“Please. I’ll do whatever you ask. Just don’t hurt my sister.”
“I’m glad to see we have an understanding.”
Another man came outside. In his hands was a laptop, which he sat on the table in front of Avery. Then, with a tip of his head, Emilio dismissed him, and the man vanished back inside the house.
“You have complete internet capabilities here. However, I should warn you. I have another computer set up inside that is connected to this one. I can see everything you do as you do it. If you try to message someone or tell anyone where you are, I will know, and you will die. And then, I will find that sister of yours, and I assure you, her death will not be quick and painless.”
Oh, God.
Avery swallowed down the bile rushing to the base of her throat. “H-how do you expect me to get the money from these companies? I sold them accounting software. It’s not like I have access to their actual accounts.”
“But you can gain it, no? How is they say…you can do it…remotely?”
“Well, yes, if I can call them and speak to the head of their accounting departments, I might be able to get permission to gain remote access. But I’d have to have a really good reason to do something like that.”
“Tell them you found a glitch. Or a virus. Something that could be detrimental to their accounts if it’s not fixed immediately. You’re a smart woman, Avery. I’m sure you will figure it out.”
The man started to walk away, and Avery’s mind spun. “Wait!” she hollered after him. “I-if I do get permission to take over their system temporarily, they’ll be able to see everything I’m doing, too.”
“You can freeze their screens before you begin, isn’t that correct?”
Damn. He knew more about this stuff than Avery thought. “Yes.” She had no choice but acknowledge the truth. “But—”
“Excellent. I expect the money to be in those accounts within the hour.
Avery glanced at her watch and shook her head. “That’s not possible. It’s past business hours. It’s going to take time to contact these people. And I’ll need a phone, in case they want me to call to explain why I’m needing access. If I can talk to them directly, it’ll save us both a lot of time, rather than sending an email and waiting for a response.”
“Fine. You can use Felix’s phone.”
“Why mine?” The big man spoke up for the first time. “Then these people will have my number.”
“Trust me.” Avery turned to him. “These people are accounting nerds whose sole livelihood depends on their accounts being active and in order. If I tell them there’s a potential for a breach, the last thing they’ll be worried about is the number that pops up on their caller I.D.”
“You have until morning, Miss Webb. In the meantime, Felix will be with you if you need anything.”
Yeah, because that’s helpful.
Avery watched as Emilio Garcia walked away, giving her mere hours to finish a job she wasn’t even sure she could do.
With her stomach churning and her body trembling, she did the only thing she could do and looked at the list. The faster she got this done, the faster this would be over.
You just saw him kill a man. He’s not going to let you walk away after that.
Her inner voice had a damn good point. She needed to stall until she could figure out a way to let someone know where she was.
It was her only chance at surviving this nightmare.
Looking back down at the list, Avery skimmed the companies Emilio had provided. One was a trust company who’d been her client for the last few years. Another was an automotive retailer she’d only recently picked up but was a very lucrative business. There was a grocery chain that she’d worked with for the past several months, and then there was the last name on the list.
Travel Assurance.
Holy shit! That’s it!
Travel Assurance was the company Garrett worked for! They were also one of her newer clients. But they were huge and brought in a shit ton of money. It was one of the reasons the company’s head of accounting had wanted to switch to her system. Hers was the most secure, up-to-date system on the market.
And God must be smiling down on her because she now had an excusable reason to call them.
But as much as it killed her, she had to wait. They were the last name on the list, and Avery didn’t want to draw attention to them or herself by skipping the others and going straight to them.