Chapter 16
Surprisingly, as the night grew longer, the air seemed to warm. It wasn’t a noticeable feeling on his skin. Jack hadn’t stopped shivering since arriving in Finland, and was sure he wouldn’t thaw out until he left the country. But the ice on the roads seemed to be melting just enough to provide traction and not send the vehicle sliding across the intersection when he slammed on the brakes.
A man on a bicycle pedaled past him, waving and rolling onward, as if it wasn’t two in the morning and he wasn’t riding outside in ten below weather. Must have chains on those thick rubber wheels.
“This is a nutty place,” Jack muttered as he circled the bank block. He didn’t note any other vehicles—especially not police vehicles—and then pulled into the alleyway. But if the ECU were on them tonight, they had to be in the area. Waiting for the signal. The all’s clear.
He rubbed the back of his neck where the GPS chip had been embedded. They knew exactly where he was right now.
Once parked, he turned off the ignition and checked his phone for texts. Nothing about Jonny. And Kierce Quinn hadn’t contacted him either.
“Wait and see mode,” he muttered glumly.
Sucking in a dry breath as he entered the chill night air, he slipped, literally, inside the accounting office’s back door. Wandering up to the front window, he looked out over the street. Calm and quiet. Save the bicyclist who turned at the corner. Was the bloke an insomniac or just crazy?
“Gives me new appreciation for London’s wacky weather,” he said. The British Isles were having a heat wave right now with temps in the forties.
Confident all was clear, Jack crawled through the drilled hole. He was a tight squeeze, for his shoulders and biceps, which he managed only with his jacket off. No suit and tie tonight. He wore a dark pullover shirt and dark trousers. He wasn’t going to advertise to any CCTV cameras.
Entering the main hallway, he saw Niles and Saskia down the hallway, kneeling before the safe. If she cracked that in another half hour he’d give her a standing ovation. She was working old school. She hadn’t brought along a drill, which would provide a sight for her to peer in with a borescope and watch the inner mechanism as she twisted the outer combination dial. She worked by touch. He liked that.
He’d taken a moment before they’d entered the bank to touch her, to make contact. He would still take her along with him if she wanted to go. Yeah, he’d be that stupid. He’d have to set her up in a hideaway until he’d finished his business in London, but then, off the grid. Completely.
Did he dare tell her everything? He’d already alluded to her about a family issue. He’d wanted her to know there was a reason he was doing this, and it wasn’t simply because he no longer wanted to fulfill his contract to the ECU. He’d never walk away on a bargain unless the stakes were so high he had no choice. And they were high. Jonny’s life was in danger.
So he’d walk away from a reasonably good thing and take on the unknown. And he wasn’t about to let a pretty face trip him up when he was so close.
But close to what, exactly? Freedom? He wasn’t stupid. If he went off the grid he’d never live another day as a free man. The years and future decades would see him always looking over his shoulder, wondering if the next time he said “hi” to a passing stranger it would be the law looking to bring him down. It was possible to lose oneself in the world. But only for so long. And he suspected the ECU would be a determined foe, not ceasing their efforts to ensure he was punished for leaving them when he still owed them work.
Rock and a hard place, bloke.
Unsure whether Saskia had yet taken a walk downstairs, he decided to play a hunch that she had not and aimed for the safe deposit box room in the basement. Down the eight stairs, then a swing to the left as he’d walked that day he’d been here to check the place out. And he got a surprise.
The vault door was open wide. A beam of light wavered from within as if a flashlight were moving about.
Knowing he’d be catching the predator while at the feeding hole, Jack had to be cautious not to surprise him. Tilting his head left to right and loosening his muscles, he then flexed his fists and approached slowly. He cleared his throat as he neared the door. The light beam brightened to indicate someone was nearing the door. Jack quickened his steps and made it to the door just as Clive slipped out. He only had a moment to scan the back wall of the room. No open box doors and nothing out of order.
“Jack. What are you doing down here?”
“Everything is A-OK upstairs, so thought I’d take a look around.” He noted the edge of a gas mask peeking behind Clive’s hip; he’d tucked it in a back pocket. “How you doing down here? I see you got the vault open. You beat Saskia.”
“I had expected to. The vault door down here was an easy crack.”
“Then why even bother having her work the safe upstairs?”
Clive’s brows crimped and Jack could feel the man’s tension. He wasn’t going to answer that question. And he didn’t expect him too. He knew what was up. And the man didn’t have anything in hand. Also, expected.
“It’s a good thing you came back in,” Clive said. “Time to pack up shop and get the hell out of here.”
“Uh, okay. I guess that was the plan. First room we crack, then we’re out. You need help carrying out anything from the room?”
Clive dug into his pants pocket and pulled out a small silver box that might hold a piece of jewelry or it could even be a prized possession in and of itself. “Nice, eh?”
“That’s it? Doesn’t make sense.”
“No questions, Jack. I answer to someone else. This is what they wanted.”
Ready to ask “what the fuck is that gas mask doing in your pocket,” Jack paused as Clive hefted the silver box and caught it smartly on his palm. So he changed his question. “That’s it? That’s the job?”
