reminder, please don’t kill anybody if you get caught. These are technically my clients.”
“Knock ‘em out if we have to, got it,” Mace replied.
I pulled up interior video. “You shouldn’t run into anybody, the hallway’s clear. Go sixty feet to the right, there’s an unmarked gray door. 7286 will get you in, the drones are stored in there.”
I kept my eyes on the screen, skimming all the feeds for any sudden movement. Luckily, the security team was following routine and chitchatting in the control room.
For the next few minutes, I sat back and kept an eye on things. The drones were light and under four feet wide, but we didn’t want to tip off FTX to the robbery right away, so the guys had to carefully pluck and rearrange. One by one, they set four drones by the door. The override code switched over just as they grabbed a fifth.
As if on cue, trouble showed up.
“Shit,” I muttered, spotting a black SUV at the gate. I’d only planned for the security already inside the gates, not coming in from the outside. Not once in the past four weeks had anyone showed up after midnight.
“What?” Torch asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, as calmly as possible to avoid making him panic. “The inside code is now 1134, the outside door is 4509, the gate’s 9965. Memorize it… 1134, 4509, 9965. You guys need to hurry, we have company out here.”
“Babe, distract and move,” he ordered.
I switched a single exterior camera that was pointing at me back to a live shot, but hid the feed to the control room so the men inside wouldn’t see it quite yet. There had to be footage of what happened next, or they’d find out they were watching loops. “They’re coming in from the road, not the building, they’ll spot the van in twenty seconds from that direction. Just move. I got it.”
“Liv, don’t—”
“Torch, shut the fuck up and trust me,” I barked. “Get those drones out to the van.”
I grabbed a flashbang grenade and Molotov cocktail I’d set on the passenger side floor earlier and stepped outside my door. As soon as the SUV’s headlights came into view, I lit the cloth on the Molotov to get it going and threw the flashbang as far to the opposite direction of the guys as I could. As soon as it went off, I tossed the burning bottle in the same direction.
The SUV instantly sped by me, following the fire. “What’s happening over there?” I asked.
“We’ve got two loaded,” Torch replied. “Get out.”
“No, they’ll see you guys. The video’s still looping, we don’t have to worry about the inside team. I have an idea, just keep moving.”
“Liv, get the fuck out!” he yelled.
Ignoring him, I turned on my ignition and headlights and drove out from my hiding spot. I headed straight for the SUV, hoping the driver saw me.
He did.
As the vehicle made a quick u-turn, I hit the gas and turned on my brights to blind the driver.
“Liv, go! We’re loaded up,” Torch confirmed.
“Don’t move yet, hang on,” I muttered, concentrating all of my attention on the game of chicken I was about to play.
“Fuck! What are you doing?”
“Just wait,” I hissed.
I floored the accelerator and braced myself for a possible impact.
“Liv!”
With less than a few feet to spare, the SUV swerved out of my way, sending it rolling away in the dirt. I spun the steering wheel with my palm, factoring enough of a turn radius to avoid flipping over too, and went around it. Then I did it again.
“Biff, step on it!” I ordered. “I’m right behind you.”
“Jesus Christ!” I heard Torch roar. “What are you doing? Biff, go back.”
“No, don’t fuck this up,” I urged. “Let me know when you’re close to the gate.”
Bullets started ricocheting off my truck, but I kept driving in circles around the SUV, kicking up as much dry, sandy dirt as I could. After six or seven laps, the shooting stopped and it was almost impossible to see anything in the brown cloud I’d created. Thank fuck it hadn’t rained in days.
“We’re fifty feet out,” Biff said.
I switched my lights off, made one last half-circle so I could head in the right direction, and floored it again.
“Heading your way,” I told him. “Slow down when you hit the entrance so the gate doesn’t close on me.”
Moments later, I spotted the back of the van and laid off the gas to avoid slamming into it. “On your ass, Biff.