Perfect Scoundrels

by Ally Carter

  “You have the device?” the other man asked.

  “I do.”

  “May I see it, please?”

  Garrett huffed. “I don’t have it on me, of course. But it’s someplace I can access very easily when the time comes.”

  “And it’s secure there?” the man asked. “The Hales are powerful people. If they suspect what you’ve done, they will try to retrieve it, will they not?”

  Garrett leaned against the railing and stared out through the net at the skyscrapers that loomed not far away and laughed. It was a cold, dry sound. “Oh, I assure you, the Hales have never bothered with the business before. I see no reason for them to start now. And, besides…I have placed the prototype in a place where nothing has been stolen. Ever. So, yes, it is safe.”

  “And you can get it?”

  “Sir, it is right under my nose. So close that it could be yours as soon as you pay my asking price.”

  “And have the Hales reveal their prototype at the gala next week?” Now it was the buyer’s turn to laugh. “I don’t think so.”

  “The Hales won’t be a problem,” Garrett told him.

  “Perhaps. But a wise man is a cautious man. I will wait to see what becomes of the Hales and their prototype. As soon as the world knows they have not mastered the Genesis technology, then—and only then—you and I will have a deal.”

  Garrett didn’t argue. He just said his good-byes, and when he finally left the aviary, Kat didn’t bother to follow. She had seen and heard all she needed to know. So she stumbled out of the park alone. She closed her eyes and thought about the view out of Hale’s office window, the sprawling streets below. It must have been like working in a cloud. A celestial view.

  Then she thought about her trip to Garrett’s apartment, the carefully organized shelves and perfectly straight pictures—not a thing out of place except for the pile of mail that lay discarded on the table. It had seemed strange, Kat had thought at the time. Something about the sight had stayed with her—the one little bit of disorder in his otherwise perfect world.

  But that wasn’t it. She knew it then. So she closed her eyes and thought about the letters and bills and the bank statement addressed to the man who did all of his banking online.

  “Hale,” Kat said cautiously through the comms, “there’s a bank next door to your building, right?”

  “Yeah.” Hale sounded nervous. “Why?”

  “Which one?”

  “Superior Bank of Manhattan,” he told her, and Kat’s heart sank. She’d known that would be the answer. A part of her had feared it from the moment she saw the bank statement lying on Garrett’s coffee table, as soon as she’d heard his words on the bridge.

  “Earth to Kitty,” Gabrielle said. “Are you going to tell us what’s wrong?”

  “Kat?” Hale yelled.

  And Kat took a deep breath. “This is bad. This is very, very bad.”

  The train car wasn’t quite large enough, but no one seemed to mind. It was secluded and safe, and there was something about the lull of a locomotive, the gentle rock and sway and the blur of countryside, that had always been conducive to thinking, in Katarina Bishop’s humble opinion. So she sat with her legs curled up beneath her and let Hale take the lead, standing at the front of the car.

  “Thanks for coming, everyone,” he told them.

  “Of course we came,” Simon said.

  “I want you all to know that this is not an ordinary job, and I know that. I’ll pay you for your time and—”

  “You think I’m here for money?” Gabrielle said.

  “Now, now, Gabs. Let the man speak.” Angus slipped an arm around her shoulders. Gabrielle elbowed him in the gut. He winced and corrected, “I mean, anything for a friend.”

  Angus gave a smile, and Hale talked on.

  “I know this isn’t a typical heist, but I’ve got to try something, and the people I trust most are in this car. So we can do it. I know we can.”

  “Forgive me, Hale my boy”—Hamish inched a tiny bit closer—“but what exactly is it?”

  This time Hale looked at Kat and shrugged, the universal signal for Do you want to take this one or should I? So Kat turned to the group. “As you know, Marcus came to me after Hazel died and told us that something was off with the will.”

  Kat glanced at Marcus, who stood silently in the corner, like always. But it wasn’t like always. Not by a long shot. “Mrs. Hale had made a promise to my sister,” the butler said. “And Mrs. Hale was a woman who always kept her promises.”

