I plopped it down onto the table. Tharpe was eyeing it like a wolf stalking a sheep. I stepped back to the wall and said to Katie, “You open it.” I thought I might trick her into a mistake. Maybe tie up her hands for a second. But I had no such luck.

She pointed the semiautomatic pistol at Tharpe and said, “Let him do it.” With her other hand, she gave him a piece of paper with the code written on it. Katie was in control and appeared ready to shoot if she had to. This wasn’t how I imagined a pretty occupational therapist would behave.

Tharpe moved forward, cutting his eyes toward me. When he focused on the box, he paused. Then he unlatched the front and lifted the lid like it was the Ark of the Covenant. We all looked on in silence.

There was a leather-bound notepad and a cloth sack. Tharpe picked up the notepad and thumbed through it quickly. Nothing but page after page of instructions and formulas.

He set the book on the table. Then he pulled the cloth sack from the box. It was fairly large, about the size of a kitchen garbage bag. When he pulled open the drawstring, all I could see as I peered over his shoulder was cash. Bundles of hundred-dollar bills. Lots of bundles. Bundles of dreams.

I had never seen that much money. I would probably never make that much money in my entire life. It annoyed me. How could people have that kind of cash? Suddenly I didn’t like the idea of Tharpe taking it. It seemed wrong, no matter what deal we had made earlier.

Katie read his intentions, too. She said, “This was everything Pete worked for. He gave his life for it. I can’t let it be stolen. Don’t make me shoot you.”

I noticed Tharpe out of the corner of my eye. He was trying to be subtle and get my attention. As Katie gazed into the box, he used two fingers to make a gun sign. Then I realized he thought I really had a gun in my jacket and he wanted me to shoot her. Even if I was armed, I wasn’t going to shoot Katie over this garbage in the box. It wasn’t worth it.

I stayed where I was and raised my hands slightly. Part of it was a show of surrender to Katie, but when I turned, my jacket pulled tight and Tharpe saw that I didn’t have a gun.

And that’s when he decided to make his move.

Chapter 31

Chapter 31

THARPE LURCHED FORWARD, fast. Faster than I thought a guy his size could. He slapped Katie’s hand to one side, then reached across to grab the gun. It slipped out of both of their hands, bounced off the table, and clattered onto the floor. That’s when things got really rough inside the tiny vault.