Perfect Scoundrels (Heist Society 3)

“Kat…” he sighed her name.

“I’m sorry, Hale. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. And I’m sorry…I’m just sorry, okay?”

He didn’t say it was okay. He didn’t tell her she was forgiven. He just sank to the cold, hard floor and pulled his knees to his chest, like a little boy hiding in his father’s closet.

They couldn’t leave without being heard, couldn’t turn on a light without being seen, so Kat joined him on the floor and whispered, “What do we do now?”

“We wait.”

Over the next several hours, they heard Garrett typing on his keyboard. He made a series of overseas calls and spoke badly accented Chinese and French, a little German that Kat was able to pick up. But mostly she just sat, waiting.

Eventually she felt herself leaning against Hale, and he didn’t protest. The night grew longer, and Kat’s head grew heavier, and at some point she must have rested on his chest. She closed her eyes. Hale’s arms were warm and comforting around her, and there was no place else she wanted to be.

“Kat.” Hale’s whisper broke into her thoughts, but she didn’t stir. “Kat.” He shook her shoulder. “I think he’s gone.”

Part of Kat knew she should have felt foolish for falling asleep on the job, but another part was so happy to have Hale’s arms around her, to feel his breath on her skin.

“Hi,” she told him.

“Hi, yourself,” he said.

Still half asleep and groggy, Kat squinted up through the shadows of the tiny space and into Hale’s eyes. It was the closest they’d been in weeks. Whatever had stood between them was lost in the shadows, and Kat felt Hale’s mouth press against hers. His fingers wove into her hair, holding her close, gripping her tightly. It was the hungriest kiss she’d ever known, and Kat let herself get lost in it. Forget. Tell herself that there was nothing they couldn’t do as long as they were together.

But, then again, they were currently trapped in a closet on the thirty-seventh floor of a well-secured high-rise in the middle of the night, so perhaps her judgment was lacking.

“Sorry,” Hale said, breaking the kiss and pulling away.

“No, Hale,” Kat said one more time, “I’m sorry. I should have told you about the will as soon as I heard.”

“Let’s just get out of here, okay?” He struggled to his feet and pressed an ear against the door. A moment later he was pushing out into the dark cold office and gesturing for Kat to follow.

The door was monitored by security, so they found a ceiling vent and made their escape that way, crawling until they reached another grate. Hale jumped down onto a desk below, and when Kat dropped, he caught her, held her there.

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded.

“So what happens now?”

It was an excellent question, and Kat wasn’t quite sure how to answer.

“I think we’re going to need someone who knows more about the company than we do. Someone inside. Maybe your parents? Your mom seemed nice.”

“My mom’s a better con artist than I am.”

“What about Silas? We could tell him.”

A small light flickered on. “Tell me what?”

Chapter 23

As a general rule, getting caught is never, ever good. It was the first rule of the family, so Kat didn’t know whether to feel ashamed or embarrassed, angry or relieved, as they stood on a gleaming stainless steel table in the big room.

“Silas, have you been here all night?” Kat asked.

His suit coat hung over the back of a chair, and his bow tie was loose around his neck. Papers and drawings were scattered on the desk in front of him, and Kat could see a half-empty takeout container and tall cup of coffee.

“Funny,” Silas said. “I could be asking the same of you.” In spite of the hour and the circumstances, he gave a nervous giggle. “If you don’t mind my saying, Mr. Hale. She’s a keeper.” He pointed in Kat’s direction.

It was undeniable, Kat thought. Silas was a dork. And Kat couldn’t help herself—she liked him. A lot.

In the pale light of a desk lamp, Kat watched Silas’s eyes as he looked around the room. There were polished tables and carefully organized workstations. Whiteboards covered one entire wall, each filled with mathematical formulas and chemical equations. It was a language Kat couldn’t begin to understand. But like any good con artist, Kat was fluent in the language of people.

“Silas,” she said, “what’s going on?”

“I love this lab. I am going to miss it now that I am no longer in your employ, Mr. Hale. Thought I’d pull one last all-nighter in here.” Silas studied Hale. “Why do I get the feeling you aren’t surprised to hear that?”

“Garrett can’t do this,” Hale was saying. “He can’t just…fire you. You—”

“Created Genesis?” Silas filled in. “The product that didn’t work? The biggest embarrassment in the history of this company? Yes. I’m that guy. And I’m currently unemployed.” He gave an odd little bow, then added with a wink, “Of course, I’m also the guy who designed the security system, so they can’t keep me out. Yet.”

“So Genesis had a glitch,” Hale said. “It will work eventually.”

“No, Mr. Hale. It did work. It worked perfectly. In fact, the last time I spoke to your grandmother, it was to tell her that I was finished. I tested it myself. And then I put it in there.” He spun and pointed to a safe.

