“Yes, ma’am.” My heart’s beating out of my chest. My brain is in overload. I keep thinking “Holy shitballs” on an endless loop.
“For each and every criminal count, I’m gonna need a piece of supporting evidence—something to show them we’re not making this stuff up,” Sarah says, looking at me. She’s in full ass-kicking mode now. “I’ll tell you exactly what kind of thing I’m looking for, and then you’ll go digging through whatever Henn’s been able to find so far to get it for me. You’ll be my research assistant.”
“I can do that,” I say, my stomach churning. But what I’m thinking is, “Holy shitballs.”
“That’s good,” Jonas says. “And Josh and I will powwow and figure out our best strategy for the hand-off. I agree—we’re going to have to turn this over tosomeone—but to whom? That’s the question. If we put it in the wrong hands, we might just buy ourselves an even bigger enemy than The Club.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, the hairs on my arms standing up.
“It sounds like there are plenty of powerful people on that client list who wouldn’t want this scandal to see the light of day,” Jonas says.
Josh puts his arm around my shoulders and I lean into him, shaking. This whole thing is making my head spin and my stomach churn. “Holy shitballs,” I say under my breath.
“It’s all gonna come down to the money,” Jonas says. “Money talks.”
“I agree,” Josh says, pulling me into him.
“Henn, that’s top priority, okay?” Jonas says. “Track the money. Get access to it.”
“Roger,” Henn says. “Shouldn’t take me more than a couple days.”
“We can do this,” Sarah says. “Look at the talent in this room. We don’t need no stinkin’ George Clooney and Brad Pitt and Matt Damon.”
“Yeah, but I sure wish we had that Chinese acrobat guy,” Henn says. “He was cool.”
Finally, someone in this room who speaks my freaking language.
“The one they stuffed into the little box?” I ask. “I loved him.”
Henn beams a smile at me that instantly calms my raging nerves. “Yeah, he was rad.”
“Yen. Wasn’t that his name?”
“Ohyeah.Good memory, Kat.” He taps his temple. “Brainsandbeauty.”
I return his beaming smile. Thank God for Henny.
“Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt your profound musings, but I’m kind of getting tunnel vision here,” Sarah says. “There’s a lot to do and I wanna get started right away.”
“Sure thing,” I say (even though I’m thinking “holy shitballs”). “Whatever you need, boss.”
“Hey, Sarah,” Henn says. “One more thing. What do you wanna do about Dr. Evil’s text to you?”
Sarah’s face turns bright red.
“I’m monitoring his phone, remember?” Henn says, motioning to his laptop. “‘I’m not a patient man.’ What wasthatall about?”
Twenty-Seven
Kat
Sarah sputters and stammers for a moment, clearly incapable of responding to Henn’s question, so Jonas grabs her hand and speaks for her, telling the group about how Max demanded a “freebie” from Sarah yesterday at The Club’s offices and then followed up with a creepy-skeevy text demanding she come through.
“What should I do?” Sarah asks the group, obviously wracked with anxiety. “Ignore him? Answer him? Hide?”
“Ignore him and hide,” Jonas says firmly. “I don’t want you saying a fucking thing to that motherfucker.”
“I agree,” Josh says, clenching his jaw. “Ignore him and hide.”
