Maddie stood up and yawned broadly. “Understood perfectly. But since it is the middle of the night, why don’t you clear out so I can get a few hours of sleep before work starts in the morning. You did say we have an important meeting of some sort.”
“Afraid your sleep time is aborted. You and I have business to take care of.” Izzy picked up his computer and slid it under his arm, then headed to the door. “Bring your iPad and whatever arcane hacking tools you have hidden in that backpack.”
She blinked at him. “Are you kidding? It’s almost three in the morning. I’m tired and I want to sleep.” She was also developing one helluva headache, something to do with that weird episode in the graveyard, she suspected.
“Tough. I need you with me tonight.”
“Why?”
What do you need me for?” Maddie stood stubbornly in the middle of the room, glaring at him.
Teague turned around slowly. A glint of dark humor filled his eyes. “Because we are going to break into the British Museum. I can’t think of any better accomplice than you to help me. Now get moving.”
Maddie started to protest, but stopped.
They were going to break into the British Museum? Seriously, how cool was that? And if anything happened, she could simply blame it on Teague. Then he could get a taste of his own medicine.
She hid a smile of raw excitement and shrugged. “Sure. Whatever. I’m up for a little B&E. Just be sure you remember whose idea this was if we get caught.”
What Izzy said next made her frown uneasily.
“If we get caught, there won’t be any point in explaining,” he said coldly. “I’m counting on you to see that we don’t.”
Twenty minutes later, Maddie was sitting amazed, looking up at the imposing stone façade of the British Museum. They were in a parked van across the street; Teague was checking the rear service entrance.
He was in professional mode now, using that thousand-yard stare that all cops, firemen and military personnel did so well.
It drove Maddie crazy. Abso-freaking-crazy.
“Want to tell me what we’re waiting for?”
“Someone’s meeting us here. Stop talking, will you?”
Maddie opened the bag of chips she had grabbed from the hotel mini-bar and began to eat her way noisily through it. “Whatever.” She hunched back in the seat and closed her eyes. “Wake me up when I have to actually do something.”
Izzy gave a low grunt and went back to scanning his laptop. Man, Maddie would have given her right arm for a peek under that hood. Knowing Teague, it had to be rigged out with every kind of updated encryption and memory cards. Seriously, what she could do with a toy like that at her disposal.
She could hack back into the Department of Defense, for starters. Change a whole year of SAT scores.
Except those days were over. She wasn’t a stupid kid anymore. And there was something about this job that felt—weird. I mean, why did they go outside the normal chain of command? Why did Teague grab her and not one of the hundreds of tech geniuses on the NASA or DoD payroll? It didn’t make any sense.
Unless…
Maddie sat up slowly. “Okay, humor me, Teague. You want to explain again why I’m the one you choose for this job?”
He made an irritated sound, not looking up from his laptop. “I told you. You’re great with codes and pattern recognition. You’re also excellent at hacking, should it become necessary. We needed to move fast and you were available.”
“Bullshit.”
Maddie turned around in an angry burst of movement. The pieces were starting to fit together, and they painted a nasty picture. “No, you fingered me because you needed an outsider. And that would only happen if you had reason to distrust the people in your own organization. So tell me. You’ve got a traitor inside, don’t you?”
Teague’s fingers froze for a second on the keyboard. Then he resumed his typing. But his movements were slower.
He was trying to come up with a lie.
“Don’t bother to lie, I figured it out. And that’s why we’re breaking in too. You don’t want someone on your own team to know what we’re up to. Go ahead, admit it.”
When he didn’t answer, Maddie made a flat sound of disgust. “Yeah, I thought so. So much for all that crap about trust and responsibility. I guess that means I tell the truth and you say whatever the hell you want to say.”
Izzy stared across the street through the darkness. Halfway down the block, beneath an ancient oak tree, Maddie saw movement and the orange flare of a cigarette.
She dropped the unfinished bag of chips on the seat beside her, frowning. “Well? What about all that honesty garbage you’ve been feeding me?”
“Something’s wrong. That’s all I can tell you right now. Until we have solid evidence to the opposite, my orders are to presume that regular chain of command has been compromised.”
The potato chips that Maddie had wolfed down took a sudden, nauseating tumble in her stomach. “Compromised,” she repeated angrily. “In plain English—try it that way, Teague.”
“In plain English?” He closed his laptop, never taking his eyes off the street. “We’re in very deep shit.” He pulled on his jacket and reached for a small black sling bag. “Now are you coming or are you going to stay here and ask questions for the rest of the night? Because I’d like to get this over with.”
At least they weren’t going in alone, Maddie realized.
A tall figure was waiting for them in a parked car just beyond the museum service entrance. He wore a black tee shirt under what appeared to be a plain black utility jacket. No fancy bells and whistles, but the quiet, fluid way he moved told Maddie this was another man from Izzy’s covert ops brotherhood.
He got out of the car and motioned them forward. “Keep walking,” he said quietly. “I’ll brief you while we walk a few streets over. My wife will keep an eye on things here.”