  The group gave a nod, and Marcus silently returned to attention. He’d said all he had to say.

  “Yeah,” Kat said, taking up the story. “So the working theory is that Garrett changed the will so that Hale would inherit the company.” She spoke as plainly as she could. She wanted to be cool. Emotionless. She had to spit it out, get over the fact that one of her own had been the mark.

  “As long as Hale is a minor, then Garrett can be the trustee and call the shots. It’s a long con,” she told them. Then she had to admit: “And a good one.”

  An air of respect seemed to fill the car. They didn’t like Garrett. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t see the genius in such a simple plan.

  “So,” Angus asked, “what do you need us to do?”

  Kat nodded at Gabrielle, who placed a pile of papers and photographs on the table in the center of the car.

  “This is Genesis,” Kat said. Immediately, Simon grabbed the pictures, and Kat talked on. “It’s the newest product out of Hale Industries. The prototype and all of the design schematics are missing. We think Garrett switched them out for fakes, which leaves him free to sell the real Genesis to this man.” A photo Gabrielle had taken in Hong Kong landed on the top of the pile.

  “Who is he?” Simon asked.

  “He is the head of Research and Development for one of the biggest tech companies in Asia,” Hale said. “And one of Hale Industries’ biggest competitors. Our sources tell us they’ve been trying to develop something like Genesis for years, but they can’t get theirs to work—What?” He cut a grin at Kat when he saw the impressed look on her face. “Corporate espionage is my second great passion.”

  “With your first being…” Kat prompted.

  “Gelato,” Hale said, and turned back to the group. “So Garrett stole the prototype and the designs. He plans to sell them, pocket the profits, and sink my company. We think.” He shrugged a little, as if the man’s exact motives didn’t matter. And they didn’t. None of it would change what they had to do, so Hale smiled and raised an eyebrow. “That’s why we’re going to steal them back.”

  “Wait. Far be it for me to say this”—Hamish looked around the compartment—“and if anyone tells Uncle Eddie I suggested being an upstanding citizen I’ll kill ’em, but aren’t there…laws and stuff? I mean, can’t you…you know…sue him or something?” asked the boy who had once stolen an entire circus, all three rings.

  “You’d think so,” Kat explained. “But according to what we got off of Garrett’s computer, the patent office has a bogus design on file for the Genesis plans. That means that if and when the real Genesis turns up from some other company, Hale Industries won’t have a legal leg to stand on. Needless to say, it’s handy when the person responsible for protecting the design is the same person intent on stealing it.”

  “We’re in the wrong business,” Angus said.

  Simon nodded. “So true.”

  “The bad news is time. We’ve got to get the prototype and design back now,” Kat said.

  “Why?” Angus asked.

  “Because Hale Industries is dangerously low on working capital,” Gabrielle said. “The return on investment of the last five products has been less than one percent, and without a major influx of cash from subcontracts and the buzz that a hot new product can bring, the share price is going to go through the basement.”

  Everyone stared at her.

  “What?” Gabrielle raised an eyebrow. “I’ve conned a lo
t of MBAs. So Garrett plans to sell the Genesis prototype and its blueprints to the competition, make a fortune, and destroy Hale’s family all in one blow?”

  “Two birds,” Hamish started.

  “One stone,” Angus finished.

  “If I didn’t hate this guy so much, I might kind of idolize him,” Hamish said. “Is that wrong?”

  No one answered.

  “The good news is that we know what he’s doing now—what his endgame is.” Suddenly the car was too stuffy. Kat wanted to open a window. “Yesterday, Gab and Hale and I followed Garrett to his meeting with the buyer. Something he said led us to believe that he has stashed the prototype and plans in a safety deposit box.” She took a deep breath. “At the Superior Bank of Manhattan.”

  Angus’s face broke into a wide grin. “I’m sorry, Kitty, but I thought you said it was in the Superior Bank of Manhattan.”

  “I did,” Kat told him, but she didn’t exactly feel like smiling back.

