Read Online The House That Death Built by Michaelbrent Collings - Free Book Online

score's even worth it. For all we know, he could have twelve dollars'
worth of bonds."
    Rob laughed. Hard and loud. Donna
actually poked her head out of the back room, like she was worried he might
have a heart attack or something. Then she was gone as fast as she appeared.
    It took him nearly a minute for
his laughter to die down enough to allow him to speak. "Are you kidding
me?" he said. "This guy was wearing a twenty-thousand-dollar watch, a
fifty-thousand-dollar suit, and he lives in a house with more bathroom space
than the Empire State Building." Rob looked back at the architectural
plans. Huge rooms, luxury appointments. "No, it's millions. Eight figures
at least. But we have to get it before he cashes it, which he said is happening
tomorrow." He pointed to a spot on the plans. "We go in here. And we
do it tonight."
    He looked at Aaron. "The
safe?"
    Aaron looked supremely
uncomfortable. "Like I said, the safe company I hacked showed installation
in the master bedroom."
    "Just sitting out in the
middle of the room?" said Tommy. Aaron was being difficult, and the big
man knew it.
    Aaron's eyes dropped back to the
beer before him. "The closet."
    Tommy laughed.
    Rob understood instantly what
Tommy was laughing about. "These rich bastards always do the same thing,"
he agreed. "Might as well stuff their money in a cookie jar." To
Aaron, he added, "Do the records say if the safe company wiped the
presets?" Custom safes always came with a company-installed preset
combination. And it was Rob's experience that a surprising number of people who
installed the safes never had the preset wiped. Made it easy to crack the safe.
    "Yeah," said Aaron.
"The safe company wiped it, the owners put in their own combo." He
brightened a bit. "And it's a tough one, so maybe we shouldn't even
–"
    Rob's face darkened in exact
proportion to the excitement on the kid's face. He cut him off with a slashing
motion. "No." Then he forced a smile to his face. "No, you can
crack it. I have faith in you."
    He tried to make "I have
faith in you" sound more like "I will murder you if you botch this
job." And the total despair he saw in Aaron's eyes made the job worth it,
money or none.
    Only that's a lie, Rob. You don't
need to see him beg, you don't need to see him cry.
    You need this job .
    Tommy and Kayla seemed to sense
this was the last word – not just for Aaron, but for everyone. They both rose
as one and headed for the door.
    "Back in twenty." Kayla
tossed the words over her shoulder, almost as an afterthought. Then she and
Tommy rattled their way through the cruddy front door.
    Aaron opened his mouth to speak
at the same moment Rob did – both of them hoping to get the first word in.
    Both were interrupted by the
sound of Donna opening the bedroom door again. She must have heard the front
door shutting, assumed the "meeting" was over.
    Rob's blood boiled in his veins.
"Get back in your room!" he screamed. Turned back to Aaron.
    But Aaron was ready. He got in
the first word after all. "I think I'm gonna sit this one out, Rob."
    Rob held himself in check. Kept
himself from –
    ( killing him )
    – railing or ranting, even though
after repeated viewings of Donna's klutzy stupidity he was ready to scream.
    But he didn't. He just stood
there. Watching Aaron fiddle with his beer. And as he did, he calmed. Aaron was going to do it. Not just because Rob was going to make it happen. The kid was
too weak to just get up and walk out, and that meant he'd never have the
strength to not do what Rob wanted.
    "You said it yourself,"
he finally said. "They wiped the presets. So we need a safecracker or
there's no job."
    "Still –"
    And just that quickly, Rob got
sick and tired of this game. "How's that wife of yours?" he asked.
    Another silence. This one filled
with a different kind of menace.
    "We're… we're grateful,
Rob," Aaron finally managed. " I'm grateful. But I don't want
to do this anymore. I can't."
    "One last job. For old
time's sake." Rob leaned