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Perk’s brain cooked all the way back to his temporary residence. He’d wanted to be part of getting the girl to safety, and it looked like that might happen. It was one of the reasons he’d joined the Army, and then the OPD. He’d been looking for ways to make a difference, even if it was helping one person at a time. So far, his career hadn’t exactly panned out to much of that, so being tagged as the inside man on this job made his blood hum in his veins.

He pulled his ancient Volvo up to the house, and getting out, he skulked inside.

A big-ass cold cut sandwich wouldn’t hurt to help him get centered.

Perk opened a package of ham and salami, then placed his slabs of bread on a plate. But before he could get down to business, his phone rang. His real phone. With a blocked number. That could only be…

“Hello?”

“Perk, this is Baskins. We need you back here. Right now.”

Perk’s heart leapt. He didn’t waste any time asking questions.

“I’m headed.”

Something definitive must have happened. He fist-pumped to himself, grabbed the cold cuts, threw them on the unprepared bread, and scurried out the door. He’d gladly eat a dry sandwich any day of the week if it meant the operation was moving ahead.

When he pulled into the FBI’s parking garage, swallowing the last of his midnight meal, he noted that not one of the cars that had been there when he’d left, had moved. All the agents and Perk’s team were still present.

Why then, did they need him?

Perk brushed the crumbs off his shirt, got out of his car, and headed to the elevator.

He’d find out soon enough.

“Ah, Mr. Perkins. Glad you could rejoin us,” Baskins greeted as soon as he walked into the conference room.

“No place I’d rather be,” Perk responded. “So, what’s going on?”

Baskins deferred to Del, who didn’t mince words.

“After you left, Perk, our drone surveillance confirmed that Kaelyn is indeed at Nelsin’s house. The problem is, Jeremy told whoever he’s working with that he’ll be ‘taking care of her’ tonight. Which doesn’t sound good, and also means we can’t afford to sit on the intel and hope you get inside the house tomorrow. We’ve been brainstorming ways of getting the girl to safety without blowing our op.”

Perk thought for a moment. “Why don’t we just go in and grab her? We can intimidate Nelsin into complying by telling him he either plays along with the Feds without tattling to his string-puller, or he gets locked away somewhere for the rest of his life without even his computer for company. That ought to motivate him.”

“We thought about that,” Sloane acknowledged. “But we realize that kids, especially brilliant ones like Jeremy can be arrogant. He might figure he has this all under control even though he doesn’t. In which case he’ll try to manipulate things to his advantage, eventually squealing to his contact as a possible Hail Mary, which will then derail everything.”

Perk grunted. He’d seen a shitload of kids’ hubris up close and personal at school, and knew the team had probably called it right. “So where do I come in?”

Del took over again. “We want you to head to Nelsin’s house and stake it out until the kid emerges with the girl. You’ll surprise him. Be smug. Inform him that it’s nice to confirm the rumors that have been going around about Kaelyn’s whereabouts. Then you let him know that if he doesn’t want you to rat him out on the kidnapping thing, he’ll need to cut you in on part of his gaming-app, money-stealing gig.”

“And Kaelyn?” Perk asked, already considering how he’d play things in his head.

“You’ll tell Jeremy that as a sign of good faith, you’ll get her out of the way.”

“Out of the way?” Perk repeated.

“Right. You’ll make it sound like you’re willing to do her in, when in reality you’ll bring her back here. We’ll put her and her parents in a safe house until this operation has completely wrapped up.”

“What do you think?” Baskins addressed Perk, tenting his fingers while leaning forward.

“I think it sounds like a plan,” Perk responded.

He wouldn’t say there’d be no problems, because that was the fastest way to making sure that an op got tipped on its head. But his confidence was high that he could pull this off without a hitch.

“Good,” Baskins nodded. “Now head out to the Nelsin residence. We have no idea what time Jeremy will make his move, but our van has drones keeping watch. There’s a front door to the house, a back door, and a bulkhead. The heat detectors have revealed a warm spot in the basement that hasn’t moved, so we believe that’s where Kaelyn has been stashed. Which also has us assuming that Jeremy will egress through the bulkhead.”

