Thieves Till We Die

by Stephen Cole

  ‘Is that, like, a line?’ she asked, deadpan. He grinned and so did she, but she caught the anxiety in his eyes. ‘Yeah, I have, a couple of times. And yeah, it never stops being scary as hell.’

  ‘But still you do what Coldhardt says.’

  ‘What else am I going to do?’ She shot him a look. ‘Anyway, you can’t be complaining about our latest assignment: Go back to the swanky new base in New Mexico and start mucking about with your precious computers –’

  ‘Hey! I’m sorting out the computer hub, thank you, the heart of Coldhardt’s –’

  ‘– mucking about with your precious computers in between lounging and doing nothing. Apart from fixing me drinks and food.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’

  ‘Yeah! Coldhardt’s not getting a cook in till next month!’

  ‘Well, it’s lucky I make a mean Pot Noodle, then.’ Jonah smiled. ‘OK, I admit it – we didn’t pull the shortest straw. I’m in no hurry to meet this Kabacra guy with the others. Saw his picture in the containment vessel, and I’d rather look at Patch’s bum anyday.’

  ‘Oh yes?’ She arched an eyebrow. ‘Something you want to tell me?’

  He smiled, then blushed just slightly. ‘Lots,’ he said.

  Tye’s mouth went dry for a moment. ‘Well,’ she said briskly, ‘I’m supposed to be teaching you to fly this thing. Not that you really need me. You’re getting good.’

  Jonah grimaced. ‘Can’t drive a car to save my life but I’m OK in a plane. My life’s turned totally mental.’

  She put the plane on to autopilot. ‘But you’re happier than when you were in prison, right? All alone, no family, no –’

  ‘Of course I am. With you and the guys, it feels like …’ He trailed off, self-conscious. ‘Suppose I’d be even happier without the armed guards, the bullets and all that.’

  ‘Well, I guess we’d all like to make as good a living singing carols in old people’s homes and selling cookies door to door,’ said Tye. ‘But think how quick you’d get bored. Think how ordinary people must have it, doing the same dull stuff day after day.’

  ‘I wouldn’t mind taking a holiday to Dullsville now and then.’

  ‘Wise up, Jonah,’ she said, not unkindly, as she thought about her time running contraband between the Caribbean islands. ‘There’s a price on anything worth having.’

  ‘Uh-huh.’ He looked out of the cabin window, lost in thought. Then he got out of the co-pilot’s seat. ‘So I suppose we should get on with the lesson. Can I take over here?’

  ‘Go right ahead,’ she told him, rising to take his place. ‘You have control.’

  He smiled ruefully back at her. ‘I wish.’

  Coldhardt’s newly acquired base was a huge ranch in northern New Mexico set in five hundred acres of wild terrain. Jonah stood on the veranda as the sun slowly set, listening to the gentle rush of the Tierra Amarilla river flowing carelessly through the grounds, just as he had before they’d flown out to Guatemala.

  The black speck of a helicopter whirred quietly through the darkening sky, and Jonah wondered where it was going. Growing up, he’d had a thing about planes and their destinations – always wishing he was on board, flying out of his miserable home-life. Now, to his amazement, he was actually glad his feet were on the ground. He’d already made a start on getting the computers up and running. Structurally, everything was in place, so he’d cabled up the patch panels and tonight he’d start on –

  ‘Nice, huh?’ Tye had come to join him with a couple of beers.

  ‘Yep, they’re the best beers I ever saw.’

  It was a lame joke, but he was pleased to see she smiled anyway. ‘You can’t help but lose yourself in a sunset like that,’ she said.

  ‘Er, right.’ That and the joys of network hubs. ‘Cheers.’ He took a long swig from one of the bottles. ‘So, does Coldhardt’s getting this little holiday home mean he’ll be losing one of his others?’

  ‘Maybe,’ said Tye. ‘He had a base in Bucharest he sold off last year when he bought the castello in Siena. The main base in Geneva is his only real home, I guess. The others he just buys and sells as and when it’s convenient.’

  Jonah shook his head, bemused. ‘I’ll bet that if his car ran out of petrol he’d leave it at the roadside and buy another.’

  ‘Uh-uh. I’m his driver. I carry a petrol can in the back.’ She necked her beer. ‘There is something about this place though. Found it while I was looking around. Something I haven’t seen in any of Coldhardt’s other homes.’

