We all froze, looking at each other. I knew exactly what the two men were thinking: If they stopped what Alan was doing and put a hold on the account, Alan would know they were onto him, and he would take off. But if they didn’t put a hold on the account, he might snatch the money out at any minute, and then it would be too late anyway.

“Put on a freeze, and he’ll know we know,” Keegan said softly.

“Don’t put on a freeze,” Sollie replied, “and he’ll strip those accounts bare.”

After a moment, we all spoke in unison. Everyone had a different idea, but my voice was the loudest, and finally they all shut up and looked at me.

“You can trace the phone call,” I said, but Sollie shook his head.

“Not if he’s on a modem through an internet provider. We had to do that once before, and it took too long.”

“No,” I insisted, shaking my head. “Right now, he’s on the internet, moving money from lots of accounts into one single account. He can move that money around all he wants as long as he’s online. But when he’s finally ready to wire the money out of that bank and into some other private account, he’s got to get off of the internet and call in on the telephone. If the bank can intercept that call, and you can get a trace on it, then you’ll know where he is.”

“Risky,” said Keegan.

“Riskier than a ribeye in a pen full of Dobermans,” Harriet added, “especially if the police can’t move fast enough. Then he gets the money and he gets out of town.”

Sollie and Keegan looked at each other and then at me.

“It’s worth a try,” Sollie said finally. “Hate to gamble with the money, but I don’t want to risk losing our man.”

The decision made, they all sprang into action, making phone calls, barking commands into the radio. Meanwhile, Yolanda, Gwen, Harriet, and I continued to tensely watch the computer screen. The balance in that one account had reached nearly 1.5 million dollars.

Finally, the number stopped changing. It just sat there while we watched it quietly. One million, five hundred twenty-three thousand dollars. A nice chunk of change for a morning’s work.

“We think activity has ceased,” Sollie said into the phone softly, still connected with the bank. “Are we set? Are we ready?”

Keegan was on his radio, saying essentially the same thing. We all held our breath as we watched the number on the screen. Then, suddenly, after nearly a full two minutes of waiting, it disappeared. In an instant, the amount $1,523,000 flicked away.

All that was left was one dollar.

Everyone exploded into noise. Sollie was shouting to all of us to calm down as he listened to the phone.

“Shut up!” he yelled. “Shut up, I can’t hear!”