Matt Drake 14 - The Treasures of Saint Germain (15 page)

Straight into the blast.

The corridor’s walls bulged, bowed by the initial convulsion. Wooden panels smashed and shattered, some zipping across the corridor like deadly poisoned darts, passing between the runners and striking their body armor. Drake hid his face as they ran the gauntlet, grunting as objects abused his body.

Then the ceiling started to fall.

Plaster rained down, and concrete blocks. Drake hurdled one. A cloud of dust screened the way ahead.

“Drake!” Alicia cried out, and a heavy lump of masonry crashed down inches from his head. Behind, Smyth shielded Lauren, his arm constantly bombarded by falling shrapnel. Kinimaka plowed through the debris, kicking up almost as much rubble as fell around him. Dahl spun in mid-flight, seeing a descending jagged chunk and knowing instinctively that it would strike Hayden. He caught it momentarily in two hands, still running, then redirected its flight with a quick flick of the wrist. Beau twisted between collapsing curtains of wreckage, struck more times than he’d ever tell. Mai and Kenzie hugged opposite sides of the ruined walls, trusting that there would be no third explosion.

Drake staggered as a thick timber spar glanced off his shoulders, sprawling headlong, then rolling, still keeping up the speed. His body screamed, his nerves alight with pain. Dust filled his nose and eyes. They couldn’t be sure what was happening up ahead and all the walls were destroyed, bristling with serrated wood and rough plasterboard edges. Beau kicked a ragged pole of wood aside. Mai used rubble the size of a boulder to leap off to avoid a hole in the floor. Kinimaka barged aside a cascading heap so the others could move quicker.

Drake gained his feet once more, using Alicia and Dahl as they reached arms down to him. The dust was clearing, the noise all but abated. Ahead, the library door appeared intact.

Dahl kicked it off its hinges, anxious to get out of the plaster dust and smoke and into what should be a safe haven. Quickly the team filed through, coughing and hanging their heads, staring at one another and seeing a ragged crew: white haired, white clothed and holding arms and legs where projectiles had struck.

“We all okay?” Drake panted. “Anyone badly hurt?”

All were fine, and then Hayden’s cell rang again. She held it up so all could see the big screen.

Webb again.

“Don’t answer,” Dahl said. “Keep the bastard guessing.”

“You know,” Smyth said, holding his right arm extremely gingerly. “He could have killed us all back there. Wiped us off the map. What gives?”

“Impossible to say,” Hayden said. “Lack of resources. Not enough time. Mistake. Design. Drake’s quick thinking. My call is that the asshole thinks of this as a game, loves it more than family or power. Gets off on it.”

“You think it gives him a boner?” Alicia wondered.

Drake and Dahl choked simultaneously, and not only on dust. “Jeez, Myles, tone it down to PG 13 wouldya? We don’t need to hear that.”

“It’s what you were thinking.”

Dahl blinked. “No actually, it wasn’t at all.”

“What about you, Yorgi? I bet you were wondering.”

The Russian ignored her, which did the trick and stopped her conjectures.

Hayden pocketed her phone and took a three-sixty gander around the library. Stacks of hardbacks rose from floor to ceiling, all sizes, all colors, with no clear labelling system.

“Whatever he found here,” she said. “Will probably stay secret.”

Drake hated to, but tended to agree. “So that leaves us . . . fucked. We don’t know what he’s searching for. What he finds. Or why. Or where he’s going to next. Fucked.”

“Not yet.” The words came surprisingly from Lauren. “I do have one idea.”

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

Drake sipped strong coffee whilst they all crowded around the two-way mirror, staring at Sabrina Balboni as the master thief stared back at them. Trying to read her was an impossibility. Drake wondered what it took to become one of the world’s greatest burglars whilst also adorning yourself in anonymity. How deep the demands, how desperate the craving.

How overwhelming the guilt.

Balboni had chosen a profession that, by necessity, forced her to become a shadow, a true wraith of society. He wondered how her position now, facing prison, would sway her decisions in the next few hours.

Toward the good guys, he hoped. She was their last hope. After this, they were down to good fortune and a trip to Dubai.

Could be worse.
He found his lips were curling up into a private smile, then realized he was staring straight at Mai. The Japanese woman noticed and returned it with warmth. He was caught, wedged between two stormy seas, the future an impenetrable cloud of impossibility. Thankfully, Hayden began to speak and he turned toward her.

