“No,” he says, taking off his own backpack, “youguard the door andI’lldisable it.”
Iput my backpack on the floor and crouch to start pulling my tools from it. “I’mfaster at it.”Plus,Ican guarantee that the steps to disable it haven’t been running through his mind on repeat since reading the briefing on the plane last night, as it has for me.
Heshakes his head. “No,Iam.”
Itry to let out a slow, calming breath, which isn’t exactly slow and sounds more like a huff since my active mission adrenaline just kicked in. “Whenwe were inEgypt, you know you couldn’t have opened that safe as fast asIdid.Andwhat about inAlgiers?”Ican tell by the look on his face that he knowsI’mright. “You’rereally good at making friends and talking your way out of things, right?That’syour specialty; go do your specialty.”
“Fine,” he huffs— apparently his active mission adrenaline kicked in, too— and goes into the hall just out of view of the room.
Istart by waving at the security camera inthe corner, just to acknowledge to the owner of this gallery thatIknow she’s watching.Shewas sent pictures of bothLedgerand me, so even without the wave, she should know we’re not the thieves and that we are placing the tracker, but it feels polite.
“Packston?Youawake?”
“Um, yeah,”Ihear his scratchy voice through my headpiece. “Yeah.Ofcourse,Iam.”
“Ofcourse.Willyou let the gallery owner know that we are working on placing the tracker right now so she can pull the footage?”
Theclear case holding the tapestry might be five feet tall and a couple of feet wide, but it’s only about three inches deep, and the locking mechanism is on the side, toward the bottom.Ithas an electronic component and a key component, soIfirst pull out my jammer to temporarily disable the electronic part before using my picks to get it unlocked.Thereare tiny sensors between the back of the case and the front, soIslip a thin, transparent film over them to mimic the case’s closed state soIcan trick the sensors into thinking it hasn’t been opened.
Iswing open the front of the case, then pull the tracker from the side pocket of my backpack.It’ssmall— about the size of the tip of a pencil— and has a short, stiff wire-like thread attached to it that allows me to kind of weave it up into the tapestry just a bit.
Ledgerpokes his head into the room. “Don’tset off the alarm.Wedon’t want to causeKierananyPTS.”
“Andbased on his shudder,”Isay, “Ireally don’t want to hear his mom’s wail.”
Idon’t look atLedger, butIhear his soft chuckle from just outside the room.
WhenIget the tracker mostly into place,Ipeel off the backing to reveal the sticky part that is strong enough to hold it in place without damaging the tapestry or leaving residue, and thenImaneuver it behind a thread so it’s completely hidden.
Ipull up the tracking software on my phone, activate it, make sure it’s receiving the signal, and smile.Thesignal is nice and strong.Iswing the front of the case closed, slide the film off the sensors, and am just using my picks to relock the case whenIhearKieran’svoice coming down the hall toward us.
“Oh, there you are,Account.You’reabout to miss theAbstractAlgorithmsroom.”
“Iwas just heading back to you.Thattapestry with the llamas really caught my attention andIhad to look at it longer.”Ledgeris doing a good job of keepingKeiranfrom coming close enough to see into the room.
“That’sone of my favorites, too.WhereisStainless?”
Iget the case locked and disable my jammer. “Packston?”Isay in a low voice. “Allfinished.Thetapestry is secure again.”
“Shewasn’t with the group?”IhearLedgersay from just outside the room. “Shedid mention how much she was drawn to the painting with the woman sitting at the table, looking serious, like she doesn’t even have the ability to have fun.Maybeshe went back to that room.I’llgo look with you.”
Ledgercan’t see me, butIstill roll myeyes asIput everything back into my backpack.Ipeek around the doorway and see their retreating backs as they head back to theImpressionistroom.Iwalk in the opposite direction— the direction the group had headed after leaving the tapestry room, and whenI’mabout halfway there,Iturn around and head back.
Mytiming is perfect.LedgerandKieranturn the corner to my hall after not finding me in theImpressionistroom. “Oh, there you are,Account!”Ihook my thumb behind me. “Istayed in theCubistroom a bit longer, thenIcouldn’t find you with the group.”
“I’vespent quite a bit of time in that room myself.Let’sget back to the others, though.You’rein for a real treat as we head into theGothicGIFsroom.”
Ledgerraises an eyebrow in my direction as we walk, andIgive him a small smile, confirming that the mission was a success.Icatch his smile even though he’s not directing it at me.ButIcan tell that it’s a smile of admiration at a job well done, which is my favorite kind of smile.ThenIsmile to myself even bigger becauseIthink it’s safe to say thatIwon this mission.
Afew hours later, we’ve grabbed our stashed luggage from the lockers, have gone through security at the main terminal, withLedgerlamenting the fact that we aren’t heading back to the private terminal, and are sitting down to eat lunch before our flight toBelgrade.
I’meating boxty with smoked salmon and a nice wedge of coolea, aDutch-styleGoudacheese that has a bit of a caramel-like flavor, whileLedgereats a corned beef sandwich.Thecheese is good andIsavor every second it’sin my mouth, butI’mthe one lamenting not having the time to eat at one ofDublin’samazing restaurants.
“Youknow,”Ledgersays as he finishes a bite, “if we keep finishing missions as fast as we finished today’s, we’ll be back home by the end of the week.”
“Andthen we can leave the memory of a joint mission behind us.”
Helifts his rhubarb and gingerIrishsoda andIlift my elderflower one. “Here’sto finishing quickly,” he says, and we bump our bottles together.
