Heist Royale (Thieves’ Gambit #2)

Chapter Fourteen

Fourteen

There’s always a shard of a second when something like this happens—pure disaster on a job—when an alarm goes off, a gunshot rings out, you feel someone’s got their hands on you, when you don’t move. For me, it isn’t panic that freezes me up, but high-speed reflection. What did I do wrong?

Noelia turned toward me in a flash of motion, her braids whipping her face.

“The tags?” she asked. More lights were coming. The residential area wasn’t exactly what you would call close, but it wouldn’t be long before someone followed the very obvious path of blinking lights.

“We turned them off…” I said. No way I would’ve made a mistake like that.

Noelia, biting her lip, flicked her eyes at my lead backpack. “Are you sure those were the right type of tags?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, but were you sure you were looking at the right research to disarm them?”

“I didn’t mess this up—” My eyes caught on the side of the door. Pushing Noelia aside, I bent down until I was eye level with the thin, transparent device pasted just under the security sensor.

I almost laughed. Kyung-soon did get her DNA-triggered sensor to work. And I’d already given her my DNA.

“Whatever, doesn’t matter.” Noelia peeked outside. “The residential side of the building is awake. I can see the lights on. They’re expecting whoever the hell it is to go toward the west exit.” A.k.a., the exit we had been on our way to. So much for that.

Noelia reached for the strap around my waist. I slapped her fingers away. “What the hell are you doing?”

“We can’t use the west exit now, it’ll be swarmed with people!” Noelia whisper-yelled. “The only option left is back through the window. This won’t fit through the window, so we have to abandon it.”

She tried to unbuckle my backpack again. This time I ripped her hands off me.

“So we’re just gonna leave the target here?”

“Yes!”

She was out of her mind.

What was their game plan? Even if Noelia and I ditched the target, the facility was going to be on alert now. According to the lab’s security protocols, they were supposed to transfer all prototypes and valuable materials out of the main lab and into the secure outbuilding in the event of an “emergency.”

I pushed open the door that had just tripped the alarm. Brisk cold and a stretch of glassy ice welcomed us. Out in the darkness, I leveled my gaze on the detached outbuilding. Smaller than the main facility, only a narrow strait of frozen ice between us and it.

It should have been empty…but past the stillness of the night, I thought I could feel a tingle, the weight of someone’s eyes on me.

There was already movement inside the other building. If I couldn’t see it, I felt it, colder than the Antarctic night itself.

They were there. No…she was there.

I didn’t know how, but they were going to swipe the target from the more secure facility. All the more impressive.

Was she in there, watching me too? Smiling, maybe? All of them, perhaps?

“Ross…” Noelia pleaded. We couldn’t have more than a minute or two until the facility was fully awake. “We need to hustle now. The window is our best shot. Drop the stupid backpack, and let’s win the next phases.”

I kept my back to her and instead looked out over the ice. Smooth and glassy and black as ink.

There was a reason we were supposed to pass this exit. It led straight onto the ice.

No one would be crazy enough to leave out of this door. That would be suicidal.

The ice looked solid enough.

I tightened the waist strap Noelia had tried to remove, cracked my neck, and slid my goggles back on.

“No, no, no, you can’t!” Noelia swooped in front of me, putting both arms out. “The ice is a couple inches thick at the most. There’s a reason you didn’t pick this route.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t know the situation then.”

“Yes, you did!” The distant sound of voices. Time slipping away.

With Team Kenzie waiting for me to drop the target and turn tail so they could swoop in for the first easy win. One win closer to wishing away my family.

Mom would do it.

And that sealed the deal for me. Mom had beaten Diane once before, and I was sure it wasn’t by playing it safe.

“Get to Mylo. Bring the Zodiac around to the edge of the ice.” I shoved past her. “I’m going out.”