“I will go in again. Reiterate the hard line. Then we’ll let Lauren come in and propose the deal.”

Drake listened as Hayden repeated the bleak future Sabrina had to look forward to and, try as she might, the thief just couldn’t keep the horror from her eyes. Alicia took the time to rib Yorgi just a little.

“So what’s it like, Yogi? To stand so close to a
real
thief?”

“What you mean?” The Russian looked suitably annoyed. “I am also real.”

“Not on the same level, dude.” Alicia pointed through the window. “That’s a master. A genius. A light-fingered virtuoso with real-world expertise.”

“I am master thief too!”

Dahl glanced down the passageway. “Hey, keep it down. We’re in a police station.”

“Well, you’re good at impersonating a female, I’ll give you that.” Alicia turned the screw.

“I have proven my skills.” Yorgi sulked.

“Yeah. Your eyebrows are amazing.”

“I think you should leave him alone.” Mai shifted slightly. “There is no time for this.”

“Oh, and the Sprite leaps across the screen to the rescue! No time? Why not? Lauren hasn’t even taught the thief how to do a proper Full Monty yet.”

Mai blinked. “I don’t know what you—”

“I do,” Lauren said. “It is a stripping reference. And that’s not what I’m doing here.”

“Great film, great ending.” Alicia was elsewhere. “And Robert Carlyle.” She sighed. “Just leave me alone for a while.”

Mai glared, then gave Drake a quick shake of the head. The Yorkshire man clapped Yorgi on the shoulders. Hayden waved toward the two-way window.

Lauren entered the room without comment, then took the room’s third and last chair. She smiled at Sabrina, and Drake concentrated on what she had to say.

“There is a way out of this, Sabrina. A way you could help and make a difference.”

Balboni’s face remained neutral, which must have taken a huge effort. “A deal? I should have known.”

“There’s always a deal,” Hayden said. “For those who know how to listen.”

“We want Tyler Webb,” Lauren said. “And right now, you’re our best way of getting close to him. Real close. You’re gonna be our inside man.”

“Man?” Sabrina arched an eyebrow. “And Webb will know that I have been caught. He will meet me again only to kill me.”

“Well, that’s a possibility,” Lauren told her. “But we believe we can coach you to pass his tests,” she paused. “I’ve done it before.”

Now Sabrina narrowed her eyes. “Really? In what way?”

“Doesn’t matter. But I know I can do it.”

“If I wanted to I could do it myself.”

Lauren made a face. “Girl, I don’t think so. We know all about you. Isolation from society is not a platform from which to engage Webb. He’s a businessman, used to dealing face to face, and you don’t have the interpersonal weaponry to fool him.” Lauren spread her hands in response to Sabrina’s stare. “You just don’t.”

“And you say you can show me?”

“Yup. Exactly that.”

“And if I do this? What’s the deal?”

Hayden sat forward. “At the moment, you’re in a good position. All you did was meet up with Webb, swop stories, and slap my team around a little. That’s okay.”

Drake frowned over at Dahl. “Do you think she means it?”

The Swede nodded somewhat glumly. “Of course she does.”

“We will give you immunity from prosecution,” Hayden said. “And a free pass. For twenty four hours.”

Sabrina pouted. “Is that all?”

“You’re a mega thief, finally identified. What did you think was gonna happen?”

“Hey,” Lauren added by way of compensation. “It’s not like you don’t have the skills to disappear again. Continue as a loner. Unhealthy though that could be.”

“More unhealthy than staying on the radar?” Sabrina questioned with a defeated stare.

“We’re getting off track,” Hayden stepped in. “Our offer’s good. And it’s the only way you’ll sniff free air again before you’re past fifty. Listen, Sabrina, you’re halfway credible already because Webb will totally believe you’re capable of escaping.” She spread her hands. “Because you are.”

“Of course. So why don’t I just do that?”

“Because you don’t want to go to prison. I don’t know what they call a supermax over here but that’s where you’ll be taken. And grand master or not, you don’t escape one of those. Ever.”

Sabrina flicked her chin over at Lauren. “So, what skills do you have?”

The New Yorker took that as a victory. “First,” she said. “Take off all your clothes.”

Drake couldn’t help but lean forward, but then so did everyone else watching behind the two-way. Nine bodies were suddenly highly attentive, surprised by Lauren’s words.

