The StingRay itself hadn’t been easy to acquire, but the family she worked for had impressive resources. Even more difficult had been working her way into the FBI field office to keep tabs on the agent in charge of the investigation; but that was a part of a much longer project, one that Patricia and the Family had been engaged in for some time. The FBI had entirely taken over the Gardner theft investigation within days of the robbery back in 1990, so the Family had been forced to extend its tendrils in that direction from very early on. Of course, had Bobby Donati followed the Family’s orders, and only taken what he’d been paid to take, there would never have been much of an investigation, and the FBI would never have been called in. The Family would have acquired what they had been seeking—what Paul Revere had crafted and hidden centuries ago—and so much could have been avoided, so many unnecessary deaths over the years. Bodies in trunks of cars, supposed heart attacks and strokes, corpses in hotel rooms and warehouses. There were more bodies tied to the Gardner heist than Zack Lindwell would ever know.

The FBI agent couldn’t be blamed for his ignorance, Patricia thought; he seemed fairly competent, actually. The fact that he had followed the trail to the girls’ apartment was a sign of outside-the-box thinking, which would undoubtedly serve better than investigating by the books. Nick Patterson was a professional thief and was the premier link to what Patricia was seeking; but Nick Patterson was a simple cog. On his own, he would not be a threat. Left to his own devices, he would eventually slip up.

The girl was different. She was brilliant, unpredictable, a wild card. Given enough time, enough information, she might figure out what was actually going on around her—and that made her dangerous.

But with their remote wiretapping, Zack Lindwell and the techs at the FBI had made things much easier for Patricia. They were leading her right to Hailey Gordon.

The agent’s footsteps continued reverberating through the speaker attached to the dash, as Patricia hit the ignition button, the car’s engine rumbling to life. She had no more time to waste.

There were aspects of Hailey Gordon’s background that reminded Patricia of herself. Molded by a difficult childhood, a broken toy who had fixed herself. The girl was gifted, and she knew how to disappear. Even more unnerving, given the current situation: Hailey Gordon was the type of genius who loved nothing more than to solve a puzzle just by its shapes and pattern.

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

When things go sideways—you go forward…