—
“Get off me!” Riley yelled at Emerson, struggling to be heard above the screaming siren. “What the heck are you doing?”
“I’m restraining you,” Emerson said.
Riley was flat on her back with Emerson on top of her.
“You tripped me!” Riley said.
“Actually I wrestled you to the ground,” Emerson said, “but I suppose that’s splitting hairs.”
The siren stopped wailing, there was the sound of rushing air, and then phunnf. Total silence.
“Omigod,” Riley said. “Did we just get locked in the vault? Tell me we’re not locked in.”
She looked around. They were alone.
“Crap on a cracker,” she said. “We’re going to die.”
Emerson rolled off her and helped her to her feet. “You have nothing to worry about. It’s all part of my plan.”
“I hate your plan.”
“Nonsense. It’s a brilliant plan. We have five minutes until they figure out the explosion was harmless and come in after us.”
“Explosion?”
“The car. Why else do you suppose we left it parked on the street?”
“You didn’t tell me there’d be an explosion.”
“Are you sure I didn’t tell you?”
“Yes! I would have remembered a plan to blow up a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow.”
“Well, at any rate, it was harmless. A lot of noise and a smoke bomb. I can’t take full credit for it. Vernon made the bomb, which wasn’t truly a bomb. It was more of a delivery system.”
“That was your car!” Riley said. “Everyone will know you were responsible. You’ll be investigated as a terrorist.”
“Vernon and I have the explanation all worked out. It was all a simple miscalculation. This is the advantage to being an eccentric. Everyone expects you to be eccentric.”
Emerson crossed to the Republic of Germany locker and opened it.
“They don’t have locks on the doors?” Riley asked.
“Why should they? Who could get in here?”
“We did.”
“Yes, but we’re special.”
Emerson took a small battery-operated drill from his pocket, selected a gold bar from the locker, and drilled into it.
“Just as I suspected,” Emerson said, examining the bar. “As you can see, there’s a thin veneer of gold covering a block of tungsten.”
“Crap.”
“You say that a lot.”