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Dance suddenly pulled his pistol and shoved it into Sha
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Sha
And without breaking eye contact, Dance pulled the trigger.
The bullet ripped into Sha
But Sha
And Dance shot him again in the gut.
This time Sha
Dance’s cohorts swung their heads, looking for witnesses.
Nick stood there in shock, watching the life bleed out of Sha
“That’s great,” Brinehart’s voice cracked. “You just killed a cop. In front of a witness, no less.”
“Cuff him,” Dance said, pointing his gun at Nick.
“You going to kill him, too?” Sam finally said, his voice panicked.
Dance walked over to Nick and pulled out his wallet, reading his license. “So, Mr. Qui
“Qui
“Why would I kill a suspect? We’ve got someone co
JULIA WATCHED AS the stewardess pulled the cabin door closed and turned the crank, sealing them in.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have now closed the cabin door and ask that all cell phones and pagers be turned off for the duration of our flight. You must also turn off all electronic devices until such time as we are airborne and give the direction that you may resume using them.”
Julia quickly dialed Nick’s phone. Finding it going directly to voicemail she quickly spoke. “Hi, honey. I love you. I’m sorry about our fight over having di
“-I’m sorry, ma’am,” the stewardess interrupted as she leaned down. “The cabin doors are closed, all cell phones must be turned off.”
“Sorry,” Julia mouthed. “Honey, I have to go, I love you. I’ll call you when we land.”
Julia ended the call. “Sorry about that.”
“I never fly without squeezing one last call to my husband either,” the stewardess said. She smiled and headed to the galley.
Julia couldn’t wait to see the surprise on Nick’s face when she told him about the baby.
And she turned off her cell phone, tucking it back into her purse. She put her head back against the soft leather seat, her thoughts still on her husband as she closed her eyes for a quick nap.
“PUT THEM BOTH in the back of my car,” Dance said. Brinehart and Arilio opened the door of Dance’s Taurus and hoisted the body of Robert Sha
“Better yet, Brinehart, you stay out here, keep an eye out.” Dance took Nick by the arm. “Why don’t you just come with us and smile for the cameras.”
Sam turned to the door and slipped his key in the lock. “We’re four minutes behind schedule.”
“And we’ll be five minutes behind if you don’t quit jabbering. I really don’t give a shit, everyone will have to work twice as fast.”
They all pulled on surgical gloves.
“Don’t forget our new partner,” Dance said, handing Nick off to Sam.
“Yeah, right.” Sam said, pushing Nick up next to the door. “For all the world to see.”
Sam hoisted the two duffel bags onto his shoulder, ran his security pass over the sca
Everyone came in behind him.
Again, Sam passed his security card by the side of the door where the sca
Sam took Nick by the arm, leading him along, ensuring his face was prominently displayed to the hidden camera in the stairwell wall, while shielding himself.
“Wait until I have the door opened and the cameras disabled,” Sam said to Dance, Randall, and Arilio, holding them up at the top of the stairs.
Sam and Nick arrived at the basement door, made of brushed steel and lacking doorknobs or hinges. Nick knew it well, having passed through it several hours ago his time but several hours in the future for everyone else.
Sam pulled the octagonal key from his pocket and triple-checked that the letter D was on top.
“Make sure the letter D is on top or we may not only get locked out but locked in,” Nick said with a smile.
“How the hell did you know that?” Sam shouted at Nick. You could hear the fear in his voice.
“Lucky guess,” Nick said. “But before your friend Dance catches up, you may want to know that he’s going to kill you. I know he’s going to dump Brinehart and Arilio in the reservoir.”
“You think I trust Dance? You think I haven’t already taken steps to protect myself?”
“And how will you protect yourself from your brother, Paul? He knows what’s going on.”
“That’s how you know everything. You work for him, don’t you?” Sam was getting angry. “Don’t you?”
“Actually, he hasn’t met me yet. Wouldn’t know my name or face if he was standing in front of me.”
“What the hell are the two of you talking about?” Dance shouted from the top of the stairs. “Time’s ticking. We’ve only got ten minutes.”
Sam slipped the key into the octagonal lock, the letter D on top, as Nick had said. He entered his brother’s Social Security number in the keypad on the wall, ran the security pass three times by the card reader, turned the key, and pushed open the two-ton door.
Sam knew there was a breach alarm on the steel vault door for unscheduled openings; he knew that it didn’t go to the police as most alarms did, but rather, signaled Dreyfus Security and He
Sam had actually read all of the schematics on the breach alarm and knew how to disable it. It was, in fact, quite simple to take out of service. But the breach alarm was not just for notification, it was also the trigger for the secondary protocols. Not only were the video feeds routed to He
It was his insurance policy, the leverage he would use when Dance turned on him. He knew there was no honor among thieves, and the warning, uttered by Qui
“Okay, Dance,” Sam said.
And the detective, Randall, and Arilio came down the stairs to stand in the small vestibule next to Nick.
AS THE STEEL vault door swung open, Nick saw the large glass table prominently displayed, its glass top pure, unmarred-not violated, as it had been when he saw it five hours from now. Within the case he saw the swords and daggers, the rapiers and sabers, and most specifically, the gold-inlaid Colt Peacemaker that would be used to kill Julia.