Perk nodded. “I’ll stake that out, and if the kid leaves via a different exit point, your team-on-watch can let me know.”

“I’m counting on you to know how to play this, Perkins,” Baskins relayed.

“Don’t worry. I’m not just a pretty face.” He gave them his best, conceited smile, which got a chuckle out of his pretend mother, Agent Tertia.

“Yup. You’re a handful alright,” she winked. And if Perk wasn’t mistaken, she nudged Sloane’s foot under the table.

Yes !

Perk barely refrained from snorting. He knew a double entendre when he heard one, and clearly Tertia and Sloane had been talking about him. That boded well for Saturday.

But first he had a role to play, and he wasn’t about to blow it.

“Once you have Kaelyn,” Baskins continued, “bring her back here and we’ll make sure she’s safely stashed. We’ll have her parents already on premise, and they’ll issue a statement to the press that they’re distraught and going into seclusion until their daughter is found. Then we’ll get them, the family dog and Kaelyn into a safe space until we have everything we want.”

“Consider it done,” Perk nodded.

Because he couldn’t help himself, he chin-lifted to Sloane and gave her a big, toothy smile.

Color instantly rose up into her face, which caused Tertia to giggle. Some of the team tipped their heads in amusement, but Smalley glowered.

Yup . That man needed to loosen his sphincter or he was going to keel over from a stress-induced heart attack before he reached the age of fifty.

Perk spun on his heel and left the office, practically floating his way back to the car. This is what he was made for; a positive reason behind his youthful appearance. Whether his family believed he was a productive member of society or not was moot. He was about to do a job that would go a long way toward assuaging his own pesky insecurities.

It took twenty minutes to reach the Nelsin home, three more for him to pick up a comm unit from the van so they could stay in touch, and another five for Perk to walk around searching for the best place to eventually appear out of the shadows. He wanted the element of surprise, especially not knowing if Jeremy would be armed.

Perk’s skills of persuasion would be the first—and hopefully the only—line of attack, so that weapons wouldn’t come into play. The last thing they needed was to alert the entire neighborhood with a gun fight, and in doing so, clue the absent and unknown head-of-the-snake Jeremy reported to, that their game had been compromised.

Perk tucked himself into the bushes by the back deck and hunkered down.

He was good at waiting.

His phone ticked away the minutes. One o’clock came and went. Then two. It was a quarter after the hour when Perk was finally alerted by a rattling inside the bulkhead. He watched as it slowly opened.

“I have contact,” Perk whispered into his comm.

“Roger that,” came the reply. “Let us know if you need backup.”

Perk tapped his comm once for an affirmative, not wanting to risk speaking anymore and losing the element of surprise.

What he saw next didn’t surprise him. The boy, who Perk assumed was Jeremy, had a frazzled looking girl in his grasp, leading her up and out of the bulkhead. Her hands were tied in front of her body, but she wasn’t blindfolded or gagged, which didn’t bode well for the short future Jeremy had planned for the girl. Her eyes—in the moonlit night, however—were wide with…anger?

Jeremy hissed at Kaelyn as they cleared the concrete stairs. “Remember. I have your dog stashed away, and if you make a single sound, I promise I’ll kill it.”

The girl nodded, but her eyes glittered furiously.

Damn. That’s how he’d kept Kaelyn quiet this whole time; making sure she didn’t shout the house down around her. And she couldn’t possibly know Jeremy was bluffing; that her dog was safe with her parents. But kudos to the asshole for figuring out how to keep his captive in line.

Perk took a huge breath and stood poised as Jeremy closed the bulkhead behind him.

Showtime.

Waiting until Jeremy had his back turned, Perk sidled up behind him. “Hey. Buddy.”

Jeremy practically jumped out of his skin.

“What the fuck?” The kid fumbled for the rear waistband of his jeans, but Perk had already seen the weapon, and easily grabbed it first.

