Chapter 2

By the time dinner was over, the rain had stopped.

Big Guy took us back to the basement he rented so we could iron out our kidnapping scheme.

I had two obvious choices.

One: call the police.

Two: tell these people I was Sebastian Kessler, the man listed as the company's legal representative, and that none of the awful things they'd described were my doing.

The truth was complicated. I had a younger half brother. My mother was dead, while his was very much alive, and he was the one who actually controlled the company.

I'd long suspected there was something wrong with my mother's death, too.

She'd supposedly been killed in a car accident while I was abroad. By the time I got home, her body had already been cremated.

My father's mistress promptly became my stepmother. I was pushed out of every position that mattered.

I'd been investigating for years without uncovering anything solid.

Which meant...

A third option suddenly occurred to me.

What if I went along with their mistake?

What if I helped them kidnap my half brother instead?

"Marty!" Big Guy called. "You coming in or what?"

I snapped out of it, pocketed my phone, and stepped into the basement without a word.

Near the entrance sat a framed black-and-white photograph. The couple in it had to be Big Guy's dead brother and sister-in-law.

Girl was coughing harder now. At one point, she coughed up blood. Big Guy and Skinny Guy barely reacted, as though they'd seen it a hundred times before.

How desperate did someone have to be to risk everything on a crime like this?

They weren't wrong.

I took out a pen and paper and sketched the outline of a plan.

"Every Monday and Wednesday around ten at night, Sebastian leaves the office and drives out to a villa outside town where he keeps his mistress," I said.

"Eastwind Road and Archway Road are the quietest stretches along the way. There aren't any cameras. We'll need a used van. We stop him on Eastwind Road, tie him up, then take Archway Road onto the outer ring road and head to an abandoned factory about two miles out."

"Once the money's in hand, I can arrange a way for you to leave the country," I finished. "I can contact a smuggler ahead of time."

Nobody answered.

When I looked up, all three were staring at me in astonishment. Then their faces lit up.

"Damn, Marty," Big Guy said. "You've really thought this through."

"Guess that's what an education does for you," Skinny Guy said admiringly. "You've got a brain on you."

Girl blinked. "You only agreed to join us seven days ago. How did you find out all this already?"

I gave them a strained smile. I didn't know what to say.

We talked through a few more details. By dawn, the plan was settled.

Everyone was excited, though there was something grim beneath it: the determination of people who had nothing left to lose.

They still had no idea the Sebastian Kessler they intended to kidnap was sitting among them.

And the person I was leading them toward was the man who had truly ruined their lives.

I wasn't wrong either.

I'd improved their plan. I was helping them.

Two days later, on Monday, we set out in a battered secondhand van.