A Drone over New York
Chapter 26

After the mac ’n’ cheese, Max returned to the TV, the IKEA sofa, and his old movie. It wasn’t long, though, before it came to an end. After that he found a Law & Order marathon. Max really wanted it to be a cold, wet winter day. Rachael could be cuddled up beside him while they both ate nachos. Instead he was cooped up inside on a summer day, away from the window in a warm apartment. Of all the situations he thought he would have found himself in, this was not one of them.

It was the middle of the afternoon, in the middle of yet another episode of Law & Order, when the delightful ping of an email arrival made Max smile.

He had a feeling it was going to be good news.

Dear Themanwhoknewtoomuch,

I have now contacted a number of bidders and am able to present you with the highest bid we believe to be available in the market. The company celebritynews.com wishes to offer you a total of $7.5m USD. The money will be placed in an escrow account managed by our CEO. Once we confirm that our client has received all the material, we will release the funds to you. It will be in the form of bitcoins and transferred to an account of your choosing.

Their conditions are for full exclusivity of all footage and related materials, including any results from any tests you have run, including identity tests. As a show of faith, they request a grace period of 24 hours after receiving the material to demonstrate the exclusivity before releasing the funds.

This constitutes their last and final offer. It is valid until EST 15:00 hours, Thursday 25th July this year, approximately 24 hours from the time of this email.

On a personal note, we at Marsden ClarkenWells believe this offer constitutes the best available in the market today. We highly suggest you take it.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Rachael

p.s. As previously mentioned, our commission will be the responsibility of the bidder, with no cost to you.

Max almost fell off his chair when he read the $7.5m. It was better than perfect. Even with Rachael’s cut, it would leave him with more money he originally thought possible. Max stood up and gave the air a solid fist pump. It was better than he had hoped. He danced around the room celebrating the news that would be his salvation. Rachael had done her job better than he had expected, better than he had dreamed of.

She was awesome!

Together they were going to a beach in Thailand. They would call it Max’s. Or better yet, Max & Rachael’s. Or even Tyell’s Downfall. The possible names were endless.

It was a few minutes of dancing around and celebrating before Max could sit back down and think about a response. There were some small logistical matters to sort out. He had to collect all the money, make it out of the country, and throw any followers off his trail.

It was not going to be an easy task. First, though, his reply:

Thank you, Rachael, for the email.

I can confirm that the bid of $7.5m is the bid I would like to accept. Please send through both the server and the escrow account details. I will then contact the escrow holder with my account details. Once they are confirmed, I will upload the requested files onto the cloud server.

It’s been good doing business with you. I look forward to hearing from you the next time I have material to sell.

I hope you have a pleasant day.

Themanwhoknewtoomuch

After he clicked the Send button, Max sat back and smiled. He could almost smell the money. After fees Rachael’s cut was going to be just over a cool $1.4 million, and that still left him almost $6 million.

Six million United States dollars.

He said the number over and over again.

He needed a beer.

He stood up and raided the fridge again. Thom’s healthy influence left little in the way of celebratory food or drink. But there was one thing he’d missed his first time in the fridge. Hidden in the back and the bottom, he found a single can of Miller Light. Who on earth brought her that? Normally he would never touch it, but it was the only thing available, and he needed to celebrate.

The cool, refreshing amber liquid tasted like victory. It lacked the taste he was used to, but it was amazing all the same. The small can was gone before he knew it.

A few minutes later the delightful ping of his email resonated throughout the apartment. It was Rachael sending all the details. The first order of duty was to sort out the transfer of money. He contacted an old financial security company that he had worked with previously. Max spent the next hour sending through the documents, dotting all the I’s and crossing the T’s. Soon the payment was ready to go.

Now it was time to upload the footage. He had only grabbed a small sample on the phone, which was never going to be enough.

He was going to need the original drive.

His plan was to head to the storage facility that night. Under the cover of darkness, he could get the material and return here. He could use an IP blocker and upload the files. It was almost too clean.

Tomorrow night, after the money had been transferred, they could make their run for it. Also, as soon as the file had been uploaded and the transfer countdown initiated, he could risk going to his apartment and grabbing his passport. If he went with Thom and met the super there, he might be able to just get in and out. It was almost too simple.

