Bruce was sound asleep until his cell phone chimed. He blindly reached for it on the nightstand. He was surprised when he grasped a piece of paper instead. Letting the phone ring, he groggily opened his eyes to look at the note. “Thanks for an exceptional evening. I truly enjoyed myself. See you around, M.” He frowned and looked over to the other side of the king-sized bed. She was really gone. No woman left his bed after he got done with them. The phone finally stopped ringing. Whipping the yellow sheet off his naked form, he slowly stood and stretched. See you around? What the fuck does that mean? See you around? His phone rang again. “Maybe it’s her. We exchanged numbers yesterday afternoon just in case she got lost getting to Jimbo’s.” Bruce picked up the phone and frowned when he saw it was Alec. Normally, he would be happy to hear from his buddy, but he wanted to talk to someone else right now. “Hello,” he a
Margo pulled up to the old sewing factory. She was supposed to meet Aaron at eight and she was over an hour and a half late. She popped the trunk. Thankfully, Aaron was outside posting “Private Property” signs on the gates and the building. “Good, I’ll have help getting this stuff in here,” she mumbled. “Hey, I see you finally showed up,” he joked as he walked toward her. “Yeah, sorry I’m late. I . . . had a late night,” she said. “Can you help me carry this desktop equipment and programming books inside?” “Sure. I got the perfect little office for you.” Aaron helped Margo get her things into an office. The floor was white and lime tile. The desk was big enough for two monitors, and the chair looked pretty comfortable. It was obvious that Aaron decided to spend a little money on cleaners for the warehouse. Margo didn’t think he had the entire building cleaned; that would have been a small fortune within itself.Sh
Margo had worked her fingers to the bone for five and a half days. Every time she came close to having something, it would crash as soon as she tried to transfer it to Aaron’s undetectable flash drive. She leaned back in her chair in her office. Someone tapped on the door. “Yeah.” It was Aaron and Anthony. “Hey, girl, guess who’s on the phone?” Anthony said with joy. “Hey, Margo,” Bobbi said through the speaker of Aaron’s cell. “Hey,” Margo said with glee. She hadn’t heard from Bobbi in over a week. Aaron perched himself on Margo’s desk, and Anthony sat in a folding steel chair. “How’s Dallas?” Margo asked. “Wretched,” Bobbi replied with disdain. “I don’t like it here. The men are absolute pigs. Seriously, I feel like I’ve gone back in a time warp. Women are not taken as seriously as they should be here. We’re like second-class citizens.” “Maybe it’s just cultural di
Instead of being at Jimbo’s Steakhouse BBQ for a few hours, they stayed until eight o’clock in the evening. The time had gotten away from Margo because she ended up having a better time than she thought. It was great to watch Bruce play with the kids there along with Keisha. Margo and Lana had a nice chat. Then Alec, Margo, and Bruce played softball with a few other guys and teenagers. Bruce walked Margo to her door. She unlocked it and turned around to face him. “Thank you for taking me to the barbeque.” He grinned. “I told you you would have fun.” “I did, and I hadn’t played softball since I was in high school. You were the hero of the team with that homerun that won us the game.” There was a twinkle in his eye. “I’m glad that I helped the team, but the reward of that kiss you gave me was better.” “Oh, I’m sure my kiss and the three other women’s kisses right after was great for you,” she remarked. She had given
Margo was excited about her trip to Monte Carlo. First, she had to catch a flight to Dallas. Then she, Bobbi, and her boss were going to be picked up personally by the filthy rich billionaire who was their host. And if Margo wasn’t excited enough, the billionaire was going to let them fly to France with him on his private jet.Luckily, Anthony had finished one of her post heist personas, and he and Aaron thought it would be a good idea to show at least one legit trip on her fake passport.Margo was checking things off her list when her doorbell rang. She couldn’t imagine who it could be. Her question was quickly answered when she opened the door.“How come you didn’t tell me you were leaving town for the weekend?” Bruce asked.Her mouth dropped open. “It was a last-minute decision, and how did you find out so quickly?”“Last minute, huh? Then how come Lana and Alec knew before I did?” Bruce asked as he walked past her into the house. It looked like he had just gotten off w
It was a few days before Thanksgiving, and Margo was only a few inches away from creating a virus that was stable, spread to all twelve Federal Reserve locations, could extract and transfer funds to various locations at once in a hurry, and could lay dormant until 11:59 p.m. on December thirty-first. She also had three couples who were interested in buying her house. She had placed an ad on a for-sale-by-owner website in September. However, Margo didn’t place a for sale by owner sign in the yard because she didn’t want her neighbors or friends to know. They would have asked too many questions, plus Bruce would find out. She had to disappear without a trace. Margo had also been slowly selling some of her household things on eBay. She had sold both bedroom sets in her guest rooms in October. She kept the doors closed to those rooms so Bruce wasn’t any the wiser when he spent the night. Her mind drifted to Bruce. During the past few months,
Lana Murphy Peterson had outdone herself with the Thanksgiving meal. A twenty-pound turkey, homemade rolls, green beans, cornbread dressing, and corn were on the dining room table. Corey and Lacey Smith, Alec, Keisha, and Bruce had complimented Lana on the meal. Lana had two choices for dessert, a sweet potato pie and a strawberry cake with white, cream cheese frosting. Bruce had pieces of both. He wasn’t shy, especially when it came to food. After they ate, they went to the living room where Alec poured them champagne. He said that he had a big announcement to make. “Does everyone have full glasses?” Lana asked with a smile. “Yeah, girl,” Lacey said. Lacey was a black woman who had auburn hair. Margo had spotted a few years ago that she wore weaves. Not that it was a big deal. Lacey’s hair looked good. Corey put his arm around his wife’s shoulders as he held his champagne glass. He was a white businessman who mad
Four dark-colored Dodge Charger Hellcats were parked under the overpass across from the building. Everyone was already there when Margo got to the factory. Morris was a little surprised to find out that she was in the life, but he nodded his respect and listened as Aaron went over the full plan. He had also clued Morris in on how to communicate over the burners. At one-fifteen a.m., Bobbi, Aaron, Morris, and Anthony deployed to the Hellcats. Margo already had her computer up and ready to go. Anthony and Morris, along with two guys they had met on the street, had boosted the cars from a Dodge dealership earlier that evening. It was easy, and they got away clean because it was closed for the holiday. By the time the dealership opened tomorrow and discovered them missing, the cars would be destroyed. They were small vehicles, but they were fast enough to escape the cops just in case something went wrong. They were all linked on a conference call setup