  ‘The mysterious act would work better if you didn’t have beer froth on your nose,’ Jonah teased her.

  ‘Want to see?’

  ‘See what?’

  ‘Follow me.’ She took him by the hand and led him back into the spacious living room. The swift clomping of her low-heeled shoes on the hardwood floor was a close match for his heart. He wanted to squeeze her fingers, or grip her hand more firmly, but what if she snatched it away? What if she just stared at him, or laughed in his face – or landed a punch there instead? Tye kickboxed, she was not someone you wanted to mess with …

  He tried to stay unflustered as she went on towing him through to the dining room, into the hall and down some stairs to the wine cellar, her fingers soft and warm around his sweaty hand. She led him towards the rear of the room, then, to his surprise, squeezed between two large dusty racks of vintage red and drew him up close beside her.

  He looked at her in the dim light, confused, excited, silently urging himself to just lean in and kiss her. Surely she would be OK with that if she had led him –

  ‘It’s here,’ she whispered, then turned away from him to face the wall. Her fingers twitched at a black covering there, pulling at it to reveal a chunky slab of metal. It took Jonah a couple of seconds to process what he was seeing: a door, formidable-looking like it belonged in a bank vault. It gleamed dully in the low light.

  Jonah pushed his hands in his pockets, as if trying to stuff his disappointment down there. ‘I, er … I guess this wasn’t something left behind by the last owners. Sneaky old Motti, huh, coming up with this on the quiet.’

  ‘If it was Motti.’ Tye looked at him. ‘You heard the way he was bitching about being overworked trying to secure the grounds before we left. He never once mentioned this.’

  ‘Maybe it’s a secret.’

  ‘If he was keeping something back, I’d know.’ Tye looked thoughtful. ‘Why would Coldhardt send just the two of us back here, Jonah?’

  ‘Duh! Because I’m fixing up the computers here, and as designated pilot you have to take me.’

  ‘But if he’s going to meet with Kabacra, does he really need Motti, Patch and Con to hold his hand?’

  Jonah shrugged. ‘He must figure he needs them for something.’

  ‘Or else he doesn’t want the locksmith, the security man and the greedy girl to stumble on this while he’s away.’ Tye’s dark eyes were agleam. ‘I think it’s his private collection. His buried treasure.’

  ‘New Mex marks the spot.’ Jonah felt a slow smile spreading over his face. ‘I guess he has to keep his stash of goodies somewhere, right?’

  She nodded enthusiastically. ‘Can you imagine how much his collection must be worth? How much he must have in there?’

  ‘By the look of that door, you’d need a nuclear bomb to get inside.’

  Tye grimaced. ‘Just ask Kabacra to fetch one.’

  Just then they heard a muffled crash from upstairs. Both of them jumped. ‘What the hell was that?’ breathed Jonah.

  ‘The grounds are secured,’ Tye reminded him, rearranging the black curtain. ‘Motti designed the systems himself.’

  ‘And like we’ve just agreed, he’s been overworked.’

  ‘Probably just the wind, knocking something over. We left the veranda doors open, remember?’ She placed her hand on his chest, gave him a gentle push. ‘But we should go check.’

  Jonah didn’t move. He liked feeling her hand there. She didn’t move it. He realised the
rhythm of her breathing matched his own. There was a look in her eyes, like she was daring him to make the first move.

  He was just edging his face closer to hers when they heard it again.

  ‘Come on,’ said Tye, steering him firmly out of her way now, the moment lost. She quickly crossed the cellar and scaled the staircase. Jonah swore under his breath and jogged after her.

  But when he emerged into the brighter light of the hallway, there was no sign of her. ‘Tye?’ he called, and walked through to the dining room.

  Too late he saw the dark figure hiding behind the door jump out at him. Jonah twisted round and brought his arms up over his face to deflect the blow he glimpsed coming, but it was like being whacked with an iron bar. He fell backwards, gasping as the heavy mahogany edge of the dining table bit into his spine. As his attacker rushed towards him, masked in black from head to foot, Jonah threw himself back on the table, brought up both legs and kicked out with all his strength. His feet crunched into the face beneath the balaclava; by the grunt of pain that came back at him, his attacker was male.

