The Novels of Nora Roberts, Volume 3

by Nora Roberts

  “I told you ten seconds.”

  “It was ten.”

  “No, it took four to bring the system back up fully. So that’s fourteen seconds.”

  “Then you should’ve said—”

  “I said ten, so ten’s what I needed.” He patted her head. “Success is in the details.”

  She frowned while he opened his bag to give his portable equipment a final check. “If the whole place was shut down, how long to bring security back on-line?”

  “Now there’s a question. Standard alarms, exterior doors and windows, are instantaneous. Motion, infrared, interiors come on level by level. Four minutes, twelve seconds to bring it up to full scope and capacity. It’s a complicated system, with multi-layers.”

  “That’s too long, you know. There’s a way to shave it.”

  “Probably.”

  “I wager I could shave a full minute off that four-twelve, had I access to the entire system and the time to play with it.”

  “Looking for a job, Irish?”

  “Just saying,” she replied as she angled her chair away from him, “timing matters, after all. In all manner of things.”

  “Is that your way of saying my timing’s been off with you?”

  “It’s my way of saying I like picking my own time.”

  “Wouldn’t hurt my feelings if you shaved some of that off. I’m going to get the others.”

  Twenty-three

  “A parking place, on the street. Upper East Side.” Jack shook his head. He was driving the van, with Cleo riding shotgun. “We’ll have to take it as an omen.”

  He maneuvered the van between a late-model sedan and an aging SUV.

  She ducked down to look through the windshield at the streetlight. “Kinda in the spotlight here, aren’t we?”

  “Your city taxes at work.”

  “Yours, maybe. I’m not getting a paycheck these days.” Her eyes widened when he pulled a gun from under his seat. “Whoa, big guy, you didn’t say anything about armed B and E.”

  “In for a penny,” he said. “Sit tight.” He climbed out, walked casually down the sidewalk, then, turning, shot out the streetlight with a muffled pop and a musical tinkle of glass.

  “BB gun,” he told her when he slid back into the van. He reached behind him, knocked three times on the partition that separated the cab from the back of the vehicle.

  Seconds later the van shifted and the rear door opened. Closed. In her side-view mirror, Cleo watched Gideon and Malachi step onto the sidewalk. Gideon headed east, Malachi west.

  “And they’re off,” she mumbled.

  They waited three long minutes, in the dark, in silence, before Jack’s walkie-talkie hissed. “For a city that never sleeps,” Malachi said, “it’s damn quiet out here.”

  “Clear on the east as well,” Gideon reported.

  “Stay on this channel.” Jack knocked twice on the partition, looked at Cleo when he heard the answering rap from the back. “Ready?”

  “As canned ham.”

  They got out on opposite sides. Jack slung his bag over his shoulder and, when he reached Cleo, slung his arm over her shoulders. “Just a couple of urbanites out for a stroll.”

  “Cops tend to do a lot of drive-bys in tony neighborhoods like this,” she commented. “Just how many years in the pen can you get for what you’re carrying in that man-purse?”

  “It’s a bag. Just a bag. Three to five,” he decided, “if the judge is a hardcase. Suspended. I’ve got connections.”

  He palmed his walkie-talkie. “Crossing Madison at Eighty-eighth.”

  “Good to go.” From Malachi.

  “And here.” From Gideon.

  “Base copies that,” Rebecca reported.

  Jack took her hand as they walked by the entrance of Morningside, turned the corner. They worked their way around to the delivery entrance.

  As rehearsed, Cleo took out her walkie-talkie while Jack opened his bag. “B and E Central,” she said quietly. “James Bond here’s breaking out his toys.”

  “I’m at, what is it, Eighty-ninth between Fifth and Madison,” Malachi said. “Looks to be a party in a flat here. A number of people, fairly well pissed, are coming out.”

  “I’m heading back from Park Avenue,” Gideon checked in. “Saw a few street people in doorways, and a goodly amount of traffic for this time of night. No problems.”

  “Ready to go up?” Jack asked.

