“First thing,” Sam said, “we call your mother and get a handle on what it is we’re dealing with. Be reluctant. If you’re too eager to give details, you might spook the guy.” After Sam went over a few pointers and details, Chad turned on the speaker of his cell phone and redialed the number. “What is it you want from me?” he asked the man who answered.
“The Gray Ghost.”
“What makes you think I have it?”
“A reliable source,” the man said. “And your dear, sweet mum informs us that you’ve been working on it at your shop.”
“Clearly you’ve been here.”
“Yes. And clearly it’s not there. Where is it?”
Chad looked at Sam, who nodded, encouraging him to stick with their script. “Somewhere safe. I want assurances that my mother’s not hurt.”
“I’ll let you talk to her yourself.”
There was a muffled noise, then his mother’s voice saying, “Chad? Is that you?”
“It’s me, Mum. Are you okay?”
“What a silly question. Of course I’m okay. I’m having such a lovely time with two of your mates. I was showing them your website and telling them all about the car you’re working on. That gray one. You’re coming by with it, aren’t you?”
Sam and Remi glanced at each other, Remi reaching for the pen.
“Mum—”
“As you can see, she’s fine. Waiting for you. And the Gray Ghost.”
“Yes,” they heard his mother saying in the background. “One of those ghost names.”
Remi wrote time and stall, pointed at the paper.
Chad nodded, saying, “It’s going to take a few hours. I don’t have it here with me.”
“So you’ve finally come to your senses,” the man on the other end said. “You have three hours to deliver the car to us. Or else.”
“I need more—”
The line went dead.
“So much for storming the castle,” Remi said.
“Remi’s right,” Sam replied.
“Why?” Chad asked. “You said this would work.”
Oliver eyed the both of them, looking aghast. “I know I was against this, but you can’t mean to just leave her there.”
“We’re not,” Sam said. “But that plan’s out. You heard your mother. She said two of your friends. As in more than one. That changes the odds significantly.”
“But you both have guns,” Oliver said. “You can’t leave her there.”
“That’s the last thing we intend to do,” Sam said. “It’s just that after hearing their conversation, the plan we came up with won’t work.”
“No,” Remi said. “But I have the perfect Plan B.”
31
That’s insane,” Oliver said when Remi finished outlining her plan to the three of them. “You’re asking us to make something out of nothing. It’ll never work.”