No Way Out by Fern Michaels (great books for teens .TXT) 📗

“Why not? You’ll be making lots of money, right?”

Rick was getting caught up in his own lie. He wasn’t going to be investing in any sort of start-up. He needed the money to find her, but he wasn’t about to tell Christian that. “Yeah. Yeah. OK. I’ll tell you what. I’ll go talk to the other investors and see if we can swing it.” In truth, Rick had no idea how he would ever repay any money he got. Nor did he intend to. What he was talking about was, all things considered, stealing money from Christian and Kara.

“Let me talk to Kara again. But like I said, it has to be a check. So if she agrees, I’ll send it to you by FedEx. Give me your info.”

There was dead silence on the line. “Yo, Rick? You still with me?”

“Yeah. The thing is, I’m traveling a lot, and I don’t know where I’m going to be over the next few weeks. That’s why I wanted the PayPal thing.”

“No can do, Rick. You think about it and call me back.”

Rick hesitated. “Let me check my schedule. I’ll figure out where I’ll be at the end of the week and call you back.”

“Sounds good. Later.” Christian ended the call.

Kara was standing near him. “No?”

“Not exactly. He’s desperate. He’s going to try to figure out something. The thing is, even if he got a check from me, how would he cash it?”

“If he’s in Vegas, that wouldn’t be a problem. I’m sure some of the casinos would be happy to see him again,” Kara offered.

“True. They’ll think he’s going to gamble with it.”

Kara gave Christian a funny look. “We sound like criminals.”

“No. If anyone is the criminal here, it’s Rick. I’m sure that he has no intention of repaying the loan, even if he had the means to do so. If you want to outsmart a criminal, you have to think like them.”

Christian made a good point.

“So what’s next?” Kara asked.

“My guess is that he’ll think of something similar to what you suggested. Depending on where he is, there are check-cashing places all over. I have no idea what the limits are, but Rick is pretty cunning.”

“That’s for sure,” Kara agreed.

* * *

Rick wasn’t happy with the way the conversation had gone. He couldn’t give Christian an address because he truly didn’t know where he was going to be from one day to the next. He had worn out his welcome with some of his prior gambling buddies, and he was no longer on good terms with several of the casinos. He also knew that the person he wanted to hire would not take credit or a check. It had to be cash. Up front. Otherwise, it was no deal.

He snapped his fingers, remembering something. There was one more person he could try to woo into handing him some cash. Sheena, the previous girlfriend, before her. He knew she lived in LA and had had some bit parts in movies. Maybe she could spare a few bucks for an old flame. The relationship hadn’t ended badly. They simply grew apart, so there were no hard feelings. At least not to his knowledge. It had been almost four years. He wondered how she would react. Would the start-up story work on her? Then it hit him. He would tell her that he knew she was working her way to stardom, and that if she had a little extra cash, it might be a good idea to invest in something. He’d give her the routine: “If you’d invested $1000 in Amazon, you’d have $23,000 now, and if you’d invested $1000 in Apple, you’d have $24,000.” He’d continue with, “The company will go public in three years. Your investment will be worth over a hundred grand. You know show business is a rocky road. This way you’ll have a cushion.” Oh yeah. That was a great story. Maybe Sheena was still the little lamebrain she was when they had dated.

He puffed up his chest and scrolled through his contacts list. He never deleted anyone’s number, just in case of situations like this one. He dialed her number. It went to voice mail. “Hi ya. You’ve reached Sheena.” Giggles. “Well, not really.” More giggles. “Hit me with your best shot. Bye for now.” Rick gave the phone a disgusted look. Some people never change, but that could easily work in his favor.

“Hey, Sheena. It’s your old pal, Ricky Barnes.” He cringed at referring to himself as Ricky, but that’s what she had called him. “I heard you’re doing well out in La La Land. Thought I’d give a check-in and see how things are with you. I’ll call back again. Ciao.” Rick didn’t want to leave a number, and his caller ID said OUT OF AREA. And he was. He had bought a burner phone with cash. That was the only kind of financial transaction he had made for the past two years. Cash. Ever since he had bolted. Some people thought he was backpacking in Guatemala; others thought he was doing a walkabout in Australia. Obviously, neither was true. But there was one thing he was certain of. Nobody really cared.

Even his own mother had thrown him under the bus after she wired him $10,000. She had forgiven him for bolting out of town without giving her any notice, but then months went by after she sent him the first $10,000. And he never contacted her, not until he needed more. She was livid at the audacity he showed to call and ask her to wire him cash again.

Initially, she was worried. Why had he left so abruptly? Why was he at an airport in Chicago? The second call was the last straw. She had babied him all his life. It had practically ruined her marriage after she insisted that her husband give him a job. When that went south, she pushed his father to find him another means of support. Richard Senior was done