  She nodded, craned her head to study the four stories. “There’s this really good door here. I just want to point that out.”

  “Odds are she has the Fate in her office safe. It’ll make her more nervous if the break-in targets the upper floors.”

  He aimed what Cleo thought of as a harpoon, shot out a three-pronged hook and length of rope. “Harness,” he said, and shot the second line while she shrugged into her harness. He clicked the safety, attaching her, then repeated the steps with his own.

  “On three,” he told her. “You were square with me about your weight, weren’t you?”

  “Just count, pal. One, two.”

  “Three,” Jack said, and pressed the mechanism on his harness.

  They went up smoothly, and a bit more quickly than Cleo had anticipated. “Jesus! What a rush.”

  “Keep your eyes on the roof.”

  “If that’s like telling me don’t look down, it’s exactly the wrong . . . Oh shit,” she whispered as she did, indeed, look down. Teeth gritted, stomach flopping, she fumbled for the ledge, skidding a little as her palms had sprung with sweat, and heaved herself over with no grace whatsoever.

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, yeah. It just threw me for a minute. Four stories looks a lot higher when you’re up there, without a floor under you. I’m cool.” She remembered her next step and pulled out her two-way. “Base. We’re on the roof.”

  “Copy that,” Rebecca answered. “Shutting down alarms in sector twelve in sixty seconds. Mark.”

  “Mark,” Cleo echoed as Jack depressed the timer on his watch, nodded.

  He tucked the two-way back in his bag, fixed on a headset. “All units copy?” He nodded again when he got affirmative responses. “Got your breath back?” Jack asked Cleo.

  “Yeah. I’m solid.”

  He gave his line, then hers, a last testing tug.

  She eased off the ledge, took one huge breath, then let herself slide into the air.

  The breath rushed out of her lungs, but she steadied the bag for him as they dangled. Following his directions, she braced her feet on the wall of the building, relaxed her knees.

  Jack’s watch beeped quietly, and Rebecca’s voice came through his headset. “Sector’s down. Five minutes. Mark.”

  A cab drove by on the street below, turned at the corner and headed up Madison.

  He attached a portable scrambler to the window glass, punched in a code and waited while the numbers ran. When the display glowed green, he detached it, handed it off to Cleo.

  “Window backup system off-line, silent alarm killed.” He fixed suction cups to the window, held out his hand like a surgeon. Cleo slapped the glass cutter into his hand. Despite the chill, a line of sweat dribbled down her back.

  “Four minutes, thirty,” she announced while he meticulously cut through the reinforced glass.

  The wail of a siren had her choking back a startled yelp.

  “You steady?”

  “As Gibraltar.”

  “Take your end.”

  She gripped the wire from the suction cup in her gloved hands while Jack mirrored the gesture with the second. At his nod, they lowered the pane inch by inch inside the building until it rested on the floor.

  “Going in,” he said quietly, and boosted himself inside the window.

  “Three minutes, thirty,” Rebecca warned him.

  He unhooked his harness, stepped carefully around the glass, then moved fast through the office area. Cleo rolled in after him and sprinted in the opposite direction.

  Crouched at Anita�
��s office door, Jack took out a lock pick. It took him nearly as long to make what would appear to be a botched attempt at picking the lock as it would have to succeed.

  At the top of the steps, Cleo debated briefly between a Baccarat wafer dish and a Lalique vase. With no regret, she tipped over the vase, stepping clear as it shattered on the floor.

  “Two minutes, Jack, Cleo. Move out now.”

  “Copy.” They met back at the window, but this time Jack brought his heel down deliberately on the edge of the windowpane to crack it. He attached his line, backed through the opening behind her.

  “Down,” he said to Cleo. “Use your feet, keep your knees loose. Everybody back to base,” he said into his headset.

  On the descent, he dropped a spare jammer, attached to a torn belt loop.

  “Why, it’s a clue!” Cleo said breathlessly as her feet hit the ground. “We got one minute.”

  “Start back.”

  “No. I leave with the guy I came with.” She unhooked her line, shrugged out of her harness and stuffed it back in the bag as Jack did the same. Then she glanced at the dangling rope.

