Black Jack Point by Jeff Abbott Page A

said.
    ‘Let’s accelerate. I vote to cut off the brother’s dick,’ Redhead said with a giggle. ‘Where did I put those scissors … ?’
    ‘No, leave him alone!’ Stoney yelled.
    ‘We will,’ Danny said. Claudia could hear the distaste in his voice. ‘If you play along. First the five million.’
    ‘Oh, Christ, oh, Christ,’ Stoney moaned.
    ‘Got your pen ready, sunshine?’ Redhead said. ‘Put a half million in this account in Grand Cayman.’ He read off an account
     number. ‘That’s at the Great Commerce Bank of Grand Cayman. Move that first, will you?’
    Stoney made a noise of unhappy agreement.
    ‘Don’t whine,’ Redhead said. ‘Then another half million in this bank in Anguilla. Here’s the account number …’
    More accounts, more banks, the slow carving of Stoney’s fortune. Claudia gritted her teeth.
    ‘Now. The journal and the Devil’s Eye,’ Danny said. ‘You’re going to take them to Staples Mall in Corpus. Tomorrow at eight
     a.m., when the mall opens for the elderly mall walkers. Go to the carousel at the middle of the mall. Leave the journal and
     the emerald in a Sears bag, each wrapped in plain brown paper and covered with a couple of paperbacks. You’ll put the bag
     underneath the gray horse with the white mane, the red saddle and the bright blue ribbons. If the police are there, or I don’t
     like how anything looks, your brother and his girlfriend die and I report the murder you committed to the New Orleans police.
     We get to that point, I don’t care what happens to me. But you, you’re finished.’
    There was a long silence. Stoney Vaughn finally said, ‘I don’t know how long this transfer will take. After it goes through
     the banks in Houston we may not have immediate confirmation, and I’m not at my office right now …’
    ‘We check with Grand Cayman here shortly, and you better hope that money’s streaming in,’ Redhead said.
    ‘We can’t control how long the transfer takes once it leaves my bank. You know that,’ Stoney said. ‘Let’s say I do what you
     want. How do I get my brother back?’
    ‘We’ll drop off Ben and Claudia in a safe place afterwe’ve got the journal and the emerald,’ Danny said. ‘We’ll call you, let you know where they’re at.’
    ‘That’s not good enough,’ Stoney said.
    ‘Our beef’s not with them. It’s with you. We’re not into killing innocent people. And don’t call the police or the coast guard
     or the navy or anybody. We see choppers coming, we see boats coming looking for us, they’re dead in two seconds.’ Danny didn’t
     seem to notice the contradiction in his words, which made Claudia cold all over.
    ‘You fucker,’ Stoney said.
    ‘Yes, but I’m the fucker in charge,’ Danny said.
    ‘Okay. Okay. Please, I want to talk to my brother.’
    ‘Here he is. You got five seconds.’
    ‘Stoney?’ Ben said. He didn’t sound scared or hurt to Claudia, more mad.
    ‘Yeah.’
    ‘Do what they say.’
    ‘How did they get you? I don’t understand.’
    ‘Boarded us. Please, Sto—’
    ‘Five seconds up, no more talk,’ Danny said. ‘Start the money transfers. We’ll be checking on you. I’m calling you back in
     fifteen minutes.’
    ‘That’s not enough—’ Stoney started and then his voice was gone. Cut off.
    ‘Progress,’ said Redhead. ‘But I’ll just keep these scissors handy, okay, Ben?’
    Claudia heard footfalls on the steps outside the master stateroom.
    Oh, God, the porthole’s still open.
She hadn’t shut it.
    The stateroom door flew open, hard, slammed against the wall.
    Gar, with the stocking off his head. A heavy round face, brown eyes, dirty-blond hair askew from the stocking, full mouth.
     He noticed her blindfold was off.
    ‘Goddamn it.’ He yanked the chamois cloth back over her eyes with angry roughness. ‘That better not come off again, you understand?
     We’ll play this little piggy if it does.’ He grabbed at her foot, twanged her broken toe. A bolt of fire