Page 141 of Guarding Grace

“You said it was easy.”

“Okay. They had the left-hand lock rigged so the right combination deactivated the circuit. But if you tried the clasp without the right combination…” He cocked his head. “Not good.”

“Kaboom,” I suggested.

“Uh-huh. But…” He raised a finger. “They left the right-hand one alone, which meant I could try all the combinations on that side, and only try the left one when I had figured out the combination.” He smiled broadly. “I was almost there when you guys came along.”

“What if they set the two sides to different combinations?”

His face dropped. “Oh…”

He hadn’t thought of that.

“What were you going to do with the merchandise? Pawn it?”

“That’s the cool part. Elliot went to the buyer and offered to sell it to him for half.”

“Five million?” I wrote the number down.

“See? It’s perfect. Marku gets whatever it is for half price, and we get paid five mil for snatching it for him.”

Rudi had no idea what was really inside and didn’t care.

“Marku already paid Russo half the money,” I pointed out.

“He’d get his money back, and we’d be long gone to Colombia.”

He was a moron if he thought it was that simple.

“Where’s Elliot?”

“I don’t know. I was supposed to stay hidden where even Elliot didn’t know where I was. I’m supposed to call him when I get it open, and he’ll take it to Mr. Marku.”

Calling the gangster Mr. Marku made him sound like a simple businessman who would uphold his end of a deal, which I doubted.

“What’s to keep Marku from killing you two and getting it for free?”

Rudi’s mouth dropped open.

I shook my head. He wasn’t cut out for dealing with mobsters.

Retrieving his phone from my pocket, I opened it. It was a burner without even a PIN code, and the only contact wasE. I closed the device and stood.

“I can go now?” Rudi asked hopefully.

“No.”

“But—”

“I’m the bad cop, remember?”

I locked the room on my way out. Upstairs, I joined Lucas in his office.

Winston followed me in, and I gave them both the story Rudi had spun for me.

“Hey, Jordy?” Lucas called after I finished.

“Yeah?” came his voice from around the corner.