“You just got paid half a million. What do you care?”
“Then why the—?” He gestured in the direction of the safe. He wasn’t going to get answers, but he wasn’t going to not try. “I don’t get it.”
“You don’t need to. Are you dissatisfied with the little amount of work you’ve had to put in, in order to earn your keep tonight?”
“No, but—”
“No buts.” He gave the vault door wheel a spin. Taking out a cloth, Clive wiped the stainless steel, despite still wearing gloves. “Get the van ready.”
Clive started to walk by him and Jack caught his palm against the man’s chest, slamming him against the wall. “I need to know what the hell is going on before I go anywhere.”
Now that he stood so close to him, and got a good look at his face, Jack thought Clive’s eyes looked glossy. And his smirk was slippery, almost loose. It was a weird thing to notice. But the man was normally so tight and in control. Did nerves do that to him?
“I don’t like your sudden switch in alliance, Jack.”
“It’s not a switch. I’m your man. No worries. But a bloke has a right to know what he’s involved in.”
“Jack?” Niles wandered down the hallway, tugging earbuds from his ears so they dangled on the cord about his neck. “What’s up with you two?”
“Jack’s not happy with his paycheck,” Clive said. “You happy with your paycheck, Niles?”
“Hell yeah. And Saskia got another number. We’ve only one left to go.”
Clive roughly tugged away from Jack’s grip and held his gaze in the dim light. But he spoke to Niles. “The job’s done. We’re heading out. Jack was just on his way out to start the van. Right, Jack?”
He had no proof that Clive might have left something—poison—in one of the boxes. But that didn’t matter, because the ECU could alert the bank and order a search after the fact. Which meant he couldn’t call in an arrest on the man tonight. The only thing they’d have on him was the small silver box. And he had no proof that hadn’t been a plant, something Clive had brought in along with him in the event one of them did ask what was up.
Shite. The job was not finished.
But Jack’s choice had been made.
“Yeah. I’ll go get the van started,” he said, and wandered off, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets.
Behind him, he heard Niles say something about this becoming a habit, leaving without taking a thing. Clive’s chuckle echoed down the hallway. There was something weird about that man that he couldn’t quite place a finger on.
Swinging around the corner of the stairwell, Jack topped the main floor and stared down at Saskia, still intent on her job, completely unaware that it was all for nothing.
He’d been close to roughing up Clive in an attempt to get the truth out of him. But that would have blown his cover. Good thing Niles had shown when he had. Yet now, they still had next to nothing. Not without a thorough search of all the safe deposit boxes in that basement vault.
He’d failed the ECU. It didn’t feel right walking away. He never left a job incomplete. But Kierce Quinn’s research had narrowed it down to a single box, or at the most, five possibilities. They could easily locate the target within minutes. Jack tapped the earbud to turn it on.
“You in?” Kierce asked.
“Yes. And now I’m out.”
As Jack bent to crawl through the hole in the wall he looked back, wishing he’d walked up to Saskia and told her that he was sorry. He should tell her that he felt a certain way about her. And that certain way was new and exciting to him.
Now, it was too late.
* * * *
Not terribly surprised at Clive’s announcement the job was complete, Saskia put up a good argument. She only had one number left! She just needed another fifteen minutes. But Clive was insistent.
She packed up her tools, wiped down the safe door and floor for fingerprints, even though she wore latex gloves, and followed the men toward the exit. On the way past the stairs leading down to the safe deposit room she wondered if Jack had opportunity to see inside. She’d heard voices from below and Niles had gone down to take a look. If Jack had gotten a visual on the box, or even the area where Clive had been working, it could help the investigation.
Had he already called it in to the ECU? Would they hear police sirens soon?
A weird nervous energy hastened her steps toward the supply room. Even knowing she had a get-out-of-jail-free card didn’t make her any less eager to get the hell out of Dodge. She needed to confirm with Jack where the mission status was as soon as they could find a moment alone.
After the crew made it through the drill hole, Clive announced they would leave the equipment behind. Standard procedure. They’d worn gloves while drilling, but Niles made a sweep with alcohol wipes over the drill to be safe. The accountant’s office was closed until Monday, same as the bank, so they didn’t expect any of the equipment to be discovered until early that morning. That gave them well over a twenty-four hour head start.
After working up a sweat sitting before the vault door, Saskia braced for the chill air, and held the back door open for the men. The van’s exhaust fumes stirred up a gray cloud around them as Clive climbed in the back, followed by Niles. Saskia walked around to the passenger side and slid in.
Jack was not behind the wheel. And even as her intuition screamed and jumped and cursed her for an idiot, she tried to rationalize.
“Jack must be around the corner,” she said.
“Taking a piss in this weather?” Niles said. “His wanker will freeze off.”
But Clive wasn’t laughing. Nor was Saskia.
“The bastard is gone,” Clive said. He met Saskia’s gaze in the dim light and she shrugged, but she knew her reaction had read as genuine to Clive. And now the real challenge would begin.