by Michele Hauf
“I’m doing that right now. Whatever happens, Jack, you can’t let Clive leave poison in anyone’s box. Or you can. You just have to know which box he leaves it in.”
“So this whole safe cracking bit is a coverup to hide the real crime of murder.” Jack shook his head. “Seems an awkward way to go about it. Why not take the guy out on the street or in his home?”
“It is a perfect crime. No need to stakeout a crime scene or even approach the victim. All the man needs is access to the victim’s safe deposit box.”
“Two keys are needed to access those boxes. Even if the target’s key was stolen, Clive would still need another to open the box: the bank’s copy. And apparently, they were not drilled open because there couldn’t have been any signs of entry at the last heist or it would have been in the report. He had both those keys.”
“Exactly.”
“He must have a contact inside the bank. In order to access that key?”
“What information have you gotten from Petrovik?”
“What information should I get? She’s one of the crew. Clive keeps her in the dark as much as the rest of us.”
Quinn paused a long time. “Right. Uh…right.”
Weird pause. But the guy was weird. A geeky gamer who couldn’t be any more than twenty-two or three who spent all his time at headquarters and most of that online. Jack wasn’t sure Quinn had a friend or even a home outside of work. “What are my orders?”
“Dixon says you need to keep us online during the heist.”
Hunter Dixon was his boss, the man in charge of the Elite Crimes Unit. “I can do that, but you’ll have to maintain radio silence. I don’t want to give Clive any reason to suspect. Or for that matter, Niles and Saskia.”
“Right. As soon as you know that Clive has planted the poison, alert us. We’ll send local authorities to round him up.”
“And the rest of the crew, I presume.”
“That’s how it works. You’ll be out in a few days, I’m sure.”
“Great.” As one of the crew he would be arrested and incarcerated. The local police wouldn’t know he was a member of an elite crimes unit. And they wouldn’t know even after his bail had been posted and charges had been dropped against him. “Keep me posted, Quinn. Over and out.”
Jack set down the phone and caught his forehead against his palm. He couldn’t afford to sit in jail a few days. He had to leave tonight after the heist. He had an appointment scheduled to remove the chip at the base of his skull early in the morning. The surgeon would be at the meeting place for only a short time; if he didn’t show, he’d lose that opportunity. And after that? Back to London to find Jonny.
And then, off the grid.
If he didn’t alert the ECU to the completed heist, he could leave, and get on his way. The ECU would still have the evidence on Clive and his crew—which included Saskia—and could go after them.
And what did Jack care? He’d done his part. He’d uncovered the real crime behind the heists. As far as he was concerned, he’d done his job. He didn’t need to stick around and clean up the shrapnel.
The door opened and Saskia walked in with a tray of four coffees. She set them on the counter, then kissed him. A long, deep, cold kiss. He pulled away and tapped her nose. “You’re an ice queen.”
“Let it go, let it go!” she sang.
“I don’t understand that.”
“I’m actually glad that you don’t. It’s a line from a song featured in a kiddie movie.”
“Do you go to a lot of kiddie movies?”
“There are some you can’t ignore. The coffee is black as Hades’s bellybutton today. It’ll give you a wicked buzz.”
“I generally like to relax and run through the plans on the day of a heist,” he said, “but anything to stay warm.”
“I have to decide which disguise to wear.” Saskia grabbed a cup and veered toward her bedroom.
A while later, Jack wandered into the bedroom and sat on the bed to watch as she browsed through a lot more clothing than he thought a person who should be traveling light should own.
“I’m going with the nondescript white male look.” She pointed to the black skull cap and waggled a black moustache. “Gotta blend in with the boys. What precautions do you usually take?”
“Keep my head down and my cap pulled low. Dark clothing. An awareness of my surroundings without being obvious. But as the driver I’ll have to worry about the vehicle too.”
“Yeah, and did you notice?” She pointed toward the window. “It started raining. And the weatherman predicts it’ll rain through the night.”
“That can’t be good in this cold climate. How does it actually rain?”
“I don’t know, but it’s going to be slippery later. Have you driven on ice?”
“Of course.” Jack sipped his coffee to hide his grimace.
“You haven’t. That’s okay. I have, but it’s been a long time. Just take it slow and don’t slam on the brakes or you’ll end up slipping and sliding like a drunk goose.”
“Have you seen many drunk geese?”
“I’m from Russia,” she stated, as if that was answer enough. And, strangely, it was.
She laid out a black turtleneck sweater and black leggings. Primping at the wig, and not missing a single detail. He did love to watch a master at work. He couldn’t walk away from her. And if she landed in jail? Hell, he couldn’t let that happen. Could he?
“Have you considered my offer?” he asked. “Because I’ll be heading out as soon as we walk away from the bank.”
She tugged back her hair and snapped a rubber band about it to make a ponytail. “You know you have to drop Niles and Clive off at the airport.”
“Right.”
“And you don’t fly?”
“Nope. Gotta keep my feet planted on the ground.”
“How does a quick escape work with the ferry?”