  “The Superior Bank of Manhattan?” Simon said. “The Superior Bank of Manhattan? The Superior Bank of—”

  “Yeah, Simon,” Gabrielle said, cutting him off. “That’s the one.”

  “It’s going to take resources,” Kat said.

  Hale nodded. “Done. What else?”

  “People. More than are in this car,” she said.

  “Please.” Gabrielle gave a dismissive wave, and crossed her long legs. “What else?”

  But the final thing, Kat seemed almost afraid to say.

  “Time.” She swallowed hard. “There is no way to steal the prototype before the launch—not if it’s at the Superior Bank of Manhattan. Their security is too good and…it’s the Superior Bank of Manhattan. No one has ever done it.”

  “That’s what they said last time.…” Hamish said.

  “And the time before,” Angus added.

  “The Cleopatra Emerald was being moved, and that made it vulnerable. We had two weeks for the Henley,” Kat countered. “The launch is in three days. I don’t know…”

  “So we steal time,” Hale said. His words had a force to them. And for a second, they scared her. Then Hale softened, retreated. “So what do you say, Kat?”

  She nodded, but it took her a moment to mutter, “Okay. We just have to delay the launch, right? We can do that. We just have to…” But she let her voice trail off, absolutely unsure what to say.

  “I don’t see what the problem is.” Gabrielle stretched out on a bench. “We can find Garrett, right? And he can’t sell the prototype if he is…shall we say…tied up?” She gave a self-satisfied smirk.

  “Gabrielle!” Kat rolled her eyes.

  “What?” Her cousin looked as innocent as she could possibly be. “We could keep him someplace nice. It will be like a vacation. Or rehab. He might even thank us.”

  “Yeah,” Kat mocked. “Thank us…have us arrested for kidnapping…really, they’re practically the same thing.”

  Gabrielle huffed. “You have obviously never conned anyone in rehab.”

  On the other side of the car, Hamish slapped his thigh and proclaimed, “I like it!”

  “Of course you do,” Kat said.

  “Now, now, hear me out,” Hamish went on. “We don’t have to kidnap Garrett. Not if we kidnap the buyer.”

  “Or distract him,” Angus added.

  “Like the Bulgari job,” Hamish said.

  “You mean the job that landed half the DiMarco family in a South African prison?” Kat said.

  Angus shrugged. “Nobody said it was perfect.”

  “You’re missing the point, guys,” Kat told them. “We have to get the prototype back before the launch. If the investors and stockholders see the faulty model…”

  “Hale Industries is finished,” Hale said.

  “The Princess and the Pea?” Gabrielle suggested.

  “Not enough time,” Kat said.

  “Where’s Waldo?” Gabrielle went on.

  “No.” Hamish recoiled. “I am still not allowed back in Morocco.”

  “Three Blind Mice?” Simon said.

  Everyone looked at Kat, who shivered. “I don’t do rodents.”

  The train kept going and the suggestions kept flying, but none found their mark, and finally silence descended on the crew.

  “Maybe we’re making it too hard,” Simon said. “Simple is good, right?”

  “As long as we’re not kidnapping anyone,” Kat said.

  Gabrielle blushed. “It was only a suggestion.”

  “What do we know about Garrett?” Kat asked. “Hale, does he gamble?”

  “I don’t think so,” Hale said with a shake of his head.

  “Drink?” Kat asked.

  “No more than any of the other people from my childhood.”

  “Chase the ladies?” Hamish asked.

  “No. He’s just…a lawyer. He was always there. Briefcase. Suit. Hat. The guy is seriously boring. There is nothing scandalous or even interesting about him.”

  “Well, that’s not exactly true.” Kat spoke softly, carefully. She forced herself to meet Hale’s gaze. “He does have an ex-wife. And a daughter.”

  “Natalie isn’t a part of this. She isn’t,” Hale insisted even when Kat didn’t protest.

  “Okay. I believe you,” Kat said. “But she might be useful.”

  “We’re not going to use her.” Hale’s voice was like stone, unmoving. “And besides, it’s not like she and her dad are exactly close. Natalie went away to boarding school when her parents divorced. She hardly ever came home after that.”