Then laughter. “Just joking. Like we said, Webb knows you have the expertise to escape. I can coach you into a believable scenario, the right words to use, and how to gain his trust. How to make him think you like him, respect him, and care about his quest. His beliefs. I can even coach you to make him believe you worship him.”

“Are you serious? What kind of a cop are you?”

Lauren shrugged. “The best kind.”

Drake relaxed his muscles. “Well, she sure knows what she’s doing.”

“Yeah,” Smyth growled. “She has a way with prisoners.”

“Oh, mate,” Drake said. “Give her a chance. She’s working for the good guys.”

“Something is not right with Nicholas Bell,” Smyth said. “And nobody except me seems to see it.”

“What can he do? The guy’s in a bloody supermax. Says he became tangled up with the Pythians and couldn’t get out. He shows remorse. Good psyche results. He’s never once mentioned release. And every lead he’s given us has panned out.”

Smyth stared fixedly at Lauren through the window. “And considering where he is, a Louisianan prison, the guy has everything he needs.”

“You’re not doing so badly yourself,” Kinimaka put in.

“One day,” Smyth grunted. “One day. You will see.”

Drake watched Lauren talk to Sabrina. Time passed. More coffees came, this time with hard Biscotti. He trusted Smyth’s instincts down to the bone and worried that they might all be missing something. But Louisiana was a long way from Barcelona and he saw Hayden fetching a phone in so that Sabrina could make a call.

Another hour went by as Lauren coached the Italian thief. Finally though, she allowed her to make the quick call.

Through the speakers Sabrina and Webb had a brief exchange and, immediately, they all knew the risk using Sabrina Balboni had already paid off.

“I am in Zurich,” Webb told her after a few minutes. “Meet me there.” The man actually sounded relieved.

“Well done, Lauren,” Mai said. “Well done.”

Beau also looked impressed. “She is good, yes?”

“Face to face will be harder,” Smyth said.

“But she has given herself lots more hours,” Kinimaka said. “To work on that. This is the best outcome, guys.”

“Zurich then?” Drake studied the group.

The team inside the small room split up and left a relieved looking Sabrina Balboni alone for a few minutes. Hayden gave a sigh of relief when she returned to the group.

“What do you guys think?”

“I think we should go nail Tyler Webb,” Alicia snarled. “Once and for all. To a fucking tree. Who’s with me?”

Grim nods were made all around.

“Hold your horses, guys,” Drake said. “There’s another issue first. A big one.”

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Drake finished his coffee before elaborating. “Forget Sabrina. Forget Webb. We have a crew of fanatics shooting up the Barcelona Motor Show. They’re gonna need to be neutralized.”

Hayden paused and then sighed. “Crap, I guess you’re right. The cultists will be following Webb wherever he goes, but the head of the snake? I don’t think so.”

“Nah, that’ll be sunning itself in Dubai,” Drake lamented. “Of all places.”

“So we split the team. One half to Zurich; one to Dubai.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Drake stared around, not voicing the disquieting thought that the team was pretty much split already. Professionalism stood foremost in their minds though.

“Drake, Mai, Alicia, Beau,” Hayden said, “should head off to Dubai. The others to Zurich. And Drake, we need to keep Dubai under the radar. All of it.”

Drake nodded. “Understood.”

Mai watched Hayden. “You said ‘we’. Are you joining us?”

Hayden quickly checked her emails. “It will be a good change, I think.”

“And me?” Kenzie asked. “I mean, Dahl and I usually stick together but . . .”

The Swede winced. “Not by bloody choice, believe me.”

Kenzie looked hurt. “I’m not sure I wanna be stuck with the B team. Even if Beach Runner is a part of it.”

An already beleaguered group took stock of her words. A month ago they’d have been laughed off, but now Kinimaka gave Hayden woeful eyes and Smyth glared at Beau. “Maybe we should change places, bro.”

Hayden rubbed her temples. “I need Lauren with Sabrina and
you
watching them both, Smyth. Mano, man up. And Kenzie, if you want to be part of this team you have to stop causing contention.”

“It’s just natural, boss. I’m not sure I know how.”

Hayden motioned to Drake. “Seriously though, I can’t stress how important it is to keep a low profile. The last thing we need is a brush with the UAE.”