  Swiftly, Jonah performed a backward roll and slithered off the table, keeping it between him and his assailant. The masked man had slumped to the floor, but was he really dazed or just shamming? More importantly, where the hell was Tye?

  Leaving the man where he lay, Jonah hurried into the living room – in time to see Tye’s prone body being carried out on to the veranda by two burly guys, also in masks. A far shorter man was urging them on.

  ‘Get off her!’ Jonah bawled.

  ‘Quickly, Xavier!’ the smaller man called back into the house, in a well-educated voice.

  Jonah looked around for a likely weapon, settled for a heavy candlestick and started after them. Please don’t be armed, he thought, feeling sick with fear and adrenaline.

  But then sudden ragged footfalls behind him signalled the return of his attacker – Xavier. Jonah turned, swung the candlestick, but it was knocked from his hand by a hard blow to the wrist. Vivid green eyes blazed into his own and suddenly Xavier’s other hand was clamped tight round Jonah’s throat, forcing him to the floor. Jonah flailed out with both arms but couldn’t twist clear of the man’s grip, couldn’t breathe. The pressure began to build in his head, and the man’s masked face blurred in Jonah’s vision. He felt something drip on to his cheek. Blood, he thought, I hurt him. So he reached out, grabbed Xavier’s nose through his mask and twisted hard.

  With a shout of pain his attacker recoiled, and Jonah tore himself free, gulping down air. If I’m going to stand a chance I have to end this quickly, he told himself, and threw himself on top of the masked man. He aimed a punch but Xavier bucked beneath him, and Jonah lost his balance. As he toppled sideways on to the hardwood floor, his fingers snagged on something round the man’s neck, something that came away in his frantic grip.

  By the time Jonah had rolled over and got up on his knees, Xavier was back on his feet. He kicked Jonah in the chest, sending him sprawling backwards into the fireplace. The metal grate hammered into the back of Jonah’s skull, sent bright lights and patterns flashing over his vision. Terrified of what Xavier might do next, gritting his teeth, Jonah forced himself to get back up, raised his fists.

  But by the time his vision had cleared, so had the room. He was alone.

  ‘Tye?’ Jonah shouted, stumbling over to the veranda. The cold mountain air stung his cheeks, and soon he was shivering. ‘Tye!’ He put his hand to the back of his head. It came away sticky with a thick slime of blood.

  God, that’s mine, he thought, and finally passed out.

  Chapter Four

  Patch rubbed his good eye blearily, wondering what the hell was going on. He was still shagged out from getting no sleep the night before, and could’ve done without being on parade in Coldhardt’s room at half-two in the morning. Motti and Con stood stiff and silent, one either side of him. They didn’t look too happy about it either.

  Coldhardt emerged from his bedroom carrying his super-slim laptop, dressed immaculately as ever in his dark suit. He surveyed them each in turn. ‘Some hours ago,’ he began, ‘the New Mexico base was broken into and Tye abducted.’

  Patch felt like someone had slung a bucket of water over him. ‘What?’ he said stupidly, like he hadn’t heard, but Con and Motti were just as startled.

  ‘I wasn’t finished testing the security,’ Motti said. ‘I mean, Jeez, we’re not even properly moved in there yet.’

  ‘What else did they take?’ Con demanded. ‘Tye’s mobile has all our numbers –’

  ‘Nothing was touched. Apart from Jonah. He’s taken a beating, but insists he’s fine. He’s called Tye’s phone. It was still in her room.’

  Motti rubbed the back of his neck. ‘Why take Tye? Ransom?’

  ‘Then why not take Jonah too?’ said Coldhardt. ‘More profitable.’

  ‘Kabacra, maybe,’ said Con. ‘He might have kidnapped Tye to get a hold over you.’

  Motti shook his head. ‘If he knows we ripped him off, why not grab one of us from this hotel? Hell of a lot easier.’

  ‘It doesn’t sound like it was much trouble getting inside the ranch.’ Coldhardt fixed him with a glare. ‘I shall expect a comprehensive report on the state of those security systems upon your return to the estate.’

  ‘If you’d only let me oversee the guys who installed them like I asked –’

  Something pale and dangerous flashed in Coldhardt’s eyes. ‘Never question my decisions, Motti.’

  Motti nodded mutely.