“It’s not easy, but I don’t have as far to fall if anything goes wrong with the boat. Unfortunately, the ferry doesn’t leave until morning, so after I dump the van, I’ll have some waiting around to do. Will it be with you?”
“Jack.” She pulled the skull cap over her hair and propped her hands at her hips. Behind her, the daylight framed her in a soft light. “You asked me who I was last night.”
“And did you figure that out?”
Her smile was anything but mirthful. “I’ve always known who I am, Jack Angelo. Just as I know who you really are.”
He didn’t anticipate the punch, so when her fist swung through the air and clocked him up under the jaw, Jack dropped his coffee cup and his body soared to the left. The momentum toppled him off the side of the bed and he landed on the floor, groaning at the surprisingly powerful force behind that punch.
Saskia stepped over him and leaned down. “I know the first stop you’ll make after you dump the van and head on your merry journey to go off the grid. I know, because I followed you there the other day. That surgeon will remove the chip embedded at the base of your skull.”
Jack gaped, and shuffled up to his elbows.
“Don’t be too surprised,” she said. “You know how people like us work. Everything is covert. You can’t trust anyone, not even yourself.”
“How the hell do you know…?”
She gripped his shirt and yanked it so his shoulders strained to hold the position of subservience beneath her. “I’m with the ECU, Jack Angelo. And you’re my job.”
Chapter 13
Jack jumped up from the floor. His muscles reacted for combat, his arms arching and fists forming, but he cautioned himself. He never hit a woman. Unless that was his only option.
But what she’d just told him!
“You are with the ECU?” he asked, utterly stymied. “I don’t understand? What the hell?”
“I need you to know
this going forward. So we’re on the up and up.” Saskia pulled off the knit cap and tossed it onto the bed. “You’re my job, Jack. The Elite Crimes Unit had a suspicion that you’d go AWOL sooner rather than later, and they assigned me to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Jack ran his fingers over his scalp. Processing what she was saying proved difficult, and yet, at the same time, he well knew that the ECU had him under surveillance. All the time. He wore a damn chip, for fucks sake! And he lived in an apartment the ECU had assigned him. He drove a beat-up old BMW the ECU had given him. And he received a minimal salary for his work.
Yet still, they could have no idea why he wanted out at this particular moment. Could they? No. He’d been careful. He hadn’t made any traceable calls, written anything down. All the texts from those holding Jonny had been received on a burner phone. Had the ECU managed to hack into it? Anything was possible. And with expert hackers at the helm? He should never doubt that they knew every step he took.
Saskia had been assigned to make sure he didn’t leave? Was she supposed to convince him staying in the ECU would give him the best life, make everything all romance and roses?
Now that he considered it… Was she seducing him in order to ensure his alliances remained to the ECU?
She had been very forward sexually.
“I thought if I didn’t fulfill my contract to the ECU I was to serve the remainder of the prison sentence,” Jack said. Or end up six-feet under. “Why did they send you to do this? Whatever this is. Are you screwing me in hopes I’ll fall in love with you or something?”
“What? Give me a break. I don’t need to seduce a man to make him do what I want.”
“Yeah? What is it then? Are you going to bring me in so they can lock me up and this time throw away the key?”
“I don’t have that information. What the ECU decides to do with you is classified. I’ve only been told to keep you from going off the grid. That’s my real assignment. Yours is the heists. You don’t know what a bitch it has been serving Clive for a month just waiting for the ECU to send you to me.”
“I can’t believe this! They expected I’d run?”
Impossible. He’d only been contacted about Jonny last week. Could the ECU be involved? If they were, what kind of fucked up—
“I followed you to the surgeon’s place the other day,” Saskia said. “Did you make an appointment to have that chip taken out?”
He squeezed a hand at the back of his neck. He couldn’t feel the tiny chip, but had been conscious when it had been planted at the base of his skull with some kind of injection gun. Just like chipping a dog.
How had he not noticed a tail when he’d gone to meet the doctor? Of course, she couldn’t have looked like the woman he would expect to see and get suspicious about. She’d probably been wearing a disguise. She was a goddamned chameleon!
“How do you think you’re going to stop me?” he challenged. “Are you going to physically detain me? You haven’t the chops for that, little girl. Even if you do stop me now, nothing will prevent me from leaving sooner or later.”
Though it was now or never for him. He was all in. Because he had to be for Jonny.
“Why the escape, Jack? You agreed to serve your time to the ECU in exchange for getting out of prison. You owe the ECU.” Straightening, she crossed her arms. “I gotta tell you. I thought you had more integrity than to ditch a contract.”
That one stung. Jack prided himself on integrity. As larcenous and bloody as it had been. But he was a man of his word. Only, that word always favored family first. “You don’t know me.”
“Oh yeah? I know you’ve got a thing for me, and you want me to go on the lam with you.”
“I suggested you tag along for a while. We like fucking each other. That’s all.”
She paced before the window. But when she cast a knowing smile at him, Jack had to caution his needy heart. “If you stay with the ECU, you can fuck me whenever you like.”