Max sat back and smiled. There was now nothing else left to do until nightfall. He could use another drink.

Rachael had to have something else hidden away.

He raided the cupboards one by one, but there was nothing.

In defeat he walked back out to the living room and resumed his seat on the IKEA sofa. He raised the remote in his hand and then he saw it. Like a little gem, waiting to be discovered, there was a bottle of whiskey sitting on the bookshelf on the far wall.

Two minutes later Max was sitting on the sofa, glass in hand, sipping down his whiskey on the rocks. Now he could just sit back and wait. He held out the remote and returned to Law & Order. One episode later it switched over to Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.

The afternoon wore on, and the bottle slowly started to get lower and lower. Max knew he needed to slow down. He wasn’t out of the woods yet.

The bright orange evening light from the western sky burst around the edges of the blinds, signaling that day was finally turning into night. The setting sun must have looked spectacular.

Max knew Rachael would be arriving home soon. Together they could go to Harlem and get the drive. She could hail a cab and make it so much easier.

It was around nine when Max heard the key turning in the front door. He didn’t say anything as the door opened and closed. Then came the sound of shoes coming off and being placed carefully by the door. The soft feet walked down the hall and then a sweet, soft voice called out, “Max, you here?”

“Hey!” he replied. He tried to stand and realized the drink had taken more of an effect than he had realized.

The beautiful redhead rounded the corner, dropped her bag, ran over, and jump-hugged him in celebration. She gave him a big kiss. She stunk of tequila and wine. She had been out celebrating too.

“How you doing, millionaire?” she asked, smiling.

“Awesome. How you doing, millionaire?”

They didn’t exchange another comprehensible word for the next ten minutes. It wasn’t until they were both on the bed, recovering, that the topic reverted back to the important business at hand.

“I still can’t believe we did it!” she said as she cuddled into him.

“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” Max said. “We’ve still got to pick up the files, upload them, and get out of here.”

“One of the three is sorted,” she replied. “I got two tickets to Thailand via Dubai. Leaving tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” replied Max.

“Yep, at 12:10,” she replied.

“Why via Dubai?”

“Fastest way out of the US.”

“You use my name?” he asked.

“Had to. We’re not criminal masterminds with fake passports. It’s a risk that we have to take. We need to fly as ourselves. We can do whatever we want once we are out of the country.”

“Smart move. Nice.”

“Max,” she said, changing her tone to something more concerned. “You didn’t upload the file today, so it was the first flight I thought we could get. You okay, Max? What’s wrong?”

Max knew that Rachael now had a foot out the door already.

“It’s just this is going to be complicated. I need to grab the drive from my hiding place, upload it, and grab my passport. All the money is an escrow account, so we can access it from anywhere. All the codes are in my email, so we can access it from the beach.”

“Okay, so the money is safe, but the rest sounds simple enough, so why wait?”

“I think my place is being watched.”

“So we grab your passport last,” Rachael said. She was making this sound too easy.

Max must have sighed.

“Max, we can just grab a cab with a driver, park up, meet your super, grab your passport, and head to the airport. It won’t give them time to do anything.”

Rachael was right. It was the best they could hope for. He needed to get everything else done before he could try and escape.

“So grab the drive tonight, we upload it from here, and we make our getaway tomorrow morning,” she said as if it was an amazing plan.

It was, really. It was much simpler than Max was making it out to be.

She leaned over and gave him another kiss. “I’ve told Thom to sleep at his place again,” she told Max in that sweet voice he loved.

Why did she have to bring him up?

“What are you going to do about him?” he asked.

“I’ll call him tomorrow.” She gave him another kiss.

“You’re keeping him just in case this doesn’t work out?” Max said with a smirk.

“Don’t judge me, Max,” she fired off with a hint of anger. “You’d do the same.” It had a hit a little bit of a nerve with her. “I am sure whoever it is you’re sleeping with these days has no idea what you’re doing.”

It was true. He hadn’t spoken with Callie in almost three days. On its own it was nothing out of the ordinary, but given everything going on in his life, it seemed like an eternity.

Max smiled. Rachael was right. The two of them had made a deal. How they chose to end the other parts of their lives didn’t matter anymore. They were going to live on a beach in Thailand.

“Okay, we’ll make the calls after we pick up my passport,” he said as he leaned in for another kiss.