“That’s not nice. Were you going to shoot me and wake up your parents and the neighbors?” Perk asked quietly. “That would have been messy; trying to explain to everyone who you’d shot, and why you had Kaelyn here.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Jeremy growled, backing up a few steps as Perk pretended to fumble with the gun as he ridded it of its clip.

“A new kid at school, and someone who’s just recently found out how much cash you’ve been making off a certain gaming app you’ve been sharing,” Perk returned smugly.

Jeremy regained some of his aplomb. “You don’t know fuck-all about me. What makes you think I have anything like that going on?”

Perk canted his head toward Kaelyn. “Are you telling me you kidnapped this chick for shits and giggles?” he taunted.

“Nope. She just got too mouthy about…other things,” Jeremy relayed bitingly. “Just like you’re doing right now.”

“Yeah. But the difference is, I can take care of myself, and I won’t be so easy to shut up. Unless…”

“Unless?” Jeremy returned.

“Unless you cut me in on your take of the profits.”

“I don’t have that kind of—”

“Cut the shit. I know exactly how much money you’ve stolen, and what your share is. You’re not the only one who’s good with a computer, asshole.”

Perk hoped that bluff didn’t come back to bite him in the ass. He could play old version video games with the best of them, but other than the occasional word processing project or a competent connection to various social media, his laptop generally languished.

Perk could see Jeremy thinking hard, and he decided to give the kid time to come to the only possible conclusion. In that regard, he changed the subject.

“What are you going to do with her?” He lifted his chin at the silent Kaelyn.

“I was, uh, just going to take her out for a ride. She’s been bitching about being stuck in the basement for too long.”

Right. And Perk was Santa Claus.

He narrowed his eyes at Jeremy, and gave a slight nod of understanding, which Jeremy acknowledged with a quick blink.

They both knew why Kaelyn was really being herded off.

“What if I take her for that ride instead, letting you off the hook,” Perk suggested. “Then when I see you next time, we can talk about my percentage of your profits.”

“You’d do that?” Jeremy replied, still suspicious, but also clearly relieved.

Just like they’d figured. The kid was a crook and unremorseful, but until now he hadn’t been a killer.

“I would, to show you I’m for real about wanting in,” Perk agreed.

“Well…” The kid itched his neck as if contemplating, but Perk wasn’t worried. It was clear to him that Jeremy was seriously considering it.

“What if the terms you want regarding my…business, aren’t acceptable to me?” Jeremy fished around for details. “Are you going to turn me in to the authorities, then?”

Perk scoffed. “Seriously? After taking your friend for ‘a ride’? I don’t think so,” Perk assured him. “I’m not stupid. Once I do that, I’m in this, ass-deep,” he taunted. “And don’t dick around with me about how much you can and can’t afford. I know exactly what you’re making, and won’t break your bank. You won’t miss thirty percent of your twenty percent cut, especially if I help you expand your reach to places like my old school.”

Now he had Jeremy interested. The boy’s face took on an engaged air.

“Ten percent,” he countered.

“Twenty, and we have a deal.”

“Done.”

Jeremy, who’d still been holding Kaelyn, thrust her toward Perk. “But she’s your problem now. Just don’t screw up.”

“Not a chance.” Perk conjured his most malevolent face, then forced himself to peruse Kaelyn’s body up and down, even though the action made him cringe. “Who knows? There might be a little something else in this for me, if you catch my drift.”

Kaelyn stiffened beside him, but held her tongue.

Perk felt bad scaring the girl, but he had to make Jeremy believe he was the degenerate he was portraying.

Good on Kaelyn, though, for holding it together. From all reports he’d read, the girl wasn’t stupid. She had to know her life was in danger here, and now possibly her body before she was ended. Perk would have to keep a close eye on her. She’d be looking for an escape before he got a chance to explain things. Kaelyn resembled nothing less than a volcano about to erupt, and he certainly didn’t want to be the recipient of all that built-up pressure.