His wife? This was starting to get really interesting. Maddie shot a quick glance at the rugged features of the man who had moved into step beside Izzy. He had to be at least six foot four. The few words he had spoken told her he was Scottish, with that lovely, rough mix of consonants that marked a Highlander.
“Sorry to bring you out on short notice, Ian. I can’t tell you the details, but we have to get in, and it needs to be tonight.”
The man—Ian—nodded silently. He glanced at Maddie and raised an eyebrow. “New partner?”
“Not exactly,” Izzy murmured. “It’s a long story.”
“Isn’t it always?” There was an element of humor in the man’s voice that made Maddie feel at ease. She leaned closer and pointed a finger at Izzy’s chest. “Partners? Hell no. He arrested me. Would you help someone who ruined your life?”
Izzy’s friend frowned, looking thoughtful. “I guess that depends on why he did it—and what you were doing to deserve it.” He glanced around at the silent streets and then opened a zippered pocket on his jacket. “I’ve got the schematic here. There are some updates for wiring changes in the last six months. Your plans are only ninety percent accurate.”
“You want to tell me how you got that information?” Izzy said quietly.
“That’s the easy part. My wife happens to work at the museum three days a week. There’s a big costume show in the works, and she’s the assistant curator.”
Maddie decided she really wanted to meet Ian’s wife – assuming they all got out of this business in one piece.
“I’ve noted the guard rotations and their break times.” Ian opened a small penlight and shone it over a detailed diagram of the museum. “This is our best access point.”
“Our? I thought I made that clear. You’re not going in with me. I don’t want you involved in this, Ian. Things could turn FUBAR really fast on this one.”
“I got that impression. Which is of course why you need me,” the Scotsman said calmly. “I owe you for your last visit to Scotland, remember? Now let’s not waste time in arguing.” He tapped one corner of
the schematic. “The guard in this sector takes a break in twenty-nine minutes. I’ll fill you in on the security.” He tossed a thin black nylon jacket to Izzy and another to Maddie. “Sorry. I’m afraid yours is going to be too big. By the way, what’s your name?”
“I’m Maddie —”
Izzy cut her off. “No need to know her name. So what kind of alarm system are they using now, Ian? I was told they updated their old 8100 unit to a new German model.”
“Worse. They completely revamped the network last week. Now there’s a custom made override. Heat sensors and lasers. The royal family is expected at the costume show opening, and this is all new security in place .”
“Hell. I hate infrared,” Izzy grumbled. “You have a safe car somewhere? We need to get to work.”
There was an odd sense of camaraderie as the three slid into the gray van parked one street over. Fishing supplies and hiking boots filled one corner of the back. Maddie thought this was Ian’s family van. Something told her that he was rich enough to have a whole fleet of cars at his disposal.
“I can deal with the infrared,” she said quietly. “They will probably use a standard interface. But the lasers won’t be so easy to handle.”
“Nae, they won’t, lass. Which is why I decided to change the plan. We’re not going in through the janitorial access area.” The Scotsman glanced up at a sprinkling of lights three blocks over. “We’re going in through the roof.”
“I’m not afraid of heights, you know.” Maddie tried to sound like it was true, but actually she hated heights almost as much as she hated flying. Still, watching the men suit up and make their cool preparations left her feeling useless. “I could go along and help.”
“You are going to help — by staying on the ground,” Izzy said flatly. “We need you working those codes. I also want to be sure that the photographs I’m sending to your iPad come through okay. We’re going to have to study them later.”
“Sure, but—”
Izzy shoved a headset into her hands. “Put this on and stop arguing. Use the transmit button to contact us if necessary.” He looped a climbing rope around his shoulders and then pulled on tight, supple climbing shoes. He looked as if he had done this many times before.
“Seventeen minutes,” his friend Ian said quietly.
“There’s something I still don’t get,” Maddie interrupted. “What are you breaking in for? What do you need to find?”
“I’ll fill you in after we finish. Assuming the mission is a success.” Izzy punched a few keys on his laptop and then handed it to Maddie. “Keep an eye on the schematic. If there’s a security alarm, it will show up. Keep an eye on the third window, you’ll see the outgoing call messages there. If anything happens before we get back, use it to override them. That should buy us enough time to get back out. Whatever you do, stay on that headset. And Maddie?
“Yes?”
“Try not to get yourself arrested out here, okay?”
Maddie blinked at him. Yes, that had definitely been a sense of humor.
Who’d ever thought that she’d be standing next to a covert government operative getting ready to B&E his way into the British Museum?
“Better move.” Ian had a small bag draped over his shoulder and threaded tightly around his waist. It was perfectly weighted and did not move as he walked.
“Be careful,” Maddie whispered, then felt silly. Clearly, these two men knew exactly how to take care of themselves. They didn’t need her wishes or support.
Izzy turned the corner and gave her a little two finger salute. Then he vanished into the darkness.
The shadowed street was cold.
It was uncomfortably quiet, too. Off in the distance Maddie heard the sounds of buses and trucks and cars moving in the night, but here, near the deserted south wall, all was quiet.
She prayed it would stay that way.
She gave a little jump as static hissed through her headset. “You read me?”