  “How long has Garrett worked for the company?” Gabrielle asked.

  “That’s the thing.” Hale shrugged. “There’s always been a Garrett working for us. His dad had the job before him, and so he was always…around.”

  “Okay, so we go farther back.” Kat felt herself swaying, rocking like the train. “Tell us about your grandfather.”

  “What can I say, Kat? He’s dead. They’re all dead. My grandmother. My grandfather. My grandfather’s brother—”

  “Wait,” Kat said. “Was this the brother who was supposed to run the company with your grandfather?”

  “Yeah. He died way before I was born. He was supposed to be a real character, but then he died, and my grandfather got it all—all the money, but all the pressure and responsibility too. He was a workaholic. And—”

  “When did your great-uncle die?” Kat asked.

  “Maybe fifty years ago. Like I said, I never knew him. No one ever talked about him. It was like the whole family thought he was cursed or something.”

  “No more curses.” Gabrielle’s whole body shivered. “Please no more curses.”

  “It wasn’t that kind of curse, Gabs,” Hale told her. “He was just…I don’t know…super eccentric or something. He wanted to be famous, but famous in a way that had nothing to do with being a Hale. So he was always doing stuff like climbing K2 or flying solo to the North Pole. He disappeared floating down the Amazon or climbing the Andes or something. It was this big, tragic family secret no one ever talked about.”

  “So he just disappeared? They never found a body?” Kat said.

  “No. Why?”

  The train kept racing, but to Kat, everything was growing slow and still. She felt it in the crew around her, all gazes, all thoughts settling on her as she breathed against the chilly glass and whispered, “Anastasia.”

  For an odd sort of girl, Kat was used to odd sorts of meetings, but there was something especially strange about walking into Uncle Eddie’s parlor and looking out over the people who sat straight-backed on the dusty, faded chairs.

  “Hi.” She shifted a little more nervously than someone of her pedigree ever should, and then she risked a glance at Hale, who stood beside her. “Thanks for coming, everybody. Have you all met?”

  She looked from Marcus, Marianne, and Silas to the Bagshaws, Simon, and Gabrielle. Uncle Eddie stood by the fireplace, firmly in the center, and Kat had to wonder how she had ended up there, with these pe
ople for clients and crew.

  “So everyone doing okay?” she asked. No one answered. “Okay.”

  “Did you find the will?” Marianne asked.

  Kat smiled sadly. “No. I’m sorry, Marianne. We think any trace of Hazel’s real will has probably been destroyed. But”—she hurried to add the good news—“if we can prove that Garrett stole from the company, we may be able to petition the courts to name a new trustee.”

  “I’ll take care of you, Marianne,” Hale told her. “I will always take care of you.”

  Marianne smiled and dabbed at a tear in her eye.

  “Thanks to Silas,” Kat went on, “we finally know what’s going on. It looks like Garrett has stolen the Genesis prototype and its plans and is trying to sell them to one of Hale Industries’ competitors. That’s the bad news.”

  “Does that mean there’s good news?” Silas asked.

  “Sort of.” Kat drew a deep breath. “We know where they are. Garrett has a safety deposit box at the Superior Bank of Manhattan, and we’re pretty sure the prototype and plans are in there.”

  Kat saw her uncle tense, but he didn’t speak. She could read his eyes: That is hardly good news.

  “It is an extremely difficult target. No one has ever robbed it. Ever. And we can’t do a job like that in time for the launch. We may never be able to do it, and so that’s why, Silas, we need you working to duplicate the prototype. Can you do that?”

  “I can try,” Silas said. “But without access to my lab and—”

  “I’ll get you whatever you need,” Hale said.

  “Good,” Kat told him. “Simon can help you try to recover the original schematics from the Hale Industries server.”

  “That’s very nice,” Silas said with a smile. “But I’ve been working with that system since before he was born, and I haven’t—”

  “I think you’ll find that Simon’s skill set is slightly more…specific,” Kat said.