  ‘In any case, Jonah’s found us something to go on,’ Coldhardt continued. ‘One of the intruders left this behind.’ He tapped a key to wake up his laptop, and the image of a circular amulet made of jade came up big on the screen. Engraved on the front was some sort of cartoonish birdman, with a big beak, muscular wing-arms and titchy legs like the artist had run out of room.

  ‘The design is antique Mesoamerican,’ Coldhardt informed them. ‘It is centuries old, and almost certainly worn by a particular sect of Aztec priests.’

  ‘Aztecs,’ Patch realised. ‘Them people Cortes conquered, right?’

  ‘Lived in Mexico, five or six hundred years ago,’ Con agreed. ‘Big empire, big on sacrifice –’

  ‘Big whoop,’ Motti put in sourly. ‘Back to the amulet. Do we think Tye was taken by an art collector?’

  Coldhardt shook his head. ‘I believe this particular symbol has been adopted by a secret society calling themselves Sixth Sun. Their beliefs are apparently influenced by those of the Mesoamericans.’

  ‘What, they believe in feathered serpents and jaguar men and all that crap?’ Motti frowned. ‘Gotta be crackpots.’

  Con looked less amused. ‘If they are responsible for breaching our defences and kidnapping Tye, they could be very dangerous crackpots, no?’

  Patch liked the sound of this less and less. ‘How’d you know about them, Coldhardt?’

  ‘It was when I heard of Sixth Sun’s interest in Cortes’s sword some time ago that I became certain the weapon’s existence was more than just rumour. Naturally I checked them out, just as I would any business rival.’ Coldhardt’s face clouded slightly, enough to put the wind up Patch. ‘In this case, it seems secret society really does mean secret. I could find out next to nothing about them.’

  Con shrugged. ‘But if they have links with Kabacra, they must be in the arms trade, no?’

  ‘Whoever they are,’ said Patch fiercely, ‘we’ve got to get to these Sixth Sun-of-a-bitches and get Tye back, fast!’

  Coldhardt ignored him. ‘Motti, a taxi is waiting outside reception to take you to the airstrip at El Péten. You’ll take the six a.m. flight back to New Mexico and go straight to the base to check security. I want to know how these people breached our defences.’

  Motti raised his eyebrows. ‘Thought I was s’posed to work on getting you into Kabacra’s place, once you found it?’

  ‘Plans change. Go.’

  Motti nodded. ‘Am I gonna have to nursemai
d Jonah, too?’

  ‘He is already using his computer skills to scour the Internet for further information on Sixth Sun. Now, get on with it.’

  Dismissed, Motti slouched from the room.

  ‘What about the rest of us?’ wondered Patch.

  ‘We still have our other business to attend to,’ Coldhardt replied, closing up the laptop. ‘Namely, this meeting with Kabacra. Thanks to Patch’s work at the nuclear complex, we now know the whereabouts of his base of operations.’

  Patch frowned. ‘What did I do?’

  ‘It seems the number code you cracked with the bit-buster – 15-30-90-15 – was not picked at random. Turns out a similar series of numbers was imprinted on my reconnaissance photos of the nuclear power station – precise latitude and longitude co-ordinates for the location.’

  Con raised an eyebrow. ‘So Kabacra’s code was a set of co-ordinates, yes?’

  He nodded. ‘Located at 15′ 30″ north, 90′ 15″ west in the middle of Guatemala is a large colonial-style mansion. The locals say the owner is a foreigner with a scarred face.’ He looked at them both. ‘I have invited all three of us round to deliver certain of his missing swords in person.’

  ‘No wonder you don’t need Motti.’ Con smiled. ‘We can walk in through the front door.’

  ‘So you were serious about giving them swords back.’ Patch sighed. ‘Are you gonna ’fess up that we nicked ’em?’

  ‘No. Merely that we have located them, and wish to return them to their rightful owner. I want to put Kabacra in a generous frame of mind. But if he is not prepared to give, then we will take.’ He looked at them both, his eyes like cold stones. ‘Acquiring Cortes’s sword has to be our top priority.’

  Along with getting Tye back again, Patch willed him to add.

  But Coldhardt’s mind was clearly elsewhere. ‘Con, book the best car you can find for seven o’clock this morning. Oh, and just so you know – Kabacra has warned me that at the first sign of a double-cross we shall be taken and executed by a firing squad in the grounds.’ Coldhardt leaned forwards. ‘It goes without saying, we must play this one very carefully.’