  “Bet that stuff’s expensive.”

  “But not that hard to come by.” Once again he draped an arm over her shoulders. They walked. Just a bit faster than a stroll. “It’ll look like the thieves ran into security trouble and had to abort, and fast.”

  “Five-minute mark,” Rebecca announced. “System’s re-booting. You’ve got thirty seconds. What did you break?”

  “Some vase. Scattered a few whatnots around for good measure.”

  “Thief’s in a hurry, drops loot. Works for me.”

  “One question,” Cleo asked him. “You didn’t need a sidekick for tonight. Why’d you bring me?”

  “The point was to make it look like no less than two involved. I couldn’t have gotten to opposite ends of the fourth floor in the allotted time. Knowing there were two should make Anita a little more nervous.”

  “One would’ve made her nervous enough.”

  “Yeah. But it’ll take two to get into the house, into the safe and get out again without any hitch. I needed to see how you held up.”

  “So, this was like an audition.”

  “There you go. And you got the part.”

  “Wait till I tell my agent.”

  They were a full block away, walking easily now, hand in hand, when the alarms went wild.

  IT WAS JUST past two A.M. when Jack popped the cork on a bottle of champagne.

  “I can’t believe the whole thing took less than an hour.” Tia dropped into a chair. “I’m exhausted, and I didn’t do anything.”

  “We’re the tech crew,” Rebecca reminded her. “That’s essential personnel. And we were superb.”

  “It’s a bit early for back-patting and celebration.” Malachi lifted his glass. “But what the hell. Just knowing Anita’s going to be wakened by the police is cause enough for a round. We’ve a lot of work ahead of us yet.”

  “Don’t bring me down.” Cleo gulped down the first glass of champagne. “I’m still flying. You think Anita’ll drag her ass out of bed and go down there?”

  “Count on it. The cops’ll notify her, she’ll get there quick, fast and in a hurry. First thing she’ll do, check her office safe. Or she will if that’s where she’s stashed the Fate. Once she reassures herself it’s where she left it, she’ll do a dance with the cops, then she’ll start calling me. She’s going to be seriously pissed with Burdett Securities.”

  “But you’ll fix that,” Malachi said.

  “Yep, because the system held. That’s number one. They got in, but didn’t have time to do the job because the backup system clicked into place, as advertised. Then I’ll give her my report on Cleo.”

  “I bet it’s terribly hot in Athens this time of year,” Tia mused. “Do you think she’ll leave soon?”

  “If we have two days to put this all together, I’ll be satisfied.” He winked at Cleo. “My partner’s a natural.”

  “I think we could’ve gone all the way tonight.” Cleo held out her glass for a second round. “Into her office, into the safe and away with the prize.”

  “Maybe,” Jack agreed. “Be a damn shame if we’d gone to all that trouble and it wasn’t there.”

  “Yeah, yeah, practicalities. But all in all, you know how to show a girl a good time.”

  “That’s what they all say. You should go get some sleep. All of you. I’ll man the recorder. She’s going to be calling me in an hour or so anyway.”

  “I could make you some coffee and sandwiches,” Tia offered.

  “You’re a jewel, you are.”

  AND SO, TWO hours later almost to the minute, while he polished off a ham and cheese on rye, Jack’s home line rang. He smiled, let it ring three times. He’d already heard Anita curse him from her office.

  Just as he’d heard her open her office safe, breathe a long sigh of relief.

  “Burdett.”

  “Jack. Goddamn it, Jack. I’m at Morningside. There’s been a break-in.”

  “Anita? When?”

  “Tonight. The police are here now. I want you in here, Jack, and I want you in here now.”

  “Give me twenty minutes,” he said. He hung up, and finished his coffee.

  BY THE TIME he arrived, the Crime Scene Unit was busily at work. He figured he’d left them enough to keep them that way. He got a minor hassle from one of the uniforms blocking the entrance of the building, and had to flag down a familiar face, then wait to be cleared.

