“Having fun?”
“You?” Tom’s voice registered his surprise, but it was soon gone. “Quick, get me out of here.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Look, it’s not what it seems.”
She took in the alarm, the shattered display case, the masked figure below her. It was exactly what it seemed. Exactly what she’d been warned by Corbett to expect. How could she have been so stupid to think that everyone else might have got it wrong?
“Oh, no?” She laughed coldly. “What is it, then?”
Tom ripped the ski mask from his head, his hair damp and ruffled. She could see his eyes, big and dark and perhaps even a little frightened.
“I have about ninety seconds before the guards get here.” He motioned anxiously toward the steel door. “I’ll explain later.”
“No, you’ll explain now.” Her voice was firm, unyielding. She didn’t even know for sure why she was listening, why she hadn’t just gone straight to the police when she found the rope dangling down the side of the museum wall. But part of her wanted a reason.
“There’s no time,” Tom pleaded.
“I’ve got plenty.”
Tom shook his head, looked away, then back up at her.
“The Fabergé egg I stole in New York was for Cassius. Do you know who he is?” Cassius? The name was familiar, but she couldn’t think where from. Then it came to her. Cassius was the Captain Nemo figure that Corbett had mentioned in the meeting with Secretary Young. The criminal mastermind he believed was behind a coordinated spate of high-end art thefts. She nodded. “Right, so you know what I’m up against. The job was for two eggs but I backed out of taking the second. You see, I wasn’t lying when I said that I’d decided to get out. But Cassius wouldn’t have it. He threatened to kill me and a guy I work with if I don’t get it by tomorrow.”
She remained silent. How could she believe him? The steel shutter rose an inch from the floor as it was jacked open by the guards outside, their excited voices echoing through the gap.
“Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Would that have made a difference? Would you have let me do this job?”
“No.”
“Then what choice did I have? Do nothing and get myself and someone else killed?”
“We had a deal. You should have trusted me. I could have protected you.” Her eyes flashed coldly but she was more uncertain now. Despite herself, despite everything, she wanted to believe him.
Tom shook his head with a sad smile.
“I heard you the other night, Jennifer. On the phone to your boss. Saying that he could count on you to do whatever it took to get a result. That you didn’t care what happened to me. I have to look after myself. I can’t rely on you or anyone else to protect me. I never have.”
Jennifer flushed as she heard her own words played back to her. Suddenly the reason for Tom being so cold over dinner in Paris made sense.
“What I meant was that my only interest in you is my belief that you can help solve this case and that’s true. I’m not interested in who’s done what to whom in the past. As far as I’m concerned we have a deal, and I intend to stick to it as long as you do.”
The steel shutter was three inches off the ground now and she could see the metal toe caps of the guards’ boots under the gap.
“Maybe that’s what you think now. But when the time comes, things might not be so clear. You’ll have your career to think about. I couldn’t take the risk of being betrayed a second time.”
“So what were you planning to do? Steal the egg and then disappear? Where to?”
“It’s for an off-site that Cassius is holding tomorrow night in Istanbul.” Tom was throwing increasingly nervous glances toward the slowly rising steel door. “I was planning to go there and try and settle this once and for all. For Harry.”
“Istanbul?” Despite everything, she couldn’t hide the sudden interest in her voice. Istanbul was a link to the coins. Perhaps a chance to get them back and the people who’d taken them. “Why didn’t you say so before?”
“That’s why Steiner had begun to write the number down on that card when he was killed. Cassius was clearly lining up the coins for his off-site. He may have even had them stolen specially for it. The coins and the two Fabergé eggs are probably the star lots.”
“So what happens if Cassius doesn’t get the second egg?”
“He can’t afford to have people show up to the off-site and then not produce the items he’s promised them will be there. He’ll probably just cancel it.”
Jennifer’s mind was racing. If the off-site was canceled, she’d lose her best chance of catching up with the coins. The chances of ever seeing them all in the same place again after that were small. She needed the off-site to go ahead.
“Grab this.”
Jennifer threw her rope down to him, the heavy cord whistling through the air as it uncoiled. The steel shutter was almost a foot off the ground now and she could see someone struggling to slide under it sideways.
Tom grabbed the rope, heaving himself out of the room as the steel security door rose another three inches. His feet flicked through the hole in the skylight just as the first guard slid into the room and jumped to his feet, gun out.
Tom leaned forward on his knees, sucking air. He looked up at Jennifer, his voice like sand on glass.
“Next time, just throw the rope down, will you. We can chat later.”
“There won’t be a next time. There wasn’t meant to be a this time.” She pulled him to his feet. “Let’s get out of here.”
They made their escape along the roofs of the adjacent buildings, rappelling down to the street and then retracing their steps to the hotel. The two-tone sound of police sirens and a growing swarm of flashing blue lights faded into the distance, a faint echo in the still night air.
They were followed all the way, though, by a single, incredulous, pair of eyes. As they disappeared into the hotel’s entrance, he pulled his phone from his suit pocket. He spoke as soon as it was answered on the other end.
“It’s Jones, sir… It’s a goddamned circus out here… Kirk just broke into a museum and then some crazy tried to take him out on the roof with a rifle… no, he missed. Browne? I’m sorry, sir, but it looks like she helped Kirk escape.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
“Let me see it. Let me have a look.” Jennifer’s voice was strained, excited even. The adrenaline was still coursing through both their bloodstreams, their hearts beating fast, their brains fizzing as they arrived back in their room.
“Are you sure?” Tom eyed her uncertainly. “You’re in deep enough already. Maybe it would be better if you just left it at that.”
“I’ve helped you escape from a crime scene. How much deeper can I get?”
Tom nodded, then flashed her an awkward look.
“You know I really appreciate what you did for me back there.”
“I must be crazy,” she whispered, almost to herself. “If anyone finds out, it will finish me. You know that, don’t you?” Her large round eyes glistened as she spoke.
“Yeah.” He paused. “So why did you do it?”
“No egg, no off-site. No off-site, no coins.”
“So purely business, then?” Tom almost sounded disappointed.
“Just business.” She hoped he didn’t notice the hesitation in her voice. Because there had been another factor running through her mind when she threw down that rope, a factor that she barely wanted to admit to herself, let alone Tom. That part of her had needed him to believe that he could trust her. That they were in this together. Because she knew what it was like not to be trusted, to have people always doubting your motives and your actions. Because she was determined to give him the second chance that so few people, until Corbett, had been willing to give her.