The Guardian by Bill Eidson Read Free Book Online

bought years ago, and I have two million that I can turn over for this investment.”
    “For everything?” Ross said.
    “Yes,” Geiler said. “I’ve never been interested in just a few parcels. I realize it’s a rather hefty cut. In the normal course of business I would’ve tried to get the lowest price, of course. But I hope you don’t think I’m taking advantage of your terrible situation. It’s simply all I can put my hands on now.”
    Greg felt his eyes well up slightly as hope landed a staggering blow. He believed Geiler was taking advantage of the situation, big time. It was less than half of what the property was worth—but four times what Datano would’ve given them. Bottom line, it was more than they needed for Janine’s ransom.
    Greg looked at Ross, begging him with his eyes to agree. He said, “All right?”
    Maybe it wasn’t fair that Ross was getting screwed out of a couple million dollars himself, but Greg saw no choice.
    “Sure,” Ross said to Geiler. “We accept.”
     
     

 
    Chapter 8
     
     
    Time had stopped.
    Ross watched the clock. Two more hours to go. He imagined things he wished he couldn’t.
    He drank cup after cup of coffee and kept an eye on the big suitcase. That was a lot of weight. A million five hundred thousand dollars in hundreds. Geiler had arranged for two private security guards to deliver it to their home. Ross and Greg had agreed with Geiler that the remaining five hundred thousand balance should remain with him until after the closing.
    “Your hand’s shaking.” Allie joined him at the kitchen table. “Mine, too. Adrenaline and caffeine.”
    He nodded.
    “I owe you an apology.”
    “Maybe.” He knew she meant for apologizing to Geiler for him.
    “You pushed things along.”
    Ross lifted his shoulders. Geiler had struck him as just the kind of man Allie had in mind for herself, and Ross knew that had been a factor in his snapping at him. So he felt uncomfortable with her apology. “Greg had to trust somebody to get the money in one day.”
    “One hurdle passed, anyhow. The whole thing could be over in hours, don’t you think?”
    He could see the tension in her face. “You know as well as I do what a crapshoot this is. If Greg and the kidnapper both keep their cool, and if we all get lucky, that’s the way it’ll turn out.”
    “You’re a big believer in luck, aren’t you? Good and bad.”
    “I admit to my mistakes along the way.”
    “That’s true,” Allie said, putting her hand on the back of his neck. It was a touch of casual intimacy that brought back the first time they’d met, months ago. “That was one of the things I first liked about you.”
     
    Greg had thrown a party soon after Ross’s parole began. It had been just a barbecue, and while some of the guests had known Ross from before, many of them didn’t know about his prison record. Ross had pointed out to Greg that by the end of the party most of them would. “Having an ex-con work the gas grill is just a little too interesting a tidbit to pass over when people are talking around the pool. I don’t have to be here, you know.”
    “Screw them,” Greg said. “You’re my brother, it’s my house, and it’s none of their business.”
    Once it started, Ross forced himself through it, even though he hated small talk and was lousy at faking it. He chatted with a couple of guys he had remembered as Greg’s friends in high school and talked with Greg’s neighbors and clients. For the most part, these were successful people like Greg, owners of small businesses, doctors, a dentist, a couple of software developers. Ross could see the nervousness in the eyes of some of them and the curiosity in others. He didn’t like it, but he could understand it. Just what do you say to an ex-con?
    Two of Ross’s buddies had made it. Bill Cobb and Jimmy Miller. Cobb was the driver who’d hired Ross for his pit crew when Ross was a kid. He was looking gray and a good deal heavier than he had