Tabatha stood and then smoothed a hand through his hair. "Darling, you almost look nervous."
"We don't have a lot of backup, sweetheart. So I’d like to get in and out, preferably before the cops are called."
She laughed. "Please, you know Rook won't let that happen. The moment a call goes into our units, he's going to redirect them."
"True, but still, there are guards, so let's be fast about this, yeah?"
"I couldn't agree more."
We all had our own set of suction grips. And once I had the comm unit in my ear, I could hear Westin St. James’s voice in my ear. "Ah, the villain. I'm glad you're here."
"Oh, someone's feeling smart."
"Yeah, I wasn't exactly thrilled about it. Saff doesn't even know."
I slid a glance over to Gabe. "So she's new Ops Command, and you still haven't told her?"
"We still have some things to debrief."
Fucking hell. That was going to be a war when it happened. "That’s an understatement."
Tabatha waved her arms. "Yeah, that's going to be awful. I'm going to have to fess up that I've been holding a secret from her, but we have to have the meeting with her. It's only been a month since she took over. It's been a little busy."
"Yeah, but it's happening,” Gabe agreed. “By the time we deal with Massimo, she'll know."
"Right. So look for targets on my back then."
He shrugged. "My sister is pretty level-headed. Most of the time anyway."
"Yes, I remember. Except when she threatened to kill me and cut off my balls."
We began the climb, and the ascent was grueling. We all had our climbing shoes on, but there were no knots. And we were headed to the bloody tenth floor.
I reached my destination only a hair ahead of Gabe, and Tabatha was right behind him. I had my laser out in seconds, bracing myself against one ledge and using it to cut an entry hole in the window.
Once I had one big enough for Gabe and myself, we both waited for Tabatha to climb through. She was responsible for helping pull us through. Gabe made me go first, and then him.
Once we were inside, Tabatha pulled out a machine I'd only seen once in the field. She waved the wand over the climbing grips, and a blue light shone on all of them. Then they all dropped to ten stories below, making a smacking sound as they hit.
I knew the polymer they were made of wouldn't break, but there were probably some divots in the concrete and gravel below.
"We'll find another way out of here," she said.
Excellent. I'd planned to rappel, but it would be interesting to see how they planned to leave.
Once in Pratt’s office, I picked up the bugs I'd planted and then grabbed the cloning device from underneath his laptop.
It was lit green. All his files had been copied.
Gabe gave me a sharp nod as he and Tabatha stood watch at the door.
"That's what I would have done too."
I chuckled. "I'm so glad you approve."
The three of us went out the door and down the hall.
We reached the supply closet just in time as we saw the lights of the guards headed our way. I knew they wouldn't walk into the office unless they saw something disturbing, so we had some time.
Tabatha frowned. "How are we getting down to the vault?"
I grinned and pointed up.
Thanks to the schematic maps I had, I knew the vent that was in Pratt's office led along this hallway. It was far less risky for us to climb up here than in his office.
Turning a bucket over, I stood on it and removed the grate.
I was up and through in seconds. It was a tight fucking fit, but we’d make it work.
I didn't wait for Gabe or Tabatha. They were professionals, and they knew what to do. Working our way through the vents was grueling work. Some turns were hard to make, and it took a total of twenty minutes. But finally, we made it to the vent chute that led to the vault.
Bracing with my feet and my palms was rough work, but I finally managed to reach into my tool belt and pull out the cooling canister. I opened the grate and then dropped it down.
The dry ice quickly started to spread, cooling the room rapidly. The thermometer I'd pointed at the room finally read the temperature I needed, and then I let myself drop down to the ground.
Less than thirty seconds later, Tabatha was behind me, and then Gabe followed her. Tabatha gave me a nod of what I thought was appreciation, and she and Gabe took up their posts again at our likely egress.
The way the vault was designed, obviously, it should be locked from the outside.
No one ever assumed anyone would need to walk out of the vault. That would likely change. I went to the box that I needed and began drilling. My watch buzzed, telling me we had exactly fifteen minutes to get the hell out of there before the temperature of the room became an issue.
It took me five minutes to get the box open. And then after that, it was easy. I reached in and pulled out the Ledger. The final Ledger.
And to be a wanker, I took all the cash and the passports, too. And then I put the box back. You could tell it had been opened, but not at first glance. I wanted him to have hope when he came back for it. My watch buzzed. "That's our cue. We have to move."
I stood on the table and groaned as I glowered at the vent. "This is going to hurt."
Pulling myself back up was more of a chore. But this was the plan. It had always been the plan.
It took us only fifteen minutes to make it back up to Pratt's floor before the next round of guards were coming. And then we had to use a decoder to get back into his office.
Two minutes to go. I could almost hear the guards with their flashlights walking the other way again.
"Come on, come on, come on, let's go. Fucking hell."
When the decoder flashed green, I muttered a curse and then all three of us went through the door, closing it quietly behind us. We hooked a knot around the heavy oak desk, and Tabatha went first, rappelling down the side of the building.
She shook the rope, and Gabe stared at me and said, "You next."
"Bullshit. You."
He crossed his arms. "No."
I narrowed my gaze. "Fuck you."
He flashed a grin. "Age before beauty."
"I'll remember this."
"Yeah, remember that I came to cover your arse."
"I don't owe you a favor for this. I could have done this on my own."
"You could have. But it's not wise to do so. You're not a lone wolf. Face it, we’re family. Like it or not."
“No. Don’t like it.”
Gabe just smirked.
Once I was on the ground, I discovered Gabe was right behind me. And then he jostled the rope and it released. The only evidence that we had been there was the big gaping hole in the window.
Once we had our bags packed, we all ran to the end of the alley where a nondescript gray van waited. A smiling Westin St. James opened the side door. Westin was another Rogues agent I’d worked with before.
I gave him a nod in greeting. As far as most Rogues were concerned, I was the villain of their story. I was the bad guy. They thought I was locked up in a black site because of my involvement with The Syndicate. Gabe had known I was a deep cover agent for years. His wife had found out after I’d helped rescue them from a spot of trouble earlier in the year. As for Westin, he was the Rogues best hacker. But he thought I was one of the bad guys.