picture in a dining room. I did try to look behind it, but let’s take it down.”
The painting is incredibly heavy, but the two of us manage to remove it from the wall without killing ourselves. There doesn’t appear to be anything behind it, but the wallpaper is raised up in one spot. I grab the tab of paper, and it pulls back to reveal a safe.
“A false panel. Good call, Peaches.” Becks says and pokes me in the arm.
She pulls the key out of her pocket and uses the code on the keypad. Three little green bulbs on the panel light up and the safe opens. Inside is several stacks of money, a few jewelry boxes, some file folders, and a small, black device. The folders contain the information on the buyers. If we didn’t have to give the hard drive to Vladimir, we could put Tom away for a long time for trying to defraud his investors.
“Let’s show Adam,” I say and close the safe.
“Hey, don’t you think we could take a little something for ourselves?” Becks says when I the door slams shut.
“I’m going to leave the room. I just came for the drive. You do what you want after I go.”
“Fine. You’re right. What about the painting?”
“Leave it. Tom won’t have to take it down when he tries to frantically search for this.” I say and hold up the device. “We’re doing him one last favor.”
Adam is on the way back into the house, and I raise the hard drive into the air. I do my best victory pose, and he runs across the room and lifts me up. I get dizzy from him spinning me around.
“I need to call Vladimir and tell him I’ve got what he wants. I’ll arrange the meet-up and exchange it for Sophie’s freedom. Then, we can drive back. I don’t want to spend another second in this place.” Adam says as he puts me down.
There’s no cell reception, so we leave. Once we’re back out on the road, Adam makes the call while Becks finds us a gas station. After we buy drinks and snacks and use the bathroom, we head back out on the road. The original plan was to spend the night somewhere, but there is nothing around. We’ll take turns driving and make it back home by dawn. Adam looks like a huge weight has been lifted off of him, and my heart is bursting for him.
Chapter Fourteen
Lilith
I end up driving during the last hour of the trip. Adam passes out from sheer exhaustion and relief, and Becks looks exhausted too. I’m completely wired and excited. I can’t wait for all of this to be over, and I’m looking forward to seeing Adam reunited with his sister. That’s if he invites me. I guess I shouldn’t assume that he’ll want me there.
I pull into the outskirts of the city just as the sun is coming up, and my stomach starts to growl. As if on cue, Becks and Adams join me in a trio of hungry stomachs.
“I guess we should get something to eat,” Becks says as she wakes up and stretches.
I pull into a diner, and we all shuffle in. I have a feeling that once I get my stomach full, I’m going to sleep for a long time. I don’t have to worry about work today since Tom will be flying out. Letting my secretary panic isn’t a good idea, though, so I call and leave her a message since I know it’s way too early for her to answer.
My heart skips a beat as I try to imagine how all of this is going to play out. I don’t want to think about it right now, and worrying won’t solve anything. So, I push the thoughts back and look forward to a hot plate of greasy diner food.
“I’ll have biscuits and gravy,” I say to the waitress.
We don’t say much during breakfast. Adam hasn’t told me yet when the exchange will go down. He does say that now that he’s got the drive, he’s not comfortable going back to the church or my apartment.
“We need to stay somewhere else until the exchange happens. I don’t want Vladimir or anyone else stealing the drive before I get Sophie back.” He says and then takes a bite of his hash browns.
“We have overnight bags. I’ll get us a hotel room. We