“Really?” He shook his head. “That’s how you’re going to do this? Prostitute yourself to achieve success?”
Saskia inhaled sharply and shook her head. “It’s not like that. I would never do that. And don’t you dare accuse me of such. Jack, I—” She fisted the air. “I know the urge to run is strong. I’ve felt it once in a while, too. But then I get smart. What’s so terrible about your life that you have to abandon it? I mean, you’re doing something you enjoy, aren’t you?”
“You think I like busting faces and breaking ribs?” Jack strode out of the bedroom, incensed that her opinion of him was so low.
Saskia followed and grabbed his arm. He roughly pulled away, not wanting to be near her. She’d revealed herself as the enemy. And he—he needed to get out of here and think about this. Get his head on straight.
And make a call to London before everything went bonkers tonight.
“Clive doesn’t trust you,” she said.
“What the hell do you care? Apparently that’s not even your job, is it?”
“It is and it’s not. Clive is leery of you, Jack. He told me.”
“So what will he do? Poison me? I doubt that. The man hasn’t the bollocks. Besides, if you ask me, his suspicions lie with you. And apparently for good reason. But I don’t get it. You’re not working the heist? You have no stake in catching Clive out with the goods?”
“That’s my secondary mission. You are my first.”
“Christ. I need some air.”
“You have to stick around for the heist, Jack!”
The job was to occur tonight. He would drive getaway, and secure the break-in along with Niles. And yet, he’d already reported to the ECU his suspicions regarding what the focus of his assignment had been: to learn what Clive was doing during the heists. Anything that happened from here on was not on his ticket.
“Jack, stay here and talk to me!”
He grabbed his coat and shoved his feet into his shoes. “You don’t get to tell me what to do! In fact, maybe I’ll make sure Clive’s trust for you fails. How would you deal with that?”
“We’re working for the same team. At least until you decide to go AWOL. Jack!”
He slammed the door behind him and clattered down the stairs, cursing himself for such a childish comeback. He wouldn’t do anything to endanger Saskia because—
No, he wasn’t going to think it. To do so would acknowledge how much he cared about the woman. Because he did. He’d asked her to go along with him and he’d meant it.
She had scammed him. Played him from the moment he’d set foot on the ferry to Helsinki. Stupid, idiot bastard that he was.
“Bloody hell, this mission is cocked up.”
* * * *
Saskia tossed a shoe across the room and slammed her body down onto the lumpy sofa cushions. She shouldn’t have told him.
She had to tell him. Maybe?
Part of her had wanted to tell so she could solicit his trust and confidence. They were working on the same team! They had that in common. And she had divulged information that Jack might like to know so he could alter his path. He didn’t want to get sent back to prison.
Unfortunately, she might have just given him a reason to never trust her again.
And she might have blown the mission.
She should have followed him out of the apartment and tracked his every move. He could be headed to the surgeon’s office right now, to have the GPS chip removed. After which, she’d never find him.
But no. She knew Jack Angelo. Not well. But she knew his pride and his heart. He had committed to this heist and he would see it through to the end. And on the brief report Saskia had gotten as an e-mail a few days before she’d begun following Jack, the ECU psychologist had indicated he didn’t believe Angelo would take off until the mission was complete. He never left a job unfinished. The man was a stickler for integrity.
He needed air right now. Had to be his reason for storming out. It would be wise if she let him boil until he settled to a simmer.
And now that it was all out there, and he started to think clearly, they could work together during the heist and nail Clive. The man intended to poison someone. She should have asked Jack if he’d called in to the ECU with the information about the poison.
She’d been deep undercover and hadn’t communicated with headquarters at all, save for immediately following the previous heist. She’d initially been assigned to work with Clive because the man had completed a heist before the first one she’d worked and he’d walked out with nothing. And then after she had joined, nothing for a second heist. The ECU had thought it best she go deep, keep contact minimal. Because they had no clue who Clive was connected to and how close they were watching.
Only the day before she’d been alerted by the ECU that her mission had been altered—that they were sending in a new man to work the heist case—had she broken that deep cover. She’d been pissed about the altered mission, but also intrigued. Keep an eye on one of her own? What did they expect him to do, exactly, besides going off the grid? And why was he so valuable to them that they’d make the effort of trying to keep him on board? Jack hadn’t shown her any remarkable skills that she believed the unit would find singularly valuable.
Unless there was an aspect to this assignment she didn’t know about. Very possible. The ECU liked to keep back details. Need to know were three words that drove her crazy.
A lot was going on, and Saskia suddenly felt as if she hadn’t a finger on a single bit of what was happening in her orbit. She wasn’t sure about her position with Clive. She had no poison to hand over to him; she’d have to concoct the fake this afternoon. And she might have lost any ground she might have gained with Jack.
“I need to call the ECU,” she muttered. Yet a call-in would be like signaling her failure. “Right. Not going to make that call. I can do this. As soon as the heist is complete I’ll stick to Angelo like glue. He won’t have a chance to go AWOL. And with luck, we’ll have confirmation on what Clive is up to. He’ll be arrested, and the case can be closed.”
