The Cocky Thief

Chapter 16

Jennifer gave one last look at the guys waiting for her and decided she'd rather take her chances with Austin. Wait... "What's your name?" she asked.

"Do we have to do this now?"

"I'm not going anywhere until I know who you really are."

"Says the jewel thief," he pointed out.

"The jewel thief named Jennifer," she bit back. "Now tell me your name."

"Austin. I didn't lie to you about that. Austin Miles."

Jennifer let out a sigh and she started back toward the baggage claim.

Austin stayed close. "Are you surprised I'm not dead?"

She thought back to the countless times last night she'd wondered that. "No," she finally answered honestly. "You strike me as a survivor." One of the things she'd liked about him. Every single time she'd thought about all the horrors he'd endure if he'd been captured, some part of her had known that he would've gotten out of it somehow.

"So that's why you decided to abandon me in the middle of a field with no necklace?"

"You had a gun," she pointed out.

"And you had my necklace."

She stopped again and looked up at him. "No. We did all the work. Do you know how hard that would be to steal if it was still in Sterling's possession? A heat, weight, and moisture monitored vault on one of his most heavily guarded properties. It would be impossible to get in. Isobel got that necklace where we could touch it and now you want to swoop in and walk off with it and have the nerve to claim I took your score?"

He set a hand at the small of her back and kept on leading her out. "Since we're being honest with each other, I have to admit something. I don't give a damn about the necklace."

Jennifer almost stumbled at the admission. "If you don't care about the Dragon Heart, why are you here?"

"I'm here because I was hired to get the necklace by a crazy ex-cop and we're invested in making sure Sterling and Stranger don't get it back. Which, in this case, means they don't get you, assuming you're the one who has the Dragon Heart. What are the chances you're going to tell me which one of you actually has it? I don't feel like playing the shell game with the Murray family."

"If you get me to my mom and sister, I'll tell you everything you want to know about the necklace. Do you have anyone going to get them or are you working alone?"

"I sent the crazy ex-cop to the train station to pick up Isobel."

"No one for Melody?"

"There's only two of us. I had to choose the most likely target for Stranger and I have a feeling he's not too happy with his fiancée at the moment. And I had a personal interest in you..."

She stiffened and tried not to think exactly what he meant by that. This whole day had gotten so fucked. "What did Ajax tell you?"

"The man just lost a finger. He told us everything."

"A little torture doesn't mean he needed to yammer on about our details. I thought discretion was included in the price."

"Don't be pissed at him. He was doing you a favor. After his personal loss, he figured anyone finding you girls before those guys would be a good thing."

On that note, Jennifer looked at her phone once more. No calls. She wanted to call, but with the boarding time approaching, Stranger's guys might start wandering around the airport, looking for her. Austin had pointed out three, but there were probably more than that. She'd have to wait until they were leaving the airport before she could take the time to let her guard down long enough to make a call.