  Normally the delay would have been mildly irritating, but in this case he figured it only gave Anita more time to stew. He found her in her office, verbally skinning one of the investigators who’d been unlucky enough to catch the case.

  “I want to know what you’re doing to find the people who violated my property.”

  “Ma’am, we’re doing everything possible to—”

  “If you were doing everything possible, someone couldn’t have broken a window and climbed into this building. I’d like to know where the police were when thieves damaged my property and waltzed into this building. That’s what I’d like to know.”

  “Ms. Gaye, the first unit responded within two minutes after the alarm—”

  “Two minutes is too late.” She bared her teeth, and it occurred to Jack that if she worked herself up much higher, she’d use them to bite someone’s throat out. “I expect the police to protect my property. Do you have any conception of the taxes I pay in this area? I’m not funneling thousands of dollars into this city so the police force can sit on their asses eating doughnuts while thieves walk off with priceless antiques.”

  “Ms. Gaye, at this time, we can’t be sure if any of your inventory was stolen. If you’d—”

  “Through no help of the New York Police Department. Now you and your clumsy, fat-fingered colleagues are stomping around my building, making a mess of things, and you refuse to tell me the status of the investigation. Would you prefer I called the mayor—a personal acquaintance of mine—and ask him to speak to your superior?”

  “Ma’am, you can call God almighty and I’m still not going to be able to tell you any more than I have. This investigation is just over two hours old. I’d be moving that investigation along a lot faster if you’d give me information instead of slinging abuse and threats.”

  Jack figured she hadn’t painted and polished herself as carefully as usual, and with the furious color staining her cheeks, it was hardly surprising Anita wasn’t looking her best.

  “I want your name and your badge number, and I want you off my property.”

  “Detective Lewis Gilbert.”

  Lew was already taking one of his cards out of his wallet. Jack decided to give him a break and distract Anita. He put what he hoped was concern on his face and stepped into the room.

  “Lew.”

  “Jack.” Lew laid the card on Anita’s desk. “Got the word the security was Burdett.”

  “Yeah.” Jack’s mouth went g
rim. “Where did they breech?”

  “Fourth-floor window, rear, far east corner.”

  “Did they get inside?”

  “Yep. Tripped up somewhere, though, sprang the alarm. Left some toys behind.”

  “They get anything?”

  Lew slid a baleful glance in Anita’s direction. “Undetermined.”

  “I’d like to speak with Mr. Burdett. Privately,” Anita said coldly.

  Knowing it was likely to make her choke on her own bile, Jack held up a finger and continued talking to Lew. “If I could take a look at the breech, I might be able to give you something on it.”

  “Appreciate that.”

  “I will not be ignored while you—”

  “Just hold on.” Jack interrupted Anita’s newest tirade and walked out with Lew, leaving her vibrating with fury.

  “Piece of work, that one,” Lew began.

  “Tell me about it. The shit she was dumping on you won’t come close to what she’ll dump on me.”

  They walked to the east corner, where the office area opened into an alcove. The chilly early morning air came through the empty window. Crime-scene people were measuring, dusting, picking at the window frame for trace evidence.

  “Must’ve counted on the upper window being most vulnerable,” Jack began. “That glass is reinforced and wired. They had to circumvent the primary alarm system to get this far. Serious tech capabilities required for that. How’d they get up here?”

  “Rappel lines. Looks like the alarm went, and they took off in a quick hurry. Left the lines behind.”

  “Huh.” Jack frowned, tucked his thumbs in his pockets. “Might be they didn’t count on the secondary system.” He explained the setup as he and Lew walked downstairs and into the utility area, where the main security panels were installed.

  “I should be able to do a run, see how long the system was down—maybe how it came to be put down—once you guys are finished doing what you do. But I can tell you just from what I’ve already seen, they didn’t do it from down here.”

  “Who knows the system? This particular one.”

  “My team. You know how I screen my people, Lew. Nobody who works for me had a part in this. If they did, and were stupid enough not to take out the secondary, hell, I’d have to fire them for it.”