Three rocks. Briefly, Ice saw all those zeros and held his breath. Three million dollars. The figure even chased away the question of how Cyrus was stupid enough to leave his tablet where the girl could get it. Ice waited a beat, never wanting to appear overeager. But that was enough money to buy himself some leisure. The older he got, the more he thought about fading into the sunset on some tropical island somewhere. Now was his chance, if he could find the tablet and the girl.

“You have any information about where the girl was taken?”

“She’s on the West Coast somewhere, I think. I’m priming the pump. I’ll find out soon enough. I’ve got Digger out beating the bushes. I’ll text you any information I get.”

“All right, I’m in. I’ll contact you on a different phone when it’s done.”

“Good. I’ll send you a down payment. Terminate the brat. I want pictures.”

A few minutes later Ice watched the balance in his bank account swell. Then he went to work, hacking, digging, determined to find out all the particulars of the Feds’ case against Cyrus and the girl who’d just earned him so much money.

When he stopped to eat and finish the rest of a cold pizza, Ice turned on the news. There was still a trickle about him and the murder in an abandoned house. The cops in San Jose were asking for help and had set up a tip line, but he could tell interest was already fading. The first forty-eight were rapidly ticking away. They’d never find him.

He picked up his tablet again and searched every site he could for more information on the bust in Mesa. For the first time in a long while Ice felt fear. Not fear for himself—he could disappear and never be found; no one really knew him—but fear for his best client. Cyrus was really more than a client; he was a surrogate father as far as Ice was concerned. The Feds were hot on his trail, that was for sure, and if this news report was accurate, they’d built quite a strong case against him.

He almost picked up the phone to warn Cyrus, but stopped. Cyrus must know the danger he was in. That was why he wanted Chevy and everyone around her dealt with. He had contingency plans. He might have already flown out of the country. The girl was a small part of the whole case. Taking her out might not help the larger fight.