“Yeah. Clear.” Maddie remembered she had to do something else to answer. She found the button, pushed hard and whispered into the headset feeling surreal, like a kid in a Disney movie.
“Good. Stay alert.” Izzy’s voice faded into a wave of static.
Maddie pulled her sweatshirt tighter as damp wind scoured her face. Rain soon probably.
She looked down at Izzy’s computer and maximized the top window with the museum’s security grid. It was a normal layout and she could see staircases and exterior entrances clearly marked. When two faint purple lights began to flicker along the top of the screen, Maddie realized she was watching the progress of Izzy and his friend in real time. She expanded the window, and then pulled an overlay of the actual museum interior right next to the security grid.
Their access point in the roof was close now. She really hoped this man Ian knew what he was doing.
She started to ask a question, then bit back the words. They didn’t need any distractions.
“Climbing.” Izzy’s voice was hushed. “Keep your head down out there.”
The purple lights continued to move, and Maddie slid the interior shots of the museum along too, following their progress. They appeared to be moving up some kind of a fire ladder that led to the roof. She listened intently, but there was no sound at all, not even the click of a pebble dropping.
Didn’t surprise her. These two were pros.
Suddenly a green triangle began to flash in the lower left of the screen. Maddie looked for a key or a code to the grid, but couldn’t find one. “Teague,” she said with soft urgently. “Green triangle in sector four. I’m repeating that. Green triangle. Sector four.”
Another green triangle appeared, this time at the exact opposite corner of the grid layout. “Another one. Sector nine.”
“Random alarm checks. No problems. They’ll be done before we hit the ventilation unit.” As he finished, the green triangles vanished. “Bingo,” Izzy whispered.
There was no hint of his exertion or stress in his voice.
Yeah, those two were good.
Maddie’s senses grew more focused, hyper alert. She scanned the darkness beyond the wall and along both neighboring streets. Why didn’t they hurry up? What if they—
“We’re in. I’ll call you in five.”
Maddie leaned uneasily against the wall, blowing out a breath of relief. Not that his safety mattered to her. The man would land on his feet regardless. But she definitely didn’t want to go back to jail because of some screwup that he made.
She turned out at the wind and leaned one arm against the stone fence, rubbing a knot in her shoulder. Then, she leaned over the laptop and checked the rooms near their access point. What collections were located beneath that area of roof, she wondered. She expanded one of the windows.
Now that was interesting. Roman Britain. Medieval Britain. Anglo-Saxon collections. Was one of those their target? If so, why was it so damn important to keep it a secret?
History, Izzy had said. The Crusades. Well, she would know where they were headed soon enough. Once she had the exhibit in question, she could run a search of her own and find out what Teague wasn’t telling her.
“We’re moving. The guard just went on break. We’ll contact you once we’re clear. Out.”
Sure. Fine. Great.
Out, just like that. As if he hadn’t screwed up her life all over again, Maddie thought angrily. Why was she standing here helping him anyway? Why didn’t she just leave him cold? He deserved it.
But… she couldn’t. Like it or not, she believed his promises. And she had to keep her own.
Wind stirred across her face. She pulled up the hood of her sweatshirt, shivering.
Something moved at the top of the fence. A figure dropped over the bushes and down onto the ground beside Maddie.
Hard fingers gripped her shoulder. By reflex, she started to scream, but stopped herself thinking of Izzy inside.
Another hand opened, covering her mouth.
“Quiet. There are two
guards smoking just around the corner. If you scream, they will be alerted to your friends inside the museum.”
Maddie blinked, stunned by the familiarity of that rough voice. She tried to move, squirming wildly.
“No noise. Your friends are not safe.”
She nodded hard, watching the chiseled planes of his hard face shift in the dim light. He pulled her along the fence, stopping behind a red phone booth. His hands slid away from her mouth.
“You…” she breathed.
“Of course. Did you think I would let you walk away from me without following?”
“I don’t know what you thought.” Maddie hunched her shoulders and drove an elbow into his ribs. “I’m not listening to this. You’re a psycho. Get away from me.”
His fingers opened on her shoulder, holding her against the wall of the phone booth. “You will listen to me. Your life—and far more than that—depends on it.”
Maddie kicked him hard in the tender spot behind the knee and was rewarded by a nice grunt of pain. When he shifted slightly, she aimed a quick, furious blow to his collarbone with the outer edge of her hand.
Tough street experience had taught her that a good collarbone fracture ended most fights.
She heard a small grunt, but he did not take his hands from her shoulders.
No? Now for the money shot.
She kneed him hard in the groin, but this time he caught her knee and swung it away so the movement had no effect.
“Stop fighting,” he ordered in a voice of gravel and steel.
Yeah right. She wasn’t getting suckered into his psycho nightmare for a second time.
Abruptly he turned. Motionless, he listened to the night’s quiet. “An alarm across the street and four buildings down. I smell smoke.”
An alarm? Maddie wasn’t picking up anything at all. Only the silky velvet silence of the night. Certainly no smell of smoke.
In a quick movement he pushed her against his chest.
Maddie's protest died away as two police cars rounded the corner and raced past. Now she heard the whine of a distant alarm—and with it she caught the faint smell of smoke.
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