Page 35 of Deception and New Direction (Ranger Shield Security #3)

RUTHIE

I walked into the bank with my brother’s hand holding mine.

To anyone walking by, it may look like a boyfriend or family member just holding my hand.

What they couldn’t see was the iron grip he had on me.

He had the gun tucked inside a shoulder holster underneath his jacket so no one could see it, but I knew it was there.

On the drive over I had thought about how I could try to get out of this without hurting my granddad or myself. But every scenario I came up with left one of us vulnerable.

When we arrived at the bank, there was a man waiting for us at the entrance who knew Ronald and shook hands with him before walking us all back to his office.

There was no door to close and lock me in, which made me feel slightly better, but it was off to the side away from most of the other employees.

It was a lot of paperwork to unload a trust into another account.

I was beyond thankful for that since it was dragging the process along so that I could try to come up with a plan for after this was over.

I knew my father, and I wouldn’t put it past him to kill Granddad even after he got the money.

He had already proved he would kill a racing dog just for being slow and losing him money.

If he lost money from today’s venture, he would absolutely kill Granddad .

I had to think of what to do after we left.

My brother had taken my cell phone from me at the house so I had no way to reach out to anyone.

I had a tracker built into my necklace, so I knew Archer or Jack would find me eventually, but they didn’t even know what was going on.

They thought I was with my granddad. It could be hours before anyone even put the pieces together and found me. Hopefully Cat or Ellie would notice I hadn’t responded to their texts about my arrival and would get help sooner.

As if I had conjured her up from my thoughts, I glanced out the glass window of the small office and saw Ellie’s face across the other side of the bank. Her eyes met mine, and I swore I saw them gleaming.

“Ruthie,” she yelled, waving her hand over-dramatically, and walked my way.

Oh no.

That’s when I noticed Wade was with her. I didn’t need them involved. My brother had a gun on him and would not hesitate to use it if he thought they were a threat.

“Hi,” Ellie said from the doorway to this small office. “ I’m so sorry to interrupt, but I haven’t seen you in months! Come give me a hug, Ruthie !”

What? What in the world was she talking about? Before I had time to react, she was coming over to me and hugging me in the chair since I hadn’t stood up.

“Um, excuse me,” Ronald said from next to me. “ We are trying to close a very important transaction here.”

He said it to Ellie in a polite manner, but I could tell he was pissed because this was delaying us. He also couldn’t pitch too much of a fit, because Ellie was just a friend who wanted a hug.

Wade appeared at the doorway then to apologize to the others in the room.

“ I’m sorry. My wife gets like this sometimes.

She gets testy if I don’t let her, so I just let her do her thing.

Heard you said it was a very important transaction.

Are you getting a loan, Ruthie ? You know the investment company I work for would have your back and give you anything you need right now. ”

Wife? Investment company? What in the world…. Oh . They knew! They knew I wasn’t here of my own free will. How did they find out so quickly? I wondered if I could get him a message about Granddad before they hurt him.

“Thanks. It’s not a loan,” I told him, hoping this worked. “ I inherited some money and am transferring it to my brother’s account.”

A quick glance around the room showed annoyance on Ronald’s and Jason’s faces. Even Wade’s face showed a quick moment of shock before it slipped back into the friendly persona.

“If you don’t mind, we need to do this quickly because I have a flight to catch,” my brother interrupted.

“Oh, no, problem. Where ya headed?” Wade asked as if my brother’s request meant nothing to him.

“How’s your grandfather, Ruthie ? Is he doing okay?” Ellie asked next to me.

Boom. This was my in. “ Um , he’s not feeling great, but he has help with him at his house, so hopefully he will be okay until I’m done here.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Ellie said way overdoing it on the emotions.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but can I ask you to leave so we can finish our transaction please? We are on a time crunch,” Ronald spoke up and also stood so that he could move toward Ellie and usher her out.

“Yes, I’m sorry,” Wade responded, reaching forward to grab Ellie and pull her back. “ Though you really shouldn’t rush things like this. Good seeing you, Ruthie , and you are...”

Wade looked at my brother, waiting for a response, but Jason said nothing, so I spoke up. “ This is my brother Jason .”

Wade nodded, and they left and walked back out to the main part of the bank, but I hadn’t missed Wade’s comment about not rushing things like this. Assuming he meant that for me, I took it as a sign to delay as much as I could.

Talking. I was good at talking to people.

“Umm, how long does it take for the money to transfer?” I asked the bank associate who was finalizing our paperwork.

He looked up, pausing his work, and spoke to me. “ The money will transfer over immediately, but it may take up to an hour for it to show up in your account on our website.”

Great. I wouldn’t be able to stop them from taking the money, but maybe I could stall them in other ways. It occurred to me then that this was going to a joint account.

“Question,” I asked the bank associate again. “ Will I be able to get a paper copy of all this paperwork today?”

“Often times we just email your copy, but I can get you a paper copy if you’d prefer,” he responded.

Just as I answered yes to him, my brother spoke up with the opposite sentiment.

“Sis.” He warned. “ I have my flight to catch, remember? Let’s not take too long.”

His hand reached out to rest on my thigh and squeezed. It was a threatening squeeze, meant to tell me to shut up.

I sat in silence while they finished the transfer, hoping Wade and Ellie understood my message about my granddad. If he was safe, I wouldn’t mind making a scene here, but I couldn’t take the chance that they would kill him. And I knew my father would.

“Okay, well, this printer does not appear to be working,” the bank associate said. “ Let me print these final documents on the main printer, and I will be right back.”

He got up to leave and made his way into the main area.

“When this is done, we’ll go back to Hank’s house and make sure Mal is able to access the money on his end,” Jason said. “ If you pull any funny stuff before then, I’ll text Dad and Hank is gone.”

I heard him, but I worried they would do it anyway, especially once they got what they wanted.

I glanced out at the lobby to see Wade standing over by the front desk behind Ellie .

He looked straight at me and winked. I continued to stare at him, hoping he would give me a hint as to what I was supposed to do but he did nothing else.

“The fuck is taking him so long?” my brother mumbled to Ronald .

“Not sure, but this is the last step so once she signs these, it’s done,” Ronald responded and then paused as though he was looking at something.

I looked up and saw the same thing Ronald likely had. Jack . He had just walked into the bank and was taking a seat in the chair in the office next to us. Crap .

“Why is your boyfriend here?” Ronald growled at me then turned to Jason . “ This could be a problem.”

“Where is the man with the papers? He should have been back by now,” Jason said.

“Something isn’t right,” Ronald muttered.

“New plan,” Jason said then reached for his gun and pulled it out.

Oh God . I hope you know what you’re doing, Jack .