…let’s say four a year.”
Even if the person staying with them was obnoxious and left hair in the shower and empty milk cartons in the fridge, the strangers’ invasions would be temporary and infrequent. If it meant her brothers’ and sister’s freedom, then she could put up with Attila the Hun as a houseguest for a while.
“This would cover the whole fee?”
With a strangled cough, Dennis said, “Half.”
That still wasn’t possible. “Three-quarters.”
“Two-thirds, and I throw in a vehicle.”
“Three-quarters.” She could squeak by paying a third, but she’d rather have as much start-up cash as she could keep. “I have a car.”
“Registered to your name?”
Feeling stupid, she tightened her lips. “Three-quarters, we get an SUV and you get my Camry.” At least, this way, the five of them wouldn’t be jammed into her Camry the entire way to…wherever they were headed.
Lifting his right hand off the stroller handle, he offered it to Jules. “Deal. This is what I’ll need from you…”
EXCERPT #3
SUMMARY: The kids have been successfully kidnapped, and now Jules and her siblings are on the run.
Five Days Earlier
They’d been on the road for an hour before she broke the bad news.
“We can’t stop until we reach the car-switch point in Georgia.” When none of her siblings made any concerned sounds, she added, “It’ll be another five hours.” There was still no reaction. “I brought snacks and water, but no stopping means no bathroom breaks.”