Jeremy hissed. “Do what you want, but like I said, don’t fuck things up,” he warned.

“I’m good. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, uh, today,” Perk told him. “Then we can talk logistics.”

“Fine.” Clearly, Jeremy wasn’t completely happy.

Perk grunted and took Kaelyn by the arm. He tried to be gentle, but she was not going easily, fighting him silently, trying to wrench away with every step they took across the yard.

With Jeremy still watching, Perk needed to make this good.

He stopped, stooped, shoved a shoulder into Kaelyn’s midsection and hoisted her up and over his shoulder. She pounded on his back, but Perk wasn’t bothered at all. She was making very little impact. He turned, gave one last head-nod to Jeremy, then rounded the house toward his car.

He’d explain everything to Kaelyn as soon as they were safely away.

“You fucking asshole,” she heaved as he went to the driver side of his car and tossed her in.

Thank God for all the room in these old babies. It made it easy for him to push her over the center console while still keeping a grip on her ankle so she couldn’t slip out the opposite, passenger side door.

“Yeah, well, keep that thought,” Perk told her. “I—”

The girl sat up abruptly, hauled off and punched him in the face.

“What the fuck?” Perk reared back, surprised yet a bit impressed with the strength of the blow. She might have even loosened a few teeth.

“There’s more where that came from if you try to rape me,” she hissed.

“Nobody’s raping anybody,” Perk glowered, still maintaining his hold. “Now sit still until we get safely away from here.”

“Safely?” She’d moved apart from him as far as she could with his fingers still wrapped around her foot.

“Yeah,” he said, using his free hand to shut the door, turn the key, then drop the car into drive. “Safely.”

He took off, and once they were on the road, he eased his grip from her, filled with caution over what she might do. When she didn’t immediately attack him, he began talking. “I’m not a student. I’m an undercover operative working with the FBI.”

Kaelyn snorted, even though he could clearly see her fear. “What makes you think I believe that?” She crossed her arms over her chest protectively.

“Because I know you went to the principal with your concerns about Jeremy, but that before your scheduled meeting with the police, Jeremy somehow managed to lure you away, so the FBI and my team became involved.”

“Anybody could know that stuff,” she scoffed. “I’ve been all over the news.”

So, she’d had access to a TV in her basement hidey-hole, and she was a news watcher. That would help.

“Okay. How about this.” He went into a short, but succinct explanation of the Jakes’ case the team had just wrapped up, giving her pertinent details that had and hadn’t been released to the press.

The girl deflated. “You sound legit. I guess.”

She wasn’t letting her guard down completely, but she sounded more open as she began to speak. “I didn’t want to go with Jeremy, you know, but… He has my dog. He said if I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d kill Blitzy.” Tears filled her eyes.

“Blitzy is just fine,” Perk assured her softly. “She’s with your parents right now. I promise.”

Kaelyn instantly sat up straighter and regarded him with optimistic caution. “How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

He pulled his burner phone out of his pocket and tossed it into her lap. “Call your mom and dad.”

“At…three in the morning?” She’d glanced at the time on the screen.

“They know what’s going down. They’re actually waiting for you at FBI headquarters,” he said more gently. “Call them and let them know you’re okay. I’m bringing you there to meet up with them and Blitzy, before you’ll all be taken to a safe house. You’ll probably have to testify, though, once this is all wrapped up, so keep that in mind.”

Kaelyn sobbed once, nodded, then sucked in a deep breath and with trembling fingers, dialed the phone.

“Mom?” she managed.

For the next fifteen minutes, Perk got an earful of what the girl had endured in Jeremy’s basement. He wanted to chuckle. The worst of it, it seemed, was the lack of channels on the TV, and the pile of junk food she’d been forced to eat.

“High key first thing I’m going to do is have a major salad,” she sniffled. “And the next time I see Jeremy, I’m going to punch him right in the balls.”

Perk laughed.

That’s when he knew Kaelyn was going to be fine.