of pink balls.
Shanice took a seat on the bed. “What now?” she asked.
Cruz checked his watch. “We wait.”
They didn’t have to wait long. A knock sounded on the door less than ten minutes later. Although he’d assured her they were safe and hadn’t been followed, Cruz lifted his forefinger to his lips and signaled for her to go into the bathroom.
Heart thudding, Shanice scurried inside, turned the lock, and pressed her ear against the door. She’d be so glad when she could go back to her old comfortable life and didn’t have to keep watching over her shoulder or worry every time someone came to the door.
When she heard male laughter, she knew it was safe. Raheem had arrived.
Cruz knocked on the door. “You can come out.”
She exited and got her first look at Raheem, a man Cruz had spoken very little about, but each time he mentioned his name, his voice filled with admiration and affection. They were obviously very close.
Raheem was almost as tall as Cruz, with a muscular build and kind brown eyes. He had a fresh fade and a sexy grin as he extended his hand to her. She imagined he was quite a heartbreaker.
“Raheem. Nice to meet you,” he said.
“Nice to meet you, too.”
He looked at Cruz. “All right. Let’s get down to business.”
Raheem placed a silver, hard-shell suitcase on top of the desk and entered a combination. The locks flew open and revealed a laptop nestled in a black foam cushion. There were other gadgets in there, too, but he lifted out the computer and took a seat.
Cruz went to stand behind him, arms folded, brows furrowed in concentration. Shanice took a seat on the bed, where she had a good view of Raheem’s screen.
“I searched for storage facilities with your friend’s name,” Raheem began, “but there weren’t any rented in the city under Dennis Ray. I expanded my search to fifty miles outside the area, but the few I found didn’t match based on the information Cruz gave me about him. I did a little more digging and found the name of his daughter and tried again. Turns out, Emily Ray is renting a unit in the Houston area, but I don’t have the unit number. Give me a little time, and I can access their computer records and get everything we need.”
“I would have never thought to check under his daughter’s name,” Shanice said, impressed.
“That’s why they pay us the big bucks,” Raheem said with a grin. He tapped a few keys and a window popped open on the computer. “Your friend definitely didn’t want a lot of people to know he had this unit, because it’s not conveniently located. The facility is thirty-two miles from here, on a low-traffic road.”
“That’s all wonderful, but when you find out the unit number, we won’t have a key. How would we get in to see what’s in the storage facility?” Shanice asked.
Cruz answered. “Let us worry about that. How much time do you need to hack their system?”
Raheem shrugged. “Less than twenty-four hours.”
“We don’t have that much time. I want to head over there tonight.”
“I can get inside their system in minutes if I’m sitting in front of the computer.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Cruz addressed Shanice next. “Now I need you to do something. I want you to give Raheem the information, and he’ll figure out what exactly these names mean. While the two of you do that, I’ll order lunch.”
“What kind of disk do you have?” Raheem asked.
“I don’t have a disk. All the information is in my head.”
He glanced at Cruz. “That’s interesting.”
“Before that, the names were written in a notebook,” Cruz said.
Raheem nodded slowly. “Makes sense. No one can hack a notebook.” He opened a new screen. “I’m ready when you are.”
While Cruz ordered lunch, Shanice closed her eyes and began her recitation. There were twenty-two names in all. She also gave Raheem the dollar amounts listed next to each one. By the time she finished, Cruz was back in position behind Raheem.
Raheem hit Submit and the computer started the analysis. “This software will figure out the common denominator between all the names. Then it’s going to spit out the information in a summary report to us, and we’ll better understand who these people are."
The wait didn’t take long at all. It couldn’t have been more than a few minutes when a series of beeps alerted them of the results.
Raheem stared at the report and whistled.
“What?” Shanice leaned toward