“Silas,” Hale said, “are you saying…”

“Whatever it was we saw at the launch, it wasn’t the prototype I made. No, sir. I just don’t know how anyone could have switched them. I kept the prototype locked up until the moment of the demonstration.” He walked over to the safe. “I just can’t figure out how they got inside this. It’s state of the art,” the man added.

“Do you mind?” Kat asked, and Silas stepped aside.

“What do you think?” Hale asked.

Kat ran a finger along the inner workings of the lock. “It’s been tampered with,” she said. “By someone pretty good.”

“And you know this because…” Silas prompted.

“I have hobbies,” Kat told him. “Seriously, Silas, someone who knew what they were doing was in here.”

“Well, at least I was robbed by a professional.” Silas dropped onto a stool almost as if his body couldn’t support the weight of his disappointment.

“Can’t you make another prototype?” Hale asked.

“Eventually. Maybe. But it wouldn’t do you or the company any good, Mr. Hale. That’s why I came to plead with Garrett. If the faulty prototype is unveiled at the gala, then I’m afraid of what will happen. To the company.” He leveled Hale with a look. “To all of us.”

“I’ll get you whatever you need, Silas. Just make me another prototype.”

“It’s not going to be that simple. After tonight I’ll no longer have a lab.”

“I’ll get you a lab.”

“And the plans are supposed to be stored on the company server, but they’ve been tampered with. My personal backup drives have been erased. Someone wants Genesis to disappear, Mr. Hale. And me with it.”

“What if we can recover the plans?” Kat asked. Silas raised his eyebrows, doubtful. So Kat shrugged and added, “We know a computer guy.”

“Oh, you do, do you?”

“Yes,” Kat said. She got the feeling that Silas was a man who saw right through her and actually liked what he was seeing.

“Your computer guy is welcome to try,” Silas said. “But it’s gone. Everything is gone.”

Hale said nothing. Kat saw that he was studying the whiteboards. She wondered for a moment if he was reading the math and the formulas, trying to fix a problem she didn’t even understand. But then he pointed to a list in the corner of one of the boards.

“That’s my grandmother’s handwriting,” Hale said, staring at the words.

Silas nodded. “It is.”

“She wanted this to work, didn’t she?”

“Very much,” Silas said.

“Okay,” Hale said. “He can fire you, but I can rehire you. Don’t worry, Silas. First thing tomorrow I’ll—”

“You’ll what?” Silas cut Hale off. “With all due respect, Scooter, Garrett is still the trustee and you’re still a minor. You’re a bright boy. Your grandmother loved you, so I love you, but until you come of age, I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do.”

Silas thought it was over. Kat could see it in his eyes. His shoulders were slumped and his hands trembled. And Kat thought he was probably going to stay at that desk until morning and the guards came to carry him away. He was making his last stand in the only way he knew how.

Fortunately, Kat and Hale knew another way.

“We can get your prototype back,” Kat said, coming to stand next to Hale.

“And how are you going to do that?” the old man asked.

Hale smiled. “That’s easy, Silas. We can steal it.”

The sun was not yet up over New York City when the owner of Hale Industries emerged from the building’s side entrance, a shorter-than-average teenage girl at his side.

A chill had settled into the air overnight, and as they walked, he removed his jacket and placed it around her thin shoulders. And there, in the middle of the city, the two of them were almost alone. Two kids who were out far too late or far too early, walking down a cracked and vacant sidewalk like they owned it.

“It was Marcus, wasn’t it?” Hale asked. “Who hired you?”

“Don’t be mad at him. He was just—”

Hale cut her off with a shake of his head. “He was right. You were right. These aren’t Hazel’s wishes.”

He stopped and looked up at the towering building that bore his name. The faintest hint of sunlight was creeping over the horizon, and with it, the whole building seemed to glow.

“We almost got caught, didn’t we?”

“Yeah.” Kat laughed a little. “But we didn’t.”

“You had a good point in there. Breaking in like that was stupid. I was stupid.”

“Hale, stop it.” Kat reached out and grabbed his arm. “You are many things, but stupid isn’t one of them.”

“I’m too close.”

“You don’t get it, do you? Being close is good. Caring is good. I love that you’re emotional and passionate and can’t turn these things off.”

“It makes me a bad thief.”

“It makes you a good person.”

Of all the things Hale had been told in his life, Kat wondered if anyone had ever told him that.

He gave her his trademark grin. “So, what do you say, Miss Bishop? Want to steal a prototype?”

“Re-steal,” Kat corrected. “These days I only re-steal. Besides, I’m not entirely sure you can afford me.”

“